Picture-Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1926)

70 Hollywood High Lights Glimpses of what's happening in the realm of the stars and the studios. By Edwin and Elza Schallert REUNITED! For the first time since they played in "Peter Pan," Betty Bronson, Esther Ralston, and ManBrian have all been together on the Coast, and quite naturally they held a reunion party in token of this event. Tiny replicas of their characters in the Barrie picture served as place cards, while Captain Hook, the crocodile, and the nurse dog, Nana, were represented in the icecream molds. Miss Ralston also celebrated her first anniversary as a leading woman of the first magnitude by becoming the wife of a film business man, George W. Frey. The wedding took place on Christmas Day at the Riverside Mission Inn, with Mary Brian acting as bridesmaid and Neil Hamilton as best man. Miss Ralston is the first of the trio to be married. The other two girls are several years younger than she, and "entirelv engrossed in their' art." Miss Ralston, though, is just about "equally engrossed" as she intends to go right on with her career, and proved it by starting work, a few days after her wedding, on a new production, "The Blind Goddess." Betty and Esther and Mary have been linked together through their appearance together in the famous fantasy, and have had a very de "As man to man, what m. do you think of it ?" says the midget Charles 4fc \ Becker to the giant Karl \ Metro-Goldwyn's "The Devilkin." Dane, pals together in voted sentiment for one another ever since. Mary and Betty, in particular, are great chums and are constantly together when they are working at the same studio. Until lately, thev have been separated much of the time, as one or the other of them has been working in the East at intervals. Betty has had the biggest opportunities of the trio, and has won the greatest amount of popularity through the charm of her personality. She is now doing a semigrown-up role in a picture from the pen of the Hungarian dramatist Ernest Vadja (pronounced Voida), playing a little working girl with whom an opera tenor falls in love. Little Mary Brian, of whom much has been expected, is said to realize the hopes of her boosters in her performance in "Behind the Front," the big war comedy in which Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton have the leads. She will probably also be seen in either "Old Ironsides" or "Rough Riders," two of Paramount 's most important forthcoming pictures. Miss Ralston has her chance at prominence in "The American Venus." Which all goes to indicate that "Peter Pan" was a lucky picture indeed for the three of them. Can't Forget the Past. Just when nearly everybody had agreed that the movie sheik had finally been throttled, gagged, choked, and otherwise permanently disposed of, along comes Rudolph Valentino with the idea of resuscitating the character. Flis next picture, as announced, will be "The Son of the Sheik," the widely known newspaper serial written by E. M. Hull, who. was also responsible for "The Sheik," in which Rudy achieved such a vogue that he almost caused the youth of the nation to don turbans, harem skirts and other Oriental paraphernalia. We don't know whether it is Rudy's own personal hope not, as it would be one of several recent instances hope not as it would be one of several recent instances of his bad judgment. What we had sincerely wished he might do was to keep on the course which he started in "The Eagle," defective though that picture was, and to continue to specialize in a mingling of comedy and adventure. Not long ago, we saw "Blood and Sand" again, and though the picture is now some seasons old, it was vigorously applauded by the audience at the revival showing. Rudy had a chance to show his talent for comedy in the earlier scenes, and these were greeted with genuine laughter. And his portrayal of the tragedy of the ill-fated toreador is still by all odds his biggest achievement. It is striking proof of Rudy's qualifications as an actor. New Contracts — New Smiles. Smiles are in order on the faces of many of the feminine fair in Hollywood just now. And the reason is that a number of them have recently signed brand-new contracts, or have had salary advances that will enable them to invest in a much bigger assortment of Easter hats and frocks than they had anticipated. Vilma Banky has so successfully survived her period of apprenticeship in American films, that her first contract, signed in Europe, was torn up by Samuel Gold