Screenland (May-Oct 1929)

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98 SCREENLAND Hollywood Week Ends — Continued from page 23 courses, a small eighteen hole and a large eighteen hole. There are no water hazards but plenty of others. The small course is finished and the large one soon will be. In July, by the way, there is to be a tournament and the largest prize ever offered for a golf match. It is $25,000 and will attract players from all over the world. An Olympic-length pool will be finished by that time and you can imagine what the swimmers will do to that. Incidentally there are hot springs near the pool which will be utilized to heat the water. The hot springs will be a feature eventually. When business became so flourishing a new hotel was built and two or three dozen bungalows beautifully furnished. In the new hotel I was told there was not one white bath tub — all are colored! Some are black with futuristic nickle fixtures. Some are lavender, or green, or yellow — all are beautiful. There are very fine horses to ride and that is what Bebe Daniels, Marian Nixon, Corinne Griffith, Laura La Plante and Bill Seiter do. The horses are all prize show horses from the Carnation stables, said to be one of the finest in California. Almost everyone drives over to Tia Juana and watches the races even though they don't bet. Marian Nixon is one of these and had been going down for years, long before the Caliente Hotel was built. Last fall the friends she was with kidded her about never betting. "It isn't any use," said Marian. "My money on a horse would make him run backwards." They finally got her to bet $5.00. "You won't miss it if you do lose," they .said. So for the first time in her life Marian put money on a horse — and believe it or not that pony actually turned around and ran the other way! He was a fine racer, too — no one has ever known why he lost his head that day. And then there are the players who have yachts and think time is wasted when they go anywhere else. Among these are Belle Bennett, who entertains every week-end that she can be on her yacht, the 'Wee Dove'; and Conrad Nagel likewise on the 'Tiberon.' Among others who have yachts are John Barrymore, John Gilbert, Douglas MacLean, Cecil DeMille, Robert Ellis and Richard Barthelmess. They are not pretentious, about seventy-five feet long. All the Hollywood sailors visit and borrow back and forth. If it happens that they anchor within hailing distance of each other they have swimming matches from one boat to the next. Mr. and Mrs. Conrad Nagel were entertaining Lois Wilson and Leatrice Joy. They were having breakfast on deck when they heard, "Ship Ahoy," and there was Douglas MacLean chugging up in a dingey. Everyone uses nautical terms and very formally too. "Got any gas?" asked Doug. "Sure," said Conrad, "Come on and have some breakfast and I'll give you some afterwards." A popular beach is Malibu — a little stretch of sand twenty miles down from Santa Monica. Far enough away to avoid the usual Sunday motoring. Clara Bow, Virginia Valli, Ronald Colman, Richard Dix, Herbert Brenon, Louise Fazenda and about a dozen others have cottages there. Some are comfortable enough for week-end parties all through the winter months; others are just small cottages. Ronald Colman hasn't even electricity in his because he likes lamp light. The cottages are built very closely together with yards or tennis i Connie Talmadge and "Venus.' What a combination! courts in the back and the beach for their front yard. They are all as close to the sea as safety permits, but imagine the embarassment of Patsy Ruth Miller when, bidding good-bye to a guest, she saw a huge green billow blot out the sky and come hurtling toward the guest and the open door! Pat hadn't time to explain — she just jerked her friend unceremoniously into the room and banged the door in the face of the aggressive wave. The ocean has not misbehaved since and Winston, Pat's young brother declared, Father Neptune had taken a shine to the young lady! Pat and Winston and their friends like to have a set of tennis, then play medicine ball, then plunge into the surf and ride the waves on surf boards. Virginia Valli likes to laze around in the sand and then have a brisk swim. You have to be pretty brisk in the Pacific surf, too. It certainly is frisky. The talking pictures have kept the players on such a stretch of work that most of them want complete relaxation, and for this Palm Springs and Arrowhead with its vapor baths are the popular resorts. There is everything to be found at both spots only Arrowhead is in the mountains and Palm Springs is a tiny oasis near the Painted Desert. There, amid burning sands and cold and starry nights, one can ride, dance or swim in the pool; or one can benefit by the mud baths which for generations have been maintained by a family of Indians. The father of the present manager, it is said, refused a hundred thousand dollars from Fleishman Baths. The old Indian declared that a quarter was high enough to pay for a bath and he wouldn't know what to do with so much money. All he wanted was his hammock, his palm leaf fan, and enough tobacco to smoke. And although his son dresses in American clothes, he keeps up the traditions of his family in the management of the place. Many years ago the oasis used to be on the other side of the mountain and then, as the Indians put it, Taqua 'talked' and the baths and oasis disappeared to be found months afterward on its present site. The baths are a volcanic disturbance in the earth. They occupy a space of about eight feet in circumference. A board partition is driven down in the center and over both divisions is built a large bath house having a dressing room on cither side of the partition— one for men and one for women. Sally Blanc -said it was a weird feeling to have the mud creep up, up, up. Sometimes you can't sink further than your knees; sometimes just above the waist. No one has ever been known to sink lower than the chin. Sometimes it is swirling sand, sometimes it is quiet; and there are about two feet of crystal clear water above the sand. Palm Springs is a great location site, too. The surrounding canyons offer admirable retreats for sham battles and 'westerns.' Lilyan Tashman and Edmund Lowe like Arrowhead when they need a rest from the studio grind. Not that they complain about the hard life they lead, because they adore it. But just the same it gets to be a bit thick when you have to study dialogue at night for the next day's work. Eddie grudges every dinner party Lilyan gives, because he has to walk out on his guests. When they go to Arrowhead they walk and ride and take the vapor baths. They live in one of the bungalows rather than the hotel because it is quiet and they don't meet anyone. At that Lilyan and Eddie were returning to their bungalow one late afternoon, when suddenly right in the middle of the path they saw an enormous wildcat who stood and stared solemnly at them. Both were so surprised they could only grab each other's hands and stare back. And then the animal, after looking them all over, bolted into the wood. Arrowhead is very popular too, especially with the Swedish and Hungarian element in Hollywood. Vilma Banky and Rod are often there, and the Lubitsch's. Baclanova has a house near the resort and spent her honeymoon there. John Gilbert likes it too, but Greta Garbo is perfectly satisfied with the sands of Santa Monica. So is Camilla Horn. She has a beach house in which she lives all year round. Reginald Denny and his bride retire to the fastness of his mountain cabin in the San Bernardino mountains. There is snow there the greater part of the time and Reg likes to carry provisions home on a dog sled himself. He skis and skates and in the summer there is tennis and hiking and trout fishing. Corinne Griffith made "Outcast" in San Francisco, but was working so hard she didn't have time to visit Chinatown, or play a game at the Pebble Beach Golf Club on the way home. As soon as she had a breathing spell she and her husband Walter Morosco climbed into their roadster and beat it to San Francisco for an extended week-end to take in these two things that had been lingering in Corinne's mind, making her feel thwarted. Of course, Agua Caliente is the place to go! It is to Hollywood what Coney Island is to Harlem and the Bronx. When Hollywood really wants to play it goes th°re. The principal fascination, taking it by and large, is the roulette and other gaming tables. Some of the girls and boys in Hollywood have been to Monte Carlo, but I think the sum of those who haven't is in the majority, so when they find themselves in a casino their excitement knows no