Screenland (May-Oct 1941)

FIRST PRIZE LETTER $10.00 My father used to say that when he put his arm around a girl, he wanted to know she was there. In other words, dad liked to see a good, strong, healthy, plump girl. He would have had small temptation among the ladies of Hollywood. I have never seen a more emaciated, hollowcheeked, slab-sided lot of females in my life. They have dieted not only the flesh from their bones, but the sparkle from their eyes, the spring from their walk, and the lire from their acting. Their thin, pipestem legs carry them languidly from one scene to the next, and their skinny arms around the hero's neck remind one of the lovemaking of a wraith rapidly running out of ectoplasm. We hear on all sides the old cry that the camera adds ten pounds to any actress' weight. Well, what of it? This country needs more girls who aren't ashamed or afraid to weigh what a woman should weigh. It needs girls who look womanly. It needs girls whose ambition is more to a healthy future than toward size twelves. Give us back our WOMEN! CHRISTOPHER BOWEN, Columbus, Ohio SECOND PRIZE LETTER $5.00 I am an elderly man and not a great movie-goer; I prefer quiet evenings at home playing chess. However, last week my wife and daughter kept after me to see some movie that had come to town — "Strawberry Blonde," they called it; said it would bring back memories, and so on ; to keep the family peace, I put on my hat and went to see it. Well, I recognized the costumes and the manners, the slang and the songs as the ones in favor when I first came to America. I remember; especially the one about St. Louis, Louie. I lived in Brooklyn then and the hurdy-gurdy men played it at every corner. Frankly, the names of actors and actresses never stay in my mind very long; however, the little girl who played Amy — the one with the cutest wink I ever saw, the kind of wink nobody had forty years ago — I'll remember her. Her nanje is Olivia de Havilland. ( 1 won't forget it — that's the kind of a hairpin I am.) ISRAEL KATZ, Brockton, Mass. FIVE PRIZE LETTERS $1.00 Each Bern? a widow with a slim budget and three children of school age, keeps me busy trying to keep our heads above water. Dimes up to two bits for movies are not very plentiful but we still find a few for that necessary purpose. Of course, the children get the lion's share of our moviegoing, but that doesn't mean that their mother is left out. The children cooperate, and all of us saving, lay aside the price of an occasional movie for mother, too. To me, the movies are always an intensely interesting interval away from my busy and, oftentimes, anxious life. I've never had the opportunity to see so many of them that my keen enjoyment of them is dulled. Every time I get to see one it is a real occasion to me. To many, my way of living would be very unsatisfactory. If they couldn't see at least one movie a day, they would probably feel cheated, while if I get to see one a week, I feel I've been particularly favored. I've found, too, that even one movie a week often means the difference between merely existing and enjoyable living. Some day — and I hope it isn't too far away — I hope I'll be privileged to enjoy more of the interesting and economical entertainment and recreation offered by the movies. Until that time, I'll continue to enjoy and appreciate the few I now get to see. RUTH C. WESLEY, Zanesville, Ohio Did you hear me scream last Saturday around ten-fifteen C.S.T.? No? It's a wonder because I had just seen "Blondie Plays Cupid," and, boy, did I boil ! There was Glenn Ford, the reason I went to see the movie, practically bound and gagged. They just stuck him in the corner and forgot about him. For the love of Pete, why Glenn Ford? I thought the corner was the exclusive property of Baby Dumpling. But you just stop, look, and listen. You just wait and watch the Ford boy shoot skyward. He's talented with the looks and personality of the "boy around the corner," the one we all know and like. T'll bet "So Ends Our Night" will prove my prediction to be correct ; so mark my words. IRENE McMANUS, Omaha, Nebr. Last night I saw "Come Live With Me" and noted the disheartening fact that Hedy Lamarr is still kicking with her usual lack of animation. Considering that fans and critics have been practically unanimous in lamenting her lack of histrionic ability, why, oh why do the producers insist upon thrusting that beautiful morsel down our throats ? For the entire length of the picture she stood about looking soulful. Not RIGHT OR WRONG— WRITE! Don't tell it to Sweeney, fans, tell it to Screenland. What you have to say, be it for or agin', means much to movie makers — and to us. A "back to the feminine curves" movement is a happy suggestion. Men don't like girls who have to stand twice in one place to cast a shadow, or whose bones rattle when they walk. See what we mean ? What's right or wrong with the movies? With Screenland? We can take it. Don't include the ills of the world ; tell that to Sweeney. Cash in on your views. Monthly prizes of $10.00, $5.00 and five of $1.00 each. Closing date, 25th of the month. Please address your letters to Screenland's Fans' Forum, 45 West 45th Street, New York, N. Y once did she come alive. But not even an inanimate heroine can cramp Jimmy Stewart's style. How I adore the droll way he goes around peering through his eyebrows ! He's good because he's a natural. Take the boy next door and a measure of genius ; mix well, and you have — Jimmy Stewart. And may I add a word of commendation for Adeline De Walt Reynolds? As the adorable old grandmother, she was superb. Yes, the picture was a success in spite of Hedy's persisting in getting beautifully in the way. But really — if, as is evident, her sole talent lies in looking decorative, then why not hang her on the wall where pretty pictures belong and let the real actors go on with the show ? EILEEN WARREN, Fairfield, Wash. The motion picture theaters take in well over $600,000,000 a year from us Americans. That means many people attend the movies. Like most people, I enjoy good pictures, but the reason for my writing this letter on my twenty-third birthday is that I think something should be done about the popcorn problem in movie houses. The other night I had to move three times, until I got to feel like a fugitive from noisy bags of popcorn. LEON ARNOLD MULLER, Chicago, 111. What is this myopia that afflicts the film producers? Why can't they recognize a unique personality when they have it under contract? They unearth their starlets in beauty parlors, on college campuses, in night clubs ; set the Westmores to work on them, tog them out in five hundred dollars' worth of clothes, pay their publicity agents to dream up titles like "ping girls." "oomphatic girls" (though in some cases "lymphatic" would be more apt), and when these manufactured marvels are loosed on the public and received with apathy, "the public doesn't know what it wants." My particular peeve is the mishandling and neglect of Priscilla Lane. The casting of this little girl as an insipid ingenue or an unhappy wife and tragic mother is the grossest waste in pictures. Her bright youth, her tininess and daintiness, her wonderful childlike charm should be given scope in roles such as the late Marguerite Clark played so believably. Rescue our Priscilla before she drops into the oblivion which awaits the perpetually-miscast player. Give her a chance to display her talents and her matchless personality. And watch her become the most popular star on the screen. E. M. HILL, Pittsburgh, Pa. 12