Screenland (Nov 1936-Apr 1937)

for January 1937 79 Study In the studios! Joan Broadel, Mickey Rooney, and Freddie Bartholomew obey their teachers: Mary MacDonald, left, and Miss Murphy, right. bard after a marriage with him became as mad as a March hare, Gracie Allen, and Harpo Marx combined. When they started "going together" Jean Harlow became decidedly prankish. And now Myrna is cavorting. The other night Myrna and Bill were asked to add their footsteps to those of thirty-two others in the forecourt of Sid Grauman's Chinese Theatre — which is a great honor, and which means of course that Myrna and Bill have achieved success together and will go down to posterity as the perfect screen couple. Well, it's a very serious occasion you can be sure. The wet cement was ready, and so were the photographers and the fans and Mr. Grauman, when Miss Loy and Mr. Powell arrived wearing shoes big enough for an elephant and were all for clumping down on the wet cement, until poor Mr. Grauman on the verge of tears wailed, "Oh, Bill, oh Myrna, don't do this to me. This is a serious proposition." Myrna and Bill were having a dandy time playing Arora and Nick Charles, but when they found out how much it meant to Mr. Grauman, (himself the King of the practical jokers), they kicked off their seven-league boots and became as serious as they could, which wasn't very. So now they've been immortalized in cement. Ever since the time when Myrna slipped him a rubber pan cake, (and nearly bounced his teeth out), in the delightful flapjack scene in "Libeled Lady," Bill has been looking forward to an opportunity of getting even with Myrna. And the chance came while he and Myrna were on location in San Francisco for "After the Thin Man." (Jean Harlow went along, too, just for the ride.) One of Myrna's rich fans had sent her two dozen beautiful and immense yellow chrysanthemums, and while Myrna was bathing, her maid had put them in the hotel sitting-room in a large vase. It had been arranged that they were to have cocktails and caviar in Jean's and Myrna's mutual sitting room before going out to dinner, and along with the caviar arrived Mr. Powell. With no one watching him he proceeded to take the caviar and with artistic skill make dark centers in all the chrysanthemums— sort of glorified black eyed susans. Well, you should have heard Myrna and Jean exclaiming when they entered the room. "I've never seen such beautiful and exotic flowers' in all my life," gasped Myrna. "Yes, aren't they?" agreed Bill, "and they have quite a delightful fragrance about them, too." Of course the normal thing for Myrna to do after that, being feminine to the core, was to stick her cute little turned-up nose right in the center of a large chrysanthemum and inhale, and that's exactly what she did. And did you ever try to inhale caviar? Well, Miss Loy bided her time until the company returned from San Francisco and went on location on lot 2 back of the Metro studio in Culver City. Right next to their "location" was the graveyard set left over from "Romeo and Juliet," and when Air. Powell arrived that evening for a few night scenes he found that his dressingroom had been set up in the tomb of the Capulets. Bill doesn't like graveyards, ever. phony ones, and he knew just whom to blame. One of the most charming scenes in "After the Thin Man" is where Myrna is complaining because she has been cooped up in a compartment on a transcontinental train for three davs and is prettv weary of it all. "How they can expect a woman to still have any mystery for a man after three days in a place like this is beyond me," grouches Nora. "Darling," says Nick, shaking up another round of cocktails, "you don't need mystery. You've got something so much better than mystery, so much more alluring " "What?" asks Nora a little dubiously. "You've got me !" That's right. And as long as they've got each other, we've got fun. Telltale Footsteps Continued from page 19 Perhaps the most outstanding in one line of walk is Mae West. Her walk is a flopping walk. From right to left, the screen Mae flops along, as if earth only meant complete relaxation, or collapsing. Yet la West is clever. Even as a pseudoSalvation girl she changed her gait for the nonce, and rid herself, momentarily, of her flopping walk. But it reappeared as soon as she set her foot on the gangplank of Victor MacLaglen's ship, remember? One of the most outstanding actresses — and I mean what I say — is Isabel Jewell. She is a real actress because she can alter her walk, and her talk, to fit the character she plays. The passion she can put into her voice is most telling, if a scene needs a denunciation speech. In real life, Isabel is lively and jolly. From hardboiled girls, recall the splendid bit she did in "The Tale of Two Cities." As the frightened little seamstress going to the guillotine, she was a marvel of revelation in walking and voice. Lee Tracy is fearful. Lee walks as if he expected someone, or something, to leap out at him as he moves along. Like Fred Astaire. there is a nervous trait in Lee He has so much surplus energy that to sit still, or stand still, is agony. He told me once that he always had to be doing something. If not working at the studio, he wrote. If not writing, he sailed his yacht on the Pacific. Lee's walk suggests very definitely that he is always looking for something to do. But. at the same time, he dreads that it might be something he doesn't want to do. Such walking is a constant strain on the nervous system. Or I think so, at least. Carole Lombard's walk seems to symbolize her rise to screen popularity. Carole's gait gives one the impression that she is rising in an elevator. Chin out, chest in, she elevated herself by sheer opposition. It means, of course, that Carole feels all others are antagonistic toward her. As if anyone could be ! Languidness is the trait clearly shown in Leslie Howard's walk. He is good in almost any role, for he changes his walk to suit the character. But nonetheless, the Howard languidness creeps forth. It tells us that Leslie has been crushed by life's brutality, by the World War. by other obstacles. He might be the Happy Warrior. Now I come to think of it, he must be. He has got past struggles in life, but the resulting existence is. to him, merely carrying on. Garbo walks direct and straight, almost like a business man. She sees she has to do something, go somewhere, and there's nothing more to say. She does, and goes. Binnie Barnes seems always to be going on a long walking tour. Her steps are buoyant and quick. It indicates that Binnie doesn't sit back and wait. She feels she has still a long way to go, and is only starting out. Such walkers get there! Perhaps Paul Muni is the most difficult to place by his acting walk. In each characterization he alters his every gesture. As the famous gangster, as the miner, the scientist — in any one. Muni's gait fits in. Also his voice. In short. Muni's walk betrays the fact that he is a splendid actor. What is that rushing and scraping I hear? Oh, I see. Merely most of Hollywood's elite attempting to change their tell-tale footsteps. Before they reveal other fears and secrets, let me warn them to watch their step!