Screenland (May-Oct 1938)

DOSALIND RUSSELL has profited by K the experience of the Hollywood stars who've preceded her to the English studios. They've been plunged right into picturemaking and have to do their sight-seeing in a terrific rush and amid a ballyhoo that precluded any freedom. Roz fixed her costarring with Robert Donat so she'd have her month of luxuriating before she reported for work. She took her younger sister Mary Jane, who'd like to get into the movies, directly to Italy. They started at the bottom of the continent and gaily worked up. ACTUALLY Gene Raymond was merely > being gallant when he pulled the snub of the century. If he made a complete fauxpas it proves how love can rattle even a great lover. Maybe you've wondered how Gene could have greeted those photographers in Kansas City with the shout, "I'll bust the first one of you that takes a picture of us !" It was hardly the reception the boys expected from the touring Mr. and Mrs. Raymond. The whole story is that Jeanette MacDonald was attired in slacks and goggles and was hardly up to snuff in the glamor way when the twosome piled off the train for a brief stroll. Gene didn't want her to be caught at such a disadvantage, so he acted impulsively. Note to G. R. : the suave fellow invites the boys to have a drink and appeals to them as palto-pals to hold off! While vacationing in New York Gene took Jeanette driving through Central Park in a Victoria cab. At first they thought it was the horse that was causing the attention. Then they realized it was their public. The top was down and they were very much on display. When they wanted to eat at Child's they had to go into three restaurants before they hit the one where nobody gaped alarmingly. Jeanette patiently idled while Gene made two weeks of personal appearances on a theatre stage. That's love ! WHAT'LL happen when ambition for movie glory is ultimately balked? Claudette Colbert had a swell time on her five months' European toot with her husband. Eventually settling down to being just a doctor's wife wouldn't, she admits, be a bad fate. But she's honest, as usual. She'll have to find another career. "I know I can last only so long in pictures," she Variations on a theme by Cupid: Henry Fonda and Madeleine Carroll; and, above, Mary Maguire and Henry Wilcoxon, in two new films. asserts. "I've never confessed my secret plan before, but it's to have a theatre and manage a stock company of novices. I believe we re-live our own thrills in the triumphs of others. If we aren't blessed with children, we can assist and guide, anyway. If I can wind up teaching young people to act I shan't miss my own success." IUISE RAINER does everything by sponI— taneous desire, including her' airplaning across the continent. The past few months she's guaranteed her brief hours of joy, however; she learned that the night planes are run on reservations and so she's made friends with the bureau that books the passengers. When Luise has a couple of days off she phones that she wants to depart on the four o'clock plane, and — because she's so ver' charming — somehow one passenger finds himself held over. Luise drops in on her husband, Clifford Odets; whenever she thinks she wants to. (He's busily play-writing in New York City.) She tells the studio to phone her there whenever she's needed ; she can be back the next day. Yes, she's made a point of being ver' charming to the booking bureau at the Eastern airport, too ! WAYNE MORRIS continues to be so naive. He and Priscilla Lane went strolling down Hollywood Boulevard, holding hands. A gang of admirers collected and trailed them and Wayne was surprised no end. His sense of unimportance is what gets you, Hollywood gals declare. Incidentally, he's hit his second wind as regards his career. So he isn't mad because he asked for a raise and didn't get it. After all, good parts are what he needs most and he's being handed 'em. C TUDIO shake-up of the month which ■J interested the most ladies-about-town was Travis Banton's departure from Paramount. Whether he resigned is unimportant. He's been designing those Lombard, Colbert, and Dietrich gowns — and now he's available for personal wardrobes ! The rush is on. Lombard still won't dream of appearing in anything but a Banton creation. Mr. Banton has' this to say about the new mode : Watch the skies, not your step, is the idea Joan Crawford had in mind as she arrived in New York on vacation, right. "Tailored suits are passe. Women no longer need to diet radically. Clothes are to be flowing, to fit curves." For good measure he adds, "Veils are passe, also." It'll be fun to take a second helping, but what to do with all that black net around the house? WIRGINIA BRUCE had to prove her V much-touted tact the other afternoon when she was allowing her daughter Susan Ann to entertain. Susan Ann is four years old. Among the guests were Gary (son of Bing), Crosby and Ricky (son of Richard), Arlen. The gentlemen are likewise aged four. The two young men, pals for years, came to personal blows over Susan Ann. Before either could effect a knockout, Virginia pulled them apart. She's explained to papas' Bing and Richard that she did her durndest to keep peace. This four-year-old triangle is the talk of the town's youngest set ! 68