Evening star., 1938-05-26

but we shall stand pat on our choice
Dinner at the Van Dykes is very
the first place, it takes you into the
home of the most colorful of Holly
woods directors. 1t is very beautiful
home that nestles in the western
hills where one can smell the fresh
salt air of the Pacific even If the ocean
is not visible As compared with some
OF the castles that have been clamped
on the Hollywood, Westwood, Brent
wood and other wood hills, it is an
extremely modest bit of architecture
1t Is compact, built for comfort, fur
nished for the same quality, and has a
bar that is so engagingly equipped
that you never want to leave 1t.
More impressive than the house OF
anything else in it, and that does not
exclude Mr. Van Dyke or the bar, are
the other Van Dykes. There are three
of them. all in excellent taste. They
would be Mrs. Van Dyke, who is much
prettier than most of the stars he1
husband directs at Metro Goldwyn-
Mayer, blond sprite of 21a years
whom her father calls "the pest" and
husky son l8 months Old whose
alias around the place is "the our.
angatang."
It is perfect setting and perfect
cast that Mr.. Van Dyke has chosen
and he is rightly more proud of it
than anything else he ever has done
The other things, of course, include
direction of THE Thin Man." After
the Thin Man." Rose Marie" more
recently. Marie Antoinette," on the
fire currently, "Sweethearts," and com.
ing along as soon as Mr.. Van Dyke
can manage it, Northwest Passage
We are not sure we could define
the spirit of home if some one snapped
demand for the definition at us
but we felt it the minute we crossed
the Van Dyke threshold.
Whatever significance the statement
may have for his friends in Washing
ton, Mr.. Van Dyke had to come out
OF the bar to meet us.
so you thought you were going to
have an elaborate dinner, did you?'
he begins. We'll, you're not. We
figured you must be tired of hotel food
50 we're having corned beef and cab
bage"
IT is violating no confidence, we are
sure. to say that Mr.. Van Dyke was
dressed for corn beef and cabbage
and that We were starving for it. In
the best Hollywood tradition, Mr.. Van
Dykes shirt was open at the throat
and he wore smoking jacket. In
other words, he was husband home
from work and very happy to be in ar
atmosphere that was easy. relaxed and
so informal that you felt like never
going away from there. tAnd darned
near didn't, if that means anything
to anybody
After corned beef and cabbage, life
at the Van Dykes moves into what
must be one of the most amazing
rooms in the world 1t is the direc.
tors den Symbols of the activities
SO varied that Mr.. Van Dyke is prac-
tically already legend cover virtually
every inch of the pine-paneled room
Most conspicuous of them are the
horns and antlers of big game that got
in front of Mr.. Van Dykes guns all the
way from the Arctic to Africa And
back! Those are on the walls, of
course. On the floors are the skins
OF such animals as did not provide
antlers, horns or other hangable fea-
lures. The number and variety of
them is such that if we ever were lost
in an African jungle We should feel
perfectly safe on the theory that all
the wild animals native to the place
were lying dead out at the Van Dykes
As one might expect, there is one
corner of the room that looks like
an arsenal.
Want to see my guns?" Mr.. Van
Dyke wants to know. We wanted to
See the guns, particularly the elephant
gun, the one of which he seemed most
proud. So he grabbed the elephant
gun out of its rack and handed it
to us. An elephant, it turned out
kould not be heavier than the gun, a
>Sble-barreled affair with enough
ID in it to put the steel industry
dck on its feet.
While we were struggling to look like
q chap who poked elephant guns out
OF his bedroom window and picked
the big beasts off like flies, Mr.. Van
Dyke discussed the difficulty of shoot
ing the animals. He's never shot one,
incidentally; the elephants being away
somewhere when he was in Africa
making Trader Horn"
Ever see a cartridge for an ele-
phant gun?" Mr.. Van Dyke was
curious to know
No" we said, "but we have feel
ing we are about to-"
Right" said Mr.. Van Dyke and i'm
mediately we saw something that
looked like a torpedo.
Il keep the ammunition around so
could kill any elephant that walks
into the yard says Mr.. Van Dyke.
It is (even If it sounds rude) a bit
startling that Mr.. Van Dyke can find
hi ~ iv.e -, leo t.