January 29, 1932

From Luella O. Parsons:
GEORGE BRENT, WARNER HOPE, TO PLAY IN BLONDELL FILM
Los Angeles, Jan. 28
Some one at the Warner Brothers studios denies that George Brent looks like Clark Gable. There you have the story in a nutshell. George Brent, Warner Brothers’ hope, may be their Clark Gable for 1932. They are building the boy by giving him such parts as the lead opposite Ruth Chatterton in The Rich Are Always With Us, and opposite Barbara Stanwyck in So Big. Gable, remember, first played opposite all Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s favorite stars. George photographs like a million and he has a personality. If the women of the country fall for him as they have for Clark Gable, well, Jack Warner and his brothers will find he is valuable to the tune of a few millions per annum. The next Brent picture is Miss Pinkerton of Scotland Yard, starring Joan Blondell.




A variety of opinions have greeted Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express. Some of Miss Dietrich’s critics have suggested that she be permitted to be more spontaneous, but all of us reviewers agree she needs only the right pictures to keep her a popular headliner. East River, an original by John Colton and the very same story that Pola Negri set her heart on doing, has been purchased for Fraulein Dietrich. Tis the tale of a Harlem night club and the East River. Miss Dietrich will sing. That reminds me, one of Garbo’s acquaintances tells me that the mysterious Swede has a complete set of Dietrich’s records with all of the German actresss’ songs.

Greta Garbo, drawing down $7000 a week at M-G-M, is asking $10,000 now on her new contract. Her life is so cloistered she may not have heard about the big depression. The agreement expires in March.

Word comes from Hollywood that Paramount, in all likliehood, will resign Ernst Lubitsch; and there is a warm possibility of starring Maurice Chevalier and Marlene Dietrich.

LINDA WATKINS WEDS G.L. HESS IN CHICAGO
Chicago, Jan. 28
Miss Linda Watkins, film actress, and Gabriel L. Hess of New York were married at the Blackstone here today. The ceremony was performed by Superior Judge Denis Normoyle. The couple arrived from Hollywood this morning. Although she has recently appeared in pictures, Miss Watkins is best known for her activities on the legitimate stage. Mr. Hess has for years been attorney for Will Hays and the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. He was previously married to the former Miss Katherine Hawley of Seattle. She died last April when she was thrown from her horse while riding through the Felix Warburg estate at Hartsdale, N.Y.


FILM DIRECTOR LOSES JEWELS
Los Angeles, Jan. 29 (AP)
Two masked bandits escaped with money and jewels valued at $10,000 today in a daylight robbery of the Beverly Hills home of John Francis Dillon, motion picture director.
Herding together three servants, Mrs. Dillon and her daughter Pat, three years old, the two forced the directors wife to open the door when Mrs. William Bailey, a friend came to call, and then, with the visitor also covered, commanded Mrs. Dillon to open the safe containing the valuables.

MRS RUDY VALLEE IS HOME WITH MOTHER
Santa Monica, Jan 29 (AP)
Mrs. Fay Webb Vallee is “back home with Mom and Dad for the third time since I married Rudy” today.
She said frankly she doesn’t like New York, that she is a native daughter, and “all the glitter and glamor of the gay white way can’t keep me from being lonesome.”
No, she said, Rudy does not sing in the bathtub, or around the house at all.
She does not favor any particular ballad sung by Rudy but likes all of them. They still love each other.
“I stay in New York until I get too lonesome, then I come home until Rudy gets too lonesome. Then I go back. Life is just one railroad train after another.”




JOHN GILBERT STARS IN FILM AT GRAND
John Gilbert has been blocked again in his struggle to regain in the talkies the fame he enjoyed in the silent pictures. This time it is in “West of Broadway” which opened yesterday, and even with a vast improvement in voice and an unmistakable vigor in delivery, the star fails to triumph over his vehicle. In fairness to him, it is doubtful if any one else could have done much with the material at hand. Lois Moran is the girl and doesn’t seem quite able to determine whether she should be a good little bad girl, a little prairie flower growing wilder every hour, or someone whose mother was a lady. El Brendel is carted along through the picture for comedy effects, but even Brendel can’t create much hilarity out of such episodes as a stomach-rubbing contest with a Chinese cook or wearing misfit chaps and a derby hat.
The picture just seems to have been another case of giving Gilbert something to do and being indifferent as to whether he does anything with it. He works it for all it is worth, but that amounts to complete unimportance.


The Empire State building is to provide the dramatic setting for the opening sequence of “After Tomorrow” on the Fox lot. Cameramen have been scrambling all over the tower for a week getting scenic shots. Charles Farrell and Marian Nixon are to be featured.


THEATERS SEEK REMOVAL OF BAN AGAINST SMOKING

Managers Say Business Has Fallen Off Alarmingly Because of Rule
Modesto, Cal. – Jan. 29
A request made by managers of four theaters that smoking be permitted in balconies is under consideration to-day by the city council.
“Business has fallen off to an alarming degree” in the playhouses as a result of the smoking ban, said a letter addressed to the council and signed by theater managers.”
“Almost every first class theater and motion picture house in the United States now permits smoking,” according to the communication.
Robert C. Pearson, manager of the Strand, in a personal appearance before the council, urged the city to revoke its 1927 ordinance which prohibits balcony smoking. Business would be greatly stimulated by the change.