Evening star., 1934-12-22
BY MOLLIE MERRICK.

r OLLYWOOD. Calf, December
22-Hollywood has long been
noted as a town where all
L L types of people hold all sorts
of odd positions, some times at
a salary we'll worth while. There's one
charming Irish woman, for instance,
who is always called in when studios
are making a picture dealing with
royalty. Once a lady-in-waiting to
the present Queen of England, she
knows exactly what formalities are OBJ
served by the servants in royal
household, how formal parties are
conducted or what the usual procedure
is when royalty makes public ap-
pearance.
Then there are technical directors
and advisers galore who guarantee to
be authorities on everything from life
in Siam down to the college dances Of
1884. And you'd be surprised how
many of these people make their
living in Hollywood in this manner.
One of the most interesting people
I've met in a long while is j. S. Stem
bridge, armament adviser" to Holly
wood in general, who guarantees to
furnish the correct weapons for the
correct occasions and who owns the
largest arsenal in the United States.
Stembridge is a tall, gray-haired
man who has been in Hollywood for
18 years and built up the only business
of its kind in town. His official
status in the eyes Of Uncle Sam Is
that of a licensed dealer in weapons.
You'll see a 5000 license framed
on the wall of his office at Paramount
studio, yet he has never sold a gun in
his life and doesn't want to. He has
a better idea than than; he rents
them to the studios as they are
needed.
He figures about Is permanent Gus
toners, which keep him going nicely.
And he's a stickler for form and rou-
tine who wouldn't loan an old-fash-
ioned shot gun to his best customer
unless he had a Government permit
to give in return.
When the director of a film has a
scene in which he has to arm, say
500 soldiers, he applies to the Gov
ernment for a permit and then goes
to the armament adviser" for the
guns.
mo permit, no guns" is Stem
bridges motto. He's never yet had
any trouble and he doesn't want any.
Besides knowing more about shoot
ing irons than the average field mar
shall, Stembridge is well versed in past
and present history, and will refuse to
rent arms to any director who Is un-
Willingly demanding the wrong thing
for his picture. If he can't convince
the director that he's wrong and rent
him the correct firearms, he doesn't
care to work with him. He has that
much pride in his work.
He'll tell you that there were prac-
tically no guns before 1850, but that
he has nearly every kind of arms
made since then. Some of them, OF
course, can't be used now as they are
too old, but they give the correct
atmosphere to scene. II he has to
supply arms impossible to get, he ap-
plies his vast knowledge Of the sub
ject toward directing the manufac-
ture of wooden duplicates of the
weapon. But this doesn't happen very
often.
In the years in which he has been
in this business in Hollywood, Stem
bridge has lost only one revolver. That
happened five years ago and Is the
only loss he has ever had.
He is especially proud of his col
lection Of Arabian flintlocks made in
Napoleon's time, and set of carved
brass guns made in Turkey around
TOO. These latter were used lot,
he tells you, some few years ago in
Hollywood when the epidemic OF sheik
pictures had the world by storm. He
thinks it's about time for new cycle
of Foreign Legion films to spring up
and expects to do good business with
them, too.
The smallest weapon that Stem
bridge owns is a revolver that looks
like a pepper shaker, with a heavy
ring handle that can be used as q
brass knuckle.
The finest firearm in his collection
is an English shotgun, valued at $500,
which has never been used in film.
I asked him If he ever expected to
rent it, and he said the only way he
could think of that would be correct
to have such a gun brought into q
film, would be to have some king or
member Of high royalty shown shoot
ing pigeons with 1t at smart shoot
ing lodge He has no idea that such
film will ever be made, but he's
prepared for it in case some bright
scenarist gets such an idea.