Screenland (May-Oct 1941)

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I Joel McCrea samples his home-grown fruit. This is the kind of life Joel goes for between engagements. Horses are his hobby. of the year there. We have never bought a home in Hollywood and don't intend to ; we rent and move frequently. We blunder. We took one house because I'd liked the swimming pool and then the pool leaked out dry every two weeks. We chose another place because I was entranced at the sight of steam heat in California. Spur-of-the-moment surface choices are antidotes to dullness, though. "If movie stars appear 'nutty' it's because they know they do not have to conform to trite legends. They skip to the core of living. You've got to, to bring color and zip to yourself. The penalty is a lot of misunderstanding ; but isn't it better to be misinterpreted than to be a wallflower? "Hollywood glamor is based on exaggeration; no doubt of that. Both our nicenesses and our faults are built up. Cut through, however, and what do you find? Take the so-called high-hat stars, for Case 1. Why, they're victims of their own inferiority complexes ! I know Katharine Hepburn is panned because she's snooty to the press. But I know too, that she's a swell sport. You see, when she first came to California I was under contract to RKO and I was the one sent by the publicity department to greet her at the station in Pasadena. A cameraman went along to film our meeting. I thought it was pretty odd. But I was an employee, so I beamed and attempted to act as though I did it everyday. She took it in perfect stride, never batted an eye and was as gracious as could be. Hepburn temperamental? Maybe, when she has a cause to be. "You have to check up for yourself to be convinced. When I was in college we used to sneer at George Raft. In our estimation he was a night-club drunk, a slicker. But when I got back to Hollywood and got acquainted with George he turned out to be quiet, extremely polite, and he neither drinks nor smokes out of camera range "Myths spread so. Glib explanations of what a pipe it's been for so-and-so. I was amazed at what I heard about myself. When I got into the swing of things here it was said I was the play-boy son of wealthy parents. I did go to school with Louis B. Mayer's daughters, and they invited me to dinner, and I was still Hollywood's most unsuccessful extra ! My father was no more than a well-to-do business man and I certainly counted on earning my living. I don't enjoy anything if I haven't worked for it, and I don't complain because hard work and personal contacts — not pull — have taken care of me fairly. "Movie-making is hard work, and you've got to deliver box-office worth to last. Personal contacts mean everything, here and everywhere else. Social invitations were a help when I started because by being among those present I convinced some people I must have something. DeMille was sufficiently impressed to get me my first contract, at M-G-M, and to test me for a part in a picture of his. I didn't get the role, I got no others, and soon as C.B. left the lot I was fired. Through William LeBaron I got a smile on my face again; DeMille wasn't more than casually interested until years had lapsed and I was experienced enough to act a lead for him. LeBaron got me a similar, lowly stock contract at RKO. Then, for eleven months, I wasn't assigned even so much as a bit part. One day a total stranger, William Sistrom, a producer I didn't know, saw me standing around. He said, 'You look like an actor.' I retorted, 'I suspect I can be one.' He put me into my first lead. . "Why not make it a point to know the leaders in your business? I do, and I get roles I couldn't rate because of my past performances, or through my agent, as a result. The influential leaders are glad to find you are sincerely eager as to why they tick, and how. I've never yet worked under Frank Capra's direction, but I want to. I secured my break with producer-director William Wellman by visiting at Capra's one night. Somehow Wellman got an entirely new idea of me at that personal meeting, and his impression of me gave him the notion of casting me as he visualized me. But," added Joel firmly, "that's a lot of hooey about movie stars being party-mad. Frances and I don't give big parties, not because we disapprove of them, but when we invite one couple to dinner we can have a keen visit. "A Beau Brummell of Hollywood tag was once circulated for my asserted benefit. I did date sophisticated actresses before I married Frances because I was anxious to learn what sophistication is. I didn't drink or smoke.'' (Does the boy next door have nerve enough to remain that "nutty"?) Joel was often ill-at-ease, but he had ideals about his physique and gradually could banter with the best of them. "I drove a secondhand Dodge and their limousines didn't scare me into dipping into the half of my earnings I was bent on saving. I didn't — and I'll bet this sounds crazy enough for you — meet the present King of England when he visited Hollywood because I didn't have the proper tails to wear and didn't want to rent badly-fitting clothes. I sent Gloria Swanson, who'd asked me to be her escort to the affair for the distinguished prince, my regrets. "Whether or not movie actresses are up to society girls is a bandied-about question," Joel continued. "I went with society girls and they are not as sincere, not any nicer, no more to be admired than actresses. Furthermore, society girls put on much more pretense and prissiness. Actresses say what they think. They're never artificial, except when they feel they must be because of their careers. Most of the actors, for that matter — fellows like Gable, Tracy, and Cooper — are as regular as any white collar men, cowboys, or oil workers. "You shed a lot of hesitations when you work in Hollywood. You learn to express your emotions, which is great stuff for the nerves. Both Frances and I came from conservative families. There was a wall of reserve about us. So it took us four or five years longer than the average player to break down that handicap of concealir emotions. In Hollywood when you are n.i you tear your hair. Which I like — t lingering, suppressed resentments ! "Sure my own family had to be 'showr They were pretty Puritanical. But tht were won over by the naturalness of pictu: people." Joel waxed reminiscent. "I'm r . calling," he said, "a stunning feminine st; whose language is horrible. I found th; this was a deliberate defense gesture. T'. wolves about town have been so shockby her apparent hard-boiledness that th< leave her quite alone. She's an individuali and, I say, not so awfully 'nutty' ! "There are selfish actresses. Years aj Mary Pickford and Bebe Daniels tipped n off on how to handle that kind. When ci of my heroines insists that the directshove me out offocus I remember Mary and Bebe's advice. 'Keep declaring you dor understand what she means. Never be ab to comprehend. And in the end the see; will have to be done legitimately !' "I imagined Ginger Rogers would hard to get along with because she's alo from some of those who'd like to applai her. But she came to me and asked i< specific opinions on every phase of our pi ture. No, there's nothing phony about Gi ger. She's intelligent and self-made, and s' doesn't give you any baloney about yearnii for cooperation and then hogging the seem "I'm no Pollyanna," he confessed. "On tl whole I'd rather work with the newer, ri. ing actresses. With girls like Laraine D| and Ellen Drew. They haven't acquired t much self-importance. Either side of r face is equally bad and it's a bore to sit ■ the sidelines watching a vain charmer arg with the director and cameraman." Barba Stanwyck, Joel's co-star in "The Gre Man's Lady," now being completed for sui mer release at Paramount, is number o; exception to that preference. No newcom could possibly be more cooperative th; Barbara, Joel contends. "We know how lucky we are to be Holl wood actors. Thank heaven there is a bu ness like this for people like ourselves w cannot stand monotony. Still, I realize t uncertainty on which I thrive wouldn't si many who' re eager to climb their own w; I want to go on living in Hollywood. I hot fooled by over-ambition. I even we Joel finds himself a sunny spot beside his own swimming pool to study his nev. script. The lucky dog is Christopher 76