AZ/NE FQOM M
THE a MAC
® Greater Than Ever!
The world’s standard of
stage entertainment. Each
unit . . a master piece of
art and beauty. Vibrant
with life . . they change
weekly and are always
new. Composed of supe-
rior artists . . produced by
master directors . . pre-
sented in Fox Theatres
from the Pacific to the
Atlantic to delight the
most discriminating aud-
iences.
Screen
Mirror
The Magazine from Hollywood
Frank Whitbcck
Editorial Director
C. J. VcrHalen
Editor
Eddy Eckels
Managing Editor
Vol. 1 January, 1931
No. 8
page
Cover Design Dorothy Croton
Hobnobbing in Hollywood
Shelly Ford
A Stranger in Hollywood
Don Byron
Kay Versus Kay
Eleanor Packer
Love Burglar
Beverly Blackford
Ruth Ages Wesley Hale
Sad Haines Eleanor Packer
Charlie’s Girl Frances Deancr
Not So Dumb TroyOrr
Love Birds Hall Wood
MaeTime Frances Deaner
Talkie Plot Winner
Editorial
PHOTO GALLERY
Clara Bow
Bessie Love
Fredric March
Marguerite Churchill
George Bancroft
Nancy Carroll
Marjorie White
Ramon Novarro
Will Rogers
Eddie Quillan
Mary Brian
Lawrence Tibbett
Janet Caynor
Greta Garbo
William Powell
Norma Shearer
Anita Page and June Walker
Frank Albertson
very truly yours
O The Screen Mirror Publishing Com-
pany, Film Exchange Bldg., Wash-
ington at Vermont, Los Angeles, Cal-
ifornia, copyrighted 1930 . . . Asso-
ciate Editors: Troy Orr, Cus McCar-
thy, William Hardwick. Art Director:
F. K. Ferenz. Contributing Editors:
Eleanor Packer, Shelly Ford, Cloria
Joy, Harvey Byron, Muriel Phelps,
Hall Wood, Wesley Hale, Rob. Jamey-
son, Francis Fenton, Don Nixon, Lew
Garvey, Joseph Reddy, Erie Hampton,
Frances Deaner. Business Manager:
Tom Wood. Circulation Manager:
Dwight K. Mitchell . . . Advertising
rates upon application. Ten cents the
copy. No subscriptions solicited. No
manuscripts solicited.
MAJ/Cth
■ M
HOLLYWOOD
© ONE OUT of a hundred visitors to Hol-
lywood ever hears of the Assistance
League. Not more than one out of five hun-
dred ever visits the place. Thus four hun-
dred and ninety-nine sight-seers and star-
gazers miss a thrilling experience.
The Assistance League is the soft spot in
Hollywood’s reputedly hard heart. It is the
film colony’s pet charity and to be active
in its affairs is a mark of social distinction.
The Assistance League, housed in three
rather disreputable old residences facing the
back wall of the Fox Studios, operates a
dining room, a thrift shop, a woman's ex-
change, a day nursery, and a parking lot.
The whole affair is conducted by the
wives of famous stars, directors and film
executives. They cook, wait table, mend o'd
clothes, and make a lot of money at it. The
money all goes to help Hollywood’s unfor-
tunate. The receipts, incidentally, are paid
in by the stars, directors, and executives
who patronize the place. The luncheon hour
at the Assistance League resembles a Who’s
Who convention of Hollywood.
One of its worthiest works is the opera-
tion of the day nursery. Film mothers who
work in the studios as extras, seamstresses,
etc., leave their youngsters there, assured
that they will receive the finest care any
child ever had.
® JOHN MEDBURY, the well known col-
umnist, officiated as master of ceremo-
nies at the opening of “Morocco,” at the
famous Chinese Theater in Hollywood — and
the result was plenty of nifties.
For instance — John noticed all the stars
arriving in their big cars and remarked that
there was an abundance of Rolls Royces. He
said that he couldn’t afford such an ex-
pensive automobile — but he had his Chev-
rolet trained so that it back-fired with an
English accent.
® WILLIAM POWELL, now at work in
“Ladies Man” after a long rest and a
European trip, was visited on the set by an
old school mate who is now pastor of a
small midwestern church. The reverend
friend was mildly complaining about his
lack of attendance at the morning services,
whereas on Sunday evening, when a motion
picture was shown, the church was filled.
“Your problem is easy,” Powell declared.
“Advertise your morning services as 'All
talking — All singing,’ and you’ll get a
crowd.”
© METRO - GOLDWYN - MAYER studios
used the premier of “Min and Bill” at
the Carthay Circle Theater to good purpose.
Realizing the interest of such an event to
the outside world — they made a sound pic-
ture of the gala occasion. Frank Reicher,
well known actor and director, supervised
the filming, and the finished picture will be
released as “Remote Control from Holly-
wood.”
© SPEAKING OF “Min and Bill,” the pre-
mier was a grand night for Marie Dress-
ier and Wallace Beery. Scores of world fa-
mous celebrities attended the showing as
a tribute to this popular pair. Each visiting
personage autographed a sentiment to Marie
and Wally in a beautiful tribute book that
was placed in the forecourt of the theater.
All in all it was a swell affair for a swell
pair.
® GET THIS! The Ohio censor board the
other day barred a Mickey Mouse cartoon
because it showed a cow reading a copy of
Elinor Glyn’s “Three Weeks.”
Imagine what they would do if the screen
displayed a close-up of “The>Specialist.”
© RADIO’S GREATEST need, according to
Jack Oakie, is a trap-door in front of
every microphone. Oakie said he heard an
(Concluded on eight)
® El Brendei — who has made an accent pay.
With the coming of talkies, many of our
accented stars had to pack-up and catch the
first boat back home. But El, with his Swed-
ish dialect — though he isn’t a Swede — is
making his funny talk carry him to stardom.
I
• Obviously Miss Bow believes in the
presents — what with all these
packages — and Clara is some prize
package herself, believe you us. The
‘It’ girl’s next picture is titled “No
Limit,” and, oddly enough, it has a
gambling theme. We, along with
Clara’s many other fans, hope that
the ensuing year will be a banner one
for the titian-haired beauty. May
“No Limit” clean up for Clara and
win her scores of new followers —
personally we’re betting on her. No-
body can hold a candle to Clara — ex-
cept Miss Bow herself — as this photo
illustrates.
Photo by English
© Cute Bessie Love’s new number is one nine three
one — in case you want to know. Bessie is wish-
ing each and every one of you, a happy and prosper-
ous NewYear. If everyone had her winning smile, old
man D. Pression would just naturally run for cover.
We in turn hope the coming months will bring more
fame and fortune to Bessie, whose cheery personality
and peppy antics have long been a boon to pictures.
4
Sceen Mirror • For January
A Stranger in
Hollywood
who has captured and conquered the heart
of the motion picture industry and is
destined to become a sensation of the cinema . . .
• A STRANGER is the talk of Hollywood.
A stranger who has given the thrill-lov-
ing motion picture colony more to admire
and more to envy than any personality since
Rudolph Valentino crashed through to be-
come a one-day sensation.
She — for this stranger is a woman — is
the exotic, glamorous, mysterious, talented,
and surpassingly beautiful Marlene Dietrich.
Such adjectives need explanation. Ordi-
narily they might require an apology. But
not when they are used to describe this girl
of the Continental background and the Con-
tinental up-bringing.
Pick up any motion picture magazine as
you have this one. The chance is nine to ten
that Marlene Dietrich's lovely features will
grace its cover. No actress who has come to
Hollywood within the last five years has
created such a stir among editors, critics,
artists and the general initiate as she.
It has taken Marlene Dietrich but one
picture to reach her present commanding
place. She was an actress on the Berlin
stage when “discovered’' there by Josef von
Sternberg, an American director who had
gone there to direct Emil Jannings’ first
all-talking picture, “The Blue Angel.” Von
Sternberg, under contract to Paramount in
Hollywood, urged that his company retain
her when he returned.
She came to Hollywood. Von Sternberg
directed her in “Morocco" with Cary Coop-
er, and she became an immediate sensation.
So great, in fact, that “Morocco,” largely
because of her beauty and inspired talents
as an actress, has been chosen to play an
unlimited run in the world’s most exacting
motion picture theater: the famous Grau-
man’s Chinese in Hollywood. Only those
pictures that are really great are shown at
this exclusive house.
Marlene Dietrich is the daughter of a
German army officer; a girl who has had
every advantage of position and training.
She learned English and French when she
was a child. She is a talented musician, her
works as an author have been printed, her
ability as an artist is more than ordinarily
good.
By nature she is friendly. She also is
amazingly frank. Outwardly calm, at the
same time she gives the impression of a
consuming energy held in check; an inward
fire that manifests itself only in the sudden-
ness of a gesture, a direct and rapid stride
across a room.
Her eyes reveal nothing. They are the
most striking feature of her perfect face — -
su i, all women in one
• . . f“1 ustenou s . . .
AH uring . . . | ns-cr>uta Ue
. . . Darlene Dietrich
i? a flaming M eteor
on a starlit j— (ollqwooJ
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loriTon .
Jon hijron
been Hollywood's beautiful mysterious
stranger not because of any voluntary
aloofness, but because Hollywood itself
delights in casting an aura of romance
about itself and those things which interest
and concern it. It likes to pretend it does
not understand. It likes to feel that there
are hidden meanings in bold glances, that
there are secrets to be discovered between
spoken or written lines.
Marlene Dietrich is a stranger because
she fails to understand Hollywood. That she
says, frankly and calmly. Hollywood twists
this around to mean that Miss Dietrich
knows all, sees all, and Hollywood fairly
aches to know her real opinion.
“Many of the women of Hollywood are
aware of the fact that they are well-
gowned,” she explains. “The town is dis-
tinctly clothes-conscious. As- for jewels, I
never saw so many in my life. Half the peo-
Photo by
Paramount
wide set and unwavering. Her voice is
magnetic; a warm, mellow note which
she uses as a flutist uses his reed.
Without seeing her, one could tell that
hers is the voice of a beautiful woman.
Sound recorders at the studio have
remarked that this voice lends itself
almost perfectly to their purpose.
First of all Miss Dietrich has long
been accustomed to the micro-
phone; not in a motion picture
studio, but in the phonograph
laboratories. She has sung many
songs for phonograph records and
these discs have achieved tre-
mendous popularity throughout
Europe.
It is understood that an
American company already
has made a flattering offer
for her recording of songs in
English.
Marlene Dietrich has
• Cary Cooper as the
Legionaire and Mar-
lene Dietrich as the
dancer are the two
principal characters in
“Morocco,” a story of
life and love in a
country of flaring pas-
sions and smoulder-
ing hates. The pic-
ture was directed by
Josef Von Stern-
berg, who is the
discoverer of Miss
Dietrich.
Screen Mirror • For January
5
Photo by Paramount
pie I meet, away from the studios, appear
to be on display. It is not their fault. Rather
it is the fault of the attitude held toward
Hollywood. I have the feeling that the peo-
ple of Hollywood themselves, within them-
selves, resent the glass-house atmosphere of
the place. Goldfish must despise their bowl.”
Marlene Dietrich revealed herself to Hol-
lywood when she went on location for film-
ing of certain scenes in “Morocco,” her first
American picture. The company went to
Guadalupe, California — a bleak, wind-swept
stretch of coastal desert where the constant
chilly gale from the sea has piled up huge
dunes of fine, white sand.
It is a region dodged by settlers. Nothing
will grow there. Even small animals and the
ordinary desert reptiles avoid it. The days
are cold, even in summer time, and the
nights are colder. The wind is relentless.
Yet Marlene Dietrich loved the place;
loved the feeling of combat with nature that
it inspired in her; was reluctant to leave it
when the scenes were completed and she
and Gary Cooper, with their company of
workers and players, were forced to return.
Hollywood cannot understand anyone
who likes to go out on location. Generally
such trips are looked upon as the last word
• Mysterious Marlene Dietrich who makes
her first American appearance in “Mor-
occo,” josef Von Sternberg’s gripping pic-
turization of a woman’s all consuming love
for the man of her choice. Miss Dietrich is
said to be the most interesting personality
ever imported by the motion picture indus-
try — and stardom seems inevitable.
in hardship. But Marlene Dietrich, the
stranger, was happier there than she is in
her Beverly Hills home.
Perhaps it was the novelty of the desert
that intrigued her. As a reigning favorite
of the European stage, with audiences ac-
claiming her in Berlin, Vienna, Budapest,
everywhere she appeared with the Rein-
hardt company, she knew the cities only.
Such holidays as she had were brief weeks
snatched at some fashionable watering
place, or days spent in some Alpine resort.
She loved it, for she saw not desolation, not
wastes of sand, not jagged expanses of vol-
canic rock, but the beauty of nature un-
adorned, primitive and cruel.
Marlene Dietrich’s attitude toward Hol-
lywood is far from being her attitude to-
ward its work. She has a tremendous inter-
est in all phases of motion picture making.
This interest takes her beyond the artistic
side and into the
technical details.
great complication of
She has far more than a layman's knowl-
edge of the camera, of studio lighting, of
set design, and story construction. She is
one of those extraordinary women who have
almost a masculine bent for acquiring facts
about all phases of the mechanics that enter
into work in which she is concerned.
Studio workmen recall one instance when
von Sternberg was called from the set dur-
ing filming of "Dishonored,” her second
picture following "Morocco.” Von Stern-
berg, as he left for the short time his busi-
ness would take to transact, instructed Miss
Dietrich to supervise rehearsal of the scene
that was being prepared. When von Stern-
berg returned the cameras, players, and
lights were all ready for the action to be
photographed and recorded. Each phase of
the rehearsal had been carried out to per-
fection under Miss Dietrich’s expert guid-
ance.
This remarkable woman is really remark-
able only before the cameras. Away from
them she is so quiet, so unassuming, so ex-
quisitely dressed in modest good taste, that
she would go unnoticed except for the very
definite magnetism of her personality and
her calm, alluring beauty.
Her clothes-choice has made her the envy
of every woman in Hollywood. She designs
and superintends the making of every piece
of her private wardrobe and her suggestions
are respected in the design of her clothes
for her pictures. Simplicity is their keynote.
Dark colors are her passion, particularly
black.
Her humanness is strikingly revealed by
her collection of good luck dolls — strange
little cloth things with shoe-button eyes,
dangling arms and legs, and golliwog an-
cestry.
She has had this collection of dollls ever
since she started her professional career, and
has added to it gradually. She wastes no af-
fection on them. She just keeps them; some
in her home, some in her dressing room at
the studios, and occasionally some with her
on the set, where they are in full view of
the cameras.
The favorite dolls have been photographed
with Marlene Dietrich in some one or more
scenes of every motion picture she has ever
made. She will continue to have them ap-
pear with her, she says. To forget them
would be to invite all sorts of misfortunes.
And she smiles that enigmatic smile; the
smile that Hollywood fails to understand.
Here is a woman who has caught Holly-
wood’s fancy, piqued its curiosity, aroused
its interest, stirred its imagination, filled to
the brim its Pandora’s box of the strange
and the new. The syllogism follows: that
Hollywood, the world’s most difficult prov-
ing ground for tests of this sort, proves by
its unprecedented interest in this stranger
in its midst that she will literally take the
outer world by storm.
If Hollywood turns its head as Marlene
Dietrich passes by, the country at large will
fairly stand agape in her fascinating pres-
ence.
morch-incj on
• Keep your eye on this young fellow. He’s going right
ahead and one of these days will find him at the top of
the heap. Frederic March has given top notch performances
in every picture in which he has appeared. His happy-go-
lucky composer in “Laughter” was a superb piece of acting
and “The Royal Family” will reveal him as the younger
member of a famous acting trio. The latter picture is an
adaptation of the famous stage play, and Ina Claire and
Mary Brian appear in the cast.
f
i
<4 fhe big frail”
Photo
by Autrey
beauty of
• Charming Marguerite Churchill is the type of girl
whom we all know. She may be your sweetheart or
she may be your sister. Her rise in pictures has been
steady rather than phenomenal. Her sweet and sin-
cere performance in “The Big Trail” has added new
names to her growing list of fans. Raoul Walsh gave
her the coveted role of the pioneer girl after he had
searched the entire industry and given tests to hun-
dreds of aspirants. But her performance rewarded
his faith, and now Fox Pictures have nice plans for
Marguerite, who is a nice girl and deserves them.
unusual announcment come over
the air a few nights ago. It seems
that there was a man wandering
around Hollywood with the mind of a
child of five. The police were requested
to apprehend him as the child’s parents
wanted the mind back.
• SHE IS beautiful . . . she is mysterious
. . . her eyes tell you that she has lived
. . . she is the talk of Hollywood . . . her
first picture will be a sensation . . . she is
all women in one ... at times she resembles
at least ten different stars . . . she is not
temperamental . . . she is an accomplished
musician . . . she has written short stories
. . . her name is Marlene Dietrich and her
first American appearance will be in “Mo-
rocco.”
• CEORCE BANCROFT has turned report-
er. As his next picture is “Scandal Sheet,"
a tale of newspaperdom, George decided he
had better brush up on some newspaper
work.
So he hied himself down to the editorial
rooms of the Los Angeles Examiner to ab-
sorb some printers’ ink. He went on several
news beats with the boys- — -and even at-
tempted a news story.
It was pretty bad — but the editor said he
had seen worse. He didn’t say where.
• ONE BATTERED old klieg light; a hiss-
ing, sputtering veteran of many motion
pictures, has become somewhat of a Holly-
wood personality. At least it has an identity.
It is light No. 1 59 at the Paramount stu-
dios. All studio lights are numbered for pur-
poses of inventory. Light No. 1 59 all but
blinded Ruth Chatterton when she had her
first screen test made; the test that gave
her her part with Emil Jannings in “The Sins
of the Fathers,” and ultimately her studio
contract.
Now, No. 159 is used on all Ruth Chat-
terton sets — at her request. With it goes
Frank Johnson, the electrician who has al-
ways attended it.
• HOLLYWOOD IMPRESSION: Light cor-
duroy trousers ... a white sweat shirt . . .
bedroom slippers and white woolen sox . . .
hair plastered down and glistening wetly
. . . who is it? Jack Oakie — of course.
• WILL ROGERS observes that many men
who think they are in the public eye —
are really only cinders. Speaking of Will
— the Fox Company is predicting that “A
Connecticut Yankee,” which stars Will, will
be one of the greatest comedies ever made.
© EL BRENDEL tells the one about the
vaudeville actor who became stranded in
Chicago and finally decided to go to work
for a gangster.
His first assignment was to go out and
bump off three members of the opposition
gang. When he came back his chief inquired
as to how he had fared.
“Boy! I slayed ’em,” the hoofer replied.
• NUPTIAL NOTES and Court Chatter:
John McCormick, Colleen Moore’s ex-
husband, is going to try double harness
again. This time it’s with Mae Clark, that
clever little actress who is under contract
to Fox Films. It is rumored that the Vir-
ginia Valli - Charlie Farrell romance has
cooled off. Clara Bow told the district at-
torney some things regarding her ex-secre-
tary, Daisy Devoe. The result was a warrant
and a possible felony charge. Thelma Todd
and Ivan Lebedeff are rumored slightly
ga-ga about each other. Polly Moran denies
that she and Bill Haines are secretly en-
gaged. John Whiting is keeping company
with June McCloy. Gloria Swanson has been
seen publicly several times with the same
man — he’s a Detroit millionaire. Lloyd
Hamilton has been working steady and con-
sequently is up on his alimony.
• ARTHUR (The Great) SHIRES, baseball
player and embryo pugilist, has decided
to drop “The Great” from his name while
he is in the cinema capital.
"Here in Hollywood it sounds very ordi-
nary,” he said.
• THIS IS positively the last time we will
mention miniature golf courses. It seems
that a picture man spent twenty thousand
dollars on an elaborate course and opened
with a big splash.
Along came three days of unusually brisk
California weather and not a soul came to
his links.
The fourth day he closed up and posted
a sign in front, “Opened by Mistake.”
• THE CARICATURE on this page doesn't
resemble a dashing sky-rider — yet it is.
For Wallace Beery is a licensed transport
pilot. The holder of this type of license is
required to have over 500 hours in the air
— and Wally has many more than that
amount.
Wally has a Travelair cabin-job, Wasp
powered. He is constantly making long
trips, taking friends along with himself as
pilot. He has never had a crack-up. His
brother Noah made a special landing field
for Wally at their famous mountain resort.
• OFTIMES motion picture executives are
the objects of much ridicule at the hands
of newspaper columnists. The writer has the
whip-hand as the producer cannot afford
to fight back. Yet one of the larger studios
is planning to get even in a novel way.
They are going to make a picture in
which a newspaper columnist is one of the
chief characters — and in the last reel they
have him murdered.
Alas, poor Winchell, we knew him well.
• THEY'RE TELLING the one about the
actor who went to a preview of his first
picture — and came out so puffed up that
he couldn't get into his Austin.
• SUCCESSFUL CAREERS have always pro-
duced books and autobiographies regard-
ing them. Many of our famous stars have
had books depicting their early struggles
and whatnot, written about them.
With the coming of talkies and their at-
tendant test of abilities, the situation has
somewhat changed. Many of the old timers
have been supplanted. At any time now we
may expect to see the book market flooded
with such tomes as “Ex-Director,” “Ex-
Star,” and “Ex-Yes-Man.”
O Here's old ‘Bill,’ himself, of “Min and
Bill,” as portrayed by Wallace Beery. This
jovial looking cuss is one of the prime rea-
sons for all the frouble in that highly divert-
ing picture. Maybe ‘Bill’ has ‘It.’
Screen Mirror • For January
9
• WHAT IS better and more fascinating
than one Kay?
Why, two Kays, of course.
And when the two Kays are surnamed
Johnson and Francis, the final note in best-
ness and fascination has been sounded.
Alone, they have triumphed in picture
after picture. Together they are appearing
in "The Passion Flower.’’ There is no guess-
work about the result.
The girls have know each other for years.
They were friends in New York before
Kay in Drab Gingham
Versus an Alluring
Velvet Gowned Kay
Photo by
M-G-M
either dreamed of being in Hollywood. They
played together in the same plays on Broad-
way.
But it was “The Passion Flower” which
brought them together for the first time in
Hollywood. One Kay, as the loyal wife, and
the other Kay, as a home-wrecking siren,
fought a battle royal over a mere man — if
you can safely call Charles Bickford a mere
man — and renewed a friendship.
They are very much alike, these two girls,
although one is a pale gold blonde and the
other is a deep, dark brunette. Both are tall
and slim and poised and very, very charming.
“We leave our jealousies and enmities on
the set,” Kay Johnson smiled as the two
girls lunched together. “When we leave the
stage, we forget that we’re fighting for the
love of a red-headed man and just enjoy
each other. It’s so much fun to be working
together again after all these years.”
“And we don’t try to steal each other’s
scenes,” Kay Francis laughed. “That’s the
real test of our friendship.”
“I know better than to try to steal any
• “Passion Flower” presents Kay Francis
and Kay Johnson as the opposite influ-
ences in the life of the latter’s husband, por-
trayed by Charles Bickford. How would you
like to have two such charming girls battling
over you? Oh Kay, we say.
scenes from that young lady,” Kay Johnson
ate a hearty bite of fruit salad smothered in
whipped cream. No matter how many cal-
ories the slender Kay eats, she gains not one
extra pound. “There is no use in attempting
the impossible.”
“Thanks for those kind words, lady,”
Kay Francis waved a piece of buttered Melba
toast in the other Kay’s direction. “Those
are my sentiments, too.”
“You’ll have to admit it’s pretty tough
to work in competition with someone like
Kay,” Kay Johnson said, looking from the
plain gingham of her dainty, little house
dress to the exotic luxury of Kay Francis’
black velvet evening gown. "The only ad-
vantage which I have is that I wear the
wedding ring.”
They were speaking of their screen prob-
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lems, of course, Kay Johnson’s husband,
otherwise known as Charie Bickford, having
left her and his little ranch home that morn-
ing to adventure in Paris with Kay Francis
that afternoon.
“But the funny thing is that the ging-
ham-and-wedding ring combination usually
wins out in the end,” Kay Francis admitted,
wise with the wisdom of many screen black
velvets. “There is something lasting about
gingham. It can be kept so fresh and dainty.
While black velvet crumples and musses so
terribly easy.”
“A steady diet of either one would grow
very monotonous,” Kay Johnson added.
“The wise woman is the one who wears
gingham and velvet with equal ease.”
“Yes, but they’re so rare,” Kay Francis
sighed, “and, after all, if you were forced
to choose between three meals a day of
ham and eggs and the same three meals
each day of caviar and champagne, you'd
pick the former.”
But once in a while, when you were
eating your steenth hundred meal of the
ham and eggs, with strong, black coffee on
the side, you’d find yourself wishing for
just a taste of the caviar. That’s only hu-
man.” As Kay Johnson spoke, you knew
that, with her, the eggs would become an
omelette with mushrooms and the ham
would be baked in sherry.
The two Kays finished their salads and
looked at the commissary clock. They
walked out together, school-girl-wise,
black velvet and cool, green gingham.
Of course, Charlie came back to the
ranch and the gingham. But not until
after he had had his fling with Paris
and the velvet.
While he ate the caviar, he
probably remembered the dash
of sherry in the brown crisp-
ness of the ham.
Most men do.
• That virile man of the powerful laugh seems to be giving someone the
well known horse-snicker. And well he might — for George Bancroft is
powerful enough to back up his guffaws. He practically ruins a gross or
more of men in every picture. George’s current picture is “Derelict,” a
gripping tale of the sea, with George even combating the elements. In a
one man battle with a typhoon we’d be inclined to place our money on
Bancroft, who has had such excellent training in scores of encounters with
gangsters and gatling guns. A slap from Ceorge’s mighty mitt would knock
a tidal wave silly.
Photo by
Richee
» derisive derelict
I
V'
a pretty xmas
Carroll
• Nancy’s on top of the house — and the world too,
for that matter. Because Miss Carroll is rapidly
becoming one of our foremost screen stars — in
drama, comedy, or musical comedy. They’re all the
same to versatile Nancy — she fills a role as well as
her shapely limbs fill a pair of silk stockings — and
what we mean — that’s being well filled. The past year
has disclosed Nancy as a foremost dramatic actress.
“Devils Holiday” revealed in her a histrionic depth
not previously sounded in her screen appearances.
“Laughter” again brought forth a dynamic dramatic
force that the casual observer would never dream
that this beautiful possessed. All of which proves
that Miss Carroll is beautiful — most assuredly not
dumb. Her next production is “Stolen Heaven” and
it’s a foregone conclusion that it will be a heavenly
picture — with Nancy stealing the honors. Nancy,
by the way, is a former chorus girl who has made
good in a big way. As for that matter she can still
step with them, as musical pictures have proven.
But Nancy yearned to do dramatics — so she started
pestering producers to give her a chance in legiti-
mate roles. She finally succeeded and it was in the
title role of “Chicago” that she attracted the atten-
tion of motion picture executives. She started her
upward climb in silent pictures. With the advent of
sound Nancy went-a-zooming — right up to the top.
Photo
by
12
Screen Mirror • For January
' J— or a Man"
reveci I ? th e strange wc?Ljs
of a woman in | ove
Lever 1 1 ) Uackford
Photo
by Fox
Lore Comes to an Opera
Star and Imagine!
It’s For a Burglar
• WHAT IS personal magnetism?
..In other words, what is “IT”?
Just suppose you were a beautiful and
brilliant opera singer. Suppose you had been
courted by some of the world’s most eligible
bachelors. Suppose you had put love out of
your life, sacrificing anything and every-
thing that might interfere with your career.
And — then
One night after you had triumphed in a
Wagner opera, you went home at once to
avoid the crowds teeming about the stage
entrance and had retired — when
A burglar comes in through your win-
dows to steal your jewels — and
You fall in love with him!
Do you think your reaction would be due
to his personal magnetism?
The burglar, we will say, was rough and
ready — egotistical. He was good looking, of
athletic build, and had an idea he, too, could
be an opera singer, if given the opportunity.
The opera singer gives the burglar the
opportunity he seeks but he does not
“click.” He becomes disgusted and declares
he is going back to the ancient trade of
burglary.
Right then and there, Jeanette MacDon-
ald, — Eve — the opera singer, does a first-
class job of tempting Adam — Reginald
Denny, the burglar.
“No, you can’t do this thing to me — you
can't,” she says.
“Why not?” asks the burglar.
“Because I can't live without you,” says
the prima donna.
“What’re you driving at?”
And here is where the eternal Eve says —
“I love you and I want you. Don’t leave me,
darling.”
And Adam takes her in his arms, looks at
her intently, and queries: “Well, kid, where
do we go from here?”
“I want you to marry me — I want to be
yours — all yours — and I want you to be
mine !”
O The Burglar and the Beauty — in other
words Reginald Denny and Jeanette Mc-
Donald as they appear in “Oh For A Man,” a
highly amusing and romantic tale of an opera
star who falls in love with an outlaw — and
vice versa.
There is no accounting for tastes, espec-
ially from the feminine angle and love is a
strange thing. No one knows any more
about it now, than they did in the time of
Adam and Eve.
“In the play the opera singer and the
burglar are married,” said Jeanette Mac-
donald. “She simply cannot resist him. She
even gives up her career for him to spend a
honeymoon in Italy. He is rude to her, he
treats her rough, he humiliates her and yet
she is simply wild about him. Isn’t that just
like a woman?
“I enjoyed playing Carlotta Manson — •
that is the singer’s name — more than any
other role I have done for the screen. She
is so human — so very much the willful,
temperamental artist and then she becomes
so meek when she falls in love. The squab-
bles, the mental tempests the two of them
have in adjusting themselves to married
life — all that sort of thing was intensely
amusing to all of us on the set.
“Mr. Denny, whose character name is
Barney McCann, speaks with a brogue —
he’s hard boiled — and when he called me
‘kid’ and ‘baby’ in the scenes, we all had a
hard time of it to keep from laughing. It is
all so foreign to the real Reginald Denny.
Incidentally, he gives a splendid perform-
ance.”
And Reginald Denny, who was standing
nearby — it was at Fox Movietone Studio,
and they had just looked at the last
“rushes” — said, with deep conviction:
“And, just wait until you see and hear
Miss MacDonald. The role she plays gives
her her greatest opportunity to date to re-
veal and emphasize her beauty, her allure
and her versatile talents. She sings two
golden numbers.
“I want to say, too, that we had a jolly
time making the picture. Just fancy such a
situation as a prima donna, who is an idol
and an ideal, too, forcing her manager and
the opera impressario to give an audition to
a rough-neck burglar! It is satirical in its
treatment and sophisticated — very much so.
Hamilton MacFadden, our director, has done
such a fine job that we are certain he has
hung up a new record.”
So — it looks as though “Oh for a Man”
is destined to revive the perennial questions:
“What type of man does the average
woman like best?”
“What is personal magnetism?”
Who knows?
*
S"
y
V
• THREE VOICES . . . three faces . . . three
personalities — Ruth Chatterton in "The
Right to Love.”
For a most exacting task has been given
this ‘‘first lady of the screen” in her latest
picture. It is to portray a triple characteriza-
tion, the first essayed by an actress since the
arrival of talking pictures.
Miss Chatterton has long been noted for
the variety of her characterizations. Even in
her legitimate theater days it was consid-
ered an unusual jump from the cute heroine
of "Come Out of the Kitchen,” to the dra-
matic ‘Iris March’ of ‘‘The Creen Hat.”
Her picture debut was in the silent pic-
ture, ‘‘The Sins of the Fathers,” which
starred Emil Jannings. Her role in this was
a most difficult one — a bawdy woman of
the streets, without character or soul.
This type of character was a long jump
from her interpretation of 'Kathryn Miles’
m "Charming Sinners,” one of her first
talking pictures. In this production Miss
Chatterton appeared as a loving wife, im-
peccable in both appearance and character.
In “Madame X” and “Sarah and Son”
Miss Chatterton gave two widely different
and superb delineations of mother love. For
genuine appeal these two portrayals have
not been surpassed.
Again, in Anybody’s Woman,” she im-
personated a woman of doubtful past — but
who, nevertheless, possessed fine underly-
ing qualities and emotions. Her portrayal of
this woman’s regeneration was both beauti-
ful and convincing.
Now, in “The Right to Love,” she will
offer not one new characterization — but
three. Three separate and distinct person-
alities with their individual hates and
loves — with their different mannerisms and
characteristics.
If is a task that many actresses would
not relish and some would not even at-
tempt. But not so with Ruth Chatterton.
She relishes the opportunity of doing some-
thing new — of accomplishing something
new in the realm of acting.
Ruth Chatterton believes that “The Right
to Love” is the severest test of her dramatic
skill of all the pictures and plays in which
she has appeared. It also offers her a re-
markable opportunity to add to her laurels
It seems to us that three Ruth Chattertons
in one picture would be trebly entertaining.
The early sequences bring Miss Chatter-
ton to the screen as a young girl. The scene
shifts to a period nineteen years later when
the same character has reached middle age,
and has an eighteen-year-old daughter.
The dramatic climax of the picture, in
which both mother and daughter appear, is
managed single-handed by versatile Miss
Chatterton.
The mother and daughter of the story
resemble one another in features only,” as-
serts Miss Chatterton. “The mother’s voice
and gait will convey the tragedy of a drab
life. In this character my voice will be dull,
pitched at a monotone, because this woman
has lost the very incentive that keeps the
high notes of enthusiasm in our words. In
complete vocal contrast, the lines of the
daughter will range high, at times, tremu-
lous, because youth always has or should
have a hint of laughter in its voice.”
The details of movement and posture
■are difficult problems, according to Miss
Chatterton. She holds the movements of the
Ruth Chatterton Describes
The Way to Portray
Three Different Ages
b 4
weclet)
idle
daughter to a rapid rhythm, played against
the background of the mother’s dragging
steps.
The mother is permitted no mannerisms
in Miss Chatterton’s interpretation. The
daughter is endowed with a few gestures of
coyness, for Miss Chatterton contends that
coquetry is instinctive to feminine youth.
Youth is also portrayed in the opening
sequences, but Miss Chatterton draws a fine
shade of tempo between youth in the year
1 890, and youth of the modern day.
“The first characterization, although one
of youth, only slightly resembles that of the
daughter,” declares Miss Chatterton. “This
girl is slower to smile and laugh than her
modern descendent. She is very sincere and
serious, and I allow her to be quite senti-
mental, a becoming trait in young people
of that generation. Her gait is rather studied
and lacking in freedom. She is coy, but not
with the sophisticated success of the young
person in the latter scenes of the produc-
tion.”
There is a triple background for the three
characterizations of this picture. The first
role is portrayed against the setting of the
middle-western wheat belt, the second
is enacted in the ranch-country of Colo-
rado and the dramatic climax of the
third character is reached in the sensu-
ous color of a Chinese garden.
Another unusual feature of “The
Right to Love,” is the fact that Miss
Chatterton uses three different lead-
ing men.
• In “The Right to Love” Ruth Chatterton
portrays three separate and distinct char-
acters, which should be good news to her
many fans — just think! Three Chatterton’s
tor the price of one. Paul Lukas is also seen
in the picture.
As the young belle of 1 890 she
courted by David Manners,
pleasant young chap who scored
heavily in “Journey’s End.”
Their’s is a beautiful love — set
amid the romantic surroundings
of that period. A baby daughter
is born — and then tragedy en-
ters to blight two happy lives.
Tragedy — that denies them
“The Right to Love.”
all
dolled up
• And with some place to go — for
little Marjorie White is headed for
film fame and fortune. Marjorie is
that little blonde vixen who romps
through “Just Imagine” and other Fox
Pictures. She can sing and dance —
and what’s more — she can act. All of
which means that Marjorie is going
to get somewhere — and we don’t
White flag with great gusto and
movie fans are snapping to attention.
And if you want a lot of fun — don’t
fail to hear Marjorie warble that
priceless ditty, “Never Swat a Fly.”
mean perhaps. She is waving the
lafin linguisl
• Ramon Novarro is a star of silent days
who has successfully bridged the gap of
talking motion pictures. By concentrating on
stories with Spanish themes, Ramon has
proven his versatility by making both Eng-
lish and Spanish versions of His pictures. Fur-
thermore Ramon has complete charge of his
foreign film translations; he adapts, directs,
and stars in them — which is some job for a
young foreigner who was an extra some
years ago. It is rumored that the young Mex-
ican’s ambition is to turn himself wholly to
directing in the near future, but his tremen-
dous following will hardly let this come to
pass — that is for at least some years to come.
Photo
by Hurrell
The suave /
proves his skill
adapting himsel
ization which
posite of his
Cary Cooper, as the soldier of fortune for whom
this heroine forsakes all, has one of the most
fascinating roles of his entire career. The sophisti-
cation of his Legionnaire Tom Brown, makes him
an instant favorite.
o
1
■■■■.; . ,
Marlene Dietrich brings an utterly new, different
emotional genius to the screen in her characteriza-
tion of the woman of mystery . . a strange, intriguing
cosmopolite in a city peopled by “citizens of the
world” in “Morocco” which introduces her to a
waiting world. Hollywood is getting its first charm-
ing revelation of her superb artistry at Grauman’s
Chinese Theatre.
There is an elusive feminine
charm about Dietrich which
immediately captivates all
who have reveled in her ex-
ceptional work in this, her
first American production.
NOW PLAYING . . GRAUMAN’S CHINESE THEA1
MARLENE
Is All Women... the Rest of/
PARAMOUNT SOUND NEWS
HEARST METR
FANCHON & MARCC
"MOORISH MELO
STAR
"MARIETTA" . . Al
AND CAST OF 150 ARTIS'
CHINESE THEATRE SY
GEORGIE ST(
MOR<
MARLENE DIETRICH . . GARY C
DIRECTED BY JOSEF VON STERN
m
rRE . . HOLLYWOOD . . TWICE DAILY. . 2:30 . . 8:30
DIETRICH
\U... and Yet... Just Herself
Vcco
) . . FOX MOVIETONE NEWS
>OTONE NEWS
D'S STAGE PROLOGUE
)DIC PANORAMA "
RRING
RMANDA CHIROT
ITS AND SUNKIST BEAUTIES
MPHONY ORCHESTRA
OLL, Conducting
That Paramount Pictures have a star of the first
magnitude in Marlene Dietrich has been conceded by
all those who have witnessed her initial American
performance in “Morocco.” Here is another study
which reveals the amazing range of personality with
which this actress is gifted. Hollywood has acclaimed
her as a new, charming, favorite of rare emotional
genius!
:OOPER . . ADOLPHE MENJOU
IBERG . . A PARAMOUNT PICTURE
DCCO
Dietrich has already become
known as the composite of
the Great in feminine beauty
and artistry. Every mood of
her gorgeous personality re-
flects a different beauty.
The unfathomable workings of a woman’s heart may
be set down as the theme of the story which
reveals not only the artistry of Dietrich but also
that of her director and discoverer, Josef von Stern-
berg, who discovered her on the German stage.
.. ^
*
Adolphe Menjou
II as an actor by
:lf to a character-
is the very op-
past portrayals.
F I T Z G E R A L D'S — F O R THE ADVANCEMENT OF MUSIC SINCE 1892
THE NtW 1951
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bard of beyerly
• Humorist — Movie Star — Cowboy — and
America’s Ambassador without portfolio —
in other words, none other than our old friend,
Will Rogers, intimate of royalty and idol of
screen fans. Will’s latest is “Lightnin,” a
talkie version of the famous stage play. It is
a role that fits the genial Rogers personality
like a glove. His next will be a picturization of
Mark Twain’s immortal “A Connecticut Yan-
kee,” another choice entertainment morsel
that will be looked forward to eagerly by a
world of Rogers fans. Between writing, acting,
flying, playing polo, and making lecture tours,
Will finds time to enjoy his beautiful Beverly
Hills home and his marvelous family.
Photo
by Hartsook
clever comedian
• Eddie Quillan — Pathe’s pet punster — whose laugh provoking
antics have disclosed him as one of the most popular of our
younger screen comics. Eddie’s latest picture is called “Big
Money,” and the cast includes two other excellent comedians,
Robert Armstrong and James Gleason. Eddie’s long training in
vaudeville — with other members of the large and talented
Quillan family — has stood him in good stead since the arrival
of talkies and Pathe plans great things for the able youngster.
Eddie, by the way, hails from Philadelphia, though he calls
Hollywood home now.
what hoe !
O What a cute gardener Mary Brian would be —
particularly in this charming outfit. Mary is
cleaning up the yard — and in pictures as well. Her
latest role is in “The Royal Family,” in which she
troupes with two of the best, Ina Claire and Fred-
ric March. Mary is one of Paramount’s Prettiest
Peaches and is one of the chief reasons for a lot
of bad grades in our colleges. The rah-rah boys
have declared that Mary is their favorite and she
is the unofficial mascot of thirty-six football
teams. Imagine how the boys would fight for
dear old Siwash — with Mary on the sidelines
mary
Photo
by Bredell
: •im.m
Photo
by Hurrell
tlie man in
flie new moon”
• Lawrence Tibbett, who scored a sensational success in “The
Rogue Song,” will next be seen in “The New Moon.” Grace
M°° r e, another recruit from the operatic world, will be seen
opposite mm in this swashbuckling romance of princes and
peasants. Jack Conway directs the picturization of the famous
^age hit. The production is declared to be of the same high
caliber as ‘The Rogue Song, ’’and will further establish Tibbett
as a talkie favorite.
20
Screen Mirror • For January
• THE YOUNG man with
a silk handkerchief
draped about the collar of
his dinner coat, sat down in
a chair and looked gloomy.
I It was one of Bill Haines’ seri-
ious days.
He was wearing the dinner coat for a
scene in “Remote Control.” The handker-
chief was to protect his collar from the
greasepaint.
The chair was one of those foldable, can-
vas affairs which are always to be found on
motion picture sets, unless some one hap-
pens to be looking for one. It was in a dark-
ish corner away from the center of activity
around the cameras.
“Gosh,” Bill muttered, “Gosh.” And not
even the sight of Polly Moran showing the
proper manner of taking deep breathing
exercises could arouse him from his gloom.
“What’s the matter, Bill? Sick?” Polly
called.
“Nope,”
John Miljan wandered toward the chair
in the corner.
“Aren’t you feeling well, Bill?” he asked
in those deep tones which have boded ill for
countless screen heroines.
“Sure. I’m all right.”
Bill, the effervescent, the unquenchable,
the volatile, was quiet and thoughtful. Ev-
eryone was amazed and wondering.
“Something wrong, Billy?” Mary Doran,
the little, auburn-haired heroine of “Remote
Control,” sauntered over away from the
group around Polly’s deep-breathing exer-
cises.
“Not a thing, Mary, m'love,” Bill an-
swered, but his voice was not so blithe as
his words.
After awhile they left him alone and went
on about the business of whiling away the
time between camera set-ups. But the spirit
of the day was gone. The ringleader, the al-
most-never-failing thinker-up of new gags
and new stunts, was not with them.
When the director called him to the set,
Bill threw himself into the fun of the scenes
in the office of the radio broadcasting sta-
tion, only to return to his chair and his cor-
ner after the scene was finished.
In the middle of the afternoon, the gang
could stand it no longer. They made a con-
certed attack on the chair in the corner.
“Break down, Bill, and tell us the truth,”
they demanded.
“I’ve been ruined by a fungus.” Bill broke
his silence.
“A fungus?” they all asked in the same
breath.
“That's it.”
“But what's a fungus got to do with
you?”
“It’s eating my house away. You know
the panelling in my living room? Well, last
night I noticed something funny about the
way it looked in the corner by the fireplace.
I walked over and poked my finger through
the wood. Some kind of fungus had grown,
or whatever you call it, in the wood and the
whole thing was ready to fall into pieces.
Sad Story of the
Fungus and William
Haines
t > 4
eleanor 1 packer’
Now I’ve got to tear out my whole living
room and build it all over again.”
The gang was sympathetic. Everyone
knew what that living room and that house
meant to Bill.
You see, there are really two Bill Haines,
the gay, wise-cracking Bill of the studio
and parties, and the quiet, home-loving Bill
of the big, white house in Hollywood.
The latter is the real Bill. The former
was a personality, built for showmanship
purposes and developed into pseudo-reality.
A few months ago Bill moved out of the
home he owned in a quiet Hollywood street
and redecorated and rebuilt the house from
top to bottom. He made it into a veritable
treasure house for his collection of antiques
and rare pieces of art.
There, in this house, he entertains his
friends with the hospitality of the old South
which is born and bred within him. There
he lays aside the wise-cracking Bill of the
studio and becomes a young man with one
all-consuming hobby, the collection of an-
tiques to be placed in the spacious rooms
of his home.
Bill is no embryo collector, either. He is
particularly an authority on Early Ameri-
cana. His period furniture is the envy of
many fanciers. Being from an old family of
Virginians, Bill is an expert on the history
and authenticity of Colonial furniture.
Polly and Mary and John and the others
left him there in his chair in his corner. Left
him to speculate upon the weakness of all
man-made things, such as rosewood panel-
lings, when faced with devastating forces,
such as fungi.
So the young man with the handkerchief
around his neck sat, quiet and undisturbed,
until it was time to remove the linen square
and become the glib-tongued young an-
nouncer of “Remote Control.”
But when you see him in the picture you
will never think that Bill was worrying about
a fungus. He’s still the same self-assured,
wise-cracking Bill, presiding over a radio
station. He won’t seem sad — but still
there’s the fungus.
He was probably making you laugh —
with tears in his eyes.
M-G-M
• “Remote Control” presents our favorite
cut-up — William Haines — as a laugh pro-
voking radio announcer. Assisting in the fun-
test of static and sweeties, are Polly Moran,
Benny Rubin, Mary Doran, and Roscoe Ates.
Boy! Don’t fail to tune in on that program
— you’ll dial laughing.
Charlie's Impression
of the Right Kind and
Wrong Kind of Girl
« WHAT TYPE of girl do I admire?”
echoed the popular Charles Farrell in re-
sponse to the question.
“Mostly one with a sense of humor. One
who has an agreeable disposition. One
who talks intelligently and is interesting.
One who has that quality of character we
call a pal,” he said, after giving the query
some thought.
“I like a girl who can play golf or tennis
with a fellow, or go sailing with him, and
be ready to read and talk over a current
book or a play — one who understands and
enters in to the spirit of recreation and also
of social activities, but does not become
sentimental.
“If a man can find all these qualities
rolled up in just one girl, he’s lucky. And
-ranees' dea ner
to him she will be beautiful, regardless of
the fact that she may not rate such a score
with the world, at large.”
Charles Farrell’s new picture is based on
a romance in a mythical Balkan state pivot-
ing about a princess and a young American
engineer, son of the president of the United
States Heating Corporation. Maureen O'Sul-
livan plays the princess.
It was following Charlie’s outline of “The
Princess and the Plumber” that the idea
presented itself to ask him the above ques-
tion.
Charlie enjoys an enormous following in
his screen work. Last week, for instance, he
“But I’m not going to tell you how it
happens that an American boy marries a
foreign princess and lives happily ever after
— even though her father thinks she is
marrying another chap. Right before his
very eyes, too. That’s romance, isn’t it?”
Asked the type of girl he would care to
marry in real life, Charlie said:
"To be perfectly frank about it, I don’t
know. My ideas have not assumed definite
form . . . yet.
“But — the type I would NOT care to
marry is the girl who endeavors on any and
all occasions to impress one with her supe-
rior education and her advanced thought
and culture. She is the type of girl with the
superiority complex, who makes a fellow
feel mighty uncomfortable with her smug-
ness — no matter what his own education,
training and culture might be. She is a new
type of girl, I believe.
“When love comes to me — and I trust it
will some day — I will be better qualified to
give my views on the subject. I am not and
never have been a boy with a dream-girl
complex. I know when I like a girl. It is
always the personality that impresses me
first. She may not even be good-looking,
but if she is sweet — not sickly sweet — and
wholesome and clean-thinking and clean
living . . . then I know I like her . . . but I
have not yet fallen in love.”
received exactly 6041 letters from admir-
ing fans. And that is just one week in the
year. He has many such encores in the run
of the calendar.
His “best girl,” as nearly all of his friends
know, is his mother, Mrs. David Farrell. She
was the first to visit the home he built in
Hollywood and she stands first with him in
all his affairs. She arrived in Hollywood last
year just before Christmas, with Mr. Far-
rell, from their home in Onset, Mass., and
she is still enjoying her son’s hospitality. He
wanted her to remain with him and take
charge of the home.
“The girl in ‘The Princess and the Plumb-
er,’ as played by Maureen O’Sullivan, is a
charming type,” said Charlie. “She has
spirit and a love of romantic adventure.
When we first meet in the picture, I think
she is a peasant girl and she thinks I am
a duke.
“When she finds out I am not a duke, she
shows quite a bit of temperament, but that
makes her all the more interesting, because
she has already shown a marked fondness
for the duke. We thoroughly enjoyed our
work together in the picture, which has a
number of clever situations.”
Yachting is Charlie’s favorite pastime.
He owns a forty-foot yawl which he named
“Flying Cloud,” after the famous old Flying
Cloud of Cape Cod history. He spends prac-
tically every week-end on the boat cruising
mostly around Catalina Island, and is gen-
erally accompanied by Kenenth McKenna,
also a New Englander, and quite as fond of
ocean-sailing as Farrell.
Conversation returned again to "The
Princess and the Plumber.”
“Oh, yes, we get married at the finale,”
said Charlie in reply to the inevitable ques-
tion — “Did you get the girl?”
• “The Princess and the Plumber” features
Charles Farrell and Maureen O’Sullivan as
the two principal characters in an intriguing
love story laid in a romantic Balkan King-
dom. As you might guess, Charlie is the
plumber, and Maureen is the beautiful prin-
cess. Of course we are not allowed to tell
you how everything comes out — but such a
situation cannot help but be most interest-
ing and amusing, you will agree.
Photo by Fox
■P
the precious
prodigal
• It’s good news to the fans of the world
that Janet Caynor and the Fox Company
have patched up their differences and the
little star will return to the fold of the com-
pany that discovered and raised her to star-
dom. Her first picture since her return will
be “The Man Who Came Back,” in which she
will be teamed with her former partner,
Charles Farrell. The pair have the added good
fortune to be under the direction of Raoul
Walsh, creator of “The Big Trail” and nu-
merous other successes. Little Janet looks
pleased about the whole affair — and so are
we.
Photo
by Autrey
sweet
Swedish smile
• Yes! We agree — that this is a most unusual
picture of glamorous Greta Garbo. The mys-
terious Garbo seems very happy over something.
Maybe it’s because she has scored so heavily in
her first two talking pictures, “Anna Christie”
and “Romance.” Or — maybe it’s because “Inspi-
ration,” her next release, is an excellent produc-
tion. Anyway — whatever it is it’s nice to see
Greta smile. Personally, we think that she looks
doubly charming. Clarence Brown directed her
first two talkies and also wielded the megaphone
on “Inspiration,” which insures the production
the finest directorial efforts.
Not the Handsome
Hero Type— So Stuart
Plays He’s Dumb
erei n one j~i nas
a\s DumLne??
. . . c\s Related bi_j one
w L K now?
tro L) ori°
• The young chap below, who has
lost his glasses, is Stuart Erwin,
Paramount’s coming comedian.
Stuart is constantly glorifying the
American Dumbell — and finds
it most profitable. His next laugh
provoking antics will be wit-
nessed in “Along Comes Youth,”
in which he and Charles Rogers
portray two young fellows who
get stranded in Merrie Olde
England and are forced to hire
themselves out as Butler and
Chef, respectively. It is an
amusing situation.
Photo
Richee
• CO TO college and learn to be dumb!
That — believe it or sue us — is the prov-
erb preached by Stuart Erwin, that puzzled
looking young fellow that amuses you so
much in Paramount Pictures.
Imagine! Going to school to become
backward. The idea was preposterous — and
we hinted as much.
Didn’t everyone go to college to become
brilliant and all that? Or at least they went
to join a fraternity and get a raccoon coat.
But to go to college to learn to be dumb —
it was ridiculous.
Why, such theories would shake the very
foundation of this nation’s scholastic struc-
ture. It might cause the obliteration of uni-
versities — and then where would Wall
Street get its bond salesmen.
It was downright mutiny and we told
young Mr. Erwin so.
Then Stuart began to enlighten us, and
we sat there wearing a superior smile as he
unfolded the following amazing tale:
It seems that Stuart has not always been
dumb!
On the contrary, as a youngster he was
considered most brilliant. In fact at the age
of five he, single handed, pulled over a
whole library case on himself.
His parents immediately took this act as
an indication of a latent literary ability, and
for several years hence you would usually
find a writing manual clutched in his chub-
by little hand — as he sat through three
shows at the movie.
When he was ten Stuart and some of his
cohorts practically wrecked a nearby build-
ing that was in the course of construction.
His folks — trusting souls that they were —
saw in this an omen of their offspring be-
coming a brilliant architect. Thereafter one
would notice young Erwin diligently study-
ing architecture — of backstage theater
doors.
By the time he had finished high school
Stuart was an authority on everything —
pertaining to stage and screen. Still his dot-
ing parents were insistent on his becoming
a successful professional man, and prepared
to ship the pride of the family off to college.
Stuart pleaded with them — but they
were adamant. They knew their son was
brilliant, hadn’t he displayed it at various
times throughout his life.
True, they didn’t know exactly what he
was best fitted for — but he had showed
a tendency towards so many different
things that college was bound to
bring his chief underlying ability to
the surface.
Stuart was desperate. He had his
back to the wall. He decided to
risk all. He confided to them
that his one consuming ambition was to be-
come an actor — and then things started-a-
poppin'.
His mother swooned and his father swore.
And the result was that Stuart was soon on
his way to college.
It was then and there, Stuart said, that
he decided to go to college and learn to be
dumb. He knew that he wanted to be an
actor — and he also knew that his chances
of becoming one were slight if he showed
progress in the higher halls of learning. Con-
sequently — Stuart started playing dumb.
And from then on, according to Stuart,
the University of California never had a
dumber student. He became a campus tra-
dition — and there was some talk of match-
ing him with the inept collegiates of other
colleges.
His grades resembled a poet’s bank bal-
ance and with fiendish glee Stuart forward-
ed them home to the folks. This lasted for a
year, and when Stuart went home at vaca-
tion time he meekly asked the folks if they
would consent to his becoming an actor.
With a resigned air they assented.
Then Stuart went on the stage and es-
sayed to portray dashing juveniles. But his
collegiate training played him dirty tricks —
and he was soon constantly cast in the dumb
roles.
But he was a wow in them and along
came the talkies and grabbed him. Now
Stuart practically steals every picture he is
in, and his salary is twice that of a bank
president.
He may not be the dashing hero and in-
variably win the girl — but he wins the
laughs and the movies always hold a cher-
ished place for anyone who can make the
audiences chuckle. Just Stuart’s appearance
on the screen is the cue for smiles of an-
ticipation of the situations they know his
dumbness will lead into.
His next picture is "Along Came Youth,’’
in which he shares honors with Charles
Rogers — and everything points to eventual
stardom for Stuart.
In "Along Came Youth’’ Stuart is not
only dumb — he’s also nearsighted. It’s easy
to imagine the hilarious happenings that
take place when Stuart loses his glasses.
He and Charles Rogers portray two young
Americans who are stranded in England.
They hire themselves out as chef and butler
on a large estate. Of course, there would be
two beautiful girls there — Frances Dee and
Betty Boyd — and the resultant amusing
mix-ups are fast and funny.
Co to college and learn to be dumb!
It sounds silly.
But maybe we’re wrong.
Anyway Stuart’s not so dumb!
® A ROMANCE which /as born and
bloomed and never died in the dirt and
filth and welter of waterfronts and fishing
boats.
That’s the romance of Min and Bill.
Min was fifty and more. Her uncombed
hair straggled across her weather beaten
face. A dingy black skirt and a checked
flannel waist covered the broad girth of her
figure. But she was Bill's woman.
And Bill. He, too, was fifty and more.
He reeked of fish and wharves. His sparse
hair knew scratching fingers rather than
combs. His trousers were forever threaten-
ing to escape their restraining rope and to
depart from the dingy grayness of his un-
collared shirt. But he was Min's man.
Their romance was real romance, lasting
through thirty years until Min was led away
beyond prison gates.
Marie Dressier is Min. Wallace Beery is
Bill. For many weeks they lived their ro-
mance in the dinginess of the wharves and
of Min’s sailors’ hotel.
And like all true love, their romance did
not run smoothly. Another woman came into
Bill’s life. This woman was slimmer than
Min. Her hair was curled and brightly gold-
en. She wore cheap, bright silks and cheap,
soft furs and long strands of cheap, glitter-
ing beads. She caught Bill’s eye and Min’s
wrath descended upon them.
Marjorie Rambeau is this woman, Bella.
The eternal triangle came to life on the
waterfront. It was just as stark and real a
triangle as if it had been lived in a perfumed
boudoir instead of in a rat-infested, ship-
ping-village hotel. And it ended with a
smoking pistol in the shaking hand of a
middle-aged woman, Min’s hand.
"Well, you can say what you please,’’
Bill said one day in Wallace Beery’s best
manner of emphasis, "I wouldn’t be a star
for any amount of money. All the boys who
were real stars in the old days have drifted
into oblivion. While the lesser lights are
Lore Comes to
‘Min and Bill-
Two Battling Love Birds
wood in the clutter of cables and things on
the sound stage floor. “We’re just Min and
Bill acting in a picture. Besides, Marjorie,
nobody else could be a star when you’re in
the picture.”
"Oh, this Bill is a gallant fellow. That’s
why Min was so crazy about him.” Mar-
jorie smiled.
"Cut out the joshing.” She retired into
the pages of her novel.
"Well, what chance has any mere man
got in a picture with two gals like you?”
Bill continued, finding another scrap of
wood. "They don’t make ’em any finer than
you and Marie.”
“What you doin’, Wally, fishing?” Marie
finished one rapid row and started on an-
other. "If we don’t watch out we’ll settle
down into a regular admiration society and
get soft. Remember, we’ve got a grand fight
coming this afternoon, Bill. I don’t let any
blondined hussy get her hands on my man.”
Then the cameras were ready and the
three laid down their knitting and their
stick and their book and walked back onto
the set to become the eternal triangle.
Who says that romance can't come after
fifty?
• Marie Dressier and Wallace Beery as
“Min and Bill,” in the delightful pic-
turization of a romance that was age-
less. The production was suggested by
"Dark Star," the novel of the late
Lorna Moon, and was directed by
Ceorge Hill.
heal I wood
still carrying on and earning a darned sight
more money than the stars, themselves,
used to earn.”
Both Min and Bella agreed with him, Min
nodding her head wisely over a white sweat-
er she was knitting, Bella agreeing over a
book.
"Being a star is too much responsibility,”
Bill went on, whittling a stick of wood he
picked up from the floor.
"You’re just plain lazy, Wally,” Marie re-
marked, remembering to count her stitches
as she talked. "That’s all that’s the matter
with you, laziness.”
“Maybe you’re right, Marie.” Bill was in
a very amiable mood, whittling and whis-
tling under his breath. “I’ll play any kind of
a part they give me, so long as it’s a decent
part, but I’ll be darned if I ever want to
carry the weight of a whole picture on my
shoulders.”
“Neither do I.” Marie was emphatic, too.
“You two can talk all you please,” the
other woman spoke, in Marjorie Rambeau’s
deep, throaty voice, "but you’re stars in spite
of yourselves. You’re stars in this picture,
aren't you?”
"Not on your life, we aren’t.” Bill threw
away his stick, having whittled it to almost
nothing, and looked for another piece of
• The trials and tribulations of stardom seem
to be weighing heavy on our good friend
William Powell — or perhaps he is just philoso-
phizing a bit. Anyway Bill is everybody’s fav-
orite — and whether he is portraying outlaw
or attorney they still cheer for him to win.
So buck up Bill old boy — we’re still with you
and when your new picture, “New Morals,”
comes to town we’ll prove it by dashing
madly to the theater to sit breathlessly
through your suave performance. So take
heart Bill, and when things look darkest re-
member the sunshine — or a cop — is just
around the corner. Ah! Me! What Price
Fame?
Photo
by Richee
aw — whats’a
trouble bill ?
Screen Mirror • For January
29
Talkie Plot Winner
Is Married Woman and Helps
Her Husband as His Secretary
J-|iUa P
P.Y
mon
ou mciL)
creen
Mi
Philadelphia i? winner this -
he the next to receive £lOO.OO
9 Talkie Plot Content.
rror
8 THIS MONTH'S winner of Screen Mir-
ror’s Talkie Plot Contest is Hilda Flem-
ing of 3419 Disston St., Philadelphia, Pa.
The judges, Clarence Brown, EdmuncTGoul-
ding, and Frank Borzage, chose her story,
"Week End,” as the best of hundreds re-
ceived from all parts of the country.
Mrs. Fleming writes us that she is twen-
ty-nine years of age, married, and helps her
husband as his secretary. She adds that she
finished high school and worked as a book-
keeper prior to her marriage.
Screen Mirror’s Talkie Plot Contest is
open to everyone. Merely write what you
would consider a good plot for a talking
picture — and keep your manuscript within
800 words, typed if possible. Each month
there is a $100.00 winner.
Here is Mrs. Fleming’s story:
Read Her Plot
WEEK END by Hilda Fleming
© HELEN ARNOLD, a cold, calculating
woman, marries John Bennett, fifteen
years her senior, for his money. Thrown on
her own when quite young, Helen has risen
to great heights, and at twenty-four she is
secretary of the Union Power and Light
company. Sick of working, tired of men, she
marries for ease and luxury and to be loved
decently by one man.
Her former sweetheart, Lawrence Jowett,
has thrown her over to marry Joan Scott,
who is the daughter of Winslow Scott, pres-
ident of the bank for which Howett is mere-
ly a clerk. Through the influence of Joan’s
father, he obtains the vice-presidency. Soon
tiring of Joan and the marriage of conveni-
ence, he sets about to see Helen once more.
Helen and John Bennett have taken a
house in the fashionable Chatham Park sec-
tion, and, with great strategy, Lawrence
persuades Joan to take one near them. By
careful maneuvering, Jowett finally meets
Helen one morning and gives her a lift into
town. One meeting leads to another, and
soon Helen realizes that her love for Law-
rence is greater than before. She is torn be-
tween adoration for him, and respect for
her kindly husband. Knowing that Lawrence
is a philanderer, and that his desire for her
is only because she belongs to another, she
determines not to see him again. For a time
she manages to evade him, but, finally the
longing to see him becomes too great, and
she telephones him at his office. The next
day John is called away on business and
Helen goes into town to lunch with Law-
rence. He tells her that he loves her, and
always has, and begs her to give him just
one week-end. He points out that she does
not love her husband any more than he loves
his wife, and with rare eloquence pleads for
just a few hours from a lifetime. Helen
finally agrees, and they arrange to meet on
the following Saturday.
On Saturday Helen leaves word with her
maid for Bennett that she has gone to visit
a friend over the week-end, with instruc-
tions to tell this to her husband if he calls.
Instead of calling, John returns home unex-
pectedly. The maid informs him of his wife’s
message and at the same time hands him a
telegram. It is to inform him that some in-
vestments he has made have gone disas-
trously and his fortune is wiped out. He is
pacing the floor with the telegram in his
hand when the butler announces Mrs. Jow-
ett. Mrs. Jowett immediately makes a scene
and demands to see Mrs. Bennett. John,
seeing that the woman is beside herself,
asks her business. She tells him that Helen
and her husband have gone away together.
Bennett quickly grasps the situation and
tells her that it is not so, the t his wife is in
her room dressing. The maid hearing the
commotion from the bedroom, and desiring
to shield her mistress, pretending to be
Helen calls through the door that she’ll be
through in a few moments, can Mrs. Jowett
wait. Joan never having seen or spoken with
Helen, is instantly deceived, and, apologiz-
ing profusely, runs from the room. John calls
the maid and thanks her for her quick ac-
tion, and adds that if Mrs. Bennett has left
with Jowett it is his own fault, as one so dull
and commonplace as he should never hope
to hold a woman so young and beautiful as
his wife.
The next night Helen returns, but is
stricken with remorse when she sees the
change in her husband. She, thinking that
he knows all, is on the verge of confessing
when he hands her the telegram. When she
reads it she is overwhelmed with pity. Feel-
ing that it is a judgment against her she
makes a silent vow never to see Lawrence
again. John turns to leave the house, but
Helen, caught in a great tide of emotion
makes a clean breast of her affair with
Lawrence, and her husband, out of his great
love for her, grants his foregiveness.
The next day Helen obtains her old posi-
tion, and together she and John start out
shoulder to shoulder to begin live anew.
roses of
no man’s land
O “War Nurse” is Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s
picturization of the women’s side of the
war. The production was directed by Ed-
win Selwyn, noted New York stage direc-
tor, and features Anita Page, Robert Mont-
gomery, June Walker, Marie Prevost, Rob-
ert Ames, Zazu Pitts, and Helen Jerome
Eddy. It is declared that the picture is
the most authentic revelation of the he-
roic actions of the war nurses ever re-
corded. A beautiful love story is entwined
throughout the stirring battlefield epi-
sodes. The superb cast that the picture
offers insures it of possessing the high-
est entertainment value.
frank is
earnest
• Young Mr. Albertson is forging
right ahead in the profession
of motion picture acting. His ster-
ling work in “Just Imagine” has
brought forth several future roles
of great merit from the Fox Com-
pany, to whom Frank is under
contract. Frankie fairly grew up
in the shadows of the studios. He
attended Hollywood High School
and in vacation times worked in
the property department of the
various film companies. After
leaving school, Frankie decided to
be an actor. His first contract was
with the Fox Company, where he
has been ever since. Keep your
eye on Frankie — he’s going to be
one of our most popular players.
Photo
by Autrey
32
Screen Mirror • For January
SCREEN MIRROR
The Magazine from Hollywood
© Screen Mirror has been hearing
a great deal of talk about bad
times — about poverty — about un-
employment — nice, pure, unadul-
terated pessimism. Screen Mirror
has taken a look around and has
seen all degrees of long faces
and drooping chins. With a huge
lump in its literary throat, Screen
Mirror even deigned to ask what
all the shooting was for. There
must be some reason for all the
moans and tears.
It is now several weeks since
we first began taking an inter-
est in this business of depres-
sion. And we are frank to ad-
mit that we have learned a lot.
For a whole day we stood
in front of the First National
Bank. We looked carefully in-
to the face of everyone that
passed through its doors.
When the saddest of all faces
came up, we stepped out
and asked it what the trou-
ble was.
“Bad times,” it said as it
wiped a tear away.
“Tsk — tsk — tsk,” we
tsk-ed, “sad, sad — very sad
indeed.”
“You don’t know the
half of it,” continued the
face that in the very first
moment had developed
two new wrinkles.
“Is there anything we
can do?” we asked.
“I don’t like to ask
you,” replied the smitten
face.
Presenting . . . a Phort
oft o j"
Ptnort-siglrteJne?? . . .
with a Mora I
“Please don't hesitate," we in-
sisted, “we’ll do anything to alle-
viate hard times.”
“Well then” — the face hesitat-
ed, but a look from us encouraged
it. “Well then — would you —
would you mind seeing that no one
scratches my new car, while I go in
to make a deposit. These are very
bad times, you know, and I need it
for my business.” The face wrin-
kled up a little and, shedding a few
quick tears, hurried into the bank.
We knew immediately that we
had a clue. So we hit the trail for
more information about these so-
called hard times. If Screen Mirror
was to know the situation, it had
necessarily to get the dope from
more than one angle.
We went into the bank and the
President, who is always glad to see
a friend, asked us into his sanctum.
We talked of ships and sealing-wax,
cabbages and kings — of Thanksgiv-
ing turkeys and Christmas cheer —
and then we came around to the
subject of hard times.
The President of the First Na-
tional Bank is not the type of man
to exaggerate. You know as well as
we do that he is among the most
conservative men in town. Butwhat
he told us made us open our eyes.
It seems that there is more deposi-
tors’ money in savings banks than
ever before in financial history.
People just bring their shekels in
piles and store them away.
“And what’s wrong with that?”
we asked. “Is that what you call
hard times?”
The President paused a minute,
and then said “yes, siree,” or some-
thing like that.
“But why?”
“Because money in the bank is
idle money. And idle money doesn’t
do anybody any good. Take a dollar,
put it into circulation, and see the
results for yourself. You buy some
underwear; the storekeeper in turn
buys some groceries; the grocer
then buys some nice, new electric
lamps for his window; the electri-
cal supply man takes the same dol-
lar bill and gets himself a new neck-
tie which makes him more present-
able to his customers; the haber-
dasher then gives — but why go on?
You can see for yourself that one
single dollar bill often gives em-
ployment to hundreds of people.”
“What kind of a future can it be
when the present is being neglect-
ed. A farmer who kept his seed in a
safety deposit box instead of plant-
ing it in the ground would be called
crazy. Yet the man who banks his
money instead of sending it out to
do some work is called provident.”
We walked out of the First Na-
tional Bank with a few new ideas
about this hard-times business, and
the first one we saw was the long-
faced gentleman — the very one you
met at the beginning of this story.
Since he had just made a deposit,
he was undoubtedly in the proper
frame of mind to listen to some
good, stiff reasoning. We collared
him, escorted him to the President's
office, and with a “go on, President,
do your stuff,” left them together.
As we walked up the street, we
went over the conversation that was
probably then going on at the bank.
We had visions of that long, long
face breaking into a smile — perish
the thought! We saw that man
going out and buying his wife a fur
coat, and himself some of those
shirts he had been afraid to invest
in.
As we got to our office and sat
down to write this story, we had a
grand vision of wheels turning, ma-
chinery going, and people working,
just because one drooping jaw of
pessimism had been given a merry
sock!
• REPRESENTING the finest craftsman-
ship and artistry of Hollywood, “Min and
Bill,” “Morocco,” and “Jenny Lind,” will be
acclaimed by theatre-goers everywhere as
three of the greatest pictures ever pro-
duced. They are — indeed — the ultimate in
entertainment value.
• TENDER Love . . . Smouldering Hates
Flaming Passions . . . Stark Drama . .
Uproarious Comedy . . . Thrilling Action
. . . are all contained in this triad of truly
great productions, designed and created for
a world of amusement lovers who long for
the best in the cinema . . . Filmdom’s Big
Three . . . endorsed and backed with the
Fox West Coast Guarantee.
MARIE
A. DRESSLER
and
WALLACE BEERY
▲iriniifinir
An M-G-M Production
• AMERICA’S New Sweethearts in a
Comedy Drama of Hearts that will
have you Laughing with Tears in your
eyes. Two magnificent performers in
a story that is both deeply
emotional and highly amusing,
created by George
Hill, director of “The
Big House.”
Marlene
DIETRICH
ORfiTCCO
GRACE MOORE
W S
JennyItnd
An M-G-M Cosmopolitan Production
• THE Love Life of the Renowned
Swedish Nightingale ... the true
story of a famous prima donna’s sac-
rifice on the altar of love . . . en-
acted by lovely Grace Moore . .
declared to be the world’s most beau-
tiful opera star . . . supported byj
Reginald Denny . . .
and splendidly di-
rected by Sidney ^
Franklin.
A Paramount Picture
• PRESENTING a new and brilliant star to
brighten the horizon of entertainment
lovers who demand that which is new and
exotic ... a woman who is the sensation of
Hollywood and is destined to become an
international film favorite ... in a story
that dares to be different . . . the tale of a
love that meant follow — to the ends of the
earth . . . with a cast that includes hand-
some Cary Cooper and suave
Adolphe Menjou . . superbly di-
rected by that genius of the
screen . . |osef Von Sternberg.
Soon Showinc^
At All
Fox West Coast Treaties
si
4Jf
LIKE
DOLLARS
IN THE
DANK
• A $2.50 book of Scrip
costs but $2.25 and a
$5.00 is priced $4.50, while
s $10.00 book sells at $9.00.
That is a saving of ten per-
cent and gives you every
tenth admission free. Scrip
is negotiable in all Fox
Theatres — the best show-
houses in the land.
15 THRIFT
and the HI
IDEAL GIFT
# THIS year ... as never before . . . Yuletide
presents will be selected with an eye to
their value and usefulness . . .
What happier choice could be made than a
book of Fox Scrip . . . good in more than a
thousand Fox Theatres . . . from the Atlantic
to the Pacific . . . from Mexico to Canada . . .
A book of Scrip will bring many hours of
happiness to those you love . . . and insure
them of the finest entertainment in the
world . . .
Learn to save when you spend
— Take a tip and buy Scrip
Scanned from the collection of
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Coordinated by the
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