Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-24
oBERT MONTGOMERY isn't
at all the matinee idol Of our
grandmother's candy chewing
days. He isn't muscular, or


- at all the matinee idol of our
grandmother's candy chewing
y days. He isn't muscular, or
silent, or capable of exuding
the prlmeval herman quality Of the
forest. But, as Hollywood knows such
things, he's dynamite and distinctly q
new screen planet.
Fifteen months ago this slim young
man didn't mean a thing to the vast
army of movie worshipers. Today they
unload his mail at the studios by the
sack. So says one of those screen
writers, who also volunteers what fol-
lows here:
Sudden success of this variety is apt
to promote trouble. In Bob's case, it
seems only to have encouraged him to
work harder. He hasn't taken vaca-
ton since he started in on pictures but,
as he says himself while the pictures
are good should worryl"
Montgomery really enjoys his work
You can tell that by his method of at
tack. He has never been anything but
himself, He is by all Odds the most nat
ural actor among the newcomers. In
spite OF the many roles that he has had,
far removed from the hero" class, he
has gained more admirers 1t is said,
from adoring feminine brigades, than if
he had made love successfully-pictor-
''The Big House" he was a coward, in
"The Divorce he lured Norma Shearer
from the primrose path, in Our Blush
ing Brides" he very nearly lost the girl,
but in all of them, contrary to the usual
fading impression that such roles are
apt to make, his real personality seemed
to turn his Characterization into the
indelible class, proving him a real actor
as well as real personality.
10 he kxyV1 IN De IN
bulk, perhaps only 30 per cent as large
as the average hero of the screen. In
other words, he is completely average
person-pluS that intangible something
called personality"
Twenty-six years ago Bob Montgom-
cry made his initial appearance before
the public. He appeared with a silver
spoon in his mouth. being at that mo-
ment son and neir to the vice presi-
dent of the New York Rubber Co.
After the first uncertain warblings,
after elaborate schooling at Paving
School, New York, after leisurly "Baed-
eker" travels through Europe, he came
home to find his father On the point
of death and his fortune folled unex-
pectedly away.
With the silver spoon torn from his
mouth, Bob had to settle down to work
quickly. He became a day laborer on
railroad. Afterwards the sea
got into his blood, and he signed up
as deck-hand on coastwise steamer,
biting his teth on bully = beef and
bareback. There, however, he met
man much in the same predicament as
himself. who told about the glamour of
the stage; said, in fact, so much that
before he knew it Bob was back again
In New York.
An upstate stock company christene
him into the ways of the theater ''Ir
20 weeks" he says, II secured a res
college course in the drama. / played
~ characters in that time, most of then
old men" (pipe that, young ladiesl)
II learned to make up every conceivabl
kind of part. and I was tossed aroun
so generally in emergency situation
that I think I might have jumped I'M
the ingenue lead in Ten Nights in
Bar Room and gotten away with it.
1T was a tough year and hal
Financially Improbable, but otherwic
very much so. have known so man
young actors who have taken NOS
dives because they were given leadin.
roles too soon, that I'm grateful tc
Providence for having given me the
course OF sprouts I had in that stock
company"
The course Of sprouts" that Mr..
Montgomery refers to must necessarily
have helped him onto Broadway, where
before long he emerged as a juvenile
actor demanding attention. He had
prominent roles in "One of the Fam
ily," Dawn" and finally Possession"
which served as his jumping board to
Hollywood.
The great cinema city first heard of
him when Samuel Goldwyn signed him
to play opposite Wilma Banky But Bob
gave up the contract when he heard il