Screenland (May-Oct 1931)

8 SCREENL AND Slams and Salvos A winning team! Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell continue to be the leading co-starring favorites. Charlie's marriage to Virginia Valli hasn't lessened his popularity with the young ladies of the nation. Sprint into print with your screen views! POOR GRETA! (First Prize Letter) It is my contention that publicized people, of the stage, the screen or the less glamorous walks of life, are not the happiest. Genius must of necessity walk alone since there is a scarcity of kind. Poor Greta Garbo ! Greta was scarcely more than a child when she came to us and was pleased and astounded at the sensation she became following the release of "The Torrent." She is just a young girl now, though she is the most sought-after woman in the world, a young girl with rare intelligence, who chooses the wind in her face, the sun on her back and the firm earth under her feet rather than the adulation of those countless thousands who sing her praise. Poor Greta ! Must she tear her heart out to satisfy the gods of publicity? Miss Kay Yarborough, The Washington Times, Washington, D. C. DON'T (Second Prize Letter) Don'ts to greater appreciation of the universal medium of entertainment : Don't enter the theatre in a critical mood ; Don't expect to see and hear something entirely different; Don't feel that even you could have done better ; Don't drift into ennui ; Don't let unfavorable publicity of a player's personal life detract from your appreciation of his work (it's none of your your business, anyway) ; Don't think that you are sitting next to the most vociferous person in the house (changing seats might be a move for the worse) ; Don't make comparisons (it's an odious habit) ; Don't reach a conclusion before the end of the picture ; Don't consider yourself morally superior to thespians (if you weren't so unimportant, you, too, might be scandalized) ; Don't let pronunciations that differ from yours bother you; Don't go to the theatre at all if you are not open-minded ! La Verne Caron, 564 W. Hollywood Ave., Detroit, Michigan. TURN BACK THE MOVIE UNIVERSE! (Third Prize Letter) It always makes one seem like an old fogey to weep over the dear, dead days, and I'm really not that, but still I do wipe away a furtive tear when I look back upon some of the early pictures. The comedies of today seem so elaborate, so pretentious, compared with the old ones. Chaplin takes years to produce one picture. The old Harold Lloyd is no more. In his place is a cautious business man who weighs the laughter-chances of every gag before he dares to put it in his million-dollar production. Where is the Douglas McLean who made us hold our sides in "The Yankee Consul ?" Where is the successor to Constance Talmadge in her light, sophisticated bits of nonsense? We have no counterparts of the Sidney Drew comedies which provoked a gentle smile. Somehow, the present day comedies seem lacking in spontaneity. Jessie F. Edgerly, 4145 Park Avenue, New York, N. Y. Let's get together in this department every month and see who can write the best letter. The most sincere and constructive letter will win the first prize of $20.00. Second prize, $15.00. Third prize, $10.00. And there's a fourth prize of $5.00. All winning letters, not over 150 words, will be printed. Mail your letters so they will reach us the 10th of each month. Address Slams and Salvos department, SCREENLAND, 45 West 45th Street, New York City. LET'S HAVE REVIVALS! (Fourth Prize Letter) This is a plea for forgotten masterpieces. Where are the old films, the Valentino films and the other triumphs? Are movies made to be seen once and then be forgotten? I never saw a Valentino picture ; that is one of the greatest regrets of my life. Will there never be any great revivals of old pictures? In my opinion, great movies are like great books and great works of art. We do not view the great dramas only once ; they are continual sources of pleasure. And are not great moving pictures on a level, with such works of art? It is not logical that all the time and energy used in the creation of a really worthy picture should serve only to give it a few months of life. But the movie masterpieces lie on the dusty shelves like wonderful books, forgotten, after being read once, but I hope not forever. Ralph Friedrich, 3846 Millsbrae Ave., _ Hyde Park. Cincinnati, Ohio. CINEMA REPERTORY? Why don't we have repertory houses for the revival of classic and near-classic silent and talking pictures? As time goes on, an increasingly large number of masterpieces and exceptional films enter the limbo of forgotten and inaccessible things. Many of the fans would gladly see these pictures if possible, but few such theatres exist in the country today. Not only older persons who remember these titles, but the younger people who are familiar only with recent productions would eagerly patronize such old favorites as "The Three Musketeers," "Robin Hood," and the other great Fairbanks silents ; the Valentino series of poular successes; the Garbo-Gilbert (Continued on page 114)