Man Who Keeps America Happy Sheds Tears As He Recalls Bouncing Kidnapped Child On His Knee Recently
Santa Monica, Cal. Mar. 3 (Universal Service)
There were tears to-day in the eyes of the man who keeps America happy.
Just two weeks ago Sunday, Will Rogers bounced Colonel Lindbergh’s baby boy on his knee.
With Mrs. Rogers, the cowboy philosopher had passed the day with the Lindberghs in their Hopewell, N. J. home. “He is the cutest little feller you ever saw. His hair is just like Lindy’s except more so because he’s got hundreds of golden ringlets all over his little head.”
Rogers walked back and forth on the lawn in front of his white ranch house perched high into the Santa Monica hills. His eyes were on the ground, his arms behind him.
“His face is just like his mother’s and he’s got her real blue eyes too. He was talking away all the time and saying the usual things that a baby that age does, “Mamma” and “Daddy” and that that sort of thing.”
“We were all down in a kind of big sunroom and Mrs. Morrow was there and the nurse brought the baby in all dressed up with blue knee pants and a blue blouse with a white tie. A kind of blue serge suit that sorta matched his eyes.”
BLOCK BUILDING
“Mrs. Lindbergh sat on the floor and built blocks for him for a long time, and he would knock them down and laugh and she would build them up again just like any other happy mother and her baby.
Lindy would toss a sofa pillow at the little feller and it was a game the child seemed to like a whole lot.“
Rogers removed his horn-rimmed glasses and nervously bumped them against the palm of his hand.
“I watched the baby trying to get up and down the steps that led into the sunroom and I looked at Mrs. Rogers and she was looking at me and we were both thinking away back when our big youngsters were toddling up and down steps and it made us both happy to be watching that baby because we’re so crazy about the little fellers.
I asked Lindy if he had taken the baby airplane riding and he said he hadn’t. You know Lindy don’t say a whole lot but he sure is wrapped up in that real boy of his.”
WIPES AWAY MIST
Rogers wiped from his glasses a mist – a mist that had not been caused by an atmospheric condition – and put them on again. A moment later he removed them again and nervously beat them against the palm of his hand.
“Generally speaking, I’m not in favor of lynchings and mob law and that sort of thing, but I’d gladly be a one-man lynching party in this case.
When Mrs. Rogers and me got ready to leave after one of the most pleasant days we ever had we went out to the car and there was little Lindy, Jr. climbing all over the back seat. We told him goodbye and started away and as we were driving along Mrs. Rogers and I both spoke what was on our minds and that was we need a little feller around the house with our two boys so grown now. “
With a gesture Rogers seemed to encircle his big ranch.
WANTS LITTLE COMPANION
“We got all this space and a lotta gentle ponies for little ones to ride and all we need are some little ones up here to make us mighty happy. Mrs. Rogers called me up from Claremore, Oklahoma early this morning about the Lindbergh baby and she was so choked up she couldn’t talk. It was like it was happening to our own.”
Rogers paused in his walking back and forth and there was a big gulp in his throat.
“Looking back on it all with little Lindy right in our car, God, why didn’t we drive away with him?”
The man who has made millions laugh turned his eyes to the sun to dry away the tears.
HOLDEN, STAGE AND SCREEN ACTOR, DIES
Hollywood, Cal. Mar. 3 (UP)
A long stage and screen career came to an end to-day when William Holden, 59, died at his home here after a year’s illness.
The immediate cause of his death was a paralytic stroke, the indirect result of an automobile accident a year ago.
Holden, after thirty years on the stage in New York and “the East,” came to Hollywood in 1928, appearing in such pictures as Three Week Ends, The First Kiss, Weary River, Holiday, The Trespasser, What a Widow, and The Man Who Came Back. His last film appearance was in Six Cylinder Love.
FILM ACTRESS SEEKS DIVORCE
Hollywood, Cal. Mar. 3 (AP)
If Aileen Pringle, former motion picture actress, has her way, she soon will have a Mexican “mail order” divorce from Charles Pringle, husband she has not seen since 1924.
Pringle, son of Sir John Pringle, chief privy counselor of Jamaica, is now on his plantation in Jamaica. The former actress said she would write him immediately to obtain his permission to the Mexican divorce.
The couple was married shortly before the start of the World war. Pringle entered military service and she began a career in motion pictures. His dislike for her profession resulted in the separation, the former actress said.
From Luella O. Parsons:
Los Angeles, Mar. 3
Only a few months ago Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. was classified as a chip off the old block. To-day he is not shining in the reflected glory of anyone. He has his own following and he is building up a clientele that any trouper would be proud to claim.
Union Depot did it by breaking box office records all over the country. The public, it seems, likes young Doug.
Yesterday Darryl Zanuck told me he has bought Revolt, a story by Mary McCall, as the next Fairbanks vehicle. Miss McCall also authored It’s Tough To Be Famous, Doug’s very latest picture. “And,” says Zanuck, “wait until you see the boy in that one.”
All of which means that Warner Brothers are going to do a little concentrating on Doug, Jr. He has proved to be worthy of their interest. William Dieterle, German director, will do the directional honors on Revolt.
The teacher, Laura Hope Crewes, is again becoming the actress. She has signed for one of the most important roles in John Van Druten’s play, After All. Miss Crewes, one of our most distinguished stage actresses, has devoted her entire time to voice culture since she came to Hollywood. To her has been given much credit for Gloria Swanson’s success in the talkies. She trained Gloria for The Trespesser, the first Swanson talkie. Charles Brabin will direct the Van Druten play, which has had such a run in New York. This, as we announced a week or so ago, will feature Margaret Perry in the same role she played on stage.
Constance Bennett is planning to do over her drawing room in white, rose, brown and green.
Bessie Love Hawks and Patricia are moving home either to-morrow or Friday from the hospital.
Greta Garbo, in white dress, white shoes, and white hat gave even the gateman at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer a surprise.
Vivienne Osborne lost ten pounds in a week.
Helen Twelvetrees, in another fetching spring outfit, was lunching with her husband at the Brown Derby.
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