DEMAND BY “FANS”

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 22 August 1935, Page 8

DEMAND BY “FANS”

MANY IMPOSSIBLE LETTERS AUTOGRAPHS NOT SUFFICIENT Not content with mere autographs the . world at large requests that Hollywood stars furnish everything from shoe buckles to life companions. Every clay letters arrive containing these unusual requests, most of which, lor obvions reasons, cannot be ansiveied. Mae YVcst is perhaps the most popular recipient of these unusual letters. She has been asked to christen babies and' horses, and the captain of a river boat wrote- to ask her permission to name his boat after her. She has had several requests for a rib ol her corset—preferably autographed. Several bundles of chinaware recently arrived with the request that she buy t, and at the same time came a letter from a. widow asking advice on how to make her bear, “pop the question.” Claudette Colbert received a

dubious compliment when a Mid-West, ern farmer wrote to tell her that his pet cow, which had been named Claudette in her honour, had just given birth to two calves, and would she please name them. In the midst of working on “Cleopatra,” Claudette wrote back suggesting the names of Antony and Cleopatra. The most unusual requests for autographs are received by Carl Brisson. The latest was a zinc plate for a- bur-i----,‘al casket on which-the sender asked ! him to etch liis autograph and re[turn. Just before -Carl left. England I for Hollywood, his hat was stolon. Be-

cently it was returned cut in innumerable pieces with the request that he autograph each piece and return them. Periodically stars are asked to judge beauty and personality contests for college organisations. Sylvia Sidney, Bing Crosby and Mae West are the latest to have judged some from photographs sent them. An ambitious young man in the East once wrote to Sylvia Sidney enumerating all of his virtues and requesting that she find him a beautiful young wife who will support him for the rest of his life. In filet, he added, he would even consider Sylvia herself. The requests for clothing of the stars are rarely ever answered, for the

granting of one request would lead to a deluge of others. But there was one that John Lodge could nut resist. An old man wrote to him, having heard of his social position, and asking if he did not have an old silk hat which ho could spare. The man had dreamed of such a top-piece all his life, but never could afford one. He didn’t mind if it would be a little battered. Lodge showed the letter to Claudette Colbert, and the latter insisted on chipping in with Lodge and sending a brand new silk hat for the man to show, off with at his lodge functions. A Bing Crosby “fan” recently wrote to Evelyn Venable asking her to send a photograph of herself autographed to Bing Crcsby. The fan was making up a scrap book for Crosby, and trying to got all of the other stars in the business to contribute to it.