The Washington times., 1938-03-07

small-town boy than anything
He was just under six feet AM
he weighed up around 180 pounds
He thought that was a little heav!
for a man in his late twenties, a
he was, and maybe he was right
Five years of city life will softer
anybody UP unless he's careful
Harry came out of Olvania' In
diana, six years ago with the ides
OF eventually going to HOLLYWOOD
as a movie picture actor. He nae
absolutely no reason for ever
dreaming that he would get u
Hollywood or even that he Woulc
learn enough to be an actor. i
was lust one of those Sappy dreams
that a kid has. :,
He proved that he really didn,
believe such a thing was possible
himself as soon as he reached
New York. He secuted around
agents offices for two weeks. BY
the time his small store OF money
ran out. he was ready to say what
he cid say. To hell with 1t"
He hit downtown and got a job
as helper in a gasoline station be
cause he knew quite little about
automobile engines. When he
Rad q little money ahead, he went
back 70 haunting theatrical
agencies.
He was a fool because all he
knew about acting was what ne
read in the papers. There WASH
a chance in a million that he
would ever get stage job.
KNEW HE WAS LYING
Tony Beldon, producer of such
hits as, "On Your Eye" and
Speak Softly" was casting for
his play. Lighter Than Helium."
He needed a sappy looking young
ster who spoke with a Small-toWn
accent. He saw Harry and queS'
toned him.
Harry lied lie all kids do who
are after stage jobs. He said he
had worked in a stock company in
Texas for three seasons.
Tony knew he was lying but he
didn't hold that against him. If
this kid could look and act and
talk like he looked and acted and
talked now in this interview he
was what he wanted. He hired
him.
If you can remember back five
years, you will know that, Light
er Than Helium" was a pretty fail
show. It ran for seven months
It gave Harry a nice little piece OF
money and quite a little stage ex
perience.
He was next cast as the small
town boy in Save It." His per
formance in that was so lifelike
that the critics gave him quite
few notices and two columniSti
mentioned his work.
HIS BIG CHANCE
Then he got his big chance. He
played the small-toWn husband ir
Despair" and because he was per
fectly cast and because the part
was actor proof and a great one,
he became a star overnight.
His ruination did not take the
ordinary course. He did not get
the idea he was another Edwin
Booth, or John Barrymore. He
knew better. He knew he was just
a small-town person who had been
struck by lucky lightning. He
knew he no more belonged on
Broadway than a bull belongs in
q library.
That wasn't true, of course. AL
most anything belongs on Broad
way, even decent sma1l-town folks.
But that is what he thought he
knew and the knowledge irked
him. Psychoanalysts call it an in
feriority complex. Believing he
wasn't quite up to the Broadway
standard, he got to sneering at
Broadway in self-defense. He got
to thinking of it as a street where
nobody was sincere and everybody
was chiseling.
:. MEETS GERTRUDE
Until he met Gertrude Plaisance.
Gertrude's real name was Playne
and she was a leading lady. She
was a small-town girl, which may
explain why she was one of the
most sophisticated kids in that sec.
ton of New York whose denizens
wouldn't leave their cocktails to
look at a plague of locusts. Ger
trude fell in love with Harry on
sight.
That was a funny romance. Ger,
trude would kid Harry about being
a typical farmer and Harry would
Sneer at Gertrude and tell her she
was a bluff with no depth and with
no knowledge of the part Of hel
own country that stretched west
ward from New Jersey.
He was quarreling violently
with her one afternoon in hel
studio apartment when he sud
denly found he had her in his arm:
and was kissing her.
The show he was in, Despair,
was having a phenomenal run
It Iooked as though it would las
as long as Tobacco Road" Anc
Harry grew in stature in the pub
lie prints. The smooth paper maga
zines became aware of his exist
ence.
Editors looked him up or sea
feature writer's to interview him
His diffident drawl drew them t,
him. They liked him for his sin
plicity and his lack of Swank. B
L.