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