HOLLYWOOD IN PERSON.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18641, 19 December 1928, Page 6

HOLLYWOOD IN PERSON.

(By

MOLLIE HERRICK).

The old wheeze about the only way to reduce certain ladies being with a circular saw has pretty nearly come true in Hollywood. Molly O'Day having starved herself to the point where she no longer can remember what a full meal looks like, still found directors shaking their heads. “No good—too fat in the hips” Molly got a Los Angeles surgeon to reduce her by the simple means of cutting off the refractory flesh. Very much the same way Peaches Browning went about reducing her legs. Four incisions were made. No, the dieting is not over. It seems directors are getting more and more stern on the subject, and Molly O’Day will have to train still more, even with her marked-down hips. Mary Miles Minter and Katherine Macdonald both failed to popularise plumpness. Hollywood designer returns from Paris with tales of a new “ feminised figure.” All curves, and dimples. But try and let an exponent of it get into the movies.

Gonrad Veidt has made the most startling success of late, in the film colony. When he was brought here from Germany with a record of past accomplishments listed imposingly, Hollywood read, raised the eyebrows, and said. “ We’ll wait and see.” - They waited: and saw. Veidt played the laughing man of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece. Played it in a way that even Hollywood—quick to encourage, but slow to bestow the accolade of genius—had to ratify. Stock went up for Veidt. He built one of the most beautiful homes in Beverly. Which does not at all mean that he “ went Hollywood.” It means simply that Conrad Veidt is here to stay for some time. The house is Moorish in type, constructed throughout of hollow tile. Veidt has a living room forty by sixty feet. A swimming pool, without which no movie menage is complete, has a sand beach and coconut palms. A patio with an open fireplace and an unusual goldfish pond are other features. You can specialise in beauty or ugliness; in grace or disgrace, in Hollywood. Any one of these talents pay well. But your beauty must be of camera kind. Your ugliness must make people laugh or move them to pity. Your grace must be the grace of Yilma Bank)*, and your disgrace, to be marketable—but why be redundant ? Clara Bow made “ it ” pay—and pay high. In the same way, Adolphe Menjou discovered that if he looked slightly bored and raised one eyebrow the entire world took him for a sophisticated gentleman—a guy who knew his endives, so to speak. Theda Bara started vamping. It was as old as Lilith, but people hadn’t yet gotten to the point where they discussed it—to say nothing of applauded it. Theda Bara taught them to appreciate the siren. They have been busy appreciating ever since, both in movie and private life. Charlie Chaplin came along and taught them that comedy was really the shabby exterior of a cloak whose lining was sadness. May M’Avoy proved that a girl may l>e blue-eved, blonde, good, and register absolute innocence without -the least boring her public. George Bancroft taught the world that there is sentiment and loyalty in the big, rough,. tough-looking guy whom you’d never suspect of anything softer than a clout in the jaw. :< If you don’t believe fat is a problem in the cinema city, count the number of reducing experts who thrive hereabouts. Many stars have steam rooms in their own homes. Gymnasiums open off these, and at the far end is the pool. An icy plunge is necessar)- after a session in the steam and with the gym instructor, to keep the body hard. Harold Lloyd has his new home equipped more elaborately than the average club. Douglas Fairbanks’s gymnasium is remarkable. Clara Bow goes in for athletics on a large scale. Those who don’t might as well make up their minds that it won’t be long *: « Movie actors are writing the stories of their lives. With expurgations by the authors, sez I. Jack Gilbert has made quite a hit with his story of early struggles, present boredoms and futyre plans. He may add a few chapters and make a book of it. Joan Crawford admits that Isadora Duncan is the only woman of the past decade to write an intelligent autobiography. Life is just a process of falling in love, according to Joan. Anv woman who tries to insinuate that she is even slightly interested in any other avocation is either non compos mentis or a story-teller. Sam Goldwyn, who has picked more successes than any man in pictures outside of Mack Sennett, says Joan j Crawford has more promise than any * girl in Hollywood to-day. Meanwhile Joan is keeping the spotlight turned her way, se Theodore Roberts back at -work on the studio lots is a goodly sight. Puff-

ing away at the old cigar he sat on the side lines waiting to be called. That the year and a half which he has been absent from pictures was filled with tragic consequences shows in Roberts’s face. His was one of the most severe breakdowns in film history. William Farnum was forced to drop out of pictures due to illness. After four 3'ears away from the cameras—years fraught with tremendous loss in money and spirit, he was .cast for a big part. His return was heralded on all sides. For* Farnum had a tremendous following. Rheumatism attacked him the very week his big come-back was to begin. The part had to be given to another actor. And discouragement and illness settled down on “Bill” Farnum again. There may be another opening at another time. But movies do not permit such chances very often. K X X Piizzums makes thirty dollars a day, and seldom lacks work. Before I unduly encourage a raft of movie-struck girls I should announce that this is a dark cat, the very Bernhardt of felines. She Can, register almost any kind of emotion her tribe is heir to. And she is the property of two girls who almost starved to death trying to break into the movies. They found a stray cat in a lot one night and took her in to share their meagre allowance of bread and •milk. The grateful lady is rewarding them handsomely. Now that Joan Crawford and Doug. Fairbanks, jr., have announced their engagements, they are busy denying the persistent rumour that they were married some five months ago. Some of this insistence is due to the fact that Joan Crawford wears a slim diamond band on her finger. And in her home, photographs of Doug., jr., autographed “to my dear wife,” are said to be greatly in evidence. The life of a star is continuous denial. Denial of food and denial of rumour. In between attending to these two matters, there are the necessary gestures of doing eight to twelve hours before the camera; doing the daily stunt with the beauty expert; getting in the daily six dozen ever}' star must do to keep the figure just right. Of course autographing pictures and answering important letters is great fun. And all the spare time is simply wasted by these idle creatures. x x Jewish films have been a vogue in Hollywood of late. And the casts have been recruited from all over America. A number of kosher restaurants have sprung up in the vicinity of the studios specialising in this work. And are doing a thriving business. I sat near a very stunning blonde. She looked vaguely familiar, and was so intriguing in her smart fall frock that I asked someone who she was. I have been seeing Belle Bennett made up 'as a woman of fifty odd for so long now that I had quite forgotten how really good-looking she is. And what an interesting character. As a child, Belle Bennett played in her father's tent shows. Her first work was acrobatic turns with a circus. Then she became a dancer with the variety show. From straight parts in movies she went into characterisations, specialising in the drab of middle age. Sparing nothing to make those characterisations click. And contributing to the screen some of the most logical and telling interpretations it has yet given. Movie mothers bring more grey hairs to the heads of local producers than any other problem. Every star who is under thirty wants to be officially “under age.” The only way to be this, apparently, is to allow mother to handle the coin and draw up the contracts. Now and then the real age leaks out when mother holds too tight a grip on the purse-strings, or stands for a higher figure than the producers are ready to give. “Peg” Talmadge, mother of the famous Norma and Constance, is reckoned the most popular mother in the colony. A shrewd business head, yet she knows that her place is in the background when it comes to business affairs. Mrs Daniels, mother of the vivacious Bebe, is another. Of the popular type. Her presence at her daughter’s beachhouse is always an asset. Mary Pickford’s mother managed her entire career successfully. Chose the type of interpretation which carried Mary to the top. Made her adhere to the roles which suited her. But there are those who think Mary Pickford's personality will reach greater heights now that she has, more or less, to stand on her own feet. Mrs Pickford always had more to say regarding her daughter's pictures even than her husband. Ramon Navarro’s success in silent films has been assured. lie is all ready for sound effects. One of the best singing voices in the colony, his interest in the concert and theatre as a future i have long since prepared him for * “talkies.” Navarro seems to escape the continual romance-gossip which attaches itself to most unmarried stars of the colony. And quite a few of the married ones. He has a quiet distinction and a thorough grasp of his work.