SIRENS OF SCREEN ARE NOT LURING BACHELORS IN LEAP YEAR

SIRENS OF SCREEN ARE NOT LURING BACHELORS IN LEAP YEAR

By Dan Thomas
Hollywood, May 7

And how about these very eligible screen bachelors?

With leap year already swiftly passing into history – one-third has already gone by the boards – quite a number of Hollywood’s bachelors are holding fort against the onslaughts of Dan Cupid in a manner that is a little short of amazing.

Then there are others, once conquered by this same “General” Cupid, who appear to have launched very successful counter-attacks.

All in all, it begins to look as though 1932 is one leap year which will pass down into history without having accomplished a great deal at least insofar as Hollywood is concerned.

Yet, strangely enough, these hard-to-get bachelors are constantly seen in the company of charming girls.

They do, however, go in for a variety – which perhaps is the secret of their singleness.

Take Ramon Novarro for instance. Considering the number of wives some men have been able to acquire, one might reasonably suppose that Ramon has had a few opportunities to place a wedding ring upon a girl’s finger.

Just what Novarro’s defense is – and such a highly eligible young man must have a defense because few men are a match for any woman when it comes to this business of romancing – remains somewhat of a mystery.

Perhaps it is the announcement he made a couple of years ago about wanting to go into a monastery. No matter how romantically a girl may want to feel, it must be difficult when she considers that her man’s chief ambition is to be a monk.



William Haines gets his protection from two sides – his mother and his artistic sense. Bill’s “best pal is his mother.” She is by his side at a good many of the social events he attends. Oh, of course, he goes out with other girls too. But “mom” comes first. The girls know this.

Then there is that artistic sense. In addition to owning an antique shop, Bill goes in for interior decorating in a big way. And how can a girl be expected to excite a gentleman, no matter how eligible, with talk about boudoirs and kitchen decorations when he already knows more about them than she does?



As far as George O’Brien is concerned, there isn’t any way of explaining just how he has managed to live a life of ease as a bachelor. And George himself declines to explain it.

He has been high on the list ever since his arrival in Hollywood too. The son of Dan O’Brien, for years San Francisco’s chief of police. That sounded pretty good to Hollywood’s fair young creatures. One could pick a much worse father-in-law than a chief of police.

That wasn't all that was in George’s favor though. He just naturally is the kind of a man girls rave about. And if you don’t believe that, listen in on a Hollywood “hen” party sometime. In fact, I have spent entirely too much time hearing of George’s virtues when the girls shouldn’t have been thinking of him at all.

He goes out quite a lot, too. And, to be quite frank, he seems the most apt to make me out a dishonest writer. He has been seeing entirely too much of a certain young lady lately.



Joel McCrea also is on the list of “immune” eligibles. But then Joel has been running loose around Hollywood for only three or four years now. Perhaps given time, he may pass out of circulation.

There’s no doubt about Joel’s popularity. Even wives rave about him. And several single girls have baited their hooks for him. But so far he has continued to roam around perfectly contented with his present status.



Edward Everett Horton is another. He has adopted an uncle complex. Brother Wyn has children who are exceptionally fond of Uncle Eddie. And Eddie reciprocates that feeling.

Also, he finds that being an uncle is quite a safe pastime. Then, too, Eddie owns a very comfortable home which seems to function very smoothly without the assistance of a wife.

There are a number of others too – equally single. And all have had one or more chances to tie that matrimonial knot. But each, through his own peculiar method, has steered clear of such entangling alliances.

Walter Byron, Charles Butterworth, Chic Sale and George Brent all have done well in resisting those feminine charmers.

Quite a number of the younger boys have done pretty well, too. But they haven’t been in the racket long enough to deserve much credit. Besides, most of them are simply waiting for certain girls to murmur “yes.”




INTIMATE GLIMPSES TAKEN OF MOVIE FOLK AS THEY ARE SEEN IN HOLLYWOOD’S HALLS

By Dan Thomas
Hollywood, May 7

Strolling around: Gary Cooper, Sally Eilers, Mary Brian and Ken Murray all returning home on the same train.

Parties and still more parties for Lilyan Tashman.

Chico Marx home from the hospital, but still unable to walk.

And Mrs. Adolphe Menjou confined to her bed as a result of two cracked ribs sustained when she slipped on the bathroom floor.

Howard Hughes and a pretty unknown dining but not dancing at the Cotton Club.



In court to get her divorce, ZaSu Pitts stated that her husband left her five years ago. And here everyone thought all was quiet and peaceful until a few months ago. Guess one can keep a secret in Hollywood after all.



Claudette Colbert looking at new cars and trying to decide which one to buy.

Jack Dempsey and Estelle Taylor at the Frolics together, and enjoying themselves immensely. Maybe you think that won’t start rumors of a reconciliation. But don’t get excited. Reiterating our statement, there will be no remarriage.

Tallulah Bankhead dancing with an unknown at the same place.

Mr. Marlene Dietrich in town to visit his famous wife.



While playing a “truth game” at a party, Sylvia Sidney was asked if she really loves B. P. Schulberg, and she declined to answer.

Kay Francis leaving for Yosemite for a short rest before starting her next picture. Then she and Kenneth McKenna will be off to Europe for a real vacation.



Al Jolson trying to get hopped up over his forthcoming picture, his first in two years. He claims that he has to train just like a fighter before that necessary enthusiasm finally bursts into flame, then nothing else matters.

Richard Wallace and Tallulah Bankhead replacing the Von Sternberg-Dietrich combine in “The Blonde Venus,” the story which has caused such an uproar on the Paramount lot. When it’s finished somebody is going to have a big laugh. Will it be the executives or the two who refused to do it in the present shape?

Now somebody must be found to replace Bankhead in Gary Cooper’s next, “The Devil and the Deep.”

Ralph Graves feeling quite enthused over his new writing-directing-acting contract. Well, why not?

At last the movies have decided it might be a good plan to show the world they can poke a little fun at themselves… witness the current crop of pictures… there’s “Merton of the Talkies,” and “The Truth About Hollywood”… not to mention “Movie Crazy,” which is to be Harold Lloyd’s next release.




REIGN OF SERIAL QUEEN AT END

By Robert Grandon

Chatting with Junior Laemmle the other day, the question of old serial queens came up.

Grace Cunard, Helen Holmes, Ruth Roland, Pearl White, Kathlyn Williams, Marguerite Snow… where, oh where are they now?

“Serials are coming back, Bob.” Junior reassured me. “Universal makes them, and not for neighborhood audience and kid patronage alone, although, of course, youngsters revel in them. When you go to New York again, visit Roxy’s. You’ll find our serials on tap there.”

Which led me to make some queries regarding the modern serials.

I’m not talking now of those which run week after week in neighborhood houses, most of which are quickies produced by independents along Poverty Row. But of the serials which have succeeded, the leading ones of yesterday do I sing.



Grace Cunard is around Hollywood now attempting a comeback.



You catch an occasional glimpse of Kathlyn Williams in the films.



Marguerite Snow, she was Mrs. Jimmy Cruze in the Thanhouser days, is in private life.



Ruth Roland left for real estate and Pearl White is in Egypt.



Their successor today is Lucile Brown, a wisp of a 23-year-old girl, who is Universal’s serial star. Daughter of a minster, beauty prize winner, artist’s model, actress, musician, she became a serial heroine with “Battling with Buffalo Bill,” “Danger Island” and “The Great Air Mail Robbery.”

But serial stories have changed.



Helen Holmes made railroad serials and did her own stunts, leaping from trains, being tied to tracks, running engines, and all that.



Pearl White took her own chances too.

But the modern serial queen is saved by doubles when real danger hovers over, and the worst she need expect is a ducking in a cold lake or a fall from a galloping horse.

Indians have gone out of style… automobiles have replaced many a galloping horse… and airplanes bring modern serials right up-to-the-minute.