Picture-Play Magazine (1932)

10 Continued from page 6 anything. All she does is pose. Her voice is an absolute shock — and her hair ! How I itched for scissors to cut that hair. If she would only curl it, or cut it, or comb it — anything but that straight unlovely mass slinging around her shoulders. Wasting Clark Gable in a picture with her — thank goodness he's playing with Joan Crawford in "Possessed." I'm sick of Garbo this and Garbo that, when to me she is not even neat. She is a clever woman, or else has a good press agent. She keeps to herself so the public will not be disillusioned. She can hide away for all of me ; I'll never search for her. A. Fitz Patrick. 8540 S. Green Street, Chicago, Illinois. Ramon Leaning on Garbo? NOVARRO is slipping. A sad fact, but one that his fans should face. Apparently Ramon's producers forgot that he is never superior to his material, and have been presenting him in a series of program pictures, much to his disadvantage. Casting him opposite Garbo in "Mata Hari" is an eleventh-hour attempt to regain lost ground. A brilliant move, since Garbo's leading men always share her popularity. Ramon's career hinges on this role opposite the screen's greatest actress and the result will be interesting. My prediction is that it will put him back on his feet. A. M. Olin. 4220 Thirty-first Avenue, S., Minneapolis, Minnesota. Is There No Perfection? OF all the films I have seen in my twenty-one years, I am sorry to say I have found no player to whom I might truthfully apply the word "perfection." Always I find a flaw, either in his appearance or acting ability. A new personality is making his or her debut in a film. I go to see it. The first time I am perhaps delighted in every way and think that I am at last satisfied. The following week another picture comes along headlining this player. I take it in, so to speak, and find my ideal has developed one of those terrible cases of egoism, or he might have a face or body defect which I had not noticed in the previous picture. Oftentimes I wonder if I ever do find one who measures up to my idea of perfection on the screen, how shall I know that he hasn't halitosis, or horrible as it would be, "B. O."? Don Ritter. 108 East Sycamore Street, Rome, New York. Claudette's Laurels Are Real. AMONG the letters in a recent Picture Play there was one from Jack M. Cochrane which was intentionally unkind in the criticism of Claudette Colbert, in "The Smiling Lieutenant." Perhaps he should not be blamed for having been taken in by Paramount's device to create sympathy and popularity for the promising newcomer, Miriam Hopkins, by building up her role and giving her all the advantages at the conclusion of the picture. But I am sure that no one will agree with his claim that by superior acting Miss Hopkins stole the picture from Miss Colbert. It may interest Mr. Cochrane to know that when the script was handed to Miss What the Fans Think Colbert she had the option of appearing in either role. It is to her credit that she elected to play the more difficult and less sympathetic role of Niki, although realizing that the girl who got the hero would gain more favor with the audience. Miss Colbert is an artist and is above snatching the breaks. In spite of the sneers of the critical Mr. Cochrane, Miss Colbert's stage laurels were honestly and rightfully earned by almost seven years' intensive application to her work. Her greatest triumph was as Lou in the play of carnival life, "The Barker." Her work in this play was hailed as an outstanding acting achievement of the season in New York, and she was later acclaimed in London in the same play. Critics in New York, Chicago, London, and everywhere she played, emphasized the same point : "This girl can act." Robert B. Byrnes. 2431 Buck Street, New York City, New York. Fancy a Turbaned Gable! IT seems that of late there has been a popular demand for a talkie version of "The Sheik," with Clark Gable in the title role. Oh, please, you movie magnates who make the final decision in these matters, don't do it ! Clark Gable is not fitted to play the part of an Arab chief or any other kind of foreigner. That he is a great actor, a firstrate cave man, and an incomparable lover, no one can justly deny, and at first glance these things do seem to qualify him for the part of Ahmed ben Hassan. But look a little deeper. Clark Gable is first, last, and above all else, a typical American. It is written all over his face and in every accent of his voice. If you put a dozen turbans on his head, you couldn't make him look like anything else. Let us continue to see him in the kind of role he was made for — the red-blooded, he-man American. The Arab dress would not become him, and the Arab speech — oh, give me ether, somebody ! Can you honestly imagine Clark Gable forsaking the snappy lingo of his native land for the poetic thees and thous of the Orient — and do it with a straight face? If "The Sheik" is remade at all, it should be with a star of Latin extraction, as it was the first time. I doubt if it would click so well with to-day's audiences — we have learned to expect so much more of our movies than we did when that farfetched romance made its big hit. At any rate, it is utterly unworthy of Clark Gable, aside from his personal disqualifications for it. Nevertheless, if you vote me down and put him in it anyhow, I shall go to see it. I kind of like this Gable fellow. Estelle Wade. 2314 Morse Street, Houston, Texas. What's a Girl To Do? WHAT'S all this tommyrot about Joan Crawford going high-hat? Can't a girl elevate herself and better her environment? Why must she be called snooty ? Just because she doesn't go hey-heying all over the place any more people talk, and they would still talk if she did ; you can't please every one. Let's give Joan a big hand. She deserves it. Ethel Bruce. 74 Boyd Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey. Old Rough-and-ready Buddy. WHY do people rave over Garbo, who is conceited, high-hat, and no better actress than Joan Crawford, Helen Hayes, Norma Shearer, or Kay Francis? And she is stiff and mechanical. And Janet Gaynor — it is about time she discarded her ga-ga ways and baby-faced innocence and immature speech, and be what she is, a full-grown mature woman. Cute Dorothy Lee would be better suited to Janet's roles. Now a word for Buddy Rogers, whom I have met in person. Buddy is absolutely as much the rough-and-ready man as God ever made. He never has had a decent break. Can he help it if he was thrust into "mamma's boy" pictures, like "Follow Thru"? Arthur E. Knight, Jr. 364 Smith Street, Providence, Rhode Island. "Weeping Willow" Chandler. 1MUST express my opinion of an actress, who I think is absolutely silly. That is Helen Chandler. Some one ought to rename her "Weeping Willow." All my friends agree with me. If you saw her in "Salvation Nell" and "The Last Flight," you'd agree with me. If I ever saw her smile or look happy, I'd faint. Even at the end of a picture she cries because she's so happy. Of all the actresses she's the worst. Three cheers for Clark Gable, he's a honey ! Mary Casker. 6011 South Fairfield Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. Apollo Plus Flaring Nostrils. IS the sheik article by Madeline Glass about to start a row among the fans, or isn't it? Boy, howdy ! I can just hear all the tumult and the shouting over our fair land when the fans see that their favorite wasn't included in the big six ! I think Miss Glass wasn't far wrong when she nominated Duncan Renaldo as the American Apollo. He has almost exactly the build and general cast of countenance of a classic Greek athlete, except that his mouth is a darned sight better. His mouth is both strong and sensitive, the mouth of a poet. His eyes are those of an idealist, and I love his nose ! The nostrils flare slightly, giving him an earthly, passionate look. Renaldo is very male. He is both boyish and dangerous. Please, producers, give him a break ! Don't hide his light behind a bushel any longer ! We want to see him again. L. B. D. Fort Worth, Texas. "Garbo Maniacs" Corrected. IBEG to differ with Bertha C. Lambert, who said in a recent Picture Play, that Garbo is not so stuck on herself as to have her life story written, and that Dietrich has had hers published in several magazines and papers. She asks, "Has Garbo ever allowed her life story to be published?" I say, "Yes." Among my magazine files I have two life stories of Garbo. I have them here while I'm writing this. I am sure they would not have been written had not Garbo been stuck on herself enough to allow them to be published. Anyhow, most of that mysteriousness and "all by my alone" attitude is a pose. The Garbo' maniacs act as if she was a superhuman or a goddess. It really sounds silly. She is a good actress, but there are others just as good and better. And please end this Marlene-Greta war. It's getting tiresome. They're both good. One is prettier, and they never fail to give us a good picture. That's all we want. So pipe down, you maniacs, and give some other actresses praise, too. S. M. P. Crystal Falls, Michigan. Continued on page 12