Screenland (May-Oct 1931)

90 SCREENL AND room? But the effect is good. Lovely lamps in pink silk are trimmed in real marabou. A tiny white piano, big enough for a nursery, stands in pride of place. Carpets, chairs, vases all form a delightful scheme of color. So far those arch rumors about a possible little Doug or baby Joan, remain unverified. But we must remember that Norma Shearer managed to disguise her prospective motherhood for much longer than most of us can ever hope to. Don' t crowd! Baby Pauline Stevens is in a strategic position, and she's just about to hit the bottle while the baby whippets await their turns. The pups are appearing with Pauline in shorts — the other kind. is merely that producers don't recognize them when they see them. Anyway, pictures are suffering from a bad case of "story trouble." Sally Eilers and Hoot Gibson airplaning over the Canadian Rockies for their vacation. Marlene Dietrich the cynosure of all eyes in a white crepe gown and silver jacket at the premiere of "The Smiling Lieutenant." Joan Crawford received the next big hand, in shining white satin. Chiffon frocks with sequin jackets are all the rage — so Ann Harding appears in soft filmy blacks and remains "different." Viola Dana, once a starry name at the old Metro, is married to a golf pro, Jimmy Thomson, lives in an apartment, does her own housework and cooking, and vows she has never been happier. Hubby won't let her spend a penny of her own money, hence the fond sacrifice. Utterly thrilling for the Zeta Phi Eta sorority on the day that Louise Dresser entertained the national convention at the Fox Hills Studio. About fifty of them, a speech and dramatic sorority. Ann Harding, Thomas Meighan, Lucille Gleason lunched with them. Then presently Louise rose and called "Willie, Willie, come here." It was Will Rogers passing through the cafe. Like a good boy Willie came and Louise made him make a speech. And this is what he said: "What is this gang, anyway? All these beautiful girls look like Charlie Chaplin would be interested in another marriage. Oh, I'm glad you're a sorority, I thought maybe you was here on business? God bless you. I got a girl the age of some of youse. I was going to put her to work in the movies but she went society on me. 1 saw her off to Honolulu yesterday, because she's wore out all the orchestras here. Louise and me has known each other a long whiles." At this point Will paused to call out, "Hie, Phil, come here. See that curly headed handsome boy, that's Phil Neil, the Stanford end. Come on, meet 'em, Phil." But Phil was too shy and slunk out of the door. "He ain't scared of me like I am of Louise," he sighed. Watched Adrian passing on Joan Crawford's dresses for her next picture. It was a scorching hot day and one evening gown had to be worn for at least six days' work. "I absolutely melt." moaned Joan. "Better have some duplicates made. I'll ruin that dress the first day if this heat keeps up." Joan has a grand new dressing suite out at M-G-M for which Bill Haines did the interior decorating. Just three tiny rooms leading from a narrow wooden balcony of an old frame building. But inside, oh, boy ! Bill has put paper with huge flowers on the wall — who but Bill would have dared do that in a small After that they were all allowed to watch Will's set, the Sahara scene of "The Plutocrat." It was a sweltering day, so the atmosphere was very correct. Those dear girls just cooked in ecstasy. Later they were driven through a perfect replica of 49th street and Seventh Avenue, New York. And they had a chance to see a director get into an argument with a sound engineer . . . and the latter won. Sound engineers alwavs win. Louise proved an adorable hostess. Ann Harding beamed graciously and the girls marvelled at her very light platinum blonde hair. Warren Williams makes a suave leading man for Bebe Daniels in "The Honor of the Family." When Marian Xewbert, a Beverly society girl, "eloped" to marry Milton H. Bren, a screen agent, at Ventura, they were careful to take a few stylish friends along. So Arthur Lake and Virginia Cherrill duly as sisted at the great event.