Evening Star Newspaper, September 24, 1935, Page 9

[Editor’s note: This is the seventh of a series of articles by E. de S. Melcher, dramatic critic of The Star, who is in Hollywood to tell you how the .fim folk work and ploy, | and to write of the production activities in the big studios. Another article will be published tomorrow and each day thereafter as long as Mr. Melcher remains in the moving picture capital. BY E. de S. MELCHER. OLLYWOOD, Calif., September 24—When you get into a studio limousine out here don’t dismiss the driver with | & couple of commonplaces. Don't sink | back into the plush seats and dream | of Mae West or Garbo. There are| things to be learned. The man is probably 10 times what you are. Prod him in the ribs—get him to talk— better still, don't climb into the back seat and try to look important—take a front seat—then begin by asking him the price of Hollywood beans. Headed for the 20th Century-Fox Studios yesterday we came upon the peer of Hollywood drivers. He wasn't only a driver, he was a miracle man. He began something like this: “Yeah, there’s no place like Holly-| wood. Got ‘em all lashed to the mast | ~—London, Paris, Constantinople. Hot weather? Sure—but that's unusual—" | (it isn't unusual, but they stick to| their guns out here)—“and if you| don't like it, Christmas, you can gn) up into the High Sierras in a jify, get cooled off there. Your first trip out? No? You'll find things changed out at the studio. We miss Will Rogers. We miss him | like the devil. He was as much a part | of the -company as the ‘Whole works | put together. We've left his bungalow exactly as he left it. His daughter’s a | good kid, too—yeah, I know her very | well. Whole family’'s a knockout. | They've got a guy over at M-G-M| who they say looks and acts just like | Will used to. They're going to put| him in a picture. That’s crazy. No-| body could look and act just like Will. | I know—I'm telling you. | “Yeah—the houses out here are, swell. I just plunked $52,000 in a shack up on Rossmore drive. I look all over Burbank and the valley. Got my own water—and orange trees, not bad. I won't get much good out of | this month "cause I'm going to London. ! No, I don't like the idea much. Lon- don’s O. K. in September, but the fog begins in October. | “Guess I'll go over to Paris for a coupla days. I'd rather go fishing. ‘Was up fishing with Director Blystone | not so long ago—had four Indians and | three 24-foot birch-bark canoces. We were meant to stay two weeks. We [ NG STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1935, Melcher in Filmland Among the Stars Beinig One of a Series of Hollywood Chronicles by The Star’s Dramatic Critic. stayed two months. The mounted po- lice finally got us to go home 'cause the studio was after us. No fishing in England. I've just come back from the tailor. Why didn't I wait until I got to London? Christmas, I can get all the tweeds I want over here for half what it costc there—and shoes? They only cost $16 where I go—where you'd have to pay $26 over there. When I traveled around with Mr. Kent— (one-time head of Fox)—he taught me that. “Who's the best little girl what was ever in pictures? Clara Bow.” This didn't take him a second. “Yes, sir, there was never any trouble about that kid. On the set every morning | at 8—and like Will Rogers, at § she'd say, ‘That's all today, folks,’ and walk off. But she worked. She worked like blazes. No—she's not coming | back. She's too well set with her family. “Got the cutest baby you ever seen. ! She knows, too, that taking off those | 24 extra pounds would be a strain on her heart. No—she’s not too fat. Looks | swell. What does she do? Her hus- band, Rex Lease, owns 450,000 acres | | down near that Boulder Dam country— | | half an hour from Victortown—at one place he has a 52-mile stretch all of his own. Sheep, cattle, everything. And Clara loves it. Yeah—she's not coming back into any old studio— she's got that baby and she's nuts about her husband.” On he went, from Clara Bow to ‘Valentino, to Winnie Sheehan and back again, He knows them all—visits Clara now and then when he has a couple of days off. When we got to the studio we asked about him, found he was a good pilot, too—found that he knows more than he says—that pe packs a mean gun. The secret of his success is no secret— & guy that packs a mean gun out here is worth what is known in polite circles as “plenty o’ dough.” * ok ok % TH! police, too, have their innings. Washington may have its singing cop, but Hollywood has its acting cops. We found a whole nest of them over on the “Thanks a Million” set—strong, bronzed sons of motor cycles, lolling around in grease paint and a tired look. When the studios want their cops for a film—they get them—and the cop gets $15 or $20 or $25 a day— depending on what he does. It's a nice arrangement all around. The cops earn a little extra on their days off—the moguls spend a little less when they get pinched. Not bad! “Thanks a Million” is the 20th Century-Fox production which Wash- ington should see in another month or so. Ann Dvorak, Dick Powell (loaned from Warner Bros. in ex- change for Frederic March's “Anthony Adverse”) and Patsy Kelly are the principals. It is a great big musical film which may turn out to be a competitor for M-G-M’s “Broadway Melody of 1936"—a picture which they are shouting about already in the streets—due mostly to Eleanor Powell. Patsy Kelly, funny woman extraor- dinary, is the chief attraction. She sits in the back of a car, says noth- ing, does nothing and is still the chief attraction, People out here seem to think she's top comedienne in pic- FREE LECTURE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE —BY— Bicknell Young, C. S. B, of Chicago, JIL Member of the Board of Lecture- ship of the Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Mass. In First Church of Christ, Scien- tist, Columbia Rd. and Euclid St. N.W., Tuesday, September 24, at 8 P.M. Under the Auspices of First Church of Christ, Scientist No Collection All Welcome “]e don’t know what MR. COCHRANE smokes and he is not endorsing our cigarette but he is an outstanding man in the baseball world and has won his place on merit In the cigarette world, Chesterfields are thought of as outstanding... — they have won their place strictly on merit .. for mildness ...for better taste tures. At least one person does in ‘Washington, too. Further on down the line we come upon Ronald Colman and Joan Ben- nett working their heads off in a film called “The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo.” Miss Bennett is singing a song straight at Mr. Colman —and seems rather upset about the whole thing. Later she says it isn't her fault that she’s upset—but the scripts—she thinks Colman is a grand person. So do all the ladies out here. Miss Bennett is no slouch herself—in fact, we should very much like to have you see her in make-up—she's almost as good-looking as Virginia Bruce. But more about this lady tomorrow. People from Fargo, prepare! . Isaac R. Pennypacker Dies. PHILADELPHIA, September 24 (®). —Isaac R. Pennypacker, 83, noted historian and brother cf the late Samuel W. Pennypacker, former Gov- ernor of Pennsylvania, died yesterday in Ardmore. He was a former news- paper man and director of several manufacturing companies. MEMO- Call DEcatur 1400 And Begin Thompson's Dairy Service At Once! S, REC. U. 8. PAT. OFF. 1932 Zopyc™® 12 FEARED DROWNED Boat Loaded With Picnickers Crashes in Latvia. RIGA, Latvia, September 24 (#).— Ten or 12 persons missing after a motorboat filled with 25 picknickers crashed into a pillar of a bridge, were feared drowned today. The accident occurred in a canal about seven miles from here, ke yor et 1,-,,,‘ Laste beller by 185! FREM (RANBE“E/ : ree recipe cards at gro- cery and fruit stores selling Eatmor Cranberries been on this _ assembly line for better than 12 years, and Im tipping youoff...... ON DISPLAY SATURDAY SEPT.28 ™ One of Buick’s veteran workmen, on the payrall im:e December, 1922 Experienced Advertisers Prefer The Sta MICKEY COCHRANE—of the Detroit Tigers, American League Champions; player-manager, one of baseball’s greatest catchers,