Our Life Story

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 12821, 16 August 1939, Page 6

Our Life Story

IRENE CASTLE COMMENTS ON THE FILM It isn’t often that Hollywood ventures to turn its biographical eyes upon the career of a living person. But Irene Castle has raised no objection to the story or 'her life and that of her famous husband, Vernon, coming to the screen. "I’m sure they would rather I had been dead,” Mrs Castle was saying just the. other day, in recounting some of the little incidents attendant upon the filming of her biography by RKO. “They even waited,two years for me to kick off, I suspect, after I had sold them the story.

"But, when they found that I was indestructible, ■ they went ahead and made it. And I still don’t feel particularly ancient.” Fred Astaire Pleases

On the contrary, one might- observe, Mrs Castle, who was present at the opening of “The Story of Vernon and Iren© Castle,” at the Music Hall, New York, is as- lovely to-day as she was those twenty-odd years ago when she and Vernon were the toasts' of a dance-mad, warcrazy .world and she was a motionpicture star for whom a generation swooned.

“Of course, it’s much easier,” she said, “to make a picture about a dead person—one who can’t sit around and watch the kettle boil, as I did.” For Mrs. Castle served as technical adviser (which w;as certainly the least she could have been) on this story of her own life, and as such she was right on hand to see that no liberties were taken with herself and her husband’s memory. On the whole, Mrs Castle is pleased with the work of her biograph-

The four stars of "The Shining Hour,” Melvyn Douglas, Joan Crawford, Margaret Sullavan and Robert Young, who appear at the Regent on Friday and Saturday. ’

ers. Fred Astaire played Vernon perfectly, she said. He even fitted into some of his old uniforms after tucks had been taken in the legs and sleeves.

"And the only thing about Ginger Rogers that disturbs me is i just can’t see myself, a blonde.” Like the classic rejoinder Twain, when confronted with a 1 premature obituary of himself, she might have observed that some of the episodes in .her life were "slightly exaggerated.” But substantially —even materially—the story is hers and her husband’s.

“In the story of a carrer,” she said, “there’s always the question of what to drown and what to keep. And, goodness knows, they could have made a serial out of our lives. “For instance, I wished they had done more with our first hit musical show, ‘Watch Your Step,’ and that they had dwelled less on my life before I met Vernon. Miss Foote wasn’t very interesting. “At least, with our story, there was nothing they had to clean up.” Dancing from Coast to Coast The largest map in the world'was constructed at RKO Radio for scenes in “The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle,” starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Built of tempered presswood board, the map measured 1,000 feet in length and 350 feet in width. Rivers, mountains, lakes and principal cities were depicted. The map was used as a back-

ground for novel dance shots showing the tour of Vernon and Irene Castle from the Atlantic to the Pacific at the height of their fame, and the dance craze which sprang up in their wake. Dancing scenes on the map were shot from a camera tower 100 feet high.