The Washington times., 1935-03-04
BY LLOYD PANTAGES
Copyright. 1895, by King Features
Syndicate, Incl

dOALY WOOD, M II T.
Things collected completely at
random: When Mervyn Leroy
wanted to try out some profes'
sional Chinese women mourners
for parts in "Oil for the Lamps
of China" his greatest trouble
was to get the women to actually
cry.
After much persuasion and an
additional five dollars attached
to their daily pay check, they
unleashed their tear ducts and
Wept copiously. Mr.. Leroy may
now have his crying scene, but
methinks he has added himself
to the lost list of those who make
Hollywood boners, for who ever
heard of an Oriental betrayine
emotion of any kind publicly?
From Walter Wanger comes
a tasty compliment to we the
public: although producers
must be given a little credit
for the anticipation Of the pub
lies demands, to make such fine
pictures as IntimatiOn Of
Life,' Little Women 'One
might of Love- 1T Happened
One Night The Barretts of
WimpoIe Street. and The Gay
Divorce" is actually to the
public'S credit for they, in
their cry for better pictures,
have caused them to be made"
To top all this, re flatly de-
MES the ridiculous statement
that the majority of screen fans
have an average intellectual age
Of from IL to Is years.
Those who have followed jose
Won Sternberg's pictures will, nc
doubt, be q bit amazed at his
newest directorial (not to men
ton photographer effort. Miss
Dietrich's loves land lovers) have
always been much the same In
type-handsome. strong Frd true
but "The Devil Is a 1oman'
offers an entirely new study in
the most complex male character
with which the glamorous Miss
D. has ever had to cope. Ger
tainly this picture makes one
wonder what next for Won Stern
berg, either with or without La
Dietrich.
Although Cecil B. DeMille has
no occult beliefs, he feels the let
ter &C" and the sign of the snake
to be definite symbols of gooc
luck for him. In some fashion
or another they have a habit Of
cropping up in connection with
the picture he directs. and he
has come to look for them. In
cleopatra" the &C" was evident
as was also the snake that caused
her death. Now comes "Cru
sades," with the inevitable &C.
but as far as he knew, no snake
The other day while inspecting
the trappings of the crusaders ir
the picture, he suddenly came
upon an unusual saddle, with g
snake beautifully fooled in the
leather and a legend inscribed
thereon, Don't step On Me-" A
last his palsie-walsie-aspie had
turned up!
Bing Crosby wanted an auto
graphed picture of George Burns
and Oracle Allen for his dressing
room, but made the mistake Of
asking Oracle to do the inscribing
The picture was all right, but
written across the face was ITO
George Burns and Oracle Allen
Love, Bing Crosby
Newsmongery: The pay tele'
phone, which is the focal point
in the picture -Four Hours To
KILL" had the players digging into
their jeans. The actors who used
this telephone we're required to
drop the Mccoy buffalos in the
slot. At the end Of a weeks
shooting, Richard BarthelmeSS
and some of his fellow players
turned. in a bill for the nickels
they had contributed. An d
where was the property man and
his bag of tricks?
Anna Stem is on the victim list
of flu sufferers and is now in
Palm Springs for sunshine cure
:. Ernst Lubitsch smokes such
strong cigars that nobody ever
asks him for one. What a way to
save money All his life Paul
Kelly has wanted a polo pony
Now he has one and he calls it
"Mucho Campo" which is kind OF
Campo" at that. Eighteen years
ago, Warren Williams was gasec
during the World War and the
horror of it all was brought back
to him when Allen jenkins was re
quired to throw a real tear-gas
bomb while the cameras were
grinding on 1.-The Case of the
Curious Bride. Mitchell Lessen
the director, always does a bit II
whatever picture he is megaphon'
ing, on account of he has long