Evening star., 1933-03-05
DAUL NUM- wants to do COM
- edy; Noel Coward says that

NAOo MON1 Wallis w w COl11.
- edy; Noel Coward says that
i people think I am always
gay and frivolous because I
write about gay and frivolous
things; Tallulah Bankhead
would like the movies to give her
"happy" roles; Leslie Howard's
ambition is to play Richard II;
Polly Moran would like to do a
serious role; Jean Harlow longs
to be a comedienne. Actors, N
other words, are conspicuously
among those who dream of &C
oomplishing things they are not
allowed or supposed to accom-
plish.
Mr.. Mum was right when he
stated few days ago that the
films are not helping along this
outlet for expression. "Once you
make a success in something you
have to keep right on in the same
channel" he says. Miss Bankhead
recently corroborated this, plead
ing guilty to a desire for doing the
"gay, frivolous things" and de-
ploring the fact that she had to
continue shedding long cinema
tears just because Hollywood had
made up its mind that she was a
tragedienne.
While it is perhaps hard to
imagine MUM in a Charles Rug
giles role (thiS is what he is after) :,
you have to admit after talking
to him that almost anything may
be expected of him. A versatile
conversationalist, as we'll as a
brilliant actor, he gives you the
feeling that comedy is quite
within his range. Miss Bank
head, too, reveals a twinkle in
her eye which the screen has not
caught, and Leslie Howard has
a serious, deep quality to him
which would suit admirably his
Richard II desires.
The movies, however, insist on
types. Once they have put you
in what they think is your proper
niche, you are "Set" that way for
life. Due probably to the fact
that they haven't time to recon-
noiter-that their pictures have
to come out of the mill in a one
two-three rush-they overlook
possibilities within their reach
and which they might capitalize
# they would only take time of
to see them. Would the public
object, for instance, seeing MUM
in a Coward play, Coward writing
a tragedy, Miss Bankhead laugh
ing for a change, Polly Moran
crying, Howard in Shakespeare,
Miss Harlow in a LET Us Be
Gay? In other words, types"
being pulled down from their too
stable pedestals and flouriShing
in fields far removed from what
is meant to be their forte? We
doubt it.
THE public, after all, wants
change. It tires eventually
even of Grand Hotels" It likes
Mae West because she has
brought something new to the
screen. She is loud and rough
and nasal. She is a radical ele-
ment in the films. No one has
done quite what she does. You
are bound to admit her success,
because she is easy in her MINI
ings, rowdy in her swaggerings
and so at home before the cam
era that she seems almost to be
laughing at it's intrusion in. scenes
which she makes you believe are
happening within an arms length
from where you are sitting.
Miss West indicates that audi
enceS like to be surprised. AS
she swings onto the scene you
can almost hear her say: well,
folks, you didn't think I'd make
it, did you? Well, here I ami"
And there she is, after a turbu-
lent career on the stage, having
spent long hours in police vans
and court rooms defending plays
which obviously needed defend
Ing. But who, a year ago, would
have said that Miss West would
become the most conspicuous
hgure on the screen during the
new season?
So, If Miss West can climb onto
the bandwagon and be driven up
TO the stars, why can't some Of
the others turn table momentar-