Evening star., 1935-08-18
BY the Associated Press.

by Lne Associated EEeSS.
HOLLYWOOD, August 1.-THE
door of Will Rogers dressing room
at his movie studio was opened and
closed, for the last time today.
1t isn't much of a dressing room
Put it in tenement house, on the
third floor back, with a view of the
elevated" and it would be typical.
Three dollars a week would be about
right, if you were renting 1t.
The man whose name is on the door
never starred in a talking motion
picture, which made less than a mil
lion dollars.
But you wouldn't think so II you
saw his dressing room.
The big mirror, trimmed with cleo
trio lights, where actors and actresses
spend hours creating the illusions
that resemble their faces, Is covered
with dust.
1t has fly-specks on 1t, too. (That's
because the spring on the screen door
Is worn out).
Most of the light bulbs are burned
out.
On the floor, newspapers and some
airline time tables.
Used As Writing Table.
What would be the makeup table
Is covered with several sheets of writ
ing paper, with a few lines of typing
across their white faces. Rogers some
times wrote his newspaper column
here-painfully pecking it out on q
portable typewriter.
But this wasn't really his dressing
room," said Dave Butler, who directed
most Of Rogers pictures. This is just
the place he came when he couldn't
think of any other place to go.
bills real makeup table was the
rumble seat of his car.
He used to come tearing up beside
the stage, or the location where he
was working, in his roadster. He
never had a chauffeur.
Usually, he'd be a few minutes
late. And he'd yell hold on there,
boys, I'm a-comin'.'
Then, you'd see him open up the
back of that rumble seat, pull out q
pair of pants and his shirt, and in o
second, he'd be ready for work"
Rogers, unlike more delicate stars,
never slept in his dressing room. He
couldn't. There was no place to lie
down.
What he'd do" said Butler, 'fs
hitch those old spectacles on the end
of his nose, slide way down in chair,
and pretend to be reading news
paper. Then he'd snooze."
Never Read Scripts.
There were no scenario scripts"
anywhere in the dressing room, either.
The average star has a dozen around.
Bill never saw one In his life, I
guess" the director said. He'd get
the idea of the scene, from me or
anybody he could find, and then he'd
mold it his own way.
"Why, remember we were making
Handy Andy about the time Dilliu-
ger got out of that Jail. There was
a Jail scene in the picture. We shot
it, and were going to quit work for
the day.
"Bill was standing behind the bars
for a closeup. Suddenly, he said.
''Y' know, Dave, could git out Of
this jail any time wanted to. I al
ready got my wooden gun whitfield
out"
The director said he turned on the
lights, marshaled the sound crew, and
took four takes" Of that remark.
On the Connecticut Yankee" But
Ter recalled, Rogers had trouble with
a scene.
Recalls Nervous Spell
'He seldom got nervous" the di-
rector remembered. But this day he
did. We shot the thing-I don't
know how many times.
when I finally got 1t, and was
leaving the set, somebody grabbed me
by the arm. It was Bill.
1.-The tears were running down his
cheeks, and he tried to say some
thing. I got 1t, after while, that he
was trying to apologize for what hap
pened out there. Can you imagine
the biggest star in TIT world apollo