Screenland (Nov 1935-Apr 1936)

78 SCREENLAND "ANYTHING GOES'" MAK£ YQVJR NAM • Those jewelled lights which gleam in the screen star's hair . . . how did they get there? Hollywood knows the answer. The hairdresser knows it. And now it is flashed to the millions of women who pack the movies and wonder what priceless lotion the stars use on their hair! The Soapless Oil Treatment! For your hair as well as theirs. Use Admiracion Soapless Shampoo Treatment — right in your own home. It brings beauty by conditioning the hair and scalp. Capture that glorious sheen and lasting youth. Unmask the hidden beauty of your hair. Admiracion Soapless Shampoo Treatment does things the finest soaps cannot do. Because it is a treatment, not just a wash. Softens and loosens film and dry skin-cells so magically that warm water alone washes them completely away, leaving your hair aglow with new luster and life. Try Admiracion — leading toiletry counters U. S. and Canada — and watch the stars come out in your hair. Admiracion Laboratories, Inc., I Un ison, N. J. Enclosed find 10c [or generous trial bottle of Admiracion: ( ) Olive Oil. or ^ — ( ) Pine Tar. (20c for both.) /^fcC^ Offer expires March 31st. V^B^'r^ Name Address ~ ~ S3 © lft3fi Admiracion Laboratories. Inc. Hollywood had heard very little about Fred MacMurray. At first, he did rather well with "extra" work. He was big and tall, wore clothes well. Soon, he was on the "preferred list" of extras, but that's about as far as it went. Often a director would single him out for a small "bit" but would always inquire about his experience. Fred, being quite truthful, would answer: "None." It was a mistake. Someone else, with no more experience than he — just a bit more nerve — would get the tiny role and the larger check. Always that question of experience, until finally even the extra work fell off. Of course, there was always the orchestra job to fall back on. A guy had to eat. But parties like Marion Davies' didn't come along every day ; besides, the acting bug had got to him for good, by now. If he could just get inside the studios and get interviews with the directors and their assistants, he felt sure he could convince them of his potential ability. But that's a tough job, sure enough. One day he noticed a group of laborers standing outside the general gate at Paramount. "What's going on?" he asked. One of the men volunteered the information : The studio was constructing the new sound stages for talkies. If a fellow stood there long enough, a foreman, needing extra help, might come out and give a fellow a job. MacMurray stood there. In fact, he stood there for three days until he got the magic call to don blue overalls and get to work on stage #5. This would have been a colorful story if one of the famous Paramount directors had discovered the tall kid in overalls and drafted him to stardom right then and there. But life frequently forgets to behave colorfully and Mr. MacMurray was allowed to complete his work and depart from the constructon job with nary a movie contract in his jeans. Carl can come back to New York any time — there's no such thing as an over-supply of real good fellows. We don't want to go historical on you, but a bit of the background should be filled in to convey the impression that was the purpose of an interview with Brisson. For ten years Brisson — the name was given him by Mauritz Stiller, who picked the name by which you know another movie great, Greta Garbo — resisted the blandishments of Hollywood. He was the "rave" of the English stage and English pictures, so why should he abdicate a throne to become merely a member of the court in Hollywood's kingdom? Moreover, he wasn't doing badly in a financial way. He had played a long-run engagement in "The Merry Widow" with Evelyn Laye. Before the run was over, Brisson owned the show and the theatre in which it was playing. He was not well-known to American theatregoers, because English pictures at that time weren't coming across the pond as lively as they are today. But the Hollywood producers and theatremen in this country naturally knew him well, and made him many flattering offers. Finally he accepted. Then what happened? An exceptionally fine dancer and a skilled actor who knows how to put over a song, as well as play romantic roles, was put into pictures without much support in the way of wellknown picture "names," which every newcomer needs at the start. Alternately sitting and then pacing about his hotel apartment, Brisson looked so per Well, he had tried all the angles but Hollywood would have none of him. "What the hell?" was his mental comment as he decided to try to get back to Broadway. Three years in the movie town had taught him one thing: Hollywood wanted experience— and it was up to him to get some. "I got a swell job with the California Collegians," he continued his story, "and went back to New York with the band. We did pretty well, but I couldn't get the movie idea out of my head. Whenever I had some time off, I would haunt the theatrical agencies trying to get into some sort of a dramatic show." The revue, "Three's A Crowd," was his first tangible success in this line. He played but a small role during the run of the show on Broadway ; then when the revue took to the road, he doubled in brass by playing almost every role on the program except the soubrette's. Night clubs and vaudeville came next. Then that miracle of miracles, a part in the musical, "Roberta." He was sitting in his dressing-room one night taking off his make-up when the callboy knocked on his door and said that a gentleman from Paramount wanted to see him. To all accounts and purposes, he should have been wild with surprise. But Mr. MacMurray had awaited this moment a long time. He grinned. And he continued to grin throughout the entire interview. Even when the Paramount scout offered him a contract that would take him back to Hollywood immediately. "I don't know any place in the world I'd rather work than at Paramount," said Mr. MacMurray with a grin toward the Studio man. The scout looked up sharply. Funny guy, this MacMurray, but a heck of a swell personality. Lovable-mug stuff. And it was easy to see that he'd had plenty of experience ! if Jean Chatburn's tennis game is as devastating as her smile, Jean must win lots of matches. fectly in trim to take on the best big fellows, (barring Joe Louis), one sees in the local arenas, it was a temptation not to be resisted to get this big fellow to "cry" a bit about something" I really think is no laughing matter. And judging by the fanmail raves for him that makes its way across this desk, there are lots of American picture-goers who think Brisson has had a good deal less than the best of it in his three pictures to date. But the best jabs at Brisson's natural pride in his acting, were ducked with the Hollywood in New York Continued from page 57