Picture-Play Magazine (Sep 1928 - Feb 1929)

30 Over trie Teacups Photo by Ball Silent drama by day, and dialogue pictures at night keep Phyllis Haver busy. trouble by repeating it. Margaret has secret ambitions to be a writer. She has a typewriter, and almost every day she jots down thoughts that occur to her. Most of her writing is satirical, and according to Phyllis it is awfully clever. But Margaret is shy about it. She tears the things up after she has written them. But Phyllis got hold of one; and is keeping it to send to her friends as a greeting next Christmas. She is furious that Margaret didn't write it sooner, so that she could have used it for the holidays this year. It is a shopping hint for the tired business man. It tells men just how they can get rid of all their Christmas worries. All they have to do to please a girl is to buy a Rolls-Royce, or a few acres of real estate, taxes paid, and any girl would appreciate the thoughtfulness of their Christmas remembrance ! "Margaret has made sixteen pictures in the last , eleven months, and Phyllis hasn't had a day off since she can remember. While she is making one picture by day, she is making dialogue sequences for the preceding picture at night. It seems to agree with her. She never looked better. If you want to be thrilled by the most bewilderingly lovely clothes you have seen in ages, just go to see her in 'The Shady Lady.' "Speaking of clothes,' we decided that no one ought to be allowed to select her own. Margaret has always had very definite ideas of just ^what was most becoming to her. She always went in for tightfitting waists, sort of basque effects. Travis Banton, the designer at Paramount, made a negligee for her to wear in 'His Private Life,' and she didn't like it at all. It wasn't according to her ideas: of what looked best on her.. She started off to the set, all disgruntled, because she thought she looked terrible, and every one simply raved that she had never looked so well. . The things that Margaret used to design for herself were pretty, but they weren't smart. They had a Hollywood look about them. But from now on, Margaret has sworn to put herself in the hands of expert designers and never venture a suggestion of her own." "Would you mind going over and repeat that lecture at the table in the center of the room?" I asked. Fanny turned pale. Right there in Montmartre was a gathering of Hollywood stars who needed to learn the lesson that Margaret learned. Every one of them had on a dress that looked like every other dress she had ever worn. It is all right for a star to have ideas about what is becoming to her, but she shouldn't be stubborn about it. That reminds me of the designer who came out here for a while. She asked all her prospective customers whom they considered the best-dressed girls in pictures. If they said Corinne Griffith, Florence Vidor, Lilyan Tashman, or Norma Talmadge, the designer knew she could please them. But if they: said Claire Windsor, Billie Dove, or any of the ostrich-featherand-sequin group, the designer showed them the door, knowing she could never be true to her own ideas of smartness, and design anything they would wear. . "I suppose you have heard that Paramount has given Evelyn Brent a new contract. Wouldn't they be foolish if they didn't? All the other big companies were just waiting to grab her when tier contract expired. I The opening night of 'Interference' was a triumph for her. She is simply ideal for talking pictures," Fanny went. on. "Openings at the Carthay Circle always remind me of the boxholders there. There's a society to break into ! The people who live: in the neighborhood ."-save up their wooden boxes, bring them out on premiere nights, and stand on them to watch the celebrities arrive. Society notes really should feature them, instead of the interminable accounts of how many stars 'arrived in ermine coats. For instance, they could tell that Alma McDougail stood on her usual breakfast-food packing case, two sweaters Mary Duncan proved to the Fox studio scribes that she could write her own speeches. Photo by Ball