Variety (Feb 1930)

Wednesday, February 5, ISiSO WOMEN'S PAGE VARIETY By Cecelia Ager HoUyweod'a Well DreMed Men To be * well dressed woman— that's easy. It's being a well dressed maii that's tough. There's no comparing the difficulties when one goes about carving a niche for himself as- a wel) dressed man. Women seeking such glory may delve Into the realms of fancy. Their imagination needs , be un- obecked by the rigid rules of cloth- ing that limit the man. Xadles have an endless ga^nut. of fripperies and indulgences, little bits of whinisy are allowed, t^em, to help set them ott from "their sisters. Men, poor things, must stop with coat, wiaist- coat, and trousers. The material is always the same. They've got to tell the whole story ■ with cut, hang and manner ,of wea.rlng. And yet,, heiresses to all the artiflces of flattering adornment, hiow few comparatively are. the well dressed women to meet the critical eye! Men .are the victors there, for since it must be told, men of-dis- tinction in clothes' overwhelmingly outnumber the women belonging to that classification. It is to the last- inisr shame of women that men, handicapped as they are with ^a,ll the dress restrictions Imposed upon them, beat the ladies at their own game. Men, the sly fellows, understand so.much better th«Q art of Individual style. They decide upon a role that expresses their personality, and thien dress up to it. Look at the well dressed men of HOUywopd, for instance. There yeu. see a' coUec tion of individualities. For them no slavish subscribing- to the London letter of "Vanity Fair," the way women obey the pronouncements of the Paris -couturiers.; ' Well pressed Alien here abouts will be recognized as themselves, as they like to ap pear, not as anyone tells them is right. They earn their titles by following their personal-taste, first of course studying their type, They're consistent, once they've hit on, their proper milieu. The well dressed man sticks^to his part what- ever it may be. No two are alike. Tliey ve as varied, as the infinite iQUirks of personality. It isn't hard to choose examples of Hollywood's well dressed men. Something about the climate and the informal manner of living gives free scope to Individuality. In Holljrwood one can be pretty near as different as one likes' without being judged eccentric. Yet in fair- ness, local well dressed men are surprisingly conservative facing this golden opportunity, permitting themselves flair 6nly If they are the type "pour le sport." Types and Types William Wellman, hatless always, Is notable for the effect he gets over of being a Greek god about to mount a polo pony between Jaunts In his racing plane. Palms for him. Others wear polo shirts, others-dis- regard neckties, but there you are. Conrad Nagel is the sensible fel- low. A well dressed American. In Paris, in London, people may point to him with safety as a 100% Amer- ican of-good family who works in his father's brokerage house and lives in the fashionable suburbs of his home town. Jim Ttil/y's remarkable red hair places him in the group because he's wise enough^ never to cut It short. Uncropped, curling unre- strained and seldom covered, it is unto Itself a sufflcleril asset. ' Lew Cody is an essential part of life in Paris, a bon vivant who Regularly attends the races. The right man. to show you'Montmartre. He prefers French tailors to British. For dessert he orders crepes Suzette. ■ Adrian is an artistic person lead' tag a busy life. It is 1930 when artists are recognized for what they can contribute^to business and they no longer need live in garrets. But an artistic person's feeling for color and flair can't be completely sub- merged by the ,mechanics of this machine age. Irving Thalberg Is the monograph ef good form and correctness achieved by ^eliaclous adherence to a fQndamehtarftuniT""''ar^^ IS never conspicuous." _Trav|» Banton is the senior at Princeton voted the best dressed Jnan of his class. His classmates envy his previous careless air in sport clothes and wish they knew how to select tweeds the way he can. Basil Rathbono is an Englishman, * companion of tho Prince of Wales when treasure hunts engaged the younger set of London. He stays in London during the season, cross- ing to France with his set at the socially correct time, not a. day too soon, not a day too late. Ai Kaufman Is Hollywood's Jimmy Walker—a good fellow with dapper Ideas of his oym aa to what is a well dressed man. . - .Lewis: Stono appears as Conrad Nagel's father, the owner of the brokerage firm who sets his sales- men a fine example by his neatness and order. The Federal Reserve Bank has the country's confidence because It is conservatlye. Tom Mix Is the cowboy's dream of the city and the srnali; boy's dream of heaven. For Toni it's real, not a dream, with those endless picture dollars. All that you need Is enough money. People don't laugh at dollars. There's sincerity in them thar hats. . Edmund Qoulding is bred in the noblest tradition of the British Empire to understand with fine delicacy the art of opulent English 'shabbiness. Never may anyone point to >im. and say "Isn't that "new?" Slightly worn, that's the British gentleman's idea,l, and his fia,vorite game is .squash. All these. fellows have won the trophy of distinction in appearance seemingly without effort. But that Isn't true. Their present perfection Is misleading. It takes hard work and constant application till the per feet role is developed. Then the role's demands remain, but become is'ubconsclous. Selecting the right cravat and pair of shoes is second nature.' Siartbrlal achievement is a triumph let no one dare pooh-pooh At the Studios Loretta Young/' playing opposite John Barrymore In. "The Man From Blahkley's," wears a misty evening gown In the style Dolores Costello used to choose to complement her Surefire Metfaoil Hollywood, Feb. 4. Hollywood's queen of hostess agents, who supplied beauts in job lots for all sorts of affairs, has gone Into the beauty parlor business. She was driv- en out of the hostess racket by $11,000'Vorth of bouncing checks. Many of her beauty parlor customers are wives of' guys who paid for the gals with the rubber checks. Men were forced. to send their wives to the par- lor on threat of having the parties aired. Wedom for the Woeful By Nellie Revell from Hollywood unless their posi- tions are set before arrlvaL Your daughter,,being a business girl^ must give heed to such admonitions. dreamy eyes. It Is. a Hollywood con cession to the princess,mode, for it is the long basque-full skirt of, Hoi lywood 192* with the basque short ened for 1930. The skirt is the same as of yore. Pink net is the material, used over a slip of metal cloth. ■ Scalloping rows of pink siatin oval medallions trim the dress, their slize increasing as they reach the bottom of the skirt. A huge bunch of'net. flowers is massed on one shoulder. It Is a frock stahdardlzed to represent Hollywood elegance f01*, young ladles. Sally'O'Neill is dressed in a frock of chiffon .and taffeta, pink, by the way, for VHold Everything," It Is not a. veiv happy combination of materials, for the taffeta makes the chiffon look willing but helpless to match the taffeta in its decisive manner. One. piece chiffon slip over taffeta foundation is figure , fitting until blobs of taffeta are shirred on at a point well, below the hips. Taf-. feta ends In points, at the knees in front, a little lonjger in back. Neck line has jeweled embroidery and a scarf of taffeta tied In a b.ow iat one ishoulder, with ends hanging to the hem. Line of the dress is i^bt in piroportlon for style nor aesthetic Joy. The bodi.ce is too ',iQng.for the tiny skirt, making the dress appear made fronl remnants This department, conducted by Miss Revell, has besn inatitutsd as a weekly feature and i* placed at the service of .any "Vari^t/' reader. Matter submittedr to Miss Revell will be treated confidentially. No attantion will be paid to uniigiied letters, but real names will alwaya ba auppresssd. ■ Miss ReveU may be addressed at the Hotel Somerset, West 47th street^ or care "Variety," N«w Vork. .v^^-W=; v . Dear Madam: Will you please ad-'f vise me about my daughter? She' can sing and dance, well and isays. She is living at some - vaudeville club, but she has only been on the stage a little while^ and it seems fiinhy how rich she got so soon. She won't glye me her address, and her cousins say she Is gettiiig the money from a man she used to work for. She is 17 and very pretty. ,. Anxious Mother. Answer::Don't believe, everything you hear. Perhaps your daughter's cousins are jealous of her success.. I don't like to hurt you, but the tone of your letter is far from sympa- thetic and is not conducive to, con- fidence; it denotes suspicion and arrogance; and maybe that is the reason, your daughter will not give you her address. It is quite pos- sible she Is trying to find herself and. work it out alone without In- 'terference and. the incriminations of jeeilQU^ relatives. A girl of 17 is very sensitive and impressionable; she Is at a dangerous age^no longer a child and not yet a woman. Nag ging mothers under.similar circum- stances have driven more than bne girl away from home. Uncommon Chatter By Riitb Morris DoUy Tree has done a swell job with the costunres for the 'Inter- national Revue," headed New Tork- ward via Philadelphia and Newark. Tho costumes are gay and giddy, often treading on dangerous ground with a generous employment of rhinestpnes and shining surfaces, but the brilliant effects have been lised 69 .well and the foreign motifs borrowed so cleverly that .the re- sult Is grand. OpeninI: costumes plunge Into a higli color scale, with magenta gloves, hats and shoes setting off the pastel shadings of silver-tipped tulle' skirts. Flame tones, from yellow to henna, describe gorgeous show-girl and pony costumes for a hot Indian number. Orchid cos- timies grow piquant with the addi- tion of wigs and tulle-trimmed muffs fashioned of tiny multi- colored fiowers. Clever detail on all the costumes makes them as in- teresting to watch as the show it- self. Gertrude Lawrence is charming in assignments that border from legitimate acting .to light musical comedy style. In orange coat, corn- colored topper and magenta tro\|sers she does a strut number that is a knockout. To sing the lilting melody of "Exactly Like Tou" (sure to be heard about town soon), she wears a frail white fiowered chiffon over a delicate yellow foundation. Dorothy Fields' and Jimmy Mc- Hugh have contributed a score that will be among the most singable and clever In town, and the entire per- formance, boiled down to regulation running time* should be grand en- tertainment. . Siiper-Scale Unit The Capitol , presentation , of. '"Venetian Carnival" is lavish be- yond the scale even of picture house production. The unit, to play only a week on Broadway, evidences as much painstaking ca,re, as would be put into a production that antic- ipates a long run in town. Its costumes are not merely routine ideasr^ ground-out-qul<iklyr=.but,-hav^ the richness and cleverness that, would do well by any musical comedy. The Venetian background makes possible gorgeous period costumes, well displayed by the Capitol show girls. Taffeta domlnos which sweep to the fioor beneath velvet tricoms, are lovely Of line and color, and large ruffs and sleeves (corn-color- ed, silver-edged) add a picturesque quality to . the glove fitting outfits worn by the Chester Hales, par^ ticularly when the blue of the suits is set off by. long-rstaffed, be-rib boned mandolins of scarlet, Jones on Strange Broadway "Little Johnny Jones" is back in talking picture form on the Biroad- way. that he once sent his regardEt to. The song is out-dated, being patently written about the street that started at Herald Square and ended at Fort3^-second strieet, but its companion piece-, "Yankee Doo- dle Dandy,'' will seem a f riesh, new song one hundred years from now —as typical of a certain Broadway type as it was 20 years ago. The Cohan'opus introduces Eddie Buzzell to feature pictures. As»the little jockey who loses the race that he will not "throw," he Is cute and lovable In a sincere performance. Alice Day is sweet and pretty, as the girl—rat times too sweet, but awfully pretty.. Sufferer in White Chiffon One of the favored traditions of moving picture costuming is ob- served in "The Bishop Murder Case," Leila Hyan^, as the harass- ed heroine, is carried off by the wholesale murderer and left gagged and bound in. the attic. For this scene (wWch is true of all abduc- tion scenes) she wears a fllmy, ethereal /gown of white chiffon. There . is sottiething so . helpless looking about a gown of white chiffon. No heroine who wears one could possibly think of a way of escape, but must wait, frail and helpless, till the hero comes. A murder-mystery seldom pro-- yides an actress with an opportun- ity to be more than pretty and terrified. Miss Hyams meets both requirements with charm and ability. Tears for Rogue Nobody wants to see a bad man reform. He would lose all his at- traction by becoming a law-abiding, ^ChllE<Ul-Lgoing jcltlzer^ he be permitted to go reaping"~ihe" fruits of his misdeeds. The ,pnly alternative is bis death must be met -with a hard-boiled front and the jauntlness of embarking on a new racket. The jauntier the death, the more certain the flowing of ferar inine' tears. ^ Willam Powell meets such a death In "Streets of Chance," in which he plays a racketeer role with . Dear Miss Bevell: I am a widow and my daughter is my sole sup port. She. is very pretty and ta- lented and has a fine position in New York as a private secretary in a law office. But she Is discon tented In business, where she re celyes a salary of ^60 a week, and wants "to go in-the movies. Her head has been turned by articles in. the newspapers telling, what huge salaries are paid screen people. ' She says she would "Soon be able to support nief. In luxury If I will only consent to her going to Hollywood. We have no.v funds to go out there with except some Lib erty bonds I bought during the war. If I sold them we could get our car- fare to California, but what assur- ance have we that she could get a job and, If she did, that she would make good? ; My common sense tells , me that my daughter Is better off where she is, but she is so unhappy and her mind is so set on going Into pic- tures that I cannot dissuade-her.' I do wish you' would give her some good advice. She has read ■ your books and you are ah Idol of hers. I know she would believe tvhat you told her. Please help me. Mra. R. Answer: You are quite right. Yoxur daughter is much better off here in a position in which she Is making good than she would be in the maelstrom of Hollywood, a field In which she knows nothing. There are many talented and beautiful girls clutterijng up Hollywood, living from hand to mouth or getting an occasional day's work as an extra in a mob .scene. Nearly every wait- ress, telephone girl and chamber- maid In Hollywood is someone "Who went out there expecting to land In pictures. . The Los_ Angeles Cham-, ber of Commerce "issues frequent bulletins warning girls to keep away Dear Miss Revell: Please advise me what to do In order to hold my husband,.a motion picture director, who has faJlen for a new leading - woman, an. unkno'wn-, whom he is directing; If I should lose him now my life would be ruined. He doesn't want children, but do you think If I could promise hilm there was a baby on the way it might open his eyes as to whom he really loved? The last- two weeks lie has made excuses for hot being with me eve- nings. He always has conferences or something to keep htm from com- ing home at night, and I just know he Is out with that woman. X.T. Z. Answer: I can thinik of no act-so. cruel as bringing an unwanted baby into the. world. And if your only desire tor offspring Is to" retrieve your husband's love, I question if you are a proper person te bring up a child. Such a course as you pur- pose is unthinkable.'' if I were you, I 'v^puld first determine beyond all Coubt If your husband Is really run- ning around with another woman. You know, they bp. have confer- ences at night .ia.bout pictures, espe- cially in these chaotic times of talk- ing .films, and his business could easily . demand his _attentioh after studio hours. Investigation might show that you are doing him-a grave' injustice. bear Lady: My. husband and my-! self are. a vaudeville team, dividing the salary 50-60. While working he has paid our living expiehdes, while I banked my share. We have been- out of work now for some time and my husband wants .me. to draw my. money out pf the bahic to support the family and to finance the -writ- ing and staging of a new act, My inabiiity to e^et hlsi yie'wpoint has caused the .flrst real trouble we have had in our married life. Do you think I should -jeopardize my 'sav- ings this, way? ' I feel I am entitled to what I have earned and saved. Louise A. Anawer; If the team Is In flnan^ cial difllculties, I think you should offer your savings to help weather the storm. the restraint and tension that build up a perfectly grand picture. It's a perfect film—exciting, throat- choking and having the added in- terest of events that, parallel the Bothstein murder, PoWell dies nobly and even while every wo- man sobs over his demise, she will secretly rejoice that his career didn't, turn "Hearth and Flowers.". Kay Francis plays the racketeer- wife with sympathy. She > has ability to wear trim,*dashing clothes and It's too bad to put her In any- thing that has a soft Ingenue flavor. In ensembles of the tailored variety she looks stunning and picturesque, fllmy things have a way of going dowdy on her. Helen Tw^elvetrees, in "The Grand Parade" is the kind of old-fashioned heroine -who weeps with delight with fear at a frown. Her acting Is of a piece with the entire picture •a . minstrel story of 20 years ago, which Is as naive as any of the melodramas revived by Christopher Morley. The picture might have been really swell, if the attempt to re-create a colorful period in the life of New York had been more sincere. Dear Miss Revell:' I am tired of continually . chasing chorus jobs. The business has become so uncer- tain;, you get an engagement, re- hearse six weeks, worlc two, and the show goes blooey. Tlien you start all'over again and It is always the same. I have a chance to marry a man, a merchant, who Is very much in 4ove with me, I think I love him, although I am not crazy about hlni. Do you think I will be able toflive with him? Chorus OirU . Answer: Love Isn't jutst finding somebody you can live with—it is finding somebody you can't live without. But- Isn't that a rather rotten break you propose to give a. nice fellow—^Just marrying him for a home? Dear Nellie; My husband, as you well know. Is a big-salaried conie- dian and has' a reputation as a lav- ish spender. Yet I have had to take our boy. out of military school , and dismiss my naald in order to . cut down expenses. I ana pretty well fed tip on his excesses; and family neglect Would a court action arouse him to bis responslbiltles? Perplexed. Answer: Such a move might not arouse him, but it would arouse the court Also the interest of the newspapers, especially the tabs, who would pounce on this story;. with glee, bringing unpleasant notoriety. Why don't you consult with his manager and effect some arrange- ment whereby a stipulated sum' is -paid:^yjau.^dJr.egt^.eac h -Week^ ou t of_ his salary ? Postscript Abbie; As you are a Catholic girl and a stranger here, why don't you call on Father Leonard at St. Mal- achay'a Rectory, 239 W. 49th street. New York City? You will find him most understanding and in a posi- tion to help you.