April 19, 1932

LINA BASQUETTE ESCAPES DEATH IN FILM SCENE

Hollywood, April 19 (UP)
Thrown from a horse during the filming of a western motion picture scene, Lina Basquette, noted film actress and dancer, was dragged 100 feet and injured badly late today.

She was riding fast down a steep incline in Hollywood hills when a sudden lurch of the horse threw her from the saddle. Her foot caught in a stirrup and she was dragged through bushes and over rocks before other members of the company could stop the horse.

Miss Basquette was playing opposite Buck Jones in a picture involving a wild chase. She was taken to her home. Physicians said she will be confined to her bed for a day or two.




CHANCELLOR, ACTRESS, NOT TO WED, CLAIM

Santa Barbara, Cal., April 18 (UP)
Rumors that Pola Negri, film star, is engaged to Phillip M. Chancellor, a young multi-millionaire, were definitely quashed today by the youth’s father, Dr. Phillip Chancellor.

“Phillip is over in Berlin at present,” the doctor said, “doing some archeological work. I doubt if he ever met Miss Negri. Besides, Phillip is only 24, and when he marries I am confident he will select somebody nearer his own age.




HELEN TWELVETREES IS EXPECTING STORK

Hollywood, April 19 (AP)

Helen Twelvetrees, motion picture actress, is expecting the birth of a baby in October, she has announced. She is the wife of Frank Woody, real estate man.




DENIES MISS GARBO LOST MUCH

Budapest, April 18
Rumors that Greta Garbo, motion picture actress, had lost heavily in the Kreuger collapse were disposed of by an interview with Hjalman Sodblud, general auditor of the Kreuger concern, published in the newspaper Magyarorszag today.

Mr. Sodblud asserted that as soon [illegible] …ferred to Miss Garbo as his one true friend in America. Kreuger was her business adviser, he said but despite this she only owned a small number of Kreuger shares.




DOROTHY LEE, FILM STAR, GOES TO N.Y.

Hollywood, April 19 (INS)
Dorothy Lee, screen star, was on the high seas today bound for New York and romance. Before she sailed Miss Lee did not deny she would marry Fred Waring, New York musical director.

Her friends said she would marry Waring as soon as her divorce from James Fidler, Hollywood publicist, becomes final in July.




WIFE WINS DIVORCE FROM POOR LOSER

Los Angeles, April 19 (AP)
A divorce from Gunther R. Lessing, who recently sued Dolores Del Rio, film actress, and won a judgment from her for salary due as her attorney, was granted today to Mrs. Lolla Lessing, who accused Lessing of being a poor loser at bridge.

She testified Lessing threw a glass of ice cold water in her face while they were entertaining some bridge guests and on another occasion seized her by the ear and led her through a room filled with guests playing cards.

“He was angry just because he was losing,” Mrs. Lessing testified. A property settlement was affected out of court.

Miss Del Rio has appealed the judgment granted Lessing.




THELMA TODD SIGNS WITH FOY STUDIO

Paramount Actress Will Be In “And God Smiled”

By Chester B. Bahn

Last minute Rialto news –

Thelma Todd, seen in “This Is the Night,” has been signed by Brian Foy productions for the femme lead in “And God Smiled.”




His contract renewed by Universal, Slim Summerville is expected to play his old “All Quiet” role of Tjaden in “The Road Back.”




Warners have a new addition to the legal cycle in “Lawyer Man,” which will serve either William Powell or Edward G. Robinson.




Hollywood gossips that a Jack Dempsey-Estelle Taylor reconciliation is possible.


Alexander Kirkland will be opposite Elissa Landi in “Burnt Offering.”

“After All” has been rechristened “New Morals for Old” and the Jackie Cooper-Chic Sale “Limpy,” is now “When a Feller Needs a Friend.”

I hear that –

Clara Bow is ready to return to the sound-screen, but insists upon a story that will not portray her as a bad girl.




Richard Barthelmess docked in New York from abroad yesterday. Anna Sten, Samuel Goldwyn’s newest “find” was also an arrival.


Jack Oakie, rather than Lee Tracy, replaces James Cagney in “Blessed Event.”




While retaining the title, “You Said a Mouthful,” Joe E. Brown’s next vehicle will undergo radical changes in plot; the six-day bicycle race background will go by the boards.




George Bancroft has started work on his new picture, “The Challenger,” in which Wynne Gibson and Randolph Scott will have supporting roles.




Leslie Howard is going to have another fling at the movies and then return to New York to appear in “Romeo and Juliet,” possibly with Celia Johnson opposite him. At the moment he is playing “The Animal Kingdom” in New York.




From Luella O. Parsons:

2 HEMINWAY NOVELS NOW FILMS

While Paramount executives have been making up their several minds all these weary days and months to produce “A Farewell to Arms,” Ernest Hemingway’s play and novel, Radio has been considering “The Sun Also Rises.” Unless the latter Hemingway novel can be put on the screen so that it is acceptable to the Hays office and at the same time without ruining the text of the story, “The Sun Also Rises” will not be purchased. If the writer, now at work on the treatment, turns out a satisfactory script, David Selznick will buy it for Constance Bennett. The character of the girl to be played by Connie is particularly colorful and interesting.




Clara Bow is returning to the screen. The girl of the flaming locks, who has refused to even make a test for “The Red-Headed Woman, and who has turned down offers by the dozen, will come back from Rex Bell’s ranch in Nevada to make a picture for the Fox company. Clara said she wouldn’t play in “The Red-Headed Woman” because she didn’t want to play the part of a girl who isn’t good. But she will make a picture for Fox if she can play a girl who is not the type that seeks the easiest way.

Sam Rork has made the arrangements. I wasn’t able to get anything more than an admission from the Fox company that Clara would make a picture there. No plans have yet been made for her first story, but I think it’s a great piece of news because only a week ago she told me that she was through with the movies and was going to write poetry.




The biggest sensation that has hit Hollywood in months is Colleen Moore. The little comedienne, with the long bangs and rather indifferent grooming, has come out of her cocoon and developed into a radiant butterfly. More than a mere physical change is Colleen’s breathtaking performance in “The Church Mouse.” She is so finished, so perfect in her annunciation, and she has such grace, that those in the film industry hastened to prophecy a new and brilliant screen career. Irving Thalberg was so delighted with Colleen that he made an engagement for her to come to the studio to talk pictures. The chances are she will do a picture for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, but she must go on with her stage work for she has a future that promises more than any other stage star.




Where they are playing and why:

Warner Oland, expert portrayer of orientals, is at Fox in “Burnt Offering,” emoting opposite Elissa Landi.

Don Alvarado, who can win a cup in a tango contest any day, will play a gigolo in “Fancy Free,” also on the Fox lot.

Reporting on the United Artists lot this week and last Lucy Beaumont, DeWitt Jennings, Harold Goodwin and Mary Doran. Mary will be seen as the vamp in Harold Lloyd’s picture “Movie Crazy,” and Miss Beaumont as his ma, with DeWitt Jennings playing the part of the father.

Maitland Rice, with much theatrical experience back of him, rates the job of music department boss at the Fox company. He has been with Fox for some years and his promotion is a deserved one. Ben Jackson, former head of the music department, has been made assistant general superintendent, and his promotion is also well deserved.




There is a red wig ready and waiting for Jean Harlow at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios. That means that in all probability the lady with the platinum locks will play the lead after all in “The Red-Headed Woman.” Jean and her mama return from the East Tuesday and whether there is an eleventh hour switch or not Miss Harlow will sign an M-G-M contract. I doubt if Irving Thalberg would put the platinum girl in this role if he had anyone with red hair available for the part. After searching for months there is still no red-head of the right type in the offing. I still hope something can be done to soothe the ruffled feelings of the dear public who want realism.




Snapshots of Hollywood:
Jack Dempsey, escorted by Ginger Rogers and Mervyn Le Roy, at the opening of the Colleen Moore play. A few seats back, Estelle Taylor with Ernst Lubitsch. Al Scott, Colleen’s new husband, sat in a front seat and was an interested onlooker at the royal reception given his bride. Everyone at the premier, Norma Shearer, Irving Thalberg, Bebe Daniels, Ben Lyon, William Haines with Alice Grazier. Mrs. B. P. Schulberg was hostess at a buffet supper for Colleen. The Harold Grieves (Jetta Goudal) also entertained for her. Colleen divided her time between both places. Zeppo Marx and his pretty wife, Marion, at the Grieve party. Raoul Walsh and the missus seated next to the guest of honor.