TRAINING NEW STARS

Southland Times, Issue 23227, 16 June 1937, Page 9

TRAINING NEW STARS

EXPENSIVE METHODS PLAYERS WHO CANNOT LEARN How would you like to be paid £2OO a week to learn a new and profitable business? Every Hollywood studio has contracts with a small number of possible future stars who knew nothing about picture-making when they were signed, writes Sheilah Graham in The Herald, Melbourne. Some of them will never be able to act well, no matter how long and how hard they are trained for stardom, but they will receive anything from £3O a week to £2OO during the grooming period. . The tennis player, Frank Shields, who was brought to the film city by Samuel Goldwyn, three years ago, is still being trained for the stardom which should be coupled with his handsome profile. His “work” consists of playing tennis every day to keep in good physical condition, attending the dramatic class of coach Katherine Hall, taking film tests with every newcomer to the studio, and posing for still photographs in swimming pools. For this he is paid a salary that permits him to live in comfort in Beverly Hills style. Goldwyn is convinced that one day Frank Shields will compete with Robert Taylor and Clark Gable for the favour of the fans. Goldwyn has another mysterious “White Hope” in the person of Sigrid Gurie • who hails from the Norwegian National Theatre in Oslo, and arrived in Hollywood last summer. In addition to perfecting her English, Miss Gurie has to observe certain rules but there is nothing hard or unpleasant in her training course, for which she is paid. She must not be seen in Hollywood night clubs, she must not be photographed, she must not attend Hollywood parties (for which relief she is very grateful), she must adhere to a diet set forth by the studio physician, and she must get at least nine hours’ sleep every night. This regime is to continue until she becomes leading lady in “The Adventures of Marco Polo.” Eight months ago I saw and heard the screen test of Della Lind, a beautiful blonde Viennese singer, who had just been signed to a long-term contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was easy to see that Miss Lind was an experienced actress possessed of tremendous charm that cannot fail to make a hit with American movie-goers. But there was one flaw—she did not speak English very well. She is being paid to learn.

LEARNING THE LANGUAGE

Franceska Gaal, is another European importation whose screen debut is being held up until she masters the English language. She was brought from Vienna last October and has done nothing since her arrival but learn the language—at a good salary, you understand. She recently informed her Paramount chiefs that, in four months, she will be ready for the feminine lead of Cecil B. de Mille’s “Buccaneer.” Paramount was less lucky with Ketti Gallian, whose accent, when she came here a couple of years ago, was pronounced. Undaunted, her chiefs began the work of grooming her for the screen. In addition to language lessons, Ketti was commanded to dye her hair and go on a starvation diet. The great day finally came when the French girl’s English and. figure were considered good enough for her _ movie debut. She was given a part in “My American Wife,” in which Francis Lederer starred, and only then was it discovered that Miss Gallian’s acting was not good. .. Goldwyn had the same opinion about Anna Sten after he had spent £200,000 grooming her for stardom, and he let her go. But Anna Sten is. now back in Hollywood to star in Grand National’s “Gorgeous,” and to prove to her former chief that she—if not he — profited by his training. You will soon be hearing of a tall blonde vocaliser, Maria Korjus, who came to California a year ago under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and has since done nothing but lose weight and perfect herself in the principles of acting and speech. Her first picture is, tentatively, “The Life of Johann Strauss,” in which Fredric March plays the title role.

Sometimes a bit player shows so much promise in a first film he or she is brought out of production work for a vigorous course of stardom training. Mamo Clarke, who appeared as the Tahitian beauty in “Mutiny on the Bounty,” was not permitted to appear on the screen again until her English improved. She is still struggling. Pretty Margaret Tallichet, former stenographer in Paramount’s publicity department, and now under contract to David Selznick, has already played bit parts in “A Star is Bom” and “The Prisoner of Zenda,” but will do no further screen work until she completes a salaried period of grooming by Madame Daykahronova, the famous New York coach. Studios are the losers when their bright hopes do not come up to expectations. Novices, who are let out of the studios, are usually none the worse for a Hollywood vacation, and always much better off from a financial point of view. The Earl of Warwick, recently released after six months’ grooming, was £4OOO to the good as a result of his contract.