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.
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