"And They Lived Happily Ever After"

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 72, 18 December 1937, Page 26

"And They Lived Happily Ever After"

PERHAPS it is just a calm between X storms or it might be a permanent change, but divorces have reached almost the vanishing point in Hollywood and even rumours and gossip have subsided to their lowest ebb in a decade, a review of the shifting Hollywood scene reveals.

Marlene Dietrich delivered the most recent slap to persistent rumours that she and her husband were about to disturb the marital calm that has descended upon the movie capital. “Rudolph Sieber and I are in love,” she replied to the rumours, “and when persons feel that way they don’t ordinarily think about divorce.” And shortly after that, as if to substantiate her statement, Sieber travelled to Hollywood all the way from Paris, where he is employed by Paramount, so that he could escort her and their daughter, Maria, on a European vacation trip as sqon as Miss Dietrieh completed Ernst Lubitsch’s “Angel.” Hollywood’s happily married couples are so numerous and well-ordered today that they are taken for granted, and in many cases the fans have almost forgotten they are married. They are for example, Claudette Colbert and Dr. Joel Pressman; Melvyn Douglas and Helen Gahagan; Joan Crawford and Franchot Tone; Irene Dunne and Dr. Francis Griffen; Gary Cooper and Sandra Shaw; Bing Crosby and Dixie Lee; Frances Farmer and Lief Erickson; Fred Mad Murray and Lillian Lamont; Gladys Swarthout and Frank Chapman. The list could be extended almost indefinitely, using only top-flight stars. The present durability of Hollywood romances is illustrated in two instances. In spite of the turbulaucc that has swirled around John Barrymore and Elaine Barrie and around Lupe Velez aud Johuny Weismuller, the two couples are still eloquent in their expressions of devotion.