The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-03-26
Film Meanie
ONLY
in Pictures
OFF Set, Bonita Granville,
13, Is MiSChievous but
Not EgotiSticaI.

HOLLYWOOD, March 26 CNEA)
"A Il - The screens foremost
F'heavy" just now is brown-haired,
clear-eyed, pleasant-faced little girl
named Bonita Granville, just turned
s13.
indianapolis fans have been
Sneering at her in These Three" at
Loew's this week.
Bonita is mean con the screen,
sof course we mean. Bonita is vi
Tacious, malevolent, demoniacal. Not
1mpishly wicked like Topsy, but
utterly fiendish, like Borgia. She.
Is sly, incorrigible liar, a poisoner
of minds.
SO convincingly does she act her
part that people on the lot-people
who'd scarcely glance at a Boris
Harloh or a Peter Lorre-whisper
rs she passes, There goes the hell
child That's the Granville kid"
-. Based on "Children's Hour"
The picture, These Three" with
2 deep DOW to the Hays office, has
Ybeen based more or less on a drama
Fmpiously titled THE Children's
Hour and now we'll into it's Sec
Ond season on Broadway.
Bonita is too much OF a trouper
to mind being despised by screen
audiences. She has done her share
of shedding childish sweetness and
light in various pictures, and they
didn't get her anywhere, particu-
larly.
This role, though, provides a
chance for emotional acting that
few if any Hollywood youngsters
ever have had.
II like mean parts" she said
f'There's so much more character
in them"
May Have Heard Rumors
It may be that Bonita has heard
prophetic whispers that her per-
Torrance in Those Three" is likely
to make her a rather celebrated &C
tress. But if she has heard of them
it isn't the fault of her mother.
I Mrs. Granville is trying by every
means and stratagem to keep Bon
Alta an ordinary little girl. Admits
dts quite a wrench to parental pride
when she squelches Bonitas every
inkling of Importance.
Il tell her she's lucky; that
thousands Of other girls could do
very we'll in the movies if they had
d chance. Bonita goes to a junior
high school here, and the other
children expected her to be stuck
up, but she isn't. Her best friends
are not studio children.
Not Really Mean
"Of course she isn't bit mean,
really. Minds me absolutely, and
never has temper tantrum She
always was full of mischief, but
harmless, A natural mimic.
Il remember in 1892, when she
was working in 'Cavalcade,' she
picked up perfect cockney accent
IN a day or two, and at night, at
the dinner table, she'd have us all
in stitches initiating all the players
and repeating most of their lines.
You ought to hear her"
I "Mother!" pleaded Bonita. Il
don't want anybody to think 1 imi-
tate people. I just want to act.
II like school. like algebra and
languages best. I'm little behind
now, but until this year I got
Straight AS. No, I don't like to read
much except newspapers. like to
swim and paint dresses on dolls.
like to go to plays and the movies,
and be in plays at school"
Has Boy Friend
"She's growing up" observed her
mother. "She goes to dancing school
and is beginning to want to go to
parties. She has a boy friend, COO,
who calls her up every"
"Mother!" protested Bonita, and
fled to the set.
Mrs. Granville smiled. II shouldn't
talk so much. I'm bored to death
by mothers who talk about their
children. hope Bonita-we call
her Bun-Bun, and she hates it
won't be a Hollywood child al
though she has been here since she
was z. Her father is an actor, you
know-Bunny. And I danced. But
rEe'Ve tried to raise her in just the
ordinary way
"She got in the movies by acct
dent, because she looked a little
like Ann Harding and could play
her daughter in westward Passage