George Arliss Will Never Retire

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22777, 10 July 1937, Page 16 (Supplement)

George Arliss Will Never Retire

RETURN TO LONDON STAGE POSSIBLE George Arliss who has begun the last film of his present contract in England, says he may go to Hollywood in November "to pick up a humble shilling or so." He may also reappear on the English stage. Arliss has earned £40,000 from his pictures lately. When asked if ho really needed the "humble shilling" still, and whether he was considering retirement, tlio 68-year-old actor said: "I don't want to stop work, and nothing you do without payment is worth while. "The public naturally pays for what it wants, and art for art's sake is no good, because it does not usually pleaso the public. "1 have no idea of retiring, and never shall have. I would not dare to let myself know it if I did retire. It would be too'demoralising a decision to make." Because he has not acted on the stage for eight years tho opinion is held that Arliss has left it. Arliss has, however, told the London Evening News that ho may return to the theatre. Ho would like to appear in

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I A Make - Up Problem i When Marlene Dietrich Went to | England to make "Knight Without • Armour" opposite Robert Donat for j Alexander Korda, a "warning" to i the studio ■ make-up man preceded j her. The "warning," sent by Wally • Westmore, famous Hollywood expert K j was couched in these terms: \ "Miss Dietrich is enough to drive j you crazy. She needs a new mouth i after each film fcisj. / should say she's j the hardest k'sser in the business." : "Knight Without Armour" is re- : leased through United Artists. |

"Old English," "Disraeli," and "The Merchant of Venice" in London. "I have my own ideas of how Shylock should be played," he said. "This may not be everyone's idea, but I think it is interesting. "I would not go so far as to say that Shylock had an Oxford accent, but I think he must have been a very intellectual man. If Shakespeare had not felt that, he would not have given him so many fine thoughts and speeches. "I fancy that Shakespeare first intended him as the buffoon of the piece, but was led by his own conscience to make him into a great man as the work proceeded." Arliss plays a parson for the first time in the new film, "Dr. Syn," which is about smuggling days in the 18th century. His parson is also a smuggler, and he has a grim secret in his past. "But ho is a quite good parson and there is virtue even in his smuggling." said the star. "I think Ave can make him quite an amusing character, and the subject is picturesque and dramatic." i&k