Screenland (Dec 1933-Apr 1934)

76 SCREENLAND taken from us is more than a sorrow. He was my pal. But he lived a strenuous, constructive life, and I am more than proud to have had such a wonderful father." George has a brother a few years younger than himself who is a brilliant San Francisco attorney. So Dan O'Brien, Jr., is now handling the business affairs of the family's stellar member. To Hollywood the way George has maintained his equilibrium is nothing short of miraculous. A San Francisco high school athlete, he joined the navy at sixteen, when America entered the War. He attended Santa Clara College afterwards, leaving to work his way up to film stardom. Starting at the bottom, he was a prop boy, an assistant cameraman, an extra, a stunt man, and a bit player before he progressed to leads and became a world-renowned star. Modestly, he claims that the bending of the twig determines what a man's conduct will be. He doesn't rate adult environment as an important influence. Which means that he thinks you don't go Hollywood or hey-hey unless you're the kind of a person who wants to. At thirty-three he has superb health, an unblemished reputation, countless friends, and all the money he needs. He is mellowed by travel and first-hand knowledge of people. Because he is so appreciative of his success, everyone who meets him values his friendship. Personally, I respect no man in Hollywood more than George O'Brien. Now he has Marguerite to share the rest of the road with him. Talented and lovely, she rounds out his life. This he-man who doesn't smoke, or drink,_ or miss church, and his glamorous but nice wife are visual proof that — well, need I repeat the obvious moral? They've no complexes, no troubles, nothing to hide. Two healthier, more normal people would be hard to find anywhere. We know that of the many who have tried to combine career and marriage in Hollywood the majority have failed at it. But how many couples had the stamina of these two? George O'Brien and Marguerite Churchill are anticipating a golden wedding anniversary. To survive the intervening snares, they'll bet on love. I'll bet on them ! Use the Movies in Home-Making Continued from page 23 plicity is a necessity to us. Simplification of furniture eliminates unnecessary frills, and we do not need or want frills today. "Steel and glass are the preferred materials, not so much brick or stone or lumber. The steel makes the building strong, the glass makes it light. Designs for furniture and decoration of these homes must be different from those of an earlier day, hence modern furniture. It's a new period, that's all. The idea of modern furniture is comfort and utility. The average Louis Sixteenth chair gives you a sore back if you have to sit in it for an hour. You should be able to sit in a modern chair all day and feel no discomfort. "But please note this : IT IS IMPORTANT. "Modern interiors were originally designed in Europe more than thirty years ago. They are beautiful, but they have been abused by inferior minds. Fake reproductions and cheap imitations have almost ruined our conception of them in this country. Therefore, I want you to study the modern sets you see and try to understand why they differ from the bad modern stuff you see in cheap shops. "One of Los Angeles' leading designers studied the modern art and specialized in this design a few years ago. Our leading furniture company commercialized his ideas by establishing a special shop in their large plant where they displayed his beautiful tilings. "Modern furniture, if properly made, is expensive, because the simplest things are the hardest to make perfect. You can conceal poor workmanship in a complicated job, but a simple thing must be absolutely true. Only the expert can produce the modern perfect piece, just as only the best dressmakers in Paris can turn out the perfect, very simple gown. "But little shops sprang up everywhere, in imitation of this artist's work, showing cheap, unpainted, grotesque furniture supposed to be copies of things created by the master mind. They were dreadful because those who made them didn't understand the principle back of what they were trying to do, so what they made was in bad taste. They thought that any unusual angle, any queer-looking bulge, any strikingly abnormal piece of furniture was 'modern' and they could sell it. Their things were hideous and uncomfortable and thev ruined the market for what was really good." A young man associated with Paramount Studios wanted to build a house, and went to Mr. Freudeman for advice. He had a friend, a director of sophisticated pictures, who was building a Mexican farm-house home, and he wondered whether or not he should have a house of this type, too. "Why should a modern man live in a Mexican farm-house?" asked the art director. "Such a house has tiny windows that let in very little air or sunshine. It has tiled floors which are uncomfortable winter and summer. Maybe this house was right for Mexico at the time it was designed ; possibly deep mud was tracked into houses from unmade roads and the tiled floors were practicable because they could be mopped up easily. Possibly the sun was so hot and so strong that the small windows were designed to shut it out. But California is not Mexico. "You cannot make people live in places they should choose, if they do not like those places. But this young man saw the force of my arguments against Mexican dwellings and we went ahead and designed another house for him. "He is a bachelor, so all he really needs is one room, with kitchen and bath. The most valuable possession he has is a collection of books, some of them first editions. He wanted a place where they could be locked up, away from careless handling by chance guests, so my first problem was to design shelves for them that could be locked, in one corner of the room. "You know how Japanese use bamboo screens to close off portions of a room, making their apartments large or small at will ? Just so for this house, we have sliding doors that can be pulled out or pushed back to make walls or to eliminate them, as we choose. We can shut off the library with these doors if we like, or we can close off the bedroom with them. The bed can be turned into a couch by day, or just pushed back into the wall until it is needed. "This young man is very fond of outdoors, so he has a garden. If he had an ordinary house, there would be a wall, with perhaps two windows between him and this garden. He could see only parts of it, from special angles. "Instead of this, the whole side of the room is of glass, so he can enjoy his flowers all the time. We bring the house into the garden and the garden into the house, by having the glass slide open at will. There is always plenty of air and the supply can be controlled easily, for you can open as much or as little of the glass as you please. "There is a wall, with a gate that locks, around the garden, thus taking care of safety. "Modern design gets away from the stereotyped thing. We build-in many of the things we need and so have plenty of space. For this man's room, a table will be required, two or three chairs, perhaps a davenport or couch, and a cabinet for certain articles. The cabinet, book-cases, desk, or whatever you desire can be made of an interesting design conforming to that of your room, and the whole effect will be beautiful. "Things should be easy to live with. There should be no confusion; just simple, restful, livable comfort. "Wall treatment should be simple. You will notice that modern interiors seldom show many pictures. I sometimes have one in a scene to make good composition. "Tastes differ about this, as about many things. A man of the world chooses to live in a Mexican farm-house. Other sophisticates of the studio select early American designs. Early American is the present fad. It brings back wall papers, because they were used when America was young. You can get excellent examples of good taste in this style of interior decoration by watching the screen, since the screen must reflect current custom. "A few years ago, everything was Spanish; before that we had Louis Sixteenth furniture; befoie that anything in Directoire fashions was good. When we had Spanish houses, rags hung from balconies all over Hollywood! "What ruins every good thing is this business of cheap reproduction — 'fake' things. Furniture manufacturers are now making a million dollars' worth of early American furniture, but few of them employ good designers who understand line and proportion. They won't pay real artists, so any draftsman who can draw combines their No. 14 back with their No. 12 leg, and their No. 17 seat, and that's early American, take it or leave it ! "A boy who used to drive a truck here at the studio a few years ago, and who now has his own business, stopped me on the street the other day to ask a favor. He said he was building a six-room house, wanted to do it in early American style, and would I go shopping with him so he could get the stuff wholesale ! He didn't even know what was meant by 'early American' ! "At present, a great deal of Monterey furniture is being made. What, in heaven's name, is Monterey furniture? Whoever heard of it ? There never was such a thing ! Someone got the idea of making stuff that looked like driftwood, so he made it and called it Monterey — and that's what it is, believe it or not ! "Study a room that pleases you, before you copy it, and try to understand why you are pleased. Don't be cheated by a mere resemblance. A little school girl often sees