Silver Screen (Nov 1931-Oct 1932)

56 Silver Screen for March 1932 David Manners is Blue Blooded an off-stage discussion concerning her. "After I met her and we had worked together a couple of days, she asked me point-blank if I thought her 'high-hat.' I told her I did not. Instead I thought she was very much misunderstood." " 'That's it exactly!' she agreed. For one thing, crowds have always terrified me. I'm tremendously flattered by them, of course, and I know the fans are responsible for my career. But I do get so rattled I don't know what to do when they demand my autograph or pictures or just surge forward to get a look at me. " "Strange confession, perhaps, for the screen's best poised star to make," said David, "but that's just what she admitted to me. Another time, she brought up the rumors regarding her being temperamental." " 'I'm not, really, or, at least, I try not to be,' she explained. 'Perhaps, that got around owing to the fact that I won't allow \isitors on the set. I don't do that to be termed exclusive. The truth is I cannot work in front of strangers. I've never had any stage experience and they unnerve me. As far as "snubbing" anyone, I've never intentionally done that in my life.' "As far as I'm concerned. Miss Bennett is a very democratic person although glamorous to the n th degree," remarked David. "AV'hile making this film, she would often invite me— as well as other members of the cast— to have luncheon with her and the Marquis in her bungalow. Both Connie and the Marquis have a grand sense of humor and seem made just for one another. That's one marriage that apparently has everything to make it last!" "Was Miss Bennett easy to act with?" I [Continued from page 26] asked him curiously. "Extremely so," returned Dave. "I used to say to her on the set: 'I'll be awfully happy when you are safely married, so I can stop flirting with you!' Both she and 'Hank' thought that a delicious joke." David has played a number of juvenile parts and is a bit fed up with them. "If," he laughed, "there are more forthcoming in the future, something is going to be done about it." And he insists he's the one who is going to do it. Being an amateur writer— writing plays and such for a hobby —he might even branch forth and dash off a part and a picture for himself! Seriously, though, he has no false ideas concerning his own importance in pictures. "After all," he declared earnestly, "an actor is only about fifteen per cent of this business. It is the industry itself that counts. I know I'm just on the threshold and have a good long way to go yet. I am a firm believer, too, that it's the part that makes the actor— that the actor cannot make the part! I would like to occasionally play a role which didn't call for a dress suit or fancy clothes— you know, the sort of characters Percy Marmont used to play. No one can foretell, though, just what their future is in pictures. For all I know, I might end up by playing a bloodhound in 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' or 'Claribel Cow' in the Mickey Mouse films! "It may soimd trite," he went on, after we had recovered from a couple of laughs, "but there's a great fascination about pictures. There's a gratifying response— possibly gratifying merely to man's ego— when I go into the projection room after a day's work to see the rushes rim off depicting the part I am attempting to portray. Any how, I like it. Premieres are the only thing I cannot seem to get accustomed to. You never know what to e.xpect at one." Already, David has stirred up interest, particularly among the women, by good portrayals in "Mother's Cry," "Kismet," "Dracula," "The Millionaire," and "The Last Flight." He seldom reads his press notices unless they give him advice on how to improve his technique. A minor ambition is to some day run a theater and put on artistic, true-to-life productions, whether they pay or not! He is subject to moods. Admits he is a great romanticist. He'd much rather be informal and do what he pleases even at the risk of forgetting his "Emily Post." Our Adonis attends few Hollywood parties. Occasionally, he drops in at the Ambassador for a dance. Oh, yes, he can dance— the tango happens to be his favorite. "I always plan to go to Pickfair whenever I'm lucky enough to be invited and no matter how busy I may be or how tired I am," spoke up Dave. "Mary and Doug have both been very kind to me and have on many an occasion invited me to their home," he went on. "Usually, Mary will manage to have an informal little chat with me during some part of the evening. 'We must uphold the Maple Leaf!' she smiles. And that is one fine thing about Mary Pickford— although she seems thoroughly American, she nevertheless has a warm place in her heart for the land of her birth. She loves to talk about her childhood days in Canada. In my humble estimation, Mary and Doug are the finest hostess and host in the colony." 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