The Washington times., 1935-12-06
COUNTS THRILL
DIRECTOR OF
THEIR FILM
BY HENRY KING
Noted Hollywood Director
Copyright. 1895. by international
News Service)


tlarill Of my life-one hour with
the Dionne quintuplets.
Anyone who has been directing
motion pictures for as many years
as I have comes to expect the un-
usual and a new sensation is some
thing hoped for but seldom
realized.
Before leaving Hollywood I
knew that Daryl Zanuck, direct
ing genius Of the Twentieth Cen
tury-Fox studios, had given me
quite an unusual assignment in
the directing Of his new picture,
'"The Country Doctor"
It was an honor to be chosen
TO direct the first picture in which
the worlds most famous babies
would appear; in fact one can
honestly say the five young girls
are the highest paid movie stars
Of the day.
Real TrOupers
I naturally looked forward to
seeing the babes and their kindly
doctor-Dr. Allan Roy Dafoe, but
who wouldn't? I have directed
many pictures in which children
under the age of 2 have ap-
peared. But in none of those
pictures were we able to get any
actual response from the child
actors or actresses and naturally
I did not expect to see any per
Sonality" displayed, but I re-
ceived my greatest thrill after
five minutes with Yvonne, An
nette, Cecile, Emelie and Marie
Dionne. Those kids are just nat
urally born actresses. They radi-
ate personality. They are real
troupers, as we say of any great
actor or actress.
From the minute I stepped into
their nursery at ii o'clock yester-
day morning to start our test"
work, those babies behaved like
old-timers.
They were not a bit frightened
at the presence of the new faces
from Hollywood. They played,
gurgled and enjoyed themselves
with their new doctor, Jean
Hersholt, who plays the leading
role opposite the five young
ladies'; they seemed to fall in
love with Dorothy Peterson, their
Hollywood nurse, who will have
the leading feminine adult role
In the picture.
Complete Protection
That grandest of grand men,
Dr.. Dafoe, of course was on hand
to see that we all obeyed the
rules and regulations OF the
hospital.
Before entering the nursery we
all put on sterilized inferno trocks
that completely covered our
clothing. gloves also sterilized.
and DR.. Dafoe sprayed noses
and throats with an antiSeptlc.
The nurses uniform worn by
Miss Peterson went through the
hospitals own sterilization ma
chine before it was ironed and
put on by her.
Every precaution is used BY DR..
Dafoe to protect his charges from
even the slightest infection and
we are of course cooperating IN
every possible manner.
I only wish we could use every
foot of film that we took yester-
day. Those kids are knockouts,
If you will pardon the expression:
During a moment Of rehearsal
for Miss Peterson she was sing
ing verses from the nursery song.
sack and JILL" Yvonne was IN
her little bed and after looking
At Miss Peterson for a moment
she cooked her tiny head to one
side, took hold of the side OF the
bed and jumped up and down
keeping perfect rhythm with
Miss PeterSon's singing.
Gets His Watch
Later, when Jean HerSolt was
sitting on the floor with the
kiddies, Cecile slyly crawled up
to him while both his arms were
busy with Marie and before ne
could do anything about It,
Cecile had his watch and chain
and had scampered to the lar
side of the nursery.
The script calls for Miss Peter
son to comb one Of the girls
silken locks. Miss Peterson tried
to comb Annette's hair and was
doing a fairly good job Of it when
7 stopped it to change the lights.
For lust one moment, Miss Peter
son relaxed her hold on the comb
and ambitious Annette grabbed
the comb and made futile ges-
t,rre as If to say that it was her
turn to work on Miss Peterson'S S
hair.
To describe every minute of
those so first minutes with those
babies would be impossible. Every
one was too thrilled with them to
remember every detail.
But let me go on record now
and say that the quintuplets are
the outstanding personalities OF
the world today.
And I am going to take this op-
portunity of saying few genuine,
sincere words about that grand
DR.. Dafoe.
Like Will Rogers
I actually am at a loss to ex-
press my feelings toward him. The
first thought coming into my head
right now is "he is one Of the first
men Of the world today" He i'm
presses me deeply. His is a per
sonality to be compared only with