HOLLYWOOD IN PERSON.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18644, 22 December 1928, Page 24 (Supplement)

HOLLYWOOD IN PERSON.

(By

MOLLIE HERRICK).

Into the “ Speakeasies.** Leading men and leading ladies may be seen slipping quietly into Hollywood’s “speakeasies” at a great rate these days. Which purple paragraph means nothing more or less than that the rate of “talkie” making runs so high most of the famous can be found on the feltpadded stages which have won the name “speakeasy” because they catch and magnify every Slightest noise. Lupe Velez, Latin tornado, has blown herself noisily into the forefront of the speakie craze. For the fortunate Lupe has not only beauty galore of a vivid and fresh type, but a singing voice, an ability to play her own accompaniments on the guitar, and a flair for some of the most intriguing dancing imaginable. Grafting dignity on to Lupe has been one of the hardest jobs the producers { have had cut out for them. By nature a gamine, the Mexican star’s instinct is to act, then think. She will rise in the theatre and wave ecstatically to a friend. Call out with the gay camaraderie. of childhood, nor realise she is making a social error until she sees the stern face of her chaperone. Then she will pout like a five-year-old. Irving Berlin called attention to her singing quality. She had so many negotiable assets that this had gone unnoticed until the song writer hap- * pened to hear her singing one day when he was visiting Joseph Schenck at his office. When Luck smiles in Hollywood, it smiles broadly. 55 5*2 52 A Sex Appeal Voice. Lila Lee, it would seem, has the maximum of sex appeal in her voice. A recent “talkie” test proved this. And with some two hundred voices being tried out every day in Movieland, this means something. A sexappeal voice sets stirring certain molecules in the human system, because of its vibrations. The result is called emotion. And Lila Lee releases plenty of it. Mary Piclcford and Lois Wilson head the list as talkie stars of first magnitude. But their qualifications, as voiced by enthusiastic producers, have not included the elusive s.a. While the break between Lila Lee and Jim Kirkwood, her husband, would seem to be final, neither will say definitely that divorce is imminent. Happier apart, would seem to be their explanation of present conditions., A not-infrequent state of affairs in Hollywood. 52 52 52 Pa Bow’s Steak House. When Clara Bow came to Hollywood with Papa Bow in tow, part of Clara’s responsibility as a movie star centred in getting Pa Bow happily settled in the restless city. And the red-haired star first thought of opening a cleaning and dyeing business with Pa Bow as the proprietor, just to keep him busy. It did the work. And the energetic Clara was free to pursue her athletic and her “It,” and travel about with her chaperone and companion, Tui Lorraine. Then Papa Bow did a little scouting around and went back to first principles. Opened an eating place not so dissimilar from the Coney Island restaurant he was running wljen his little daughter was swung almost overnight into the world’s limelight. His bright idea, to call it the “Clara Bow Steak House” —was squelched by those who keep Clara’s star shining brightly in Hollywood’s Milky Way. But his plan went right on under another name. Hollywood travels on its stopiach—like an army. For the few stars who are famous, and the few players who are widely known, there are thousands of aspirants to movie fame w T ho live in quick-lunch places. Because quicklunch prices are all they can meet, with infrequent work and slim pay. Pa Bow is branching out in all directions. His latest move has been to incorporate the Bow and Co. by marrying Tui Lorraine, the chaperone and companion. Clara was not at the wedding. Studios do not always arrange things so stars can attend impromptu ceremonies, even when the principal is a father. But the next evening Clara and her new mamma went stepping together, as usual. Three Languages. Ernst Lubitsch directs his latest picture in three languages. English—for Hobart Bos worth, Evelyn Selbie and Victor Varconi. Spanish for the lovely Mona Rico, the Latin extra girl whom

he discovered recently and who has a prominent part in the picture. And German for Camilla Horn, who plays the lead. Mona Rico is regarded as the luckiest “extra” in Hollywood. For Lubitsch is considered an artist supreme, and for him to select this shy little Spanish girl from the ranks and give her prominence in a' picture is an infallible instance of her quality. 52 52 52 Just Two Years. The movie cctfony estimates the life of a leading man or woman as two years. That is, their reign in public favour cannot be relied upon for more than twenty-four months. Motion picture producers have done much to bring this about, all unwittingly. They have searched out ideal players for a single role. And given them that role without previous experience. Some have caught on. A new “star” is made overnight. Buf" for every new star that rises, a “dark” star is created. Each blonde of the Jeannette Loff variety who smiles her way into headlines puts the Claire Windsors of movieland a little nearer the finish. When men like Thomas Meighan look the situation full in the/ face and admit that they believe their careers are on the wane, someone has already come to take their places. ** John Gilbert, one of the most fortunate of young stars, is restlessly looking toward writing. And directing. The production end of pictures has far more draw for the young generation of stars than ever before. A good director—a man who can tell a story in celluloid with a poignant human touch—may work on when baldness, obesity and fallen arches have overtaken him. He isn’t always toiling* under the gruelling pressure of entrancing gumchewing, romantic seventeen. Still Before the Cameras. Richard Barthelmess says directing is far more interesting to him than acting. Yet the renewed contracts, excellent salary and pull of that unknown quantity called “my public” keep him before the cameras. Many of the stars are trying to select their qwn stories with a view to escaping the terrible monotony of virtually making the same movie over and over again. If a star is good in a situation, that star know he or she will make that situation almost until the end of time. A few years back stars took what was handed them in the way of movie material, without making suggestions. But that was before the idea of writing and directing movies came into their heads. Mae Murray’s Successor. Lena Basquette is being groomed to take Mae Murray’s place in the sun. So says Hollywood, and it generally knows. Every picture the Masquette makes has a bit of dancing in it. And the public likes dancing stars. In appearance the two are diametrically opposite. Mae Murray’s blonde beauty was a trademark long before the crop of white henna girls blossomed suddenly along the boulevards. Then some cameraman discovered that blondes film better than And the, hairdressers have been extra busy ever since. 52 52 52 A New Mary. Subterranean rumour has been crediting Mary Pickford with a new personality. And in Hollywood such rumour is generally not without point. An hour’s visit to the girl who has been tagged “America's Sweetheart” has convinced me that here is one of the most interesting and radical trans formations of personality ever to oc cur. Mary Pickford’s transformation has taken place with her change in hairdressing. Few people know that the loss of the famous curls was only the beginning of the experiments Mary Pickford has made with her hair. Bit by bit she has been snipping off a lock here, an inch there. What was, in the beginning a modified bob, is now reduced to a row of glistening gold ringlets at the base of her neck. Perhaps by to-morrow there will be nothing of the waist-deep golden curls save such moist ringlets as adorn the skull of a fourteen month old baby. Had anyone ventured to persuade

Mary Pickford into such a thing a*y ear ago, he would have found himself against a closed door. The Mary of 1927 thought in an entirely different groove. Behold the Mary Pickford of to-day, launching this radical move with an enthusiasm which makes the entire conference sit up and take notice. This is the actress speaking. And that actress has resolved to hurl herself into “Coquette” with the abandon of hei inspiration. “I shall forget the nice little girls I used to play,” she sa.ys, “not that the idea of them no longer appeals to me, but because the idea of giving something new appeals to me more. “To me, as I feel now, the paradox of this coquette, this kitten type, deliberately using baby eyes and baby lips and a baby mouth to awaken the sex in man, is infinitely sharper in its tragedy than it could be with a more conventional type.” “I know the younger generation will understand me,” says Mary Pickford. “But will the older women? I value their opinion so highly. I have always held the love of the more mature feminine audience. Yet I tell myself they have daughters and granddaughters That modern life is rapid. And modern girls are frank.”

And all the time she is talking you keep thinking—This is Rebecca oi “Sunnybrook Farm”—this is Pollyanna

herself—this is Sparrows—this is Amarilly of “Clothes-line Alley.” On the walls of Mary’s dressing-room are pictures of the Pickford of yesterday. Radiant, conservative, poised—a beautiful woman child with a great sheaf of curls hanging down her back. Massed hair, heavily waved. “I want to get away from those three big waves across the top of my head,” says this new Mary Pickford. “I’ve been so intense over all this that I’ve had a headache for a month. My hair has been done half a hundred ways. We’ve taken scores of pictures.” Her new restlessness shows itself in a radically different type of dress. Sleek little black crepe de chine gown revealing the modelling of her tiny figure. “A bit flapperish,” smiles Mary, “but I want to get into the manner of this young generation that I am going to play. “I am deadly tired of just motion pictures. I want good stories, good books, good plays. I am deadly sick of the old formula. I want new flesh on the old movie skeleton. The public are beginning to feel it. Some of us should make a new type of picture for that public, even if it isn’t a box-office success. Emil Jannings is making different pictures, with glorious results. 1 want to do that also. “Just think, after eighteen years of motion pictures I got into pan chromatic make-up for the mazda lights,

and heard my voice for the first time. Sometimes I feel as if my career were beginning all over again.”