Picture-Play Magazine (1933)

They Say in New York 25 and never working, is headed toward New York to do a play. Speaking of her work in "The Power and the Glory," which she just finished for Fox, those who have seen it toss the word "magnificent" around as casually as if they were saying that she was adequate. The players that Broadway would most like to lure back into the fold are Ann Harding and Claudette Colbert, Fredric March, and Edward G. Robinson. And, of course, they would give anything to get Greta Garbo or Marlene Dietrich. Hollywood Is Piggish. — Not content with what is almost a monopoly on acting talent, Hollywood wants to grab Lillian Gish and Tallulah Bankhead back from the stage. They let them go without pangs and now they regret it. Lillian Gish will make one picture for RKO and then scurry back to the stage. The sultry Tallulah has gone West, just for a visit, she maintains, but she may relent and do one picture. They can't keep her there, though, because she has promised to play "Jezebel" on the stage in October. Until RKO finds a story that suits her, Lillian Gish is living with sister Dorothy and her mother in a lovely old house at Wilson Point, in Norwalk, Connecticut. Nightly Lillian and Dorothy dash over to Westport where Dorothy is playing in the theater, and early morning finds Lillian diving into the Sound and swimming with long, sure strokes far, far out until she is just a dot in the distance. Neighbors never get over marveling at the strength behind her fragile appearance. Boys sit in their boats with oars poised to rush to the rescue, but they haven't been needed yet and the little fiends are frankly disappointed. First Night, Depression Style. — Broadway's only recent play opening was a nasty little number called "Shady Lady," with Helen Kane. All glamour was absent, the audience looking as if the famous first nighters had given their tickets to relatives from out of town. Only two film celebrities were present, Sally Eilers and Jimmy Dunn, who were all but mobbed by autograph seekers. Much better was the opening of the film, "Pilgrimage," because Henrietta Crosman has hosts of friends and John Ford's name as director is guarantee of an evening well spent. Besides, word had got around that a hard-boiled executive of Radio City Music Hall had seen the picture at a preview and had left by a side door to keep associates from seeing that his face was all shiny with tears. Every one was ready for an orgy of weeping and they had it. There is nothing like a good cry over a picture heroine when you have troubles of your own and don't want to give in to them. House Warming. — Gone are the days when you were just as likely — if not more so — to find a picture company in darkest Africa as in New York. We are not exactly a thriving center of production, but people are deciding that maybe it is worth trying to make a picture here. "The Emperor Jones" is finishing to the steady beat of tom-toms. The veteran William de Mille is keeping a watchful eye over the direction of the often inspired but not always steady Dudley Murphy, and Harlem hopes that this picture will pave the way for others with Negro casts. The next picture to be made in the Long Island studio is more of the run-of-the-mill type. It's "Take a Chance," a popular revue of last season. Lillian Roth, Th Photo by Bull e East is trying to steal Diana Wynyard from Hollywood for a picture. who only a few months ago announced her retirement from stage and screen "forever," will play in it. So will Jimmy Dunn, Lilian Bond, Joan Marsh, June Knight, and maybe Buddy Rogers. Soon Arthur Hopkins, the stage producer, will move in there to film his first picture, made from the Arnold Bennett novel, "The Great Adventure." He is making frantic efforts to get Diana Wynyard for the lead. Traffic Tie-up in Social Center. — Leslie Howard caused more excitement around the exclusive Hotel Carlvle than has ever been seen before in conservative East Seventy-sixth Street. He was in town only a few hours. His wife, with their children, had come on a few days before and had attended to the packing and steamship tickets and all that. Everything should have gone smoothly. But Mr. Howard had forgotten all about Continued on page 63