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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 8, 1936)
STl- IZ:'5- v' 4 I iy - Gossip L i i- i -rip i - fMM'jfmin From the Studios and Social Centers of Hollywood Looking 'em Over WITH GAIL GARDNER Five Star Motion Picture Editor Ethel Merman AFTER a long interval, Eddie Cantor is back again on the screen in "Strike Me Pink," the cinema adaptation of that laugh-provoking farce, "Dreamland," which ran serially last summer in a national magazine. Picture fans who chuckled as they read the original story with its sprightly dialogue and clever situations, will view the photoplay in be wilderment. For the story, every line tf which was written with the movie rights sold in advance, has been cut down to Cantor's proportions. It would certainly have been more logical to live up to the measure of the story. Samuel Goldwyn, the producer, and Mr. Cantor felt, however, that they could improve upon the vehicle. The finished product, therefore, contains a torch singer, Ethel Merman;. a chorus of Negro dancers, and a comedian by the name of Parkurkarkus. The re sult: "Dreamland" is out and Eddie Cantor is in. Cantor's career, by the way, is an unusual one. As a child he danced and sang on the streets for the dimes and nickles he could pick up. As a young man he worked in Coney Island beer gardens, singing while he waited on tables. Vaudeville next called him and he secured a job with an act billed as Bcdini and Arthur. His march upward through the years was slow. His biggest following is in the less sophisticated centers and those who laugh easily will undoubt edly enjoy him in "Strike Me Pink.". WATCHING Irvin S. Cobb at work before the camera is like taking a day off to play. There is about him a homely ease and humor that imme diately distinguish him. The tenseness that is customarily sensed on any motion-picture, set is completely absent from the stage of "Everybody's Old Man." Today, when we visit the Fox lot, Cobb is re hearsing a scene. Ho is slouched comfortably in a big leather chair, his feet on a desk, his head buried in a newspaper and the characteristic cigar between his teeth. On the other side of the desk are Rochelle Hud son, Norman f oster ana Jonnny AjjVTm Downs. The newspaper hides fs&" Cobb's face from thorn, and that I I . c i t i. : , ..f in tuuim; is nil; i iijuii i nil ill in the script. "All right, let's go through the lines once more," says Director James Flood, who works in his shirt sleeves. "Jim," says Cobb, "I can't act with this paper in my hiindA. It's oien to the stock page and I'll burst out cryin' for sure, because nwn nnme nf thn Mtnrka ImtoH ' here. Everyone laughs. Cobb says, "All right." and lets the paper slip out of his hands to the floor. ,"So you've had enough, oh?" he snys. Not until Norman Foster answers does it be come apparent that this is one of the linos of the play and not one of Cobb's own remarks. Cobb is letter-perfect in his lines and fleaks them so naturally they sound like his own thoughts. Rehearsal of the scene roaches the point that Rochelle and Foster embrace and Cobb gives Johnny Downs a cigar with a glance that Indicates his dismissal from the room. The script doesn't call for It, but Cobb says, as he hands the cigar to Downs: "Smoke it outside." "That's a good line; we'll keep it in," says Wood. I PAOI FOUR s The resumption of her movie career, Interrupted five yean ago, and the possibility of a successrul comeback, do not worry Dolores Costello Barrymore, now playing In " Little Lord Fauntleroy." Her separation from John Barry- more Is final and complete, she says, and her only thoughts now are for the future of their children. Miss Costello Is shown in an informal pose In the back yard of her Los Angeles home, left. The center panel is of the children, Dolores and John. Right, matinee idol John Barrymore. Dolores Costello More Concerned Over Children's Future Than Her "Comeback" She Plays in "Little Lord Fauntleroy" After Five Years' Absence From Screen, Ex-Husband John Barrymore Is Only Four Blocks Away and They Don't Even Telephone! By Donna Risher by Jane DOLORES COSTELLO BARRYMORE, blond Hollywood matron, stands under the glaring lights of the studio, doggedly repeating her lines while the camera turns, trying to achieve a come back after a retirement of five years. Down, Washington boulevard, four blocks away in another studio, her divorced husband, erstwhile "great lover" of the screen, John Barrymore, also is at work. His costume of satin and lace is that of Shakespeare's time and his courtly manners those of the gallant of an early era. And. while the stages resound with their voices, a silent gulf stretches between vtr... the two players. No telephones connect their dressing rooms as in the old days when they played together. No messages of any sort fly back and forth over the four boulevard blocks, which now form such a formidable barrier. ( sS Donna Risher THE former husband and wife I are doing their respective work, irrespective of each other. And, in so far as Dolores Costello is concerned, this is the way she wishes it. "My life from now on," she tells you as she takes time off on the "Little Lord Fauntleroy" set, "is to be lived with the thought of my children upper most in my mind. Although I am embarking upon a 'second' career, I am more concerned about my children's future than I am my own." Miss Costello spreads out her wide, flounced skirts which she wears as "Dearest," the mother of little Freddie Bartholomew in her picture, settles herself in the studio chair and looks at you out of level, serious eyes. She is supremely happy, she admits. Happier than she has been for years. "I don't know how many rooms we have," "she "The scene is fine. Let's shoot it now." ANOTHER new flicker and by the way one of the most hoary patterns stuffed away in the scenarist's desk is in the "Song and Dance Man." Claire Trevor is a partner in a vaudeville team with Paul Kelly. The latter is a drinking, gambling, happy-go-lucky song and dance man, who gambles the act's money. In fact, if it wasn't for good little Claire there wouldn't be any dnnce team at all. Things go from bad to worse, until Claire attempts to sell a gun belonging to Paul, in an effort to get money for bread. She is ar rested, only to meet a big-hearted theatrical producer Michael Whalen who immediately falls in love with her and makes plans for her career. Whalen wants to star Alice in a single act. but the loyal little pal will not throw Paul Kelly down hut, pardon me, where have you seen all this before? says, with a glint of humor in her eyes. "Perhaps I never shall know. Many more than we need or shall use. "But the place where we really live the children and myself is the third floor. It is bright and airy and spacious. Dolores Ethel she's six and John Blythe, who is three, can raise all the rough house, within limits, that they want "There is a huge playroom in the basement, but the children like the third floor better.. We have a tennis court on the grounds, too, but the young sters use its as an informal speedway for their toy automobiles." MISS COSTELLO paused. Vacantly, she watched a prop man adjust a light Then she con tinued. "When I 5ame to my decision to return to the screen, I calmly considered what I had lost and what I had gained in the years of my retirement. "I found the vanishing years had left their recompense a better understanding, a clearer grasp of life's fundamentals, an emotional maturity that makes me quite, quite sure of myself. Perhaps poise expresses what I mean. "I have learned top," she added, "that deepest contentment comes in our busiest moments, when we must submerge self. ."Bitterness?" She paused a moment, and then said gravely, "No, I have no bitterness in my heart. And I am glad." Paul Kslly Sylvia Sidney The sunshine of March has induced the Hollywood girls to leave their clothes behind them. Right Is newly-wed Claudette Colbert In the first tennis suit ef the seaion. Left, Ceeilla Parker dens a one piece bathing suiL WE HOPE it comes as no shock to you to learn that many of your film favorites have little personal idiosyncrasies all their own. Yes, indeed they have. Petite Sylvia Sidney can throw her right hip out of joint at will. She loves to astonish interviewers by suddenly dislocating her leg. Claudette Colbert won't wear shoes when her feet don't show in the picture. She wears mules. And she always insists upon leav ing a building the same way through which she entered. Fred MacMurray eats quanti ties of pie and doughnuts. He drives the property man crazy sending him to the studio com missary for snacks. George Burns and Gracie Allen never miss watching each other work . . , but George won't look at her when he's talking to Gracie in a scene. A BLESSED event occurred on the set of a Fox picture before dawn the other morning. Twins were born to a goat whose chief part in the picture was to stroll leisurely across the dusty "town" of Abeshe in the Sahara Desert. When the cast ar rived for work, there were the kids lined up for breakfast. They were friskily exploring the vicinity of their new home. ' A FTER three weeks' work in "Sutter's Gold," Edward Arnold has been in snow up to his knees, soaked in a rain storm, sweltered in the heat or a Hawaiian summer and tan- ned in the sun in the mud fiats of California. Also, to quote from the script girl's record: Mr. Arnold was put, to bed twice be cause of injuries. He fell and twisted his ankle and a horse kicked him. BINNIE BARNES never takes an important step without consulting the stars. Binnie be lieves the planets hold the secret of life, and she studies them dailv. She and Trpn Ti the film colony's strongest supporters of astrology. XAHEN you see an actor reading a newspaper y y in the movies with a big scare headline such as "Big Jewel Robbery," or "Husband Murdered in Love Nest," have you wondered how in the world the director happened to find a newspaper with exactly the headline he wanted? Here goes the cat out of the bag responsible for those newspapers- is a fellow by the name of Krantz on Sunset boule-" vard. Krantz can make up anv newspaper you want, if you give him 20 minutes to do it in. Dur ing the eleven years he has been in this peculiar business Krantz has printed newspaper headlines heralding every possible human violence. The lines ... nt un u: i i . . muni, uc uig miu me icuers Dlack, so they will photograph well. After the headlines, the first paragraph tells the "facts," which are followed by a jumble of type. Krantz knows he can throw all the letters of the alphabet in be cause the audience is given only enough time to read the first paragraph. IT pays to be the sweetheart of I "The Great Ziegfeld." for Jean Chatburn. a farm from Miohigan. who played the Jeln Chatburn , role opposite William Powell, has been rewardodi for her work by M-G-M with a kow contract. Blnnle Barnes
