The Star and the Cowbell

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 45, 23 February 1938, Page 11

The Star and the Cowbell

Leslie Howard is a hard fellow to keep track of. He wanders off the set between takes and half an hour later frantic searchers find him on another stage or maybe just strolling alone on the back lot.

Tay Garnett, who directed Walter Wanger’s “Stand-In," currently starring Mr Howard with Joan Blondell, had quite a time restraining the restless actor. One day, after a take, several fellows took him in custody before he had a chance to get away. With the gentleness due a star, they tied him up and clapped leg irons on him.. Garnett finally placed him on probation. He gave him a cowbell. Howard was ordered to bong the cowbell whenever he went on a stroll. It wasn’t any time at all before a scene was ready for shooting—and no Howard. Pretty soon they heard the cowbell, though, in a distant corner of the sound stage and high up in the catwalks. Garnett and his searchers converged on the sound. They found only the bell —the bell and a string. They traced the string over rafters right back to the lighted set where

“Stand-In" was supposed to be shooting. There sat Mr Howard, yanking at the string, uud being plaintively indignant about the absence of Director Garnett. “Stand-It" is released through United Artists