Screenland (Nov 1931-Mar 1932)

for February 19 3 2 101 What Hollywood Talks About! on her wings being equipped with a footrest ! Ruth Chatterton says her favorite topics of conversation are music and philosophy. But the day I happened in on her, she was lying in a garden chair, clad in cool pajamas. Her friends, Frances Starr and Lois Wilson, in like informal costumes, were occupying couches and cushions flanked by frosted glasses of iced tea. They were talking about life and how they would change it if they had it all to do over again. "I wouldn't alter a thing !" announced Frances. "I've made dozens of mistakes but I learned something from every one." "I'd have a different education," decided Ruth. "I went to a private school devised to prepare debutantes for society careers. I'd choose a good stiff college course instead. And I'd live a few years in France." "I can't decide," murmured Lois. "Sometimes I think that if I had it to do over again, I'd have married when I was a youngster. I've been rumored engaged so often, but been actually engaged only once, and that time nobody knew ! Perhaps I should have accepted one of the men who urged me to marry him later. I don't know. But most of the time I think I'm happier as I am. I know I've had a far more interesting life than any of the girls I knew at school." Moving to another group, I heard James Gleason telling about the time his colored chauffeur fell in love and the Gleasons turned their house over for the wedding. Lew Ayres and Lola Lane were discussing the Jackson Hole country in Wyoming, where they honeymooned, with some of Lew's pals who were hoping for vacations— Marguerite Churchill contributing Indian sign language on the side. Tom Mix was dividing a sandwich with one of Russell Gleason's dogs and holding forth on his favorite topic, which is that eighteen ought to be the age at which a boy votes. "At that age boys are eager to become men, voting is important to them, they are serious about questions of the day. By the time they are 21, they are more sophisticated and certainly more cynical. They don't always value their voting privilege and sometimes scoff at reform." Norma Shearer, sitting at a painted table set in the wintry sunshine, was answering a New York visitor's quip that stars weren't "real." "But I think successful people are more real, more capable of being their true selves than those who haven't arrived," argued Norma. "When a girl or man is struggling for a foothold, he or she often puts on a false personality to cover self-consciousness. They think they have to act a part, to pretend to be something they are not. "You know how really great and important people are always easier to reach than those who merely think they are important. Success brings self-confidence." At Marie Dressler's, conversation may range from French cooking to world politics. Marie is a grand cook, and she knows every prominent person you can mention. However, at dinner there the other night, talk drifted to a recent murder that had driven all the other news off the front pages of newspapers. "Do newspapers decide what the public wants to read, or do readers demand what shall be published?" mused John Roche. "I think newspaper editors realize that America is a sensation-loving country and Continued from page 37 if one paper won't give them the details of a murder mystery another will, and that one will get the circulation," said Marie. "But I do think newspapers develop the public's taste and often educate their readers to appreciate certain kinds of reading by setting it forth in attractive and interesting fashion." Passing from table to table in the M-G-M cafe, I heard Joan Crawford expounding her theory that no woman could be at her best mentally unless she was sure she was at her best physically. "It's a woman's duty to make herself as charming and attractive as possible, and that old maxim that beauty is as beauty does needs to be revamped." In another corner, Ramon Novarro was talking about happiness. "There's no such thing as an active and positive happiness," he was declaring, earnestly. "Real happiness is peace of mind. The things that make up what we com ture when I see them now. Carole is furnishing the new house she and husband Bill Powell have taken and says they spend most of their waking hours discussing overcurtains and chinaware. Claudette clings to the subject because she longs for the day when she can begin to fix up the home she plans when she joins husband Norman Foster here for good. Conversations at the Embassy Club one day last week, heard only in snatches, were : Constance Bennett discussing possible football plays with a university enthusiasm. Marlene Dietrich talking about daughter Maria. Genevieve Tobin explaining about different varieties of lace. She collects it. Rose Hobart talking about the opera. A group including Mary Astor, Leatrice Joy and Sylvia Sidney wondering who will be the next bride, since every other person in town seems to be getting married. "The Greeks Had a Word for It" — and it must have been a swell word! Ina Claire, as one of the three feminine gold-prospectors in the picture, shows us one of the celebrated twenty-one style creations furnished exclusively for this film by Chanel. monly call happiness are superficial and easily destroyed. I don't mean to confuse peace of mind with contentment, because I think contentment is often a destroyer of true happiness." Beyond Ramon, Bob Montgomery, Neil Hamilton and Chester Morris were engaged in a discussion of mental discipline. I heard Bob's contribution. "Mental discipline is essential ! I believe all students should take courses they don't particularly like, as a form of discipline. I used to get my highest grades in the things I hated, because I forced myself to study them harder. "The theory of permitting children to grow up with no form of mental control is all wrong. We should teach them to discipline themselves." Carole Lombard and Claudette Colbert are always talking about houses and furni Ricardo Cortez entertaining friends with an account of his recent trip to Reno. No, he isn't married, so he wasn't there for the usual reason. "Jack Dempsey called me to come into the ring," he was relating as I came along. "He shook hands and I took a seat as indicated. Then he seemed to be making a speech. I heard him tell what a great guy somebody was and how he'd had his place in the ring and was well liked, etc. I looked around to see this great guy, but couldn't locate him. Then Jack paused, waved his hand and said : 'Here he is, folks — Ricardo Cortez !' " Carmel Myers, lunching with director Edward Knopf, saying : "Just won my lawsuit against those dogs who rented my beach house and wrecked it." Eddie: "So? I was just sued by the owner of the house I vacated."