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Eing an Actor?
"He's a Natural' Says Mack Sennett
by Jed Buell Mack Sennett Studios
MACK SENNETT considers Bing Crosby a "find." And Mr. Sennett, who is credited with finding many of the movie artists who are now stars, has a reputation for being nearly infallible in his hunches.
Despite the fact that moviedom apparently has all of the talent it can maintain on its payrolls, Mack Sennett is preeminently a firm believer that there are as many fish in the river as ever came out of it. He is continually browsing around in public places on the lookout for promising talent.
Following one of these hunches, Mr. Sennett began to appear nightly at the Cocoanut Grove in Hollywood a few months ago, and revealed a sudden interest in dancing to the "entertainer of stars," Gus Arnheim, with whose band Bing Crosby was entertaining, as onethird of the Rhythm Boys.
Sennett knew that Bing had tried out for the pictures, and had seen him in minor parts in several pictures in which Paul Whiteman's and Arnheim's band figured. He knew that the directors hadn't gone into any ecstasies over Crosby's work in these films. No one considered him an actor.
But Mack Sennett saw something the others had missed. To him, Bing's constant witticisms, his bright, effortless "ad-libbing," his looks, his whole manner, spelled one thing — comedian.
When the Rhythm Boys took their sudden and mysterious departure from the Grove, Mack Sennett collared Bing, and immediately began plans for some comedy "shorts."
From his first appearance before the
critical eye of the camera, Bing fully justified Mr. Sennett's hunch. He played his part perfectly; he spoke his lines as a veteran, and it took but little coaching to perfect his style.
But more than that — and what delighted Mack Sennett — was his natural ability to put more into his acting than the script called for. Little quips — subtle wise-cracks — an extra phrase here, and a clever word there — improvising that never failed to improve wherever it bobbed up. No wonder Mr. Sennett signed him up on contract.
"He's a natural artist!" is the Sennett verdict.
The four pictures made at the Sennett studios are: "I Surrender Dear," "One More Chance," "The Billboard Girl," and "Dream House." When "I Surrender, Dear" opened at the Paramount in New York for a week, it broke all records in attendance. And the $72,000 in net box office receipts were a cold testimony in cash to another triumph of the "Sennett hunch."
As yet, only the first two pictures are being shown in the West. "The Billboard Girl" and "Dream House," now being shown to packed houses in the East, will soon be sent West for a run in Bing's own "neighborhood" (we won't say "home town," for there are about a half dozen cities on the Pacific Coast squabbling over the honor at present) .
And if anyone thinks "such popularity mustn't be deserved," witness the $10,000 a week that are being poured into the Crosby treasury. If that isn't popularity, what is?
RADIO DOINGS