Picture-Play Magazine (Sep 1928 - Feb 1929)

94 Continued from page 59 Miss Cherrill resembles, though very slightly, Edna Purviance, who was Chaplin's lead in so many pictures. She is a Chicago girl, twenty years of age, and a friend of Sue Carol. She was introduced to Chaplin at the Hollywood boxing stadium. Ex-in-laws Star Together. Just about the most exciting theatrical event that has occurred in a long time was the premiere of a new stage play, with Alice Joyce and Owen Moore as the principal actors. All Hollywood turned out to see them. The play was called "The Marriage Bed," and seemed to be a deadly serious treatise on a domestic triangle, but everybody had a most enjoyable time applauding Owen and Alice. In a way, it was a curious combining of talents, since at one time Miss Joyce was married to Owen's brother, Tom. We noted, incidentally, that Tom himself was in the audience, and we have no doubt that one of the baskets of roses which Miss Joyce received was a tribute from her former husband. Ramon's Dual Career. Ramon Novarro's dream of a lifetime is to be realized. He is to go into grand opera — or if not grand opera, some sort of musical work, aside from pictures. And he will also appear in pictures. The new contract that he has signed with Metro-Goldwyn provides for this double life, if you want to call it that. For six months of the year he will devote his talents to the uplift of the cinema, and the remaining six months he will study singing until such time as he can make his debut. Incidentally, he may go on a recital tour with Elsie Janis. And, there are whispers of an engagement. Gretchen Hartman Returns. Do you remember Gretchen Hartman, or, as she was also known, Sonia Markova? That goes back a long way into the distant film past. Gretchen Hartman is Mrs. Alan Hale, and has been away from picture work for six or seven years, but she is shortly to be seen again in the Rupert Hughes story "She Goes to War," which we have mentioned elsewhere in this department. Mrs. Hale is the mother of two children, and as her family is beginning to grow up, she feels that she can very well pursue her career again. Meanwhile, her husband has become a very popular actor. Two Acquire Step-parents. Both Gloria Swanson and Clara Bow have acquired new step-parents. Hollywood High Lights Gloria's mother was married at Tijuana, to a Chicago capitalist and patron of the opera, by the name of C. C. Woodruff, while Miss Bow's father was married to Tui Lorraine, former secretary to Clara. It seemed all manner of trouble developed for Mrs. Bow, right after the wedding, over her rights to enter this country under the immigration law. She is a citizen of New Zealand, and is of Irish descent. Clara herself did not attend the wedding. Gloria's mother was twice married before her wedding to Woodruff. Bright Trio Reunited. Our pretty dancing daughters will be together again ! By this we mean that Joan Crawford, Anita Page, and Dorothy Sebastian, the clever trio which made "Our Dancing Daughters" a delightful and interesting picture, will rejoin their talents in "Brass Band," written especially for them. "Our Dancing Daughters" is unquestionably one of the brightest hits of the year, and here's hoping "Brass Band" will be another just as good. Bancroft a Cup Winner. Can you imagine George Bancroft winning a dancing cup in competition with Hollywood's gay flapper set? Well, neither could we, quite, until we saw him do it one night at the Montmartre. And be it known that George does step more than gracefully. It was the first cup he had ever won, though. In case you are anxious to know who are the most famous dancers in Hollywood, it will be just as well to remark that Joan Crawford still heads the list. She has about forty dance cups to her credit. Oh, no, we're forgetting that Reed Howes has more than a hundred, but among the girls Joan leads. Other leaders are Audrey Ferris and Ethel Jackson, who are running a pretty close race for second, all the time ; Marion Nixon, Ruth Roland, and Duane Thompson. Clara Bow at one time was regularly victorious, but doesn't take part in contests so much any more. Eddie Active Speaker. Edmund Lowe goes from talkie to talkie. He appeared in "Making the Grade," one of the first produced by Fox, and now he is in another called "In Old Arizona." Both will be dialogued throughout. Eddie told us the last time we saw him that Raoul Walsh would not lose his eyesight as a result of the accident that occurred on location in Utah. Walsh was riding in a car at night, when a jack rabbit took a sudden leap across the road, and was catapulted in some fashion from the hood of the machine through the windshield. The broken glass caused a gash across Raoul's eye, and it was thought that it might permanently blind him. Walsh was directing and acting in the film "In Old Arizona," at the time. Separation Will Stay Put. The plan of Marie Prevost and Kenneth Harlan to forget about separation, divorce, and such unpleasantness, didn't work out. They have decided it is better to live apart permanently. Marie also had a little squabble over a picture she was to make for Columbia, but even this doesn't convince us that she has suddenly become pugnacious. Marie is too happy-go-lucky and good natured for that. Don't Tell Connie. Buster Collier and Louise Brooks attended the first Mayfair dance of the season together. An Infrequent Emissary. Visits of the stork have become less frequent in filmland than a year or so ago. Still he hovers occasionally, and we understand will pay a call at the Monte Blue domicile about Christmas time. He also flitted over the roof tree of Constance Howard Jones not long ago. She is the mother of a baby girl. Youngster Causes Trouble. "Nize Baby," the motion picture, turned out to be a naughty child. But, fortunately, only in the preliminary part of its history. There is therefore a chance for the wayward infant's reform. What happened was that it was decided practically to remake the film based on the Milt Gross story, after it had been some time under way. The cast was changed, as was the director. Of the original group of players only Vera Gordon and Hank Mann survive. Another picture that encountered trouble is "The College Coquette." So rah-rah girls and small children seem to be responsible for most current movie perplexities. As Polly Says Tete-a-tete. Polly Moran is always the life of the party. Whenever she is off duty she visits the publicity department and entertains the boys by the hour. Whenever Polly is around, a crowd generally gathers, too. "I always did like a big audience," said Polly, "but I'm not much good on a toot-a-triot."