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About Roseburg news-review. (Roseburg, Or.) 1920-1948 | View Entire Issue (June 13, 1936)
Accidents Mi nor D is asters Ha Foremost Celebrities on Careers To escape a licking, W. C. Fields ran away from home, learned ' juggling, and landed in Holly' wood. By Linda Lane ) mi x- J Hp . f f M W ijAyl - ' I V " ' Claudctte Colbert wanted to be a singer, but a throat infection blasted this ambition. f M J tiSiif . 5c s'Sncc n tne movies, as given better and better parts. Today she's famous. mJ? &- t mm publicized story, Stone was signed by Hollywood W Mkiffilf Pon his recovery and began a film career at f,m - kZlArrJfn the age of 62. A GARDEN rake, a monocle, a chance re mark Little things, but if it hadn't been for them, W. C. Fields might today be a desk-bound lexi- cogruphcr, Mnrlenc Dietrich a violinist and Clau dctte Colbert a concert singer. Such "tremendous trifles' started some of Hol lywood's foremost screen celebrities toward their careers, or lifted thorn from obscurity to star dom. . When Fields was a small boy in Philadelphia interested oven then in the word-lore that was to become part of his stock-in-trade his falhcr stepped on a rake in the back yard of their home. H flew up and struck him In tho face, and to escape a licking for leaving tho implement lying around, the boy lan away from home Living from hand to mouth, without opportunity for schooling, Fields learned juggling and started his career as an entertainer. His ambition to Iks a lexicographer went by tbo boards, but not his intore.-t in words. Ho garnered one of the widest vocabulnies among picture people, and today three dictionaries arc kept at hand on Paramount'? lot to check his jaw-breakers. Hut for a broken finger, Dietrich might today bo a violinist playing in enfes. Hut the accident destroyed her finger nimblencss and regretfully she entered the extrn ranks at a Berlin studio. Ono liay she had to wear a monocle for a cafe scene; it immediately attracted the director's at tention to her; she wns given an Important role and a year later was a star. SUCH stories of people who throve on disaster are among the oddest bits of Hollywood curiosa. And the stories of Warner ltuxlcr, Carole Lombard, Harold Lloyd, Fred Stone, W. C. Fields, Gary Cooper, Herbert Marshall and Wil liam Wellnian. All attained their present posi tions through their own or somebody else's bad luck. Claudctte Colbert wanted to be a concert sing er, but a throat infection blasted this ambition and she became a voice teacher. One day, at a New York tea, she met Ann Morrison, play wright, and remarked that the theater "must be an interesting career," "Would you like to try it?" "Why ye-es, 1 think I would." So Miss Morrison got her a three line bit in "The Wild Westcotts." Better parts followed. It wasn't long until she was doing leads, then was signed by the movies. Paradoxically, it was a "flubbed" note that started Gladys Swarthout toward her operatic career. Giving a private recital a a child, she fell flat on a high note of "My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice." She stopped singing, turned to her accompan ist, said: "We'll start all over again." They did and this time the note rang clear u crystal. Two wealthy women in the audience PAGE FOUm Spin Stars Toward ve St a r ted Sc ree n 's War wounds kept Herbert Marshall from following business. He became an actor and you know the rest. were so impressed by her pluck they underwrote her enrocr. A pair of glasses changed Harold Lloyd from a second rate comedian into one of the coun try's foremost comedy stars. Lloyd was doing Chaplin imitations when caught in a studio ex plosion. Physicians feared he'd lose his sifiht. Hut Lloyd hoping defective eyesight would be the worst result, began laying plans for the "glasses' character he afterwards made famous. Recovering his eye sight completely, he had be come so enthusiastic over the idea that he has used it ever since. HKHHKKT MARSHALL became an actor be cause he thought wounds received during the war too severe to permit him an active bus iness career. And William Wellman, now a di rector, entered the movies only when physicians assured him hat injuries suffered in an air crash at the front would render him unfit for life as a commercial pilot. Ironically or not depending on how you look at it he recovered to such an extent that doctors tell him he may fly whenever he wants to. He's one of Holly wood's mot avid aviation enthusiasts, too. U took an air crash and Will Rogers to draw Hollywood's attention to Fred Stone in 1128. Injured while playing In Broadway's "Jay hawker," Stone was in the hospital for a year but Rogers flew back to Manhattan to take his place in 'he show. As a result of the nationally W pMBElQPlg A "flubbed" note started Gladys r , ? i ' J, if ' y " W PuPiV Swarthout on her operatic career. ? f I lwss. ) "t""Miy J Carole Lombard was a bathing beauty when so severely lacerated in an automobile acci dent that it was feared she'd be disfigured for life. She recovered, however, decided to try dra matic roles, and achieved acting fame. Gary Cooper turned to the movies as an extra because he couldn't get a job as a newspaper cartoonist, couldn't pay his rent, and hadn't enough for his next meal. When Raoul Walsh was a little known actor, his brother, George, was a star. Today George is a bit player and trainer of his brother's race horses, and Raoul is directing Paramount-Walter Wnnger's "Big Brown Eyes," starring Joan Bennett and Gary Grant. AFTKR struggling for years as an actor, Raoul one day saw his chance when cast for a leading role in a major picture. At the same time, his friend, Warner Baxter, unable to get good parts any more, was all packed and ready to quit Hollywood in disgust. Then a traf fic accident cost Walsh his right eye. Casting frantically about for someone to fill the role originally set for Walsh, the studio drafted Baxter. The picture was "In Old Ari zona," and started the substitute to stardom. Meanwhile, the missing eye caused Walsh to turn to directing. There is the story of young Jimmie Hogan, who a few years ago slid into second base in the Yankee Stadium, broke a leg, and hobbled out of baseball into movie directorship. Latest to join the film colony's "trifles club" is Irene Bennett, whose talisman was a maga zine subscription. She "crashed" Paramount Studio to sell subscriptions, sold one to Jack Votion, head of t!.e talent department. He was so struck by her manner and appearance he signed her at once. "Ramona" Will WITH the completion of highly satisfac tory color tests, 20th Century-Fox pro duction f "Ramona" looms as one of the pic torial milestones of moving pictures, and is cer tain to be one of the pictures worth watching for. Tho new color camera's sensitive reproduction will bring to all corners of the world one of the beauty spots of Western America the mountain meadows of the historic Warner ranch. Nearly 4.000 feet above the sea level, the 44,000 acre ranch is an almost endless succes sion of green expanses rolling toward the dusty purple of the far mountains, every shade cleanly defined in the clear, dry air. In these surroundings, where soft greens and purples lie in drowsy beauty under the bright blue mountain sky, has been reared an exact copy of the historic Moreno hacienda, spreading spacious and graceful in the shade of a group of giant cottonwoods. Two of the largest trees rise out of the patio, throwing into mottled nun and shade the stone-flagged walks and the verandahs bright with peppers and great red earthen jars filled with poppies and musk. Red Kambler roses have been trained along the patio wall and upper balconies. A tiny fountain dances in the sunlight in the center of the patio. Fame Where a Mouth THE old adage that "my face is my fortune" is literally true for Martha Raye, Broadway comedienne and night club singer who has been signed by Paramount, because Miss Raye has two claims to fame the funniest face in Hollywood and the biggest mouth in Hollywood. "It's my stock in trade," she said. "One thing about having a face like mine, is this: If a man starts telling me how beautiful 1 am, I know he's no gentleman. He must have motives. "Now, in regard to my mouth, I have a mouth what ia a mouth. Joe Brown just has a slit in his face, but my mouth is a mouth. It starts in the middle of my face and darned if 1 have ever been able to figure out just where it does go to. Sometimes I think I have found its limit, and then the next time it wanders some place else. "But in regard to my face: I remember moth er telling that one time I had wandered away and she was looking for me. She walked up to a perfect stranger and asked: " 'Have you nearly died laughing within the last few minutes?' she asked anxiously. "The stranger looked at her as if he thought she were crazy and said, 'Why, no. Why V "My mother replied: "'My daughter is lost and I was trying to find out if you had seen her'." Miss Raye Is 10 years old and has been on the stage 19 years. She was born in a dressing room in Butte, Mont. Her father and mother were known as Reid and Hooper, vaudeville comedy and singing team. She toured with her parents until she was 14 years old and then left to work for Paul Ash, Chicago night club mas ter of ceremonies. LATER she joined anil toured with one oJ Benny Davis shows. In the show were Be Colored Film Twenty-five miles north ties the Mesa Grande Indian reservation, where will be taken the scenes of Alessandro's home village. So slow has been the march of time to climb these moun tains that few changes have been necessary to turn back a hundred years. One Indian's barn was moved, but left untouched. The adobe cabin of Ramona and Alessandro was reconstructed in the foreground. The powwow stockade of brush was already there, as were the adobe huts of several tribesmen. In fact, one of the few changes was unsolicited, and must be erased. In their great wish to cooperate, the Indians graded and modernized the trail leading to the village, thinking to facilitate movements of company and supplies, until it resembled a modern third class motor road. Technicians groaned when they saw it. It must be undone and the primi tive trail" restored. THE role of Ramona, one of the prizes of the year goes to Loretta Young. Don Ameche, recent discovery from radio drama, plays Ales sandro; Kent Taylor, Felipe, and Pauline Fred erick, world-known star of stage and screen, Senora Moreno. Not a casTanet will click in "Ramona!" Jose Fernandez, master of the 32 young Span ish dancers who are being trained for the film, disclosed today that "Spanish" dancing, as gen erally understood swift whirling and heel- Can Be a Fortune! Jackie Heller, Jal LeRoy, Vilma and Budd Eb sen, and Sunny O'lea, all of whom have now won fame. After that show closed, she went on the Loew's circuit over her own vaudeville act but returned to New York to play in "Calling AH Stars." " She was in the current edition of Earl Car roll's Sketchbook, but her agent asked her to leave the show and come to Hollywood with an eye on motion pictures. But she didn't get past the front gate, and started singing in a Hollywood night club. At that time Paramount was casting Bing Crosby's "Rhythm on the Range" and searching for a girl to nlay opposite Bob Burns, the Arkansas story-teller. Jack Votion, head of the talent de partment, happened to go to the club where she was singing one night, and before he left he had signed, her for the picture, and placed her under an optional contract. Martha Raye says, "Joe Brown just has a slit in his face, but my mouth is a mouth. It's my fortune!" stamping to the click of castanets will be lacking entirely in the picture. Instead, Fernandei said, he has revived two dances really belonging to the period, both In tricate patterns of grace, which millions will sef for the first time in the picture. '". .') dtp i Ml
