Screenland ((Jan–Jun 1947))

Boos and Coos Are you in a fret because your favorite star is not getting the credit he or she deserves ? Well, you can at least do your part in rectifying the oversight by writing about it to Fans' Forum. Or do you want to call your fellow Forumeers' attention to a particularly grand film which shouldn't be missed, and just what you liked about it? Producers, stars, writers and directors are. all interested in these subjects and any other topic concerning the making of movies. Monthly awards for the best letters published : $10.00. $5.00 and ten $1.00 prizes. Closing date is the 25th of the month. Please address your letters to Fans' Forum, Screen land, 37 West 57th Street, New York 19, N. Y. WONDER CITY First Prize Letter £10.00 While in the service, I was for several weeks stationed on a Navy Base within easy distance of Hollywood. Having always been a "movie fan," I was naturally quite interested in seeing as much of that city as possible in the short time afforded me. So, practically all my liberties were spent there. I don't quite know just what my imagination had led me to expect from that city. Some sort of wonder town, maybe, a metropolis of fantasy in an earthly setting in the hills near Los Angeles, its streets of gold and pearl scintillating in the California sunshine, trod by fabulous inhabitants to be gazed upon with awe and reverence by the likes of me. Not that I didn't enjoy the time I spent there ; loved it after recovering from that first dampening of my expectations. I found it a very pleasant city, with broad, beautiful boulevards and streets, a scenic location and an interesting skyline — the home of thousands of plain, middle class, working people. I don't know why I had just never associated Hollywood as even being remotely connected with any such class of people. Thinking about it now, people like that are the real ' backbone and foundation of any city. But that just adds more confusion to the Hollywood of my erroneous imagination. Even its more widely publicized people of radio and movie fame, despite the aura of glamor with which their work envelops them, cannot escape the down-to-earth reality of the place. Their work is a profession, one of the most exacting of all professions. It demands hard work and long, arduous hours. Probably to them, there is no more glamor to be found in their working-day routine than there is to the fellow who se'.ls newspapers near the corner of Hollywood and Vine. It is the appreciative throngs, seeking relief from their seemingly run-ofthe-mill tasks, finding entertainment and relaxation through the medium of motion pictures, that see all the glamor and excitement in the stars' profession. At least, that is the way I have myself analyzed, for I am one of the above-mentioned throng. Since covering Hollywood and seeing well over a hundred of its brightest names and personalities on radio shows, camp tours, at the Hollywood Canteen and one or two night spots, I still appreciate Hollywood as much as ever. But now my appreciation is more for the real labor that goes with the profession of giving us entertainment we demand and need, and not so much for the glamorous and exciting aspects I can see in the trade. I appreciate Hollywood, too, for the cordial welcome and generosity with which she greeted all visiting servicemen. My thanks, too, to the vast bulk of her citizens who so warm-heartedly devoted their time, money and support to the USO, the Naval Aid and other organizations which made not only mine but the visits of countless other servicemen and women who "saw Hollywood" an enjoyable one, and one to be long remembered. JESSE SHIRLEY, Cross Plains, Tex. LET CORNEL PLAY BYRON Second Prize Letter £5.00 I disagree with Margaret Donovan in the November issue of Fans' Forum. Did she ever compare a picture of Cornel Wilde with the portrait of Byron by Kramer? Cornel is Byron, even to the turn of his mouth, which never can be construed as a "leer." Cornel Wilde knows Byron. He is younger than James Mason, more like the toy nobleman who paled contemporary scribblers with the imaginative vigor of his early masterpiece, "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage." This man Byron had virtues enough for a dozen biographies. He was a "loving, kind" friend to men like Shelley and Tom Moore. The very qualities which make him a controversial figure provide challenging screen material. Byron was never English in his writing or his life ; he is the most cosmopolitan of the romantics. Cornel Wilde should not be villainous in the role ; rather, in the conflict that was Byron, he would prove again his genius for portraying the tortured man of inspiration. As far as making Byron a hero is concerned, no drama can equal the physical and. moral courage of the Byron who turned his back on "unworthy manhood," and gave, his life for "the Isles of Greece" that cradled the freedom he loved. Byron wanted no apologists. Bv telling his story straight, with Cornel Wilde as the great romantic, Hollywood can recreate the Byron whose appeal is universal. CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS, Georgetown College, Georgetown, Ky. MORE ADVENTURE FOR CARY £1.00 Why can't they get better roles for Cary Grant? In "Notorious" he merely sat and looked clever. Nor is he the song-writer type, or one to admire dancing caterpillars. He looks handsome in tails, true, but to me he looks out of place. To me, his hair should be mussed, his shirt open, his brow sweaty, and his eyes gleaming, as they were long ago in "Gunga Din." That's the Cary Grant most of his fans remember and still want to see — an adventurer with a smile, a wit, and a Sunday punch. Let the music he writes be the song of lusty action and the whispering of suspense. Why bind and cover him with sophistication? Or mavbe he's just gone soft. FRANCIS N. DUFFEY, USNR, N.A.S., Ottumwa, Iowa TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE £1.00 Give me the complaint department please ! I'd like to register a protest about the treatment that's being given Jeanne Crain. Miss Crain is lovely to look at. Miss Crain is lovely to listen to. But does she have to be so very, very dewy? Can't she be given a chance to show us whether or not she has versatility? We have seen, time and again, that she knows how to enact the role of a sweet, young thing. She does it perfectly. But she does it a little too often. The moment we see Miss Crain's name in the cast of a picture, we know that she's going to be the nicest little lady in the show, that she'll probably suffer a little bit (but daintily! No torment or tantrums) and that in the end she'll get her man — not by flirting or wangling, and never, never by using a small ScREENLAND