PEEPING AT FILMDOM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 175, 25 July 1936, Page 5 (Supplement)

PEEPING AT FILMDOM.

DIETRICH IS NO COOK.

AND DISLIKES AMERICAN MEN.

(By SHEILAH GRAHAM.)

HOLLYWOOD, July 4. Marlene Dietrich is working for her second studio since her arrival in this celluloid city six years ago. Her disputes with Paramount are famous or notorious. If she did not have at least one major break with them each year producers would think the sun had stopped in its course. And now she is "in Dutch" with Selznick International, the organisation David O. Selznick formed when he left M.G.M. to make pictures independently under United Artists releasing agent's. She is starring in Selznick's technicolour remake of the famous silent romance, "The Garden of Allah," with Frenchman Charles Boyer as male lead. Her present dispute is over her expression to me (and my publication thereof in scores of American newspapers) of her dislike of American men, their manners and outlook in respect to the opposite sex. Her candid remarks, the studio fears, may arouse against the lady the ire and indignation of those same American men—and their women escorts who drag them out to see the films that Hollywood makes. The "likes" of the glamorous Continental star occupy smaller space. Miss Dietrich likes to get her own way, and usually does. How this is accomplished, and the whys and wherefores of the preceding statement, were explained on the sidelines of "The Garden of Allah."

"The American man does not possess the charm or the attraction of the European," said Miss Dietrich emphatically. "I'm not alone in this belief. Anyone who has lived abroad will say the same.

Americans are rather crude in expression of their thoughts. They lack sophistication and have no idea at all how to approcali a woman."

The German-born actress amended her words slightly with the after-thought: "I'm quite sure there must be many charming young men in this country, but unfortunately I have not met any of them." For this reason, and one or two others equally potent, Miss Dietrich will eventually return to Europe and settle in Paris, where men are taught at an early age the niceties of kissing a woman's hand and paying her lavish compliments.

Miss Dietrich's prejudice against the American educational system is based on the fact that English is the compulsory language employed in schools. "I am sending my daughter Maria to England or Switzerland, because there are no facilities here for learning languages," 6he stated. "I do not wish my daughter to forget her native tongue." The separation entailed will be the first to break the close comradeship between the mother and her eleven-year-old child. "If I find I cannot bear her absence, I shall arrange to make several pictures with Alexander Korda in order to be near her." Miss Dietrich leaves with Maria on July 1 to fulfil her longpromised one picture contract with Korda. This is "Knight Without Armour," by James Hilton.

Getting Her Own Way. The actress is doing- her best to procure the services of Charles Lang, "ace" cameraman of Paramount, for the English film. "It is difficult, because his studio does not wish to release him, but I'm .still optimistic about getting liim." The actress' method of getting what she wants is extremely simple. "When people refuse me something or annoy me, I do not rant, rave and make a scene. I freeze. I walk out of the production or the room," drawled Miss Dietrich. "I sometimes wish I could be like the Americans and get really mad when I'm angry. The repression of feeling, the result of my European upbringing, is very bad for the nerves."

But, judging by the results, it is very good for overcoming obstacles in Miss Dietrich's path. "Yes, I always get my own way in the end," she smiled. Miss Dietrich's most recent triumph in this field was staged recently when she stalked majestically out of the cast of "Imperial Hotel" because of producer Ernst Lubitsch's resignation from the Paramount studio. As a reward for the inconvenience and financial loss suffered by Paramount, Miss Dietrich was awarded a new two-film contract with a fabulous salary attached—2oo,ooo dollars per picture —the f.rst of which will start in November find be produced by none other than Mr. Lubitsch.

"Will you do me a favour?", the actress asked suddenly. Your correspondent promised on condition Miss Dietrich reciprocated, by explaining, for the benefit of the rest of us; the meaning of glamour and charm and how they are acquired. "My own supposed glamour is due to good photography and good movie parts," said the glamorous star modestly. "Charm consists of good manners, but you have to be born with them. They cannot be acquired. "And now for the favour. Will you please put in your story that, contrary to all report's, I hate to cook ? I have never liked to cook. And I have never cooked a meal for anyone in my life!"