Silver Screen (Nov 1930-Oct 1931)

on one side and Hisses on the other. Write what you think about pictures you've seen and players you've heard — and don't pull your punches. Three prizes each month for letters not longer than 200 words. $15 First Prize; flO Second and $5 Third. Prize Winners FIRST PRIZE Richmond, Va. I HAVE recently seen Joan Crawford in "Paid.'" While I thought she was superb, and have for a long time considered her a great artist, to me she looked like a physical wreck. Do the stars really consider it beautiful to resemble human hatracks? Of course, I don't go in for excessive fat, but I do think there is nothing more lovely than a well-rounded, delicately-molded figure. There is something gruesome when bones appear to be merely covered over with skin. Excessive dieting, exercising, massaging, etc., are the causes of many of our stars being broken in health. There are Lila Lee and Renee Adoree, now in sanitariums, fighting to regain their strength. What an awful price to pay for fame and how unnecessary! It is needless to say that if one eats proper food, his resistance against disease is much greater. We don't wish our screen friends to sacrifice their ALL for art. Knowing a star to be healthy, and thereby happy, makes the portrayal much more enjoyable. We must take care of our stars; we need them — they mean color, romance, dreams! Fanny Lichtenfeld STARS WITH FOUR EYES Seattle, Wash. LOOK about you the next time you attend a . movie and note that the greater number of the audience are wearing glasses and hating it. Dear stars! We be-spectacled mortals would like to know how you get by without them. We'd love you all the more for the knowing. You can't all be blessed with eyes of sharpshooter perfection. 'Taint reasonable. Tell us, please, how to achieve some degree of smartness with these "off-the-face" hats — minus a wisp of hair to relieve the severity, and not beget the effect of Pierce Arrow headlights. How to avoid that sinking feeling, when, all dolled up for party, feeUng like one of Patou's pet models, then on with the glasses and oS with the grand effect! Misery loves company, so how about an acknowledgement that some of you luminaries are in the same boat? Ardyce L. Addington SECOND PRIZE El Paso, Texas Wl are given the best of entertainment on the feature and comedy pictures, but for my own peace of mind, I would like to know why the newsreel won't give us a little more variety. Something else besides football, baseball games, airplanes taking off and ships being christened. I have seen and heard Sir Thomas Lipton make the same talk no less than four times. Als3 it is not an uncommon occurrence that two showhouses feature a different newsreel with identically the same scenes. And yet, this is a big world and things are constantly happening that are just as interesting and educational to the public as those above mentioned. I think it could be made a feature to anticipate, not dread. And to hush comments such as these; "All right, let's go, we've seen everything but the newsreel and that's just the same old thing!" Helen Misenhimer FOR MUSICALS New York City NOBODY loves a theme song," say you. Well, here's somebody who does! I would much rather see a good musical than the best of dramas. I go to the movies, not to weep, not to have my heart-strings torn, but to enjoy myself. Of course, I like drama, too, but give me "The Love Parade" and "Monte Carlo" and I'll throw away the heavy histrionics. Of course, there are many reasons why audiences dislike musicals. The most important reason is that there are so few good ones. When William Austin, Jack Oakie, Kay Francis and James Hall are given big singing parts in "Let's Go Native," while Jeanette MacDonald's glorious soprano is wasted on two cheap blues songs, one really can't help staying away from the musicinema. And isn't it too ricidulous, in the same picture, when four moving men who are about to dispossess Miss MacDonald of her piano, stop long enough for her to sing, and for them to join in the chorus? It is this sort of thing which makes the fans swear off singles. But pictures like "The Love Parade" and "Monte Carlo" are no ordinary musicals. They are directed with such charm and acted with such finesse that they are a joy to see and hear. I say, let's have more musicals, but of the Ernst Lubitsch-Maurice Chevalier type! Pearl A. KaUm THIRD PRIZE Wilmington, N. C. DO you remember the first talking picture you heard and saw and when you returned home the tales of this wonderful invention you told? The success of sound pictures since their introduction proves that silent pictures can never replace them. No other invention has a right to challenge them. For instance, take Ramon Novarro — if he was a star in silent pictures, he has surpassed all that in talkies for you. The editor and general public must admit "never before have movies been so good." There is no chance of convincing really expert faultfinders that they are wrong. But if you are a movie fan and enjoy pictures, there is absolutely no excuse for knocking the sound pictures. Romance, love, comedy and adventure flashed on the screen with sound make one glad that one is living in these modern days. If you have a sense of humor and can laugh, see "A Hollywood Theme Song" and you'll forget there ever was a silent picture. C. T. Rogers DIETRICH VERSUS GARBO San Francisco, Calif. THREE cheers for the flashing, fascinating newcomer from Germany — Marlene Dietrich! In my estimation she does not rival Greta Garbo — she far surpasses her! She is alluring, beautiful, can act and sing and has a charming accent. Her work in "Morocco" and "The Blue Angel" deserves endless praise. I should like to see her picture brightening the cover of the next issue of Silver Screen and find a story of her life adding to the value of this great movie magazine! Forrest J. Ac/jerman NOT TOO SWEET Larchmont, N. Y. ALL the rave about Garbo is for a great actress . who not only surpasses those sweet, simple things like June Collyer, Fay Wray and Mary Brian in beauty, but also in talent. When I go to the movies I want to see something different from the everyday person — I want to see an actress who can display her talent, not a silly, simpering girl, and to see that actress, I go to see the glorious, e.xotic Greta. Ann Brown 8 Silver Screen