Screenland (May-Oct 1931)

for May 19 3 1 121 Rumors abound anent Dietrich. It is variously claimed that she is really an American-born German girl, just as Emil Jannings was born in Brooklyn ; that she lived in San Diego and won a beauty contest there; that she had played numerous extra and atmosphere roles in Hollywood without anyone discovering her, before going to Germany ; that she originally studied to be a violinist, but hurt her wrist and so drifted to the stage in Germany; that her foreign accent is a clever pose and that if one listens attentively, she will be heard to relapse into good American. But I haven't been able to verify the San Diego beauty contest story, if true. I mention it only to show how Dietrich is continually discussed over Hollywood dinner tables. While in Hollywood Marlene lives quietly with a cook, a maid, and a RollsRoyce ! She is absurdly fond of toys and owns a woolly toy dog on which she lavishes much affection. She loves buying American dolls and toys for the baby. She has a gay sense of humor which is always on tap, even when she's worried. In Hollywood she has become "Dutchy" to all her friends. She carries a portable phonograph around with her, and she is perfectly piggy about strawberries. All of which is different from Garbo. Garbo keeps very much to herself, and these days she goes straight from home to the studio, and back again the moment work is finished. She rarely chats on the set and has a perfect horror of strangers. For quite a while now it has been impossible to get Garbo to a party. As for interviewers, she still avoids them as though they had the plague. Still, there is a human side to Garbo. When she first came to Hollywood, she was a constant visitor at the home of Frances Marion, the Fred Thompson castle high on a hill. Then she became just dear Greta, and was simply darling with Frances' children, who adored her. She would scamper around and play with them like a kid. She loved the horses, too, seemed to have a spiritual communion <#• with them, which they understood. This Greta could sit placidly for hours, admiring a summer sunset, revelling in a summer night, from that gorgeous garden. Frances said she seemed to become a part of nature itself, actually to have spiritual communion with the universe. This was in the days of Frances' widowhood. They don't see so much of each other now. So the Greta she prefers to show to the world is not necessarily the real Greta. In those realms in which she differs from Marlene Dietrich, she is a very distinct personality, and there is room for both of them. Off the set Greta is indifferent to her personal appearance, whereas Marlene is smart in appearance always — which somewhat agrees with the American-born theory. However, her biography at the studio sets forth that she was born in Berlin on December 27th (no year mentioned!), her father having been an army officer who was killed in the war. Her mother still lives in Berlin, and she is an only child. She was educated at private schools, proved good at languages, and later studied violin for the concert stage. The injury to the wrist spoiled that, hence her entry at the Max Reinhardt School of Drama, which soon supplanted concert work ideas. Her very first part was in the German version of "Broadway." Then came musical comedy and the discovery that her singing voice was unusual. Her first pictures, both released in this country without creating the slightest stir, were "I Kiss Your Hand, Madame" and "Three Loves." UFA productions. Garbo, as we know, is now about 23, going on 24. Dietrich might be about 26 or 27, yet has younger manners in public. Garbo can only be playful in private, Dietrich is naturally playful. In the meantime, Hollywood won't be quite happy until they have seen these two together. One pictures Garbo being a little formal and polite, and Dietrich magnificently giving Garbo subtle homage. Marlene is like that. She can afford to be. What about these African Films? Continued from page 2j> Trader Horn," I marvel at her perseverance in braving the thorn brush in her scanty costume, and at her courage in daring to encounter the African sun with no head covering. From sunrise to sunset, while I was in Equatorial Africa, I never stepped out into the open without a helmet or a double-terai hat on. (Believe it or not, I even wore a helmet when I went swimming in Lake Kivu!) I have heard that Miss Booth, since her return, has suffered either from the return of the fever or from the effects of the sun. I am not surprised when I consider the risks she ran. Into the two-hour showing of "Trader Horn" there has been packed such a wealth of material and thrills that the "shot" of the pygmies seems a bit superfluous. However, it would have been a waste of time and energy not to have brought in the "Little People" inasmuch as the expedition traveled, by train, by boat, and by car, at least a thousand miles from the East Coast to photograph them. Also, pygmies are popular this year ! Naturally, there has been some very clever faking in parts of this picture. For instance, if you know your lions, it is easily noted when the Hollywood lions enter the field of action to fight over the dead antelope. The Hollywood lions have beautiful long thick manes which have thrived in captivity, while the veldt lions' manes have been kept closely cropped by contacts with thorn brush ! Beyond doubt, brush-covered barricades enclosed the arenas where the lion pursued and brought down the impalla, and where the leopard fought with the baboons and with the hyenas. Experience has taught me that lions and leopards naturally do their prowling for food at night — ■ an inconsiderateness which makes photographing difficult. Some of the photographs of the animals were thrilling. The "shots" of the crocodiles were especially good. However, there were one or two gruesome close-ups of dying animals which added no thrill to the picture and left a bad taste. The close-up of the death agony of the rhino was horrible to watch. On the whole, "Trader Horn" presents a real melodramatic African spectacle that no one can afford to miss. Personally, I expect to see it again — at least two or three times. Furthermore, to my way of thinking, it seems ethical to "doctor" scenes in "Trader Horn" for the sake of added interest in a fictional picture, while it does not seem ethical to impose such methods into a "would-be natural history travelogue" film. "Ingagi," which created a stir last Fall, was advertised as an authentic African film wherein a gorilla captured and carried off a woman. 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