Screenland (Nov 1940-Apr 1941)

It isn't often you see film couples arriving en masse, as above, for a premiere. The Robert Montgomerys, George Murphys, and Jimmy Cagneys as they attended a recent opening. That Man Brent Continued from page 55 of this delicious bit of news if it hadn't been for an expense account. Before leaving New York, George submitted his expense account to a Warner Brothers publicity man, who in turn glanced at it, and discovered to his amazement "$20 for breakfast." u "George," said the guy over the phone, "I'm not checking on you. I'm simply curious as hell. How in the world could you spend twenty dollars for breakfast?" Well, it came out gradually that only two dollars had gone for toast and coffee— the rest was for orchids for Miss Young. So, said the publicity man to himself, a romance, eh? And it didn't take him long to spill it to Winchell. Never again has George put his girl friends on his expense accounts. Though she was the first, Loretta was by no means the last of the movie stars to go falling for good-looking Brent. There must have been about a dozen of them, including Ruth Chatterton, Greta Garbo, Merle Oberon, Olivia de Havilland, Bette Davis and Ann Sheridan. No wonder people became quite confused. But the most confused person in Hollywood was Tibby, Bette's very small and very intelligent black Scottie. Tibby's complete confusion happened in the G reen Room on the Warners lot in January, 1940. (George Brent was finishing up "Till We Meet Again," Bette Davis was starting "All This, and Heaven Too," and Ann Sheridan was making tests for "Torrid Zone.'' And I don't recall what I was _ doing.) Tibby and Bette had been away in New England for several months, and it was Tibby's first day at the studio since their return. He frisked into the restaurant, expecting to find Bette at her customary table with George Brent, and sure enough there was Brent— so Tibby started emitting little grunts of delight and jumping at his leg. But imagine his surprise when his old pal George gave him the brush-off, and imagine his surprise when he looked up appealingly at the chair where Bette had always sat and found Ann Sheridan ! "Tibby," he heard Bette's voice across 78 the room. "Tibby, you come here at once !" He went, completely mystified. Why was George Brent, who had always been good for a romp, so cold, and why was Ann Sheridan sitting in Bette's chair! Much too confusing for a little dog. George's longest romance has been with Ann Sheridan, as you probably know already if you keep up with Mr. B., but his shortest "romance" will really surprise you. It was with Barbara Stanwyck. Barbara and George first met in 1932 when they were working together in "So Big." But Barbara was very muchly married to Frank Fay at. the time, and outside of a casual "Good morning" and "Good night" on the set they rarely spoke. Several years later, after her divorce from Fay," Barbara and George met again at a radio station where they were to do a broadcast of "So Big." Several nights later Barbara was having a lonely dinner when the doorbell rang and her butler informed her that Mr. Brent's chauffeur was at the door and Mr. Brent would like to have her phone number. "If Mr. Brent's in the car tell him to come in," Barbara said. Mr. Brent was in the car, and he did come in. The next morning he sent a huge box of gorgeous yellow roses, which he did mot put on his expense account. That was the beginning and the end of the Stanwyck-Brent romance. "I guess I wasn't his type," Barbara said modestly. But the truth of it was that a few days later George read in all the gossip columns that a certain Robert Taylor had "discovered," and how, a certain Barbara Stanwyck. It was Ruth Chatterton who gave George his first real "break" in Hollywood —and then proceeded to fall in love with him. It was early in 1932, and it was Ruth Chatterton, and not Norma Shearer, who was called "The First Lady of Hollywood" at that time. In those days, as in these days, Holfywood producers were moaning and groaning over the lack of leading men, and doing practically nothing about it. Ruth's new picture, "The Rich Are Always With Us," was ready to go into production, but the studio couldn't find a leading man for her. She spent two solid days in the projection room looking at screen tests, and was just about to go into a total collapse when suddenly George Brent walked on the screen. That man Brent sure gets 'em. As soon as he had finished saying his little say, Ruth demanded, "Where has this man been all my life ?" When a $7500 a week star spoke like that, in those days (in these days there are no $7500 a week stars) action was called for. George Brent, flat broke, found himself with a Warner Brothers contract —and has been at the studio ever since. It was Perc Westmore of the famous Westmores who introduced George Brent to Ruth Chatterton in the Green Room at the studio. "Chatty," says Perc, "seemed quite pleased." A few months after "The Rich Are Always With Us" (future girl friend Bette Davis was also in the picture) was released-' George made a second picture with Ruth Chatterton, called "The Crash." After the completion of this picture the star and her leading man were married in August 1932. A year and eight months later they were separated, and she divorced him in 1935. Quite the nicest thing that George seems to have gotten out of his second marriage (his first marriage was with a woman in his stock company back East and lasted only a month) was his great friendship with Ralph Forbes. Ruth had divorced Ralph Forbes a short time before she married George Brent. As ex-husbands of Ruth Chatterton they hit it off beautifully, and became the best of friends — when George sailed for his beloved Honolulu last year he took Ralph (now the husband of Heather Angel) with him. Most of George's romances appear to have started on movie sets, which is about the best place in Hollywood to start a romance. There's something about propinquity^ It was on the set of "The Painted Veil," on a loan-out to Metro, that George started his famous romance with Greta Garbo. It was on the set of "Gold Is Where You Find It" that George and Olivia de Havilland discovered each other, and followed through with a romance that was probably the most unpublicized of all Hollywood romances. It was on the set of "Jezebel" that George and Bette, who had known each other since their old Universal days, suddenly decided they weren't just casual acquaintances. And it was on the set of "It All Came True" that the George Brent-Ann Sheridan romance got off to a speedy start. For a change though, George wasn't in that picture, he was in "The Fighting Irish" at the time, and Jimmy Cagney and the boys told him that that grand gal, and beautiful too, Ann Sheridan, was doing a strip tease over on the "It All Came True" set and why not come on over and watch. Well, the strip tease turned out to be only an old-fashioned corset routine (Warner Brothers' answer to Selznick's Vivien Leigh in "Gone With the Wind," and Paramount's Barbara Stanwyck in "Remember the Night"), but George seemed to be well-repaid for his efforts— he got his first date with Ann. That was in the winter of 1939. Bette Davis and Tibby were in New Hampshire. Unlike most of the other big shot movie stars in Hollywood George Brent is the perfect gentleman on a studio set. His is not the roving eye. Nor the unexpected pinch._ His leading ladies know that they can sit down on any chair at any time without having it collapse under them, and they know that on his sets they will not be subjected to rude and embarrassing jokes. Nor will they be teased unmercifully. George on the set is a very reserved, quiet young man, extremely serious about his acting, and very considerate of his leading ladies. No wonder they all fall for him. He has a way of telling them that they are much too good for their parts — which is the most flattering thing you can say to an actress — and if they want to talk about Life they find him a very amiable, sympathetic listener. George becomes very