Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-26
Girl Who Came From Legiti.
mate to Films Is Most
Natural of Stars.
BY MOLLIE MERRICK.

BY MOLLIE MERRICK.
HOLLYWOOD, Calf, August rs
Leatrice Joy has gone back on the
stage to get her voice into shape for
'talkies."
She is playing part in a local
theater, and her camera work is ar
ranged TO enable her to do matinees
A stage appearance is one infallible
way of convincing producers that an
artist Is qualified for sound films.
II is nothing new for Leatrice JOY
who came from the legitimate into
movies.
Leatrice Joy is unusual in Hollywood,
in that she employs less artifice, per-
haps than any woman in films. In A
day when false eyelashes are a vogue
and when scarcely a. single movie
actress has the shade OF hair God gave
her. she has laid the foundations of a
stable career by close attention to work.
The bizarre life of the colony is closed
book to her. Outside of the studio her
little daughter occupies much of her
time Her interest in men has been
second TO her interest in career since
her divorce from John Gilbert some
years ago.
Hollywoods crook of the. moment Is
Robert Armstrong. He arrived in Celia
finland in an era when the criminal
was king so far as movie stories were
concerned The underworld film has
| occupied much of the time and most
Of the attention of movie makers dur
| ing the past six months.
Armstrong had played tough lead
| in the New York run OF rs Eat So?
| the story which started the studios of
on their campaign for cellar and back
| alley heroes. He has spent his time
| here as cop, a rum running roughneck
hard-boiled well-meaning guy.
| Local makeup have included more
| scars this season than ever before
And Bob Armstrong has had his share
| of them.
| Armstrong is a friend of Alfred
| Lunt, and when in New York the two
occasionally conferred on the side PLAY
| which Lunt used for his characterize
| ton of Babe Callaghan. The cycle was
| complete when l walked onto a Holly
wood set the other day and found Arm
strong playing this very role.
It was far different Interpretation
| And I asked How Gomez" Only to be
| told that movie audiences are different
And more interesting still that style:
! In bootleggers change radically in {
| couple of years.
Now that 1 stop to think Of 1t, {
certain laughing collegiate creature
who carries four quarts strapped around
| his waist line under his loosely-cut
double breasted coat, is vastly differen
from the furtive gentlemen with thu
black satchel who made deliveries II
the early days of law-breaking.
Fifty seagulls have caused more
| trouble in one Hollywood studio thar
any five hundred players they have hac
! in the year past.
dock picture which was beins
filmed on the lot called for the gulls
The director thought nothing would b.
easier than TO give out an order foI
| them The props" man set forth anc
encountered unusual difficulties.
| Seagulls. classed as migratory scav
engers, are protected by Federal ant
State laws. So the props" man and hi
| assistants found out when they hat
set their traps neatly at a nearb,
beach It took nearly a weeks tall
TO convince the FISH and game com
missioners and the Department of Ag
riculture that the so gulls would b.
given de luxe quarters during thei
period of tenure.
Every one drew a sigh Of relief wher
| the so birds were safely trapped anc
/ brought onto the set In order 10 keeI
| them there, Shelled shrimps. bits O
| crabmeat and like delicacies we're scat.
| tered about enticingly. No Hollywood
gull had ever encountered such largeSs
| When the scenes were all shot the as
| sorted sea foods were distributed NJ
| longer.
But the gulls hang on. They pick u,
a bit now and then in the neighbor
hood, and they are not missing an,
bets. And the same law that protected
them In the first place keeps studio
officials from going out after the raucou
menace with shotgun.
/ Lillian way, side street in Holly
wood is full of ghosts. Specters OF ok
movie names. wrecks Of studios aban,
| doned now but once the locale of IA
| nous stories
| There stand the crumbling ruins q
| studio architecture-the Queen Ann.
| fronts and Mary Ann backs which
studio carpenters and artists arrange 81
cleverly.
| Along here Rudolph Valentino ones
made the pictures which set an entire
world OF women to wondering-won,
dering why their own George or Henry
didn't say II with breath-taking passion
instead Of five-pound box Of choco.
| lates.
| On the outskirts of this city oi
glamour and glitter are squads ot
khaki-colored tentS~-an eyangelistic en-
campment. Nightly the leader preache,
a fiery sermon. And scarcely hal
mile from his voice the gelatin towr
iaz2es, and dimes. and sips. and signs
and leans back In contentment at tht
close OF strenuous days work
Aimee Semple Mcpherson exhorts via
the radio. Her strident tones carry into
the homes OF many cinema people. Sh,
has something that interests the folk.
OF Movielsnd.
| Everywhere may be seen the people
who come tO scott and remain &
prey "-writerS and artists. who see be-
meath the shallow surface of the movies
| financial depths worth plumbing.
| Milt Gross and his characteristic
haircomb may be found In the boule-
ward cafes at luncheon time. Marion
Splitter Is loyal to her New York. but
Attend