Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1938-05-17

There is not much danger, of course,
that he will be the reported who actu-
ally knocks at your door the next
time you murder your husband. Act
ing a newspaper man pays him lot
more than being one, and Mr.. Gable
looks awfully smart.
While Mr.. Gable Is rejecting upon
newspapermen up walks Walter
Pidgeon.
who are you in the picture?" one
asks Mr.. Pidgeon, who remembers
one from last summer.
I'm the heel" says Mr.. Pidgeon.
"And I'm perfect in the part"
But he does not want to talk
about himself. He wants to talk, Of
all subjects, about the Washington
weather.
What are you doing out here at
this time of year? Why didn't you
come in August and escape that
Washington heat? Boy, Is that heat?
Do l remember August in Washing
ton?"
1t is pretty apparent that Mr.. Pid-
geon, the heel. does remember WASH
ington in August But that only
evens the score between Washington
and this part of the world. for we
remember Hollywood in August. Be-
fore We can compare climates, how
ever, the MeSSrS. Gable and Pidgeon
have to return to work. Director Jack
fc RI fhrO1lCh
scene again. Again and again. in
fact. They run through it so many
times that some of the Chinese
youngsters on the set who do not
speak English could repeat the dia-
logue of every character. Mr.. Con-
way is that thorough.
Mr.. Gable is masterpiece of pa
tience through an ordeal that ought
to be disconcerting even though not
so trying as being bombed into the
primordial ooze Of the day before.
| AS the scene ends each time he is
hit in the face by toy alrplane.
The ending of the scene is apparently
one of the most endless processes ever
devised, but Mr. Gable takes pleasantly
to being hit in the face by airplanes.
He does not even mind that the man
who throws the airplane cannot
muster an apologize expression for his
dastardly part.
Between chats with Gable and Pid-
geon up comes Leo GARLIC. Mr. Car
rillo. who is running for Governor
of California for publicity purposes
(and winning for publicity purposes
even though he has no chance to be
GOVERNOR. has tales to tell of Mr..
Gable. He tells them in very cul-
tured English that is bit startling
in view of the IS dialects of which
he is such a master that no screen
part ever has allowed him to speak
naturally
Best of the stories is about the
strength of Mr.. Gable and the time
they both overestimated it. They
were hunting ducks in Mexico. BY
the time they had their quota of 20
for the day Mr.. GARLIC. who had on
no shoes and virtually no clothes,
discovered the tide had come in,
bringing with it lot of cold water.
He turned sissy about the tempera-
ture and decided he did not want
to walk ashore. The gallant Gable
offered to carry him. and the I'M
gallant Garlic said that was fine
idea. So off they started. Gable
pack horse carrying GARLIC, 20 ducks
and two ShotgunS. Garlic was full
of admira ton for the man who holds
first place in the affections of Ameri-
can moviegoers. Gable, he figured,
was completely worthy of the respect
in which he is held.
1t turned out, however, that he
figured bit too quickly SO far as
that particular occasion was con-
cerned Thirty feet or so from shore.
where the water was waist deep and
very cold. Mr. Gable surrendered.
He, Garlic, the ducks and the two
shotguns all fell at the same time.
TOO Hot to Handle" in which
Myrna 10y also will appear when
the script catches up to her. which
will be several days hence. is pic
ture that makes Mr.. Pidgeon, not to
mention the others, very happy. He
is playing part that was intended
for Spencer Tracy. which makes it
a part quite different from the fine
drawing room animals he has been
playing for so long. He is rated
among Hollywood's more accom-
piished actors, and he is having
fine time playing heel to Cables
hero.
In fact, every one around M-G-M's
artificial Shanghai seemed to be hav-
ing fine time in spite of the fact
that war is raging all over the
place.
CURRENT sensation in Hollywood,
~ subject of every fireside chat in
town, as Columbia's effort to capital
ize the recent criticism of the indie
pendent theater operators of Kath-
arine Hepburn. The independent
theater operators, not being especially
gentle about it, said right out that
Miss Hepburn was a kind of box
Office ,dodo. They said it, quantity
enough, just at the time that Co.
lumbia had finished Holiday" a new
comedy starring Katharine Hepburn.
Did Columbia curl up and die? It
did not. Instead, it plastered Holly
wood-maybe the country, so far as
we know-with huge posters asking:
rs it true what they say about Kath-
arine Hepburn"
To town is practically agog over
the daring of it all. And great
many close observers of the situation
have it doped out in advance of the
picture that Columbia will live to
laugh while the independent theater
operators ars slowly and painfully
munching their words.
This is city, of course, where few
things are more enjoyable to large
percentage of the population than the