GENERAL FILM GOSSIP.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 661, 14 January 1933, Page 24 (Supplement)

GENERAL FILM GOSSIP.

ACTOR-WRITER. Ralph Graves, who plays one of the leading roles in “ War Correspondent ” (Jack Holt and Lila Lee), which will be the headline attraction at the Majestic Theatre on Monday, is a writer as well as an actor. During his youth he played football, tennis and boxed, when he wasn’t hanging around newspaper offices trying to learn how to be a reporter. After twice running away from home, Graves was chosen as the most promising young leading man type in a contest conducted in Chicago by Universal. The next year he got his first big juvenile part in “ Men Who Have Loved Me,’* as a result of the contest. Graves then went to New York, where he nearly starved whilst trying to earn his living as a newspaper reporter. His chief ambition, which has been constant ever since childhood, is to write. Ran Away from Home. Joan Crawford, who plays opposite Clark Gable in “ Possessed,” which will commence a return season at Everybody’s Theatre on Monday, was born in San Antonio, Texas. Her real name is Lucille le Seur, and she was educated privately. Her father was a theatre owner, but her parents opposed her thoughts of. a stage career, so she ran away from home and joined the chorus of a Chicago musical comedy company.

In New York she appeared in "Innocent Eyes ” and “ The Passing Show,” where her work attracted the attention of Harry Rapf, of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who signed her to a film contract. Joan Crawford’s successes include “ Our Dancing Daughters, “ Our Blushing Brides,” " Within the Law,” “ Dance, Fools, Dance,” “ This Modern Age ” and “ Letty Lynton.”

Once a Clerk. Herbert Marshall, who, with his wife, Edna Best, appears in “ The Faithful Heart,” the new attraction at the Civic Theatre, started his career as a clerk to a firm of chartered accountants; but the call of the stage was in his blood, and it was in 1911 that he decided to adopt acting as his vocation. He served in the British Army until 1918, and. then joined the company at the Lyric Opera House, Hammersmith. Subsequently, Marshall made several journeys to New York, where his popularity is as great as it is in England. Amongst the numerous plays in which he has appeared are " Interference,” “ 5.0.5.,” “ Come With Me,” " Paris Bound ” and “ A Bill of Divorcement.” Marshall has achieved great success in talking pictures, and his performances in “ Murder,” “ Secrets of a Secretary ” (American), ‘The Calendar,” and “ Michael and Mary ” will not easily be forgotten. On the completion of “ The Faithful Heart ” he returned to America to appear on the New Yoik stage in “ There’s Always Juliet,” and to make a picture for Paramount. Former Mill Hand. Gracie Fields, whose latest talking picture, " Looking on the Bright Side,” heads the new programme at the Plaza Theatre, is undoubtedly one of England’s greatest entertainers. Gracie was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, in 1899, and although, at the age of twelve, she was already singing in a juvenile troupe, she continued with the rest of her family to work in a cotton mill. She later joined a revue company in which Archie Pitt was principal comedian. The two starred together in a new show which Pitt staged, called “ It’s a Bargain.” Grav*ie Fields and Pitt were married in 1923, and later Sir Gerald du Maurier engaged Gracie as his leading lady in “ 5.0.5.” “ Sally In Our Alley,” an adaptation of the play “The Likes of ’Er,” was her first screen appearance. Played With Valentino. Loretta Young, who appears opposite Norman Foster in “ Week-end Marriage,” which is co-screening at the Liberty Theatre with “ Downstairs ” (John Gilbert and Virginia Bruce), is a younger sister to Sally Blane and Polly Young, who are both known on the screen. Loretta, whose real Christian name is Gretchen, was born in Salt Lake City in 1912, and at the age of four moved with her parents to Hollywood, where her uncle was an assistant director. Through his influence she and her sisters secured work as children in “ crowd ” scenes, appearing in “ The Sheik ” with the late Rudolph Valentino, and in other films. After leaving school, Loretta took up a screen career seriously, and had parts in “ Laugh, Clown, Laugh ” (with the late Lon Chaney), “The Magnificent Flirt,” and leading roles in “ Show of Shows,” “ Kismet,” “ The Squall ” and many others.

From Stage to Screen, Shirley Grey, who appears opposite Richard Dix in “ Secret Service,” at the Grand Theatre, is the daughter of an American minister, who was against the public exhibition of motion pictures. She commenced her stage career in a stock company in Waterbury, Connecticut, where she was “ discovered ” by an impresario and taken to Broadway, where she appeared with George M. Cohen. Tiring of New York, Shirley Grey organised her own stock company and toured America. It was while she was in Oakland, California, that she came under the notice of Samuel Goldwyn, the film producer, who gave her a long contract. Played in Vaudeville. Kenneth Harlan, who has the leading masculine role in “ Danger Island,” the new serial which commenced at the Grand Theatre to-day, was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His family moved to New York City when he was very young, and he attended the Fordham University there. Harlan’s first ambitions were toward the study of medicine, but an innate love for the stage finally found him leaving medical school to appear in a vaudeville act. His part in the act was that of a hypnotist’s subject. This was followed by another vaudeville act and then his own variety presentation, which eventually brought him screen fame. D. W. Griffith “ discovered ” Harlan while he was appearing at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, and the vaudeville player suddenly found himself in an important role of Constance Talmadge’s first film, “ Betsy’s Burglar.” Important and starring roles quickly followed in “Flame of the Yukon,” “ The Broken Wing,” “ The Beautiful and Damned,” “ Fingerprints,” and many others, raising the former stage performer to stardom in pictures. S©®©®®©©©©©©©©©©©©©©