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67
for November 1935
"break" that they had been waiting for. That at last the world would realize what she had known for a long time — that Warner Baxter was a great actor. She curled his hair with her curling irons, she helped him with his make-up, and she went over his lines with him time and again until he was perfect. Warner kept pretending that it really didn't matter whether he got the part or not because there would always be another part ; but he couldn't eat his breakfast, and his smile was a little wan ; and his wife knew only too well that it mattered much more than he cared to admit. One look at the test and Warner Baxter became the Cisco Kid. One look at the Cisco Kid and all of America and Europe became hysterically Baxter-conscious. His fan mail reached enormous proportions, (he still receives more mail than any player on the Fox lot) ; and the studio executives lost no time in rushing out a new contract and furiously hunting for a follow-up picture, which, not at all strangely, was called "The Cisco Kid."
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave Warner a little gold statuette, the award for the best performance of the year 1929 — the Cisco Kid in "In Old Arizona." It was a red-letter day in the life of the Baxters.
Although I had been quietly mad over Warner for nearly six years I had never met him until last summer when I was thrown into space with him from the Social Mixer in a Fun House on the amusement pier. When we hit against the retaining wall we looked like a couple of wrestlers trying to do the toe-hold, and as I jerked my head from under his arm I said, "How do you do" and would have confessed my undying devotion then and there but just at that second a couple of bodies came hurtling through the air and Dietrich and Randy Scott landed on my face and by the time I had extricated myself Warner had joined Clive Brook at the hot dog stand.
The next time I met Warner I was all set to shout my devotion — but I also met his wife. And right here I want to go on record as saying that Winifred Baxter is the most charming wife I have ever met in Hollywood, or anywhere else for that matter. I have been up to my ears in Hollywood wives for nearly four years, worse luck; and if there's anything that depresses me more than a hearse it's a Hollywood wife. I may say I have been snubbed by the best of them. But fifteen minutes of Winifred Baxter and I was laughing and joking and carrying-on something terrific. Mrs. Baxter has a delightful sense of humor ; besides that she is warm and gracious and responsive ; and besides all that she is quite beautiful — and now when I make broad statements about Hollywood wives I always stop to qualify them with "except Mrs. Warner Baxter."
In speaking of Warner she tries to be very casual, but it's easy to :,ee that she adores him and is utterly convinced that he is the most wonderful actor in the world. And it's also easy to see where Warner gets his "inspiration." There's a fallacy going around Hollywood that Mrs. Baxter is an invalid. She isn't at pit. She simply radiates health and vitally. But Warner himself is probably t< r me for this untruth. When he bed to go to some of those very dull "reutine" parties the studio executives would sk, "And where is Mrs. Baxter?" and ' arner would glibly lie, "Winifred, poor iear, isn't feeling well," and you can be sure that it didn't take gossipy Hollywood long to declare that
Baxter's Inspiration
Continued from page 23
Winifred, poor dear, is an invalid. As a matter of fact Winifred, poor dear, is a very clever woman.
Her meeting and romance with Warner Baxter is quite a lovely thing. When Warner first came to Hollywood, in the silent picture era, not a studio would give him a tumble, and he almost starved to death while he was making the round of the casting offices. He had been a good salesman of farm implements and of insurance back in the East, but when it came to selling Warner Baxter to the film industry he was a total loss. But one day, long after he had spent his last dollar, Oliver Morosco, who was operating a Pacific Coast stock company, gave him an interview and signed him for a small part in "Under Cover" starring Edmund Lowe. The first day of the rehearsal Warner arrived in front of the theatre ahead of time — he is always punctual for appointments. As he passed the lobby of the theatre he noticed a beautiful girl chatting with friends. He was so impressed by her brunette beauty that he just had to have another glance at her. So he passed up and down the lobby six times. Gaining courage with each trip he finally smiled at her on the sixth passing, and wonder upon wonders, the girl smiled back. "Ah," said Warner ecstatically, "a flirtation." But before he could do anything about it the girl and her friends entered the theatre and a few minutes later he was introduced to Miss Winifred Bryson, a member of the company. She seemed interested in him, and Warner was quite flattered, and it wasn't until months later that he learned that Miss Bryson's interest was only humanitarian. Due to the fact that Warner and food had been strangers for some time his cheeks were sunken and his face was pale and gaunt — and no woman can resist that. But pity led to love. Four years
Newsboy thanks a gracious lady! Dick Hamill brings flowers to Joan Crawford for granting his wish to visit her on the set.
later while Winifred and Warner were playing together in "Lombardi Ltd." on Broadway they were married at a simple ceremony in the parsonage of a Bronx church. It was January 29, 1918. And the taxi driver who drove them there, and the minister's wife were their only witnesses. They spent their honeymoon touring the Middle West with "Lombardi Ltd." Warner and Winifred both understood the value of real friendship and companionship and upon this foundation they have built one of the happiest marriages in theatrical history, and decidedly the happiest marriage in Hollywood.
And what is Warner Baxter like in person? Why, he's the Cisco Kid without the curls and accent. He's gay and handsome and romantic and loyal, and as adventurous as a boy. His chief hobbies are cooking chile con carne — (and they do say there's none better) — and playing the guitar — which, incidentally, he plays by ear. He has his own little kitchen off the upstairs sitting-room in his beautiful new Bel-Air home and after a poker game with the boys, or a quiet evening with a book, he will dive into his kitchenette and mix up a chile that melts in your mouth. When he's on location he goes in for biscuits, too ; and to hear the technical crew tell it, all Warner needs is a shovel-full of flour and a gasoline can and he can whip out biscuits much better than mother used to make. While he was on location with the "Robin Hood of El Dorado" company he organized a cowboy band with himself playing the guitar and the famous ranger, Lonesome Cassidy, leading with the melody. Just give him a bowl of his own chile and a guitar and Warner is set for the evening.
But despite his Spanish inclinations Warner is one hundred percent American. His mother's family came from Virginia and his paternal ancestors were among the pioneer settlers of Ohio. "It is no use trying to line me up with any of the roles I have played," Warner once told me. "I've had my ancestry traced back to the Middle Ages. There is not a Latin, or a Continental, or an Aztec, or an Oriental in any branch." Well, it must be the Cisco Kid influence.
Warner is crazy about tennis, plays an excellent game, and has the most perfectly built tennis court in Hollywood. He gets a big kick out of beating Ronnie Colman. It took him six hours to do it once but he did it. One of the best laughs he ever got was a phony wire sent him by Dick Barthelmess, but supposedly from his studio, which went on to say that Fox had decided to bestow a great honor on him by permitting him to support Ronald Colman in Colman's next picture. Warner has a highly inventive mind and goes delirious over gadgets. His pride and joy is a nutcracker he invented several years ago, wherein you stick a nut in a squirrel's mouth, pull its bushy tail, and the cracked nut falls in a bowl — if you're lucky. He has a large amusement-room in his Bel-Air home and here he has done all sorts of trick things with radio, lighting effects and his own movie camera and projection machine. He has more disappearing cabinets and things than Bill Powell ; in fact, Bill admits that he copped quite a few ideas for his new house from Warner.
Warner has one obsession — bugs. He will sit fascinated for hours watching a spider weave her web, or an ant move a crumb of bread, or any old bug doing practically anything. They have a fatal charm for him ; and whenever he is quiet for a long time Winifred is quite sure that she