Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-26

%HERE are disturbing, rumors
from Hollywood 10 the effect
that John Gilbert's fan mail has
L been falling OF frightfully Of
late. 1t seems that his former
worshipers went cold on him, when they
Night" and that they have flckly trans
ferred their directions to that, other
handsome fellow, George Bancroft. : i
Not Wishing. to see Mr.. Gilbert,
neglected, hasten to inscribe the fol-
lowing sympathetic epistle:
Dear Jack: You don't know me and
If you were to read this letter you'd
probably object to my addressing you In
such an intimate fashion, But YOU
won't read this letter, 80 everything, y
NY object in writing to you Is not to
indulge in q few hippant Witticisnns at
your expense, nor even to ask you for
an autographed photograph. On the
contrary, ana inspired solely by q SIM
cere interest in your welfare. -
You have always impressed me Is q
curiously interesting character, full Of
talent and an odd form Of artistic IN
tegfity, but banned and thwarted by In
hibitions that you seI1sed but could not
hindrances drove you from the, heights
Of enthusiastic vanity. to the depths of
tortured establishment.
. You couldn't keep these Internal
writings to- yourself. They were bound
to show through, even on, the screen,
which accounts for some measure of
the tremendous popularity you have
early Fox pictures as Cameo Kirby
and Monte Christie" before your real
rise to fame, I knew that you were pos
sessed Of the qualities that make for
spectacular success. When you were
given good parts in. ''The, Wife OF the
Centaur," 1.-THE Merry Widow" and
THE Big Parade" you. fulfilled your
early promises. You assumed . pgomi-
nent position at the zenith of the
In Collaboration with Miss oreta
Carlo, whose charms you were among
the first to appreciate, you made your
position infinitely more secure.
Now, they tell me, things aren't going
50 happily with you. -, Your. domestic
troubles are being given, far more pub
lictty than they deserve, and so Is your
apparent failure to, click in talking pics
lures. The stock market was none too
kind to you, and neither were the critics
who saw and heard you In His Won
You are suffering from that strange
and ravaging disease, ''microphobia, .
which has done so much damage In
Southern, California in recent years,
Michrophobia is induced by the sight OF
sound. apparatus on q movie set. Is
paralyzes the vocal chords, and most
laxative women to q state Of utter
speechlessness. 1t compels the most
vigorously bass-v0iced men to converse
in squeaky, falSetto tones e.@
This microphobIa bug has bitten
many stars, but. It. has ai1iicted, you,
Jack Gilbert, worse than any one else.
It has destroyed the one rock to which
you have always desperately chung
your Self-confldence. You, who have
calmly faced q thousand batteries of
cameras, are terrified and disrupted by
the sight Of one insignificant micro
phone. Consequently, you feel that
your glorious career IS at an end, You
are haunted by the somber specter of
failure.
OF course, there are those who may
about, even II you do mop in. talking pic-
lures. After all, they will point out,
you have a contract that forces your
employers to pay you SIC, 900 every week
for the next 100 weeks; so that no mat
ter how bad you may be in your next
four pictures, you will come out Of them
in possession Of one million legal
SmackerS.
However, people who say, this sort of
thing don't really know you, Jack. If
they did, they would realize that ST.
100000. Is just so much dross as conf
pared with your honest desire to main
All the, money in the world. wouldn't
be enough to heal the Smarting wounds
that you received from the criticisms of
His Wonderful Nighn" tsi