The Washington times., 1936-06-27
HOuyWOOd'S
New GameIS
Handles

44SA@@@ " ON~S SSAA fONR-
pose you are walking across a
studio lot and encounter an actor
friend-it may be Clark Gable,
Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, Joan
Crawford, anyone Of a dozen
others.
He stops, punches the fingers
and thumb of his left hand in an
upright position, and then spreads
the fingers Of his right hand over
it in an umbrella-like shape.
What is it?" he demands.
When you look dumber than usual
and remain silent, he chortles
with glee.
"It'S the Dionne quints taking a
shower" he howls, and trots
along about his business.
No, dear reader, he's not nuts
despite the preponderence of
circumStantial evidence. He's
merely playing handles" the lat
est game which has hit Hollywood
like plague.
It's easy as all you need is a
mad sense of humor and your two
hands. 1t is throwback to child
hood when you learned to make
silhouetteS on the wall by posing
your hands.
FADS AND FANCIES
There are a million possibilities
Of the game, limited only by
demented imagination. You think
up the crazy idea, and your friends
try to guess the answer. One of
the easiest ones is to represent
three feathers with your fingers
back of your head, while your
other hand forms letter V in
front of your nose. The answer to
that one is IAN Indian in a va"
Games, fadS and favorite places
to play run in cycles in Hollywood
where members of the film colony
seem to labor almost as hard to
find amusement in their spare
time as they work before the cam
eras.
A year or two ago, every one was
flocking to Malibu whenever he
had time off, to loll on the beach
or sport about in the Pacific urf.
Now many of the palatial beach
homes are for rent.
This last winter and spring, the
rush was to Palm Springs, with
new cases popping up in the desert
by the dozen to accommodate the
crowds.
It has been a fad for the last
few years for actors and actresses
who could afford it to buy acre
age in San Fernando Valley and
transform it into fanciful ranches,
with stables, barbecue pits and
swimming pools dotting the land
scape. Now the tide has turned
back to town, and only those who
really enjoy country life and
have no desire to keep pace with
the crowd, continue to live in
the valley.
Polo had it's day in the sun
and everyone who could sit on
a horse for five minutes with
out falling off bought polo
ponies, riding pants and boots,
mallets and white helmets and
discussed chukkers with all the
authority of an English major
Just back from India.
EVERYBODY PLAYS
The swimming craze has pretty
well died out except among those
who take the sport seriously, and
lilies grow and bullfrogS croak
in many a glorified pool which
but a short time ago was filled
to the brim with Hollywood'S
beautiful and famous.
Badminton has made deep in
roads into the tennis vogue and
nearly every star has a playing
court installed on his lawn. Next
year it may be some other game
that will flare into sudden popu-
larity and then vanish just as
quickly.
Illustrative of the fickleness of
the faddiStS is the rapid decline
of Monopoly" Just a few days
ago that game was all the rage
and principals and extras could
be seen between film shots,
fiercely concentrating on it. Now
those who play it are regarded as
"old fogies." A few years ago it
was backgammon, and now a
new game is bidding for support.
It is called Traffic"
But the craziest of all is "han-
dies" the fad of the moment.
And it may continue to flourish
beyond it's natural span because
it has been officially frowned
upon by studio executives. They
have forbidden it during scenes
because the wild antics Of the
players on the sidelines more
often than not completely "hroke
up' those who are acting before
the camera, causing costly delays.
It will officially die when some
thing new comes along to re-
place it.