Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-01
Greta Carlo Takes Up
High and Mighty Job
AS Queen of Hollywood
Her Recent Cinema Work Is Climaxed by Role in
Susan Lenox"-Aid From Young Mr.. Gable.
Hitherto Unknown Smile and Laugh or Two
By E. de S. Melcher.

- RETA c5ARBO has now the
crown of Hollywood Sc
~ 4 curely tied to her head.
Those who plan to knock
1t of will have consider
able trouble. The glorious Greta
has attained to that point where
no hands, let alone tongues. can
reach her. High on her Swedish
throne she sits in some kind of
silence and watches the world
about her with that mystical
smile which she is making more
use of daily. She is no longer
surrounded by Swedish icicles,
nor does she sail in unfriendly
fashion up and down the chilly
fiords. The icicles have melted
and she has melted-and therein
lies story.
Those who have seen Miss
Carlo In her recent picture,
Susan Lenox," will understand
about this melting process. They
will have observed that she is less
encaSed In cold, calculating mys-
terry. While in Romance she
proved that one Of her happiest
smiles was worth any number of
sister celluloid smiles, as Susan
Lenox she exhibits an extraor-
binary aptitude for natural COM
edy. Miss Carlo a Coincidence
-neveri" say some. And yet
why not? She has begun to I'M
earth the possibilities Of her forte
in that direction, she smiles and
the audience smiles, she laughs
and the audience laughs and
what are laughs If they aren't
the offSprings of humor?
This spark of joy and content
ment for the greener things of
life Is something to be thankful
for. 1t suggests that the length
measured by tears. Emotion, yes
for Miss Carlo is 100 per cent
fire and thunder-but not that
eternal dragging around, as
though each breath was an un-
healthy rasp and each smile but
the prologue for a flood of tears.
Those who have expected her to
go on in continuous round of
beatingS and bruises will find that
such is not the case. We venture
to predict, in fact, that with the
coming seasons there will be more
blue and less glycerin in her eyes.
This state of joy in the midst
OF sorrow is one of the potent
reasons why Miss Carlo is as
great as she is. Few actresses
capitalize both the sterner and
lighter mediums. Miss Chatter
ton. is famed for her splendid
harassing; Miss Shearer's ar
starry-eyed emotings; Miss Ina
INDUCES in Super-S sophisticated
badinage, and Miss Harding has
that gentle quality of refinement
which carries her so happily
through whinsy. But Miss Carlo
can be silly as well as sad. This
may sound like a doubtful ac-,
complishment, but those who
know their drama know that
tragedy is often best conceived
by introducing its opposite as
stimulus. A mixture of laughter
and tears is the ideal recipe for
100 per cent entertainment.
Many will, of course, claim that
Susan Lenox" isn't by any means
100 per cent. It isn't. But Miss
Carlo is-and that is the proof
Of this pudding She has easily
outplayed all her other creations.
A woman of serious study and
evident ambition who is certainly
not content to gaze back uDon
earlier triumphs with more than
necessary satisfaction. who has
studied and studied the error of
her ways and Is now launched
upon such a career as will I'M
doubtedly make history. At the
moment she is unquestionably the
Sarah Bernhardt of the screen.
IF there are doubters, let them
suggest somebody in her place.
Frau Dietrich? Come now-with
all seriouSnesS-pleaSel
FOR the first time, too, Miss
Carlo has gotten herself an
opposite" who is outstanding.
Formerly she was content with
the weak type, the Robert Mont
gomerys, who seemed woefuIly
lacking in flesh and blood: the
Gavin Gordons, who were need
lessly uninteresting. Now, sud-
denly, she summons Clark Gable,