Picture-Play Magazine (1933)

20 UNSHACKLED David Manners is free of a contract he didn't like and other worries are off his mind, so make way for a rising star. By Madi So it was a very tragic said David Manners, doubling with laughter. It was indeed a tragic story, yet its undertone of macabre comedy was so pronounced as to incite .Mr. .Manners and his listeners. William H. McKegg and myself, to laughter. "] am seldom affected by obvious tragedy," said Mr. McKegg, alias "Barney." "Take your first picture, ■Journey's End.' It didn't move me " '"It moved me" said David emphatically. "I suffered terribly from camera fright while making it." "1 lave another cup of coffee." I offered sympathetically. I another sandwich. No? Then try this cake." David tried the cake, and finding that the icing stuck ' to his fingers, he promptly remedied the misadventure by the well-known expedient of applying said fingers to his tongue. Never have I seen him in such high good humor, so carefree and amusing, so unlike the young man who two years ago was driven to the contemplation of suicide by various tribulations. Since coming to Hollywood, David seems to have una subtle change and. oddly enough in a town of continual strife, to have achieved a of mental peace. When I first met him. sunn after his arrival. ■t the impression that he was aloof and This impression was gaine( by other writers, also. When we learned of ■i with English nobility, we agreed that David was not likely to become chummy with social rank was ath that of the peerage. Realizing now that it was in direct of his family's social position and traditions that he chose to an actor. I wonder that we uspected him of snobbish1 onsidering the circumstances, planation may not he find. torn with a desire to act. W hen t'. [ii to assert it his aristocratic parents set about • a taboo on the proving him along other lines. tions, he played in colnd eventually went on the a couple of years 1 '' ling a Booth, he and was taken hack fold. Twoorthn e -.ears later, job he ha< ■ bed up at Los V a fine pari in "Journey's End." lid opportunity, coming Ionhad abandoned his histrionic amon fusing as the return of a enne CI ass Who could help but recognize David Manners in this young lad? supposedly dead lover after his sweetheart had resigned herself to his loss and married another. David seemed to have become somewhat skeptical of the topsy-turvy business of acting. When writers called he was cordial but seldom enthusiastic. I remember with misgivings my first attempt to interview him. As he volunteered very little information, I was forced to ask many questions, and not being an inquisitive person, my interrogations soon fizzled out. In desperation I inquired, "If you were an interviewer what sort of questions would you ask?" "I'd ask very personal ones," said he blandly. I thought I detected sarcasm in his tone and I burned and burned. Lately I learned that he was then in the midst of matrimonial troubles, and that family opposition to his return to acting was in full sway. Naturally he had no heart for the business of talking for publication. Yet this unfortunate experience has colored my written references to him ever since. One reason for his light-heartedness now is the termination of his First National contract. "I feel as if I had stepped out from under a heavy load," he explained. "I have been trying for a year to get a release from my contract and then it came about. Often while with First National they lent me to other studios at twice the salary I received from them. I don't think I'm particularly mercenary, but if I'm worth twice what I've been getting I may as well collect the money myself. "It seems like a good omen that the very day I left First National I signed to play in 'A Bill of Divorcement.' "At present the only fly in the ointment is the attitude of my people toward acting. When I dropped the name of Aklom I felt a great relief, as if I had cut loose from a burden of restricting traditions, yet I can't hope to win my family over to my point of view. But I've learned to accept their silent disapproval with such philosophical calm as I can muster and let it go at that. My other personal affairs are running smoothly enough and I have cleared' the decks for action." He has. indeed. Make way for David Manners ! Although he did not tell me, I heard from other sources that his comparatively serene outlook on life dates from the time, perhaps . two years ago, when he began the study of an ancient occult philosophy. (Please donot associate the word "occult" with table rappings, darkened rooms, and kindred tomfoolery.) His interest in spiritual matters C ontinued on page 66