The Washington times., 1936-03-26

Behind Marlene Dietrich's sud
den change Of mind which kept
her here when she was scheduled
to leave for England is her yen
to needle Merle Oberon out OF
the Garden Of Allah" :. The
two gels don't get along any too
well, although they act smoothly
enuf toward each other when
they meet Lunching with
Walter Wanger and Hal Horne at
the Vendome, I listened to the
producers theories about color
pictures He is sold solid on
their box office appeal but ad'
mits it will be several years be-
fore the public's taste can be
tweaned away from the black and
whites-the tinted celluloidS still
being far from perfection. D..
Glenda Farrell entered with
Mary Brian-a handsome look
ing honey with a new curly
haired coiffure which she af-
fected while in England. Easily
one Of the most popular young
actresses here as was evident by
the number who leaped from
their tables to talk to her-a girl
who has come q long way from
that first timid showing when
she was nothing more than a foil
for Q discovery" hailed by the
film world-Betty BronSon...
Betty was just q one-picture girl,
however, and never got anywhere
after that, slipping gradually out
Of the Iimelight into what was
presumably contented married
life. Mary Brian on the other
hand continued on until she has
become one Of the most impor-
tant Of our present-day film &C.
tresSeS. Billie Burke Is at an
other table, listening quietly,
while one film personality after
another crowds around her, to
tell her that the. had seen the
previeW Of THE Great ziegfeld"
and considered 1t :. lasting monu.
ment t0s her late husband AS
a matter of fact. it win undouht-
edly rank with the outstanding
pictures Of the year and captur-
ing high honors is the Broadway
boy W. all like-Eay Bolger.
"A Broadway cOnfrere refutes
the Sidney Kingsley Doris Dud-
ley merger hinted here, insist
ing friends are willing to bet
it isn't so. The truth Is that
Sidney Kingsley himself was
unwilling to admit it .. On the
other hand, Doris Dudley in.
sisted that she and Kingsley
were married on Feb'y 14th .
Now you go ahead and take
sides Several times we've men.
toned the sO-called "Sueak Dre.
views. The other day, wal
lace Beery asked an executive
wh ether "sneak review"
wasn't something at which the
executives wore boards when
they went in 'NO," was the
answer. "Only when they come
"ut" Mack Gordon and Harry
Revel have been a panic in
london. Billy WilkersOn. in
fact, writes that they have
been crashing page one and
rnonopoIizing double pages in
the feature sections.
From my correspondent in
Copenhagen comes a few more
notes of interest to the film colony
and Broadway. First. there is
the story Of the strange reunion
of Gaia Eric. famous Ziegfeld
beauty, with her papa. It came
about through Mathea Merryfield
who met a middle-aged fellow at
a party ct the Palace Hotel and
pulling out a small picture asked
her II she recognized the face. >.
"It'S q relative of mine who was
in the Follies." Mathea said,
"Yes-rhat'S Gaia Eric" The
man wept. E. "It's my daughter" :"
he said do you know where she
is?"... ayes" replied the Merry
field gal "she's in England study
ing dramatics". . He told her he
had left America to go to Russia
fon an assignment as mining en-
gineer and had never been able
to return to the United States be-
cause he had no re-entry permit
as Q result Of which for five years
he had lost complete track of his
wife and daughter. They were
reunited, as q result Of this con-
versation, in London, several
weeks ago. Greta Garbo, accord
ing to the letter, who had been
seen around in the mite spots of
Copenhagen. has suddenly dropped
out Of sight and out of the public
prints there
Mildred Harris Chaplin, who
has been entertaining in the ca
barets there is being courted by a
Danish nobleman named Grawlitz
don't tilt your eyebrows-the
letter SAID he was Danish noble
man.
Frank Fay on the lOng-dis-
tanOe phone announces that he
viii be back in Hollywood April
3 and start on his own broad.
casting series from here April
49,. It must be a matter Of
pride to Fay to be able to re-
turn to the town he loves in