Screenland (May-Oct 1931)

112 SCRE ENL AND A New Slant On Greta Garbo— Continued from page 21 together, looking out over the water, and talking Swedish most of the time," Ploen related. "One afternoon one of the fellows got out a revolver and several of the company started shooting at a five-gallon can on shore, but they were all missing it. Besides being an electrician, I am also a. gunsmith," Ploen explained, "so one of the boys brought the revolver to me and asked me to see what was wrong with it. I aimed at the can and hit it three times in succession. 'The gun's all right,' I told him, 'what you fellows need is practice.' "Garbo, sitting away from the group, seemed suddenly interested. 'Can you show me how to do that ?' she asked me. " 'Sure, but don't let these fellows onto the trick,' I told her. We walked away from the group and I explained how to aim and fire correctly. " 'Oh,' she said, 'then there is a trick to it!' "She watched closely and then very earnestly took practice shots at objects in the water. Then she walked back to the waiting group, and tried her aim at the target on shore. Over-anxious, she missed in her first attempt, but then hit it three times straight," Ploen recalled. "She thanked me, and laughing heartily, handed the gun to one of the boys and walked back to her seat to see whether any of the fellows could beat her mark. None could — and she seemed as genuinely 'tickled' with her performance as a youngster would be with a new toy." "Everyone trembled when Garbo first came on the lot," Dorothy Sebastian, who played in "A Woman of Affairs" and "The Single Standard" with Garbo. informed me. "That is, everyone but I," she amended. "I decided that I would just 'be myself ; that Greta must be only human and that she probably disliked all the kowtowing that greeted her from all sides. So, when our director introduced us, I said, 'Hello' casually, for I was actually not much impressed. "1 must have betrayed my feelings, because Greta inquired: 'How do you feel?' " 'Tired,' I answered. " T do, too,' said Greta. " 'Good,' I grunted. I am afraid that I was almost rudely laconic, for I was really dead tired. " 'I'm glad that you are tired,' Greta went on ; T like tired people.' "We seemed to get along famously from then on. A few minutes later it was lunch time, and Garbo invited me to eat with her, in her dressing-room. I had lunch with her often, after that. "When we had finished 'A Woman of Affairs,' I rented a new house and started in to re-furnish it. Greta asked to come over and see the place. I told her to come right along, but warned her that everything was terribly topsy-turvy. "When Greta dropped in, my chairs hadn't yet arrived and so we ate our luncheon — baked beans and Boston brown bread — sitting on the floor. Greta seemed to enjoy the grand confusion. It was really a lark for her, as she enjoys herself most when she can romp about and not have to give a thought to how she looks. "Mentally, she is very bright. She is stimulating to talk to. She enjoys a good joke, even when it is on herself, which is, after all, the acid test for a sense of humor. "From a professional angle," Dorothy went on, "I believe Greta is born with the gift of genius and that as a film star she hasn't yet scratched the surface of the glorious future that awaits her. I think her role in 'Anna Christie' came closest to showing us what the real talents of Greta Garbo can do." "She is original. Her acting finesse is very nearly perfect. Although the term is popularly misused, I must say that Greta Garbo is a genius," is Gavin Gordon's tribute to the star of "Romance," in which he played opposite the glamorous Greta. He, like Dorothy Sebastian, believes that Garbo is merely at the beginning of her success. "I have never worked with anybody that I thought was a finer artist. She has a terrific personality which she carries into her work ; and she does not take the easy road to success. Usually genius goes hand in glove with laziness, but Miss Garbo is the very epitome of hard work and conscientiousness," says Mr. Gordon. "Her thorough understanding of acting technique is amazing. It is second nature to her. In talking over the script of 'Romance,' I thought she showed more brains and good judgment than anyone on the set. I believe no one on the screen today approaches her for sheer acting knowledge and ability." "Unassuming, yet strangely fascinating," said Gustav von Seyffertitz, when questioned upon the subject of Greta Garbo. "When I first met her," he recalled, "she was very, very shy. We were making 'The Mysterious Lady' and American picturemaking methods were, strange and complex to her. "Although I had a big part in that picture, I had little chance to become acquainted with Miss Garbo, for between scenes she would sit away somewhere by herself, a bit scared, I believe, by the unfamiliar surroundings. In our few contacts between scenes, I found her to be most unassuming and fascinating, with a peculiar flavor of recherche. "I do not believe you can call Greta Garbo a 'popular' actress, even though she is universally acclaimed," said Mr. von Seyffertitz. "She is, instead, an intriguing personality and her tremendous appeal is largely due, I think, to the aura of foreignness which envelops her. "Her low, rumbling voice, which has occasioned widespread comment, is rather characteristic of Continental women, I believe, and is a great asset toward maintaining that foreign atmosphere about Garbo. In Europe, you know, we all speak like that, from away down deep in the throat." "Have you noted any great improvement over Miss Garbo's work from when you first worked with her up to the present?" I asked him. "I don't believe she has changed her style materially," von Seyffertitz replied. "She was a star when we made 'The Mysterious Lady,' only the producers hadn't realized it yet. Garbo has her own methods of portraying characters; her technique is individual, and so I do not believe she has changed much. She is essentially the same actress : original in her art and possessed of that magnetic attraction, mystery." "She's a peach !" enthused Lew Ayres, when I called upon him for his opinion of his heart's desire in "The Kiss." " 'The Kiss' was my first picture," Lew told me, "and in my one big dramatic scene with Garbo, she threw the action so entirely my way that I actually dominated the scene." "She's a good business woman, then," I suggested, "for being willing to pass up self-glorification for the sake of the picture." "Maybe," Lew reflected, "but I can't help but feel that she did it for me. Throughout the picture she gave me hints that I could have known otherwise only through long experience. Greta is my favorite actress and I shall always be grateful to her, for she helped me over the hurdles when I was just learning to toddle in this business. "She is the most even-tempered star I have seen so far. Even in the most trying situations she was always serenely calm, complete mistress of whatever problems came up. She is a delight to work with, because she appreciates sincere effort from her co-workers and she is wholly unselfish in giving credit where it is due. I hope some day I may play in a Garbo picture again." "I have watched Greta Garbo's steady rise in pictures with great satisfaction," said the Reverend Mr. Neal Dodd, pastor of St. Mary of the Angels Church in Hollywood. "When I worked in 'Flesh and the Devil' with Miss Garbo, she was not yet a recognized star, but I considered her an actress of great potentialities. She was very quiet but cordial, and I noticed particularly that she had no exalted opinions of herself," continued the leader of Hollywood's "Little Church Around the Corner." "I found her to be a very pleasant person, and ever since I worked in that one picture with her, I have watched her progress by dint of excellent performances to the position in screenland she now enjoys." "It is the secret wish of every young actor to play in a picture with Greta Garbo," says Robert Montgomery. "You can imagine how excited I was when I was assigned a part in 'Inspiration.' To work with Garbo is an education in screen art. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the making of the picture. Miss Garbo is not only a real actress, she is a remarkable woman with a keen sense of humor and a sympathetic understanding of life." "I have worked with Greta Garbo in many pictures and each one has been an enjoyable experience. Miss Garbo is an artist and she gives to her work an enthusiasm which communicates itself to the other players. As a woman she is everchanging in her moods and is, therefore, always interesting and charming." That's what Lewis Stone thinks of her. And so it goes ! Phlegmatic, enthusiastic, helpful, indifferent, shy, cordial, friendly, aloof, a worker, a "genius: Greta Garbo is each and all of these. Each of her co-workers recognizes another facet of the sparkling jewel which is Garbo's many-sided personality. All of them love and admire her. Watch for the lovely portrait of Greta Garbo, which you will want to keep, which will appear in the rotogravure art section of Screenland next month — the July issue, on sale June first!