Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Jul 1929)

32 It may have been the influence of college pictures, or a feeling among to form "The Regulars." Anyhow, the club is unlike any of the others of "heavy" reading Duane B$ A Mary Brian EY! Blazers and socks — fraternities and hops — rah! rah! H-o-l-l-y-w-o-o-d ! We're collegiate ! Yes, ma'am, and getting more all the time. Stripped flivvers, dancing contests, baggy trousers, we've got all this and more. Believe it or not, Hollywood has a sorority. An honest-to-goodness sorority, and I don't mean a social club like "Our Club," "The Thalians." "The Regulars" is different. This is a real, authentic sorority of motion-picture girls, with secret meetings, sorority pins, vows, dues, members and everything. Four years ago it was started by a handful of studio girls, about six of them. Now look at it ! Esther Ralston, Sally Eilers, Sue Carol, Jobyna Ralston, Marian Nixon, Jeanette Loff , Marian Douglas, Alyce Mills, Priscilla Bonner, Marjorie Bonner, Virginia Brown Faire, Duane Thompson, Menifee I. Johnstone, Florence Gilbert, Barbara Luddy, Lucille Hutton, Rebecca Uhr, Andree Tourneur, Pauline Curley, Joan Meredith, Mary Brian, and I — we all belong. And are proud of it. I don't want to brag, but we're exclusive. There are but two requirements for membership, but they are iron-bound. To be invited into this sorority of Hollywood girls a candidate must, first, be connected with the movie industry in some capacity, and she must be a good sport and a good scout — in other words, "regular," because that is what we call ourselves. Every Monday night the sorority meets. Boy friends are ditched. Social engagements are postponed. Nothing must interfere with attendance. Night work is the only excuse, besides illness. If a girl is absent more than three times, without a suitable reason, she is automatically dropped from membership. Fifty cents is the fine for arriving late. "The Regulars" countenance little or no temperament. No matter how exalted the studio position $f the girl, she is merely a member of this sorority, and if she is going to remain a member, she has to live nn up to its rules and regulations. Some of the directors and executives at the various studios, would drop in their tracks at the way a few of their unruly pets are kept up to the chalk mark at the meetings. And they love it. Position in the film world means so little in this sorority, that some of its most illustrious members have been dropped as automatically as an extra girl would be fired off a set for tardiness, or lack of attention, or some other misdemeanor. And once a girl is out, she is rarely invited back again. Some one else is voted into her place and the group goes on. It is no easy job to get in, in the first place. Members are elected as follows : Six girls already in the club must know the candidate. Out of that group the girl who knows her ^ best proposes her name and gives a little talk, tell , \ ing why she would be a good member. The girl's name is brought up for discussion. If any one knows of a reason why she shouldn't be invited to join, she steps right up and gives it. Candidates have been voted out of the sorority for odd reasons, that is, odd for Hollywood. "She snubs her old friends — she's nasty to the people who work under her at the studio — she isn't a girl's girl" — are a few of the arguments that have gone up against some of the most popular players. But if a girl is "regular" and passes muster, then she is voted on by secret ballot at three consecutive meetings. If the final vote is unanimous, the girl is invited into the sorority by letter. She is requested to notify the president at the earliest opportunity whether or Esther Ralston. Jeanette Loff. Florence Gilbert.