Screenland (Nov 1941-Apr 1942)

★ * * ★ * * ★ ★ CAROLE LOMBARD'S * * * * * * * ★ J LAST FILM $ * . * * presented in complete * * fiction form * * READ * I ToBeorMToBe "| * * ^ — the illustrated story based on -jjj the great Ernst Lubitsch pro' duction, exclusive in April issue tAt * of STARDOM, Hollywood's Most * ^ Exciting Magazine of Facts, I -jlj Fiction and Photos, in full foui -jc colors — the movie magazine x "5 you've been waiting for. "fr X * * -Af your newsstand * Friday afternoon, just before we stopped shooting, the boys pulled a gag on Clark. He was to enter the scene carrying a Gladstone bag. The boys loaded it with five dozen books. Ruggles said : "Okay, Clark, just come in and throw the bag across the room." Clark put his hand down to grab the case. We were all watching. "Holy smokes !" he shouted, "I'm nailed to the floor !" I knew you'd get a kick out of that, too. You know, Clark is a sweetheart, . Carole, dear. After ten years of great success, he's just like he .was — only nicer. That's because he knows you. Outside they're yelling something about a beautiful girl killed in a crash. She was coming home from a mission of mercy. Her mother too. You were coming to visit us next week. . . . Now, about Clark. He couldn't be with people who loved you both more. Besides that, he's with all the boys who have been around him since he first started here at M-G-M. They will dog his tracks to help him through. We'll cry. We'll cry lots. None of us will want the other to know how much. And then we'll be laughing again because we'll be talking about those crazy, dear moments you let us all share with you. You are blessed with all the fullness of a complete life, for .to know you is to love you. There is no one in all this world who can ever take your place. So, you'll be with us, I betcha money. Wherever you are at this moment, darling, the place is good. And those therein are made brighter with your laughter. With love, Blackout at the "Blue Evening Continued from page 21 in the world, tempting objectives for an enemy which these very plants will one day crush. Across the street was a studio whose pictures had been blasting at the Nazi tyranny almost from the first appearance of Hitler. Were the planes coming? There had already been a practice blackout and the newspapers had said there would be no more. The door of "The Blue Evening swung open. Two grim figures, faces partly hidden by their tin hats, entered. They were obviously air raid wardens on an inspection tour., "Any news?" someone asked. "Nothing except that all radio stations have gone off the air." That deafening silence once more. But only for a second. By candlelight Olivia de Havilland is something for the poets to write about. The reporter wanted to know if she was frightened. "No, strangely enough I'm not at all scared. I don't think I ever will be. I guess it's because I'm not afraid of death — only of pain. I know I shouldn't like to die screaming. Above all I should like my death to be useful, although I don't quite know how. , "Speaking for myself, life is much more to be feared than death. The torment of life can be long-lasting and excruciatingly prolonged. That isn't true about death." The waitress brought the entrees. Nobody wanted anything except coffee. "For the first time in my life," she said after a pause, "I wish I were a man. I'd like to get into this in a primitive way, which, I suppose, is the proper formula for war. There are those of my friends — Geraldine Fitzgerald is one — who feel that during war-time actors should act. And there are those — Burgess Meredith is one — who think that acting isn't enough, that, ! after all, acting is merely our job. 'The 1 plumber leaves his job and picks up a gun, ! doesn't he?' he argues. Buzz volunteered i for active service before the bombing of 1 Honolulu, but I don't think the Army has acted on his application yet. So did Jack Carson who has been married only a short while and has been a proud father for a shorter time than that." She paused to light a cigarette. "I don't quite know what I shall do. I don't quite know what I CAN do." She spoke with the air of mingled bewilderment and sadness. "I do know that I, and all of us, can keep SCREENLAND the spirit high, if nothing else. There are those who like to say in times like these that civilization should blush for shame and we should go back to the days of the Neanderthal Man and start all over again. That is not realism, but escape. Realists know that every minute is a new beginning. "I think I am one of those realists. I believe in fighting. I believe strongly in resisting, in never giving in, and submitting only when it's part of a larger plan which will bring victory in the end. I think all Hollywood is like that. It wasn't too quick to organize its resources, but to its redounding credit it recognized immediately the import of the attack on Honolulu. I don't know an actor who isn't willing to give everything he has." Someone remembered the music box. Somebody else dropped a nickel in and the tenor came on again with "Just The Way You Look Tonight." 'Yes, I suppose I'm a fatalist," Olivia resumed. "I have come to the conclusion that Life manipulates human beings — not human beings Life. The big things that have' happened to me were those in which Life snapped me up in spite of myself and dropped me where whim -directed. Sometimes Life will pick you up and drop you onto the beach. Another time it will drop you straggling into the current. There's no rhyme to it. "I don't think that being a fatalist means to accept what comes without fighting. A fatalist fights and, having done his utmost, accepts the verdict calmly and without protest. But he docs fight. "After 'Gone With the Wind' things became too damned ridiculous as far as my career was concerned. Mostly I seemed to be doing nothing but stereotypes. I thought it all out and decided to fight. I took a suspension or two. I got to read every story property I could get my hands on to see if there was anything there for me. I was delighted to run across the script of 'Strawberry Blonde.' They couldn't see me in that role with a telescope. I had to phenagle around for it. I liked doing 'My Love Came Back.' I'm sorry it didn't earn 18 millions at the box office. "This last year or two I've been doing my best work. For that matter, I have been getting my best parts. Not without effort, mind you. It isn't enough to be able to prove that you can do good work. You've got to prove that you're hard and tough and that you not only can fight but that you WILL fight. And that you WILL win. It