Hollywood Stars Greetings

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 303, 23 December 1939, Page 4 (Supplement)

Hollywood Stars Greetings

HOLLYWOOD Christmas cards are not what they used to be. In- the old days the bigger the star the bigger and more expensive the Christmas card. To<day Hollywood reflects the business recession and unrest of the world with telegrams, simple card* of greeting that range in price from one cent to 50, or no cards at 'all. i W. C. Fields prefers to give his Christmas greetings via a telegram on Christmas morning. Last year he sent around 300. Fields takes his Christmas greetings seriously. They are usually in the following manner: Greetings on this natal day of Our Lord." V 8 J Eleanor Powell, Joan Crawford, Spencer Tracy, William Powell, Errol Flynn, George Brent, Jack Benny and Carole Lombard also send telegrams instead of cards. Sllfrley Temple is faithful to the more popular method of Christmas greeting. This year 1000 of her more intimate friends will receive a card depicting Shirley standing in front of a window wearing a screen-role costuino. Claudette Colbert has ordered two sets of Christmas cards—one for friends, the other for fans (about 500 of the latter). Friends (200 of them) will get a plain, whito card with engraved greetings "From Dr. and Mrs. Joel Pressman." To Claudette's film admirers go tiny red and white cards with a picture of a girl in a Christmas dross of red. Mao West's card: Santa Clans reclines on a chaise longue. Mae says: "It's been a long since you've been here, boy." fcianta: "I m a guy what takes his time." Inside the card is printed what Mae wants for Christmas: "I wmrt enough sables to keep nie warm. I w.uit enough diamonds (Ice) to keep me cool. And I want a strong man with a weak mmd." Santa: "Tal! dark and handsome?" Mae: "No, that was my last year's model." Kind MacMnrray's depicts a onc-hnrse sleigh containing a prim-looking maidsn hnd driven by a hewhiskered gentleman of the old school. The greetings include those of Fred's wife Lilian. ' "From Sandra i*nd Gary Cooper" on a plain card is all that the friends of Mr. and Mrs. Cooper will receive this Christians.

George Kaft has ordered 300 heavy white linen wards, each costing around 25 cents, that yield quite a lot for the money spent. A background of blue and red foil is stencilled to show one red and two blue candles shining through, also "Christmas greetings" on the outer flap and . "George Raft" inside. George Burns and Gracie Allen go 10 cents better than Raft with a brown corrugated paper foil flap, on one side of which is a Christmas bell and greetings in shiny green, on the other a Christmas candle. Dorothy Lamour incorporates her message with ah advertisement for. a forthcoming film. Gail Patrick prefers to wish her friends a merry Christmas and happy New Year the hard way. Gail has personally penned • 400 letters of greeting. They are all written—with Gail's customary red ink— on plain white stationery with a tiny red border. Myrna Loy's Christmas greetings will be an etching of her Lake Arrowhead cabin seasonably covered with snow. The award for the prettiest Christmas greeting goes to Bipg Crosby. He is sending a large four-flap card. On the first ' Santa Claus wields a baton. On the inside is a bar of musical notes—si* of them. The first note is a picture of Bing; the second, of his wife Dixie; the'third, of Gary, the eldest of the Crosby children; the ?9urth arid fifth, of the twins; the last, of the youngest baby. They cost 50 cents each, and 500 will be mailed. Well-known celebrities whose Christmas cards will cost only one cent include Joel McCrea, Frances Dee, Charles Ruggles, Berlin, Alice Brady, Bette Davis and Francis Lederer. I£ is not as economical as it appears. The money they would have spent on elaborate cards is sent to local projects, chief among them the Relief Guild and the Assistance League. * & Individual cheques range from 100 to 300 dollars. In return, the donors are given plain cards on which is explained that the money spent ordinarily on cards has been donated to eh irity. From this source alone the Relief Guild collected 1100 dollars last year and present indications are that this year the sum will be doubled. Director "Woody" van Dyke is probablv the only person here who injects humour into his Christmas cards. He saves those of the preceding year and sends them back the iollowuig year to the senders.