Screenland (May-Oct 1931)

for June 19 3 1 17 th ■ SHE next best thing to going to Hollywood yourself is to listen to Cecil Beaton Mr. Beaton is the celebrated young English artist who comes Delight Evans oyer ^ere once a y£ar tQ tajce tures of the film famous. And what pictures! You'll remember this Magazine gave you a special gallery of them last year, and that Cecil selected his "Six Most Beautiful Women in Hollywood" for us. I thought you'd like to know how he feels about it in 1931. You'll find his new gallery of stars' portraits in the first rotogravure section in this issue — each photograph autographed both by the stars and Mr. Beaton, so that they are well worth saving and framing. Incidentally, since Screenland last year invited Mr. Beaton to name his selection of the loveliest ladies in pictures, newspapers have been after him to do it for them this year! It's a good idea! Last year's list of Beaton's Six Most Beautiful Women in Hollywood: Greta Garbo. Norma Shearer. Dolores Del Rio. Marion Davies. Lillian Gish. Alice White. This year's list: Greta Garbo. Ina Claire. Marlene Dietrich. Marion Davies. Norma Shearer. Lilyan Tashman. And Beaton adds one more for 1931: Tallulah Bankhead, the amazing American girl who has made such a success in Cecil's London, and is now over here making pictures. Consider the two lists. How times have changed! No mention of Lillian Gish or Alice White or Del Rio. Garbo — Shearer — Davies hold their own. Now look at the newcomers — Ina Claire, filmatically obscure last year, now a bright and blazing star. Dietrich, who has swept all before her. And Tash man— about whom Beaton says: "I suppose she is not strictly beautiful. But I love her nose!" And now for a bit of "film chat." Garbo and Dietrich? Mr. Beaton sees no good reason for odious comparisons in this case, but he still puts Garbo first. Though, he adds, Dietrich was charming in "Morocco." Garbo? Ah, Garbo! He still has made no pictures of her. That doesn't worry Mr. Beaton, what with all the other girls swarming to sit for him. "She has a sense of humor," he says. Shearer is "amazing." Tashman — -not only clever, amusing — but really intelligent. "I have talked to her, seriously," says Mr. Beaton, "and she has a most interesting mind." And — that adorable nose! Tallulah — she is an old friend; he has made some lovely pictures of her. Will she be a success with American movie audiences, with her exotic appeal and sophistication? He doesn't know. He wonders. But his greatest enthusiasm — and if you knew Mr. Beaton you would understand that his enthusiasm is rather a tribute, for he looks at Hollywood beauties with the cold, cruel eye of an artist — is Ina Claire. To him, she is incomparable. She has a quality, Beaton believes, shared by no other screen actress. And — I really don't know if I have his permission to quote him on this, but I'm taking that chance because I think it is so interesting — it seems that Miss Claire has determined, from now on, to put more heart into her screen portrayals. To feel it here — to make herself, in other words, a warm, human favorite rather than the brittle, sophisticated Claire that Broadway knows. Beaton thinks she will be a very great screen star in her "new personality." You'll find his camera impression of her in our section. And now I won't keep you in suspense any longer. Turn to the Beaton pictures. They will give you an intimate insight into the moods and manners of these stars of ours. I'm sure you'll have a good time!