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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (July 26, 1959)
MOVIES How the stairs gett tbew Duamnies it'. Rock, Tab, Kirk, and Kim are products of high-level Hollywood thinking aimed at creating a marquee moniker the movie goer can't forget Shirley Schrift Shelley Winters Art Gelien Tab Hunter by Peer J. Oppenheimer ' ; "IN. 0 JR. VSi 4 . m V 'I- j L t 4 " f v ' '1 c rvEir heard of1 Norma Jean Baker? Bernard C Schwartz? Art Gelien? Frederick Bickel? Ella Geisman? Issur Danielovitch? Daniel Kaminsky? Probably not. But you'd have no trouble recog nizing them by their stage names Marilyn Mon roe, Tony Curtis, Tab Hunter, Fredric March, June Allyson, Kirk Douglas, and Danny Kaye. Notwithstanding bhakespeares Whats in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet," Hollywood producers, agents and publicists are convinced that it can spell the difference between success and oblivion. As a result, nearly 70 percent of today's stars don't use their own names professionally. This includes Hollywood's No. 1 box-office actor and actress cur rently co-starred in Universal-International's "Pil low Talk" Rock Hudson and Doris Day. Their real names are Roy Fitzgerald and Doris Kappel- hoff ! Rock also stars in his studio's most expensive production of the year. "This Earth Is Mine." Changing names is nothing new. Gladys Smith was one of the first to recognize marquee value when she adopted the name Mary Pickford. Lucille Le Sueur was renamed in a fan-magazine contest. As Joan Crawford, she has been one of Holly wood's most durable- stars. Even in Germany, a young woman named Maria Magdalene von Losch sensed the importance of a catchy name; she be came Marlene Dietrich. There is no sure-fire method for choosing a 1 name that will click; but a top expert on the sub ject, agent Henry Willson, who discovered and named Rock Hudson. Tab Hunter. Rory Calhoun, and Rhonda Fleming, insists certain basic premises must be kept in mind. "As with any commodity and a star is a com modity" says Mr. Willson, "the name must fit the - product. It must be exDressive. easv to remember, and, if possible, unusual. Particularly the first name. Mr. Wilson points at Rock as his prime ex ample. "When vou hear his name for the first time, you visualize someone tall and strong as the Rock of Gibraltar. It's easy to pronounce, easy to re member." Mr. Wilson is convinced many talented, good-looking actors hurt their careers because their names larkml Producer Jerry Wald agrees only in part with this reasoning "Whn urn..i.i kf. thniieht a guy -o "tlV w uii u v- " o k could overcome a name like Humphrey Bogart and a lisp to boot! If the talent and personality are strong enough, a person can overcome anytnmg. But there are few norfnrmoro in thp Rocart class. He stresses a name should be distinctive, melodi ous, short enough to fit on a marquee, and express a player's personality. "It was only a small change from Cecilia Parker to ouzy Farker, but the latter not only naa - Cecilia Parker Suzy Parfcer prettier sound, the V in Suzv made it more ais- (Continued) if. 4 Family Weekly, July M, list
