Screenland (Nov 1934-Apr 1935)

S6 SCREENLAND rerfiindcd me more of a Nell llrinklcy girl than one whose limbs had danced her to prominence on Broadway. But Ann was destined for the theatre from the day she made her earthly debut in Valley City, North Dakota, with the weather at forty degrees below zero. Her mother was Annette Yde, the concert singer, and Ann has never seen her birthplace again as her mother had merely stopped over in Valley City during a concert tour ! Although Ann managed to complete her schooling and climax it with the two years that she was the campus belle at the University of Washington, she was never farther than a hop, skip, and jump from the theatre and grease paint. As Ann explained, "I first came to Hollywood to visit Mother who was giving voice lessons to actors who had recently become talkieconscious. I managed to find myself a job as a dancing girl and then I met Ivan Kahn, who has discovered many players, and he took an interest in my career. Ivan took me to Paul Bern and after a test I was given a long-term contract as a stock player at M-G-M. I was soon lost in the shuffle, though, and never did get a chance at a real part. "I met Florenz Zeigfeld at a party one day and was tremendously flattered when he told me that he might have a part for me in his next Broadway show. But I'd heard so many Hollywood promises that I was actually amazed when I received a telegram from him in New York offering me the second lead in 'Smiles' which starred Marilyn Miller. So I left Hollywood in a hurry and didn't particularly care whether I ever returned !" A hit in "Smiles," she followed up her new career with successes in three brilliant musical comedies, "America's Sweetheart," "Everybody's Welcome" and became the road company lead in "Of Thee I Sing" in which Lois Moran was starred on the New York stage. That tour brought her to the west coast and producers began to make discreet queries as to whether she'd like to be in pictures. Tarrying not, Ann returned to New York and was about to do a new play when she was given the role of the circus concession attendant who becomes a screen star in "Let's Fall In Love." "How does it feel to make a come-back in Hollywood at the ripe old age of twentytwo?" I inquired. Ann laughed, "Naturally it feels grand ! option in the offing so it's very important to her that the audience greet her first entrance with loud applause, refrain from giggling during her big emotional scene, and most of all forbear from walking out until the final fade-out. Nearly all producers and critics base a picture's entertainment value on whether or not the audience walks out or stays to the bitter end. A really good picture very recently got only mild reviews in the trade papers because a mother with a brood of three had to take them to the little boy's room during the fifth reel. Nowhere in the world will you find anything quite as exciting as a Hollywood preview. Arc-lights glare blatantly over the front of the theatre ; photographers from the syndicates and magazines gather in the lobby to snap celebrities as they arrive; and hundreds of fans and autograph seekers, who have been unable to get inside the theatre which has been sold out since six-thirty, jam the sidewalks waiting for a glimpse of their favorites. Oh, it's really "som'pin" as Stepin Fetchit says. I'm very glad now that I didn't make good the first time that I was here as the success might have gone to my head! But after you've been one of the great unknowns you don't lose your sense of proportion when you do come back. I haven't gone Hollywood simply because I know too much about it!" Ann was a bit dismayed as to her screen future when her first film evoked only about fifty fan letters, forwarded to her home by the studio. But you can imagine her amazement and pleasure when the studio casually informed her that, in request Florence and Alvarez illustrate a step in "The Carlo," the dance they introduced to the screen-going public in "Student Tour." Going to Previews Continued from page 1 7 In the meantime the star who has to go through this ordeal — this trial by publicbegins to break into a cold sweat early in the afternoon. Mr. Star usually takes unto himself a couple of neat brandies. Miss Star, with a queer sinking sensation at the pit of her stomach, rushes down to Jim's beauty shop for a wave and a manicure, and then over to Magnin's for a new hat — to give her confidence. Her soul is wracked in anguish by two major worries: either the fans will tear her to pieces in their mad zest for autographs, or else they won't even recognize her, and of course in that case it will just be her luck to have Mr. Mayer follow her into the theatre and notice that she has no fan following. You can't win. The most ardent preview-catchers are Norma Shearer and Irving Thalberg. It matters not whose picture it is. Norma in a perky little hat is usually right there in the reserved section with Mr. Thalberg. May Robson, Claudette Colbert, and Madge Evans are runner-uppers for the _second highest score in previews. But with the to letters, it had already sent out five thousand pictures of little Sothern, indicative of the popularity of the girl who, at that time, had but one picture released! "I've made six pictures and all I want now is a vacation. I haven't been out of California, haven't had a rest all this year! But I thought it best to make as many pictures as quickly as possible that I might establish myself on the screen. I did those feeling that it was necessary. But now I've served my apprenticeship, I want parts that call for characterization, to feel that I'm really improving as an actress. "I've been handicapped by the manner in which my face belies my personality. I know I have a little face and it seems that it makes men want to protect me ! But I certainly don't need to be shielded from the cruel world. I don't want to do parts of a girl that has to be protected. I want sophisticated roles, and I know I can do them better than those of naive qualities." She wrinkled her nose a bit ruefully. "I'm definitely not a sweet girl type, and I'm glad I'm not! The public tires of them, forever seeing them in similar roles — so no ingenue parts for Ann !" Despite her rumored affection for Roger Pryor, Ann has no intention of marrying for at least another year. Heartfree, she feels that an actress making a re-entry into pictures must concentrate first of all on a career. In her year in Hollywood Ann has not once "gone steady" with any man and in her five years in the profession has never been engaged or even within hearing distance of wedding bells. That should be an all-time record for such a heart-accelerating type of youthful lusciousness. Ann cuddled the Scottie that was regarding her with a dour but devoted expression. "My dogs and my maid are the only companions that I have right now, but I'm expecting my mother very soon for a visit and all I hope is that we'll have some time together. The Cantor picture kept me terrifically busy, and while the part wasn't awfully important I was delighted to get it because it'll be the best break I've had yet." "The Girl Friend," a lavish musical extravaganza, is to mark the end of her first year in pictures. Three studios bet a fortune on Ann — Annie to her friends — to place her in the enviable position as the greatest risk Hollywood ever gambled on — and won! exception of these stars most of _ the others appear only at their own previews. The night "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" had its first preview out in Huntington Park, the film broke right in the middle of Shearer's big dramatic scene with Charles Laughton. Thalberg got out of his seat and nervously paced back and forth, as the audience began to wiggle and whistle, but Norma sat as cool as a cucumber, mentally suffering the agonies of the damned, but outwardly showing nothing but supreme calm. None of this darting out of side doors and down back alleys for Norma— at the end of the preview she always goes quite calmly and demurely through the lobby to her car at the curb, and she will autograph just as long as her fans ask her to. I have never seen Norma really excited except one night after the third preview of "The Barretts." It seems that she had become very fond of "Flush" during the making of the picture and "Flush's" owner had said that he would sell the dog to her verv cheanly when the picture was finished. But after the first