Silver Screen (Nov 1930-Oct 1931)

56 Silver Screen for February 1931 HOLLYWOOD'S RULES FOR LOVE JOAN CRAWFORD [Continued from page 16] to find another woman's powder on her husband's coat lapeL That coat, too, will always be clean and in press, and his shoes shined. "I love thoughtfulness in a man. Every woman is pleased with little attentions. They mean so much and they take so little time and effort from a man. When you dine out with a man he should see that the dinner is properly served and that you are seated comfortably where you can see or be seen — as you like best. In other words, really think what will please you before considering what will please him. "Speaking candidly, I have a mania for those little attentions. I want to be noticed, but I am not a show-off. I imagine I am like every other woman. Supposing I come downstairs to meet a man with whom I am dining. I am wearing a new gown and I had hoped to please him. Then he doesn't notice it at all and I feel that sickening sense of disappointment. There's nothing to be done unless I fall back on that last resort — the half-injest and all-in-earnest remark, T guess you don't think I look well tonight'. But, no matter what he says then, the edge has been taken away from the evening. "If men only know, or more important still, if they could only remember, how important those little things are to a woman. "For some reason I am mentioning intelligence rather far down the line. But it is not a case of 'last shall be least'. Intelligence is a vital necessity, not a mere lovable quality. I have tfie greatest respect in the world for keen intelligence, a well-rounded, broad viewpoint on life. I love a sense of humor in anyone, particularly in a man. I know that the man with a sense of humor makes a far better life's companion than the man without it. "Consideration for others is a wonderful quality in a man. It is bound to endear him to women. That quality becomes doubly important after marriage. I have never forgotten a time when I returned from the studio, dead tired. Douglas hadn't been working that day and I knew he had planned on going to a party that night. I tried to get dressed. He knew how exhausted I was and he insisted that we cancel our engagement. We put on old clothes and drove down to the beach for dinner. I don't think that either of us have ever had a better time. Naturally, it is a poor rule that doesn't work both ways. A man has every right to expect consideration from a woman. "I have told you what I love in a man. There are three things that I hate, too. I can't endure rudeness, surliness and a bad, uncontrolled temper. "Don't think that I object to a little honest temperament in a man. I wouldn't care for one who was incapable of genuine anger. There are times when a man has reason to be moody and maybe just a little bit cross. I don't mind. However, he doesn't have to be surly about it. "There are qualities I admire in all the men stars on the M-G-M lot, something outstanding in each that I have found worthwhile. You get to know and understand people when you work with them for several weeks on a picture. "In Ramon Novarro I find courtesy, unfailing and completely natural, and those little attentions which I have said I liked. Ramon admires your gown. He helps you on with your coat and he picks up your gloves. "With John Gilbert it is his magnificent vitality. It is so overwhelming that it passes on to you. I have worked with him in pictures. Sometimes I have been ready to drop after long, exhausting scenes, yet, when I worked with Jack, the wornout nerves were all gone. I felt vital, too. And everyone around him feels the same. "A marvelous, irrepressible sense of humor — that is William Haines' greatest quality. I think he would find something to laugh at if the whole world fell about him. And, as I have said, a sense of humor is a great thing. I like the small boy that is in Bill, too. No woman objects to the boy in a man. She may not like it if the boyishness becomes childishness. I don't believe I would . "What are the things I admire most in Douglas, my husband? It wouldn't be fair to take him as an example. But, you know, I believe I have unconsciously been telling you what I love in Douglas instead of what I admire in men in general." from morning until late at night, bur their pride and interest in their home was none the less because they were absent from it so much. "I like a good disposition in a woman. I don't exactly mean a placid one. That would get dull after a time. A little temperament is all right if it is mixed with a little common sense. I have never known a woman with a one-hundred-percent perfect disposition. I'm not sure that I would be interested if I did meet her. You have to have a little variety in this life. Spice, you know. "Perhaps, since I am not exactly the life of every party myself, I admire vivacity in a woman. I like to see liveliness, vitality and the ability to keep people interested in what she is saying or doing. "Naturally, every man loves beauty in a woman. Beauty has a universal appeal, but every man is not looking solely for beauty. In a way, the extremely beautiful girl is handicapped. So much more is expected of her. Equal perfection is demanded of her in intelligence and disposition. Isn't it true that people associate beauty and dumbness? "Rather than beauty I would want a GARY COOPER [Continued from page 17] girl who would be a comrade, one who would enjoy the things I like. I guess what I mean is that hard-working word 'compatibility'. If beauty went along with this greater quality, I wouldn't actually object, you understand. SOME DAY I want to leave Hollywood. I like ranch life. I like to get away from people and live in the open. Even now I seldom go to parties. If I marry, under those conditions, you see I will have to find compatibility in the girl. She will have to like other things than the society of many people. Little niceties of city civilization couldn't mean everything in the world to her. "Most women place greater stress on society than most men. I don't object to it. Everyone is gregarious to some extent. But social ambition and uncontrolled desire for gaiety is not what I most admire in a woman. There's a lot of difference between enjoying friends and just a futile seeking for noise and crowds. "I do admire a woman with the ability to meet all kinds of people. I admire ease of manner in anybody. The ideal woman should be able at least to appear at home in the finest drawing-room and in the one -room cabin of a mountaineer. And to make those around her comfortable, too. "I don't imagine many men expect complete frankness in a woman. She is supposed to be complex and hard to understand. I do look for faithfulness and honesty. If you can't have that, what chance has any relationship? "Thoughtfulness and unselfishness are great things in a woman. Every woman expects those things in a man, and it works both ways. "Perhaps it isn't particularly admirable, but I like to be babied once in a while. Sure, I admit it. Every man likes being babied. I would hate to say that I would expect to be babied, but I would expect the thoughtfulness that means the maternal quality in woman. "I don't say that what I would love in a woman is what every other man would love. Certain qualities are admired by everyone, but some men would place more stress on one thing, others on an entirely different quality. And it's a good thing that this is so. Otherwise, a few girls" would be entirely too popular."