HOLLYWOOD IN PERSON

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 301, 19 December 1931, Page 24 (Supplement)

HOLLYWOOD IN PERSON

By

Mollie Merrick.

HOLLYWOOD, November 17. Picture Held Up. Constance Bennett’s picture, “ Lady With a Past,” will have to be held up until a new leading man is found to replace Robert Williams, who was operated on for appendicitis. This is bad luck and though Mr Williams is reported as getting along nicely, it means that he will be away from the screen for some time. Gary Cooper is another favourite who won’t be seen in the movies for at least a year, if current reports are correct. But after that he will without doubt swing back into the popularity he worked so hard to get. In the meantime, Paramount seems to be grooming Randolph Scott, young Virginian, who has been playing with the community players in Pasadena for the past year or so, to take Cooper’s place. Scott is a Georgia tech man, six feet two inches tall, athletic in build and dark blonde in type. Although I haven’t seen him myself, he certainly reads well. Roland Young in Demand. Roland Young is the latest addition to the cast of “ Courage,” Bob Montgomery’s new starring vehicle. In the meantime he is also scheduled to play in Chevalier’s next picture. So, through studio agreement, Young will commute between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Paramount for the next few weeks, which seems to be about the last word in popularity, I think. Mervyn Leroy and Loretta Young were together the other evening at a local cafe, where Dorothy Mackaill was the honour guest.. Leroy has earned the title of “ Little Caesar ” of First National-Warner Brother’s lot all right, but he seems to take it as a matter of course and has no elaborate theories of success to offer. He does say, however, that he is proud of the days when he sold papers in San Francisco near the Alcazar Theatre. That was the I way he made friends with theatrical people and eventually came to take such an interest in stage work. Nils Asther at Work. Nils Asther fans seem to be the most persistent of all in asking when this popular Nordic gentleman will return to the screen.

Well, he is now making his first screen appearance in a year, playing the romantic lead in Buster Keaton’s next picture, “ Her Cardboard Lover.” Perhaps some of you remember the silent version of this picture made by Marion Davies some time ago. Asther played the part of the lover in this film also. Jimmy Durante, who is without doubt the present Hollywood rage, is another member of Keaton’s cast in his new picture, and will play the.part of “ M’Cracken,” a plumber. All of which goes to show how very far from the original play Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer intends to go. Tennis Tournament.

Sports have taken the colony by storm in these late autumn days, and in the most social manner imaginable. Herbert Brenon’s tennis tournament, an annual affair, took on the graceful air of a popular day at a beach club, so generously was it attended and so smartly done were the audience. At a glance it was a white crowd. White flannel pyjamas and white flannel yachting trousers were topped, for the most part by turtle-necked white angora sweaters. Autumn on the beach —for the Brenon house is at Malibu—makes such charming costumes pos-

sible. And when ladies are young, lean, exquisitely groomed, nothing is more flattering than the above-described clothes. As the sea breezes increased towards late afternoon, flannel coats in gay colours brightened the sunset picture. Norma Talmadge and Dolores del Rio were two of the handsomest exponents of brunette beauty who wore the popular white to greatest advantage.

Gilbert Roland’s name, together with that of Bonnie Miller, will go on the huge silver bowl which is annually engraved with the winning titles. The gardens of Peter Pan Cottage, the Brenon beach house, blazed with flowers and the gay colours of the beach umbrellas picked up the note and carried it to the water’s edge. Vivian Duncan and Nils Asther made one of their first public appearances together and were enthusiastically received. Some very stunning prizes were given by Richard Barthelmess, Carl Laemmle, Clive Brook, Mr and Mrs Dick Hyland and Leo Carrillo. Ronald Colman, a tennis enthusiast of note, had given a handsome gold pen and pencil set for the winning man, and Dolores del Rio an exquisite bracelet for the winning woman. Air of Lassitude. Aside from typical parties given by the hierarchy of moviedom, there is a general air of lassitude in the cinema city. Cafes and night-clubs feel it painfully and one of the foremost purveyors of gardenias, orchids and roses at prices that make you shudder, has folded his tents to wait for better times. The most popular luncheon place in Hollywood village announces that luncheon—formerly a smart affair in price as well as in attendance —will now be served for the price of the entree, the coffee and dessert coming as a gratuity from the management. And one studio has dismissed its entire reading staff recently, saying that supervisors and directors chose the stories used in the main anyway and that the reading staff was extra expense save for a few suggestions. Heavy salary cuts, hitting everyone from the " big shot ” to the door-boys have gone on in many of the industry's highest places. Hollywood has been the last to feel the heavy hand of the world’s financial embarrassment. But an air of retrenchment cannot be overlooked.

Unusual Club. The most unusual club to be formed in Hollywood will be the “ twenty-five-years-married-or-more” group which is in process of formation now. The whole idea started when Joe Cawthorne, who recently celebrated his thirty-first wedding anniversary, congratulated Governor and Mrs James Rolph, jun., of California, on their thirty-first anniversary. Then somebody got the idea that a club of this sort would be very amusing in a country where every marriage is supposed to be ephemeral. So some of the lengthily-married got together. The resultant score among charter members is:—Mr and Mrs George Fawcett, married thirty-five

years; Mr and Mrs James Neill, thirtythree years; Mr and Mrs Cecil de Mille, twenty-nine years; Mr and Mrs Ralph Lewis, twenty-nine years; Mr and Mrs Paul M’Allister, twenty-eight years; Mr and Mrs Claude Gillingwater, twenty-six years; Mr and Mrs Janies Gleason, twenty-five years; and Mr and Mrs De Witt Jennings, twenty-five years. That ought to counteract some of our quick-time romances. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. “Interested.”—Presumably Lon Chaney wore a mask for effect. The title of Kudolph Valentino’s picture was “ The Eagle.” I am unable to answer your * second question.