Evening star., 1933-05-21
BY MOLLIE MERRICK.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

special DlSpatch TO The star.
HOLLYWOOD, Calf, May 20
N.ANA).-There Is q tendency in
present-day Hollywood to make the
public pay for personal appearances.
The star lies low during the year, ap-
pears but little In gay spots, saves cash
and nerve wrack and then goes out on
an official personal appearance tour
and gets few thousand week by so
doing.
Quite beautiful, and not dumb at all!
This is In distinct contrast to the
day when a producer demanded that
feature players and stars be continually
groomed to the eyelashes-dressed as
famous beauties and cinema personali-
ties should dress-and be seen every
where in all spots Of gayety and chic.
When this rage was at its height a
campaign to make Mary Astor the ''best
dressed woman" was in vogue Mary
Astor never appeared twice in the same
costume, and she appeared everywhere
Her fittings occupied several hours of
her busy day. Her disposition was worn
to a frazzle-her arches were clean
tuckered out and her pocketbook steam
rollered to live up to the title. It worked
for few dizzy weeks. Her costumes
were duly recorded-her comings and
goings retailed everywhere in print
then Hollywood got onto a new gag-o1
q new scandal-or q new something OF
other-and 1t was all over.
Perhaps 1t was worth the strain, but
It Is very hard to be the best anything
in Hollywood, where everything moves
50 rapidly that the beauty Of the morn
ing Is paSse by night, q new favorite
having displaced her at the luncheon
table.
Mae West Is Fight Fan.
The prime favorites Of today are
seldom glimpsed. Mae West, who tops
every one for box-ofice returns, never
goes to Hollywood parties, although
you may ind her at the prize Tight.
any Friday night. She Is the jack
of-all-trades Of movies, writing hel
own stores, including the dialogue;
helps with her songs, has . hand in
directing the films, selects her owr
wardrobe and chooses her supporting
actors. She has been on the stage since
years Of age and played Little Eva
Lord Fauntleroy, Baby Vamp, vaude-
vile headliner and then became q
New York star.
She likes big, masculine and not
too-handsome men. She hasn't been
married. she says, but will tell every
one when she is. She never eats lunch
con, but drinks plenty of cream for that
complexion Of hers. She has had little
conventional schooling, but is very well
read and q keen student of life. She
has none Of the airs of star, is to-
tally lacking in pretense, lives In q
simple apartment and likes to sink
her money in securities and the "ice'
which she wears In profusion.
NnU UInan Moa vUocf
cation she will possibly do a personal
appearance tour-as Lilyan Tashman
did last year-packing them In foui
times day and getting a fabulous sal
ary for it, It won't all be fun-for
the four-a-day is pretty trying and
most Of the women who do it never
leave the theater from ! o'clock to
midnight. But George Raft has Just
made personal appearance tours that
have been highly successful-and prof
itable-and that young man who Is
rapidly coming along as an actor OF
many parts-Jack La Rue-has been
made some hattering offers.
Charlie Farrell. who has been taking
q vacation for himself since splitting
UP with Fox and breaking up the
Charlie Farrell-Janet Gaynor combina-
ton, will capitalize on his personal
appearance assets at the Kit-Kat Club
In London later in the Autumn. Think
what Marlene Dietrich or Greta Garbo
could do with personal appearance
stuff! They could paralyze trafdc-
turn New York streets into a shambles
most likely Especially Garbo) with
thousands Of people milling to get into
o theater where the unapproachahle
Greta held sway. These stars, amply
repaid for their screen services, do not
need the further emolument of the
personal appearance tour and actually