Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-05

t"E other day Douglas Fairbanks
was in his dressing room with
group of gentlemen with
i whom he was about to engage
in a serious game of golf. The
usual bets were being made and the
usual representations OF disaster on
that tough thirteenth hole whsn Doug
was suddenly called from the room.
When he returned he announced
cheerily to his playmates: "A tabloid
newspaper in New York has just pub
hshed the statement that Mary and
are to be divorced, to be followed by
my marriage to Edwina, Lady Mount
battcn, and Mary's marriage to Charles
Buddy Rogers. Come on, let's get out
to the first tee"
This IS an ordinary occurrence in the
life Of film star. who must ofSneces-
sity crave publicity and at the same
time dread it as one would dread the
bubonic plague. The extravagant at
tention lavished by the world press on
Hollywood's idols takes the form either
Of silly adulation or venomouS malice.
Once Charlie Chaplin's press agent
told me, MY job isn't to get Charles
name in the papers-it's to keep it out
I'm not really a publicity man at all
I'm an expert rumor denier."
So colossal, so grotesquely diSpropor-
tionate, is the important OF publicity
in the movie business that it naturally
has become a major weapon in the
hands Of the racketeers.
The story of Clara Bow and her
.recreant secretary has been aired in
court and become matter of common
knowledge. But there are countless
other instances that are never exposed.
If @ Wickersham Commission were to
conduct an investigation of criminal
conditions in Hollywood its report
would surpass in public interest the
most sensational literature ever pub
lished. Every conceivable form of black
mail hourishes in the film colony. The
annual expenditure of hush money
must reach staggering figures.
It Is small wonder that the h4gger
movie stars wear hunted looks as they
60 furtively about their own business
(Which Is, of course, everybody's busi-
ness. They can't trust their servants,
or their associates, or even their bosom
friends, for there have been innumera-
BILE instances of best pals selling gaudy
secrets to the professional scandal
inongers.
It is generally assumed that the
members of the film colony are all i'm
moral and that if half the truth were
told about them they'd all be ruined
In the opinion of the average fan,
whenever any one opens closet door
in Beverly Hills four regiments of skele-
tons fall out. This is not so. The
Aim folk are far too dull. too unimag-
NATIVE, to be effective libertines. And
over Hollywood hangs the oppreSsively
virtuous atmosphere of Main street.
AS long as that remains grinly i'm
penetrable the town can never hope to
be another Babylon.
The ardent fans. however, refuse to
believe this. Their keeneSt desire is
to be told the worst of their heroes
and heroines. Since the moving shad-
ows are the vicarious instruments for
the qualification of millions of sup
pressed desires, 1t is demanded that the
stars must be just as sexy in private
as they appear to be on the screen.
This is the circumstance that enables
the racketeers to conduct their mani
fold nefarious operations. They know
that even though Miss Leila Lovely's