Evening star., 1939-04-14

pIOllU. 1Ilc ~ OllI, 1llClOCllCdAly, Wdo-
just plain proletarian one, nothing
to reduce the national debt when in
come tax day dawns next March Is.
Making Bowie the scene of the
together was no accident. Mr..
Olivier, star of "Wuthering Heights"
which will open at the Palace April
20, had to be there to present a
trophy to the winner of the Wuther-
ing Heights handicap. He came
over from Baltimore where he is
playing this week in mo Time for
Comedy" with Katharine Cornell.
1t looked like an opportunity to kill
two birds with one stone, so the
critics of the two cities were invited
to come along And. if any one does
not think it was better idea than
most publicity departments have, he
never has lived through the effort
OF actually winning daily double.
Interviews, under such circum-
stances. are matters of just one ques-
ton and one answer instead of lots
of questions and an equal number of
answers. Moreover, the question
happens often to be asked by the
chap who normally would provide
the answer, in this case Mr.. Olivier.
Almost always, he beat the scribes
to the point of:
What are you playing in the next
one?"
They, couple of old daily double
winners and consequently obvious
authorities on such matters as the
subsequent winner, would utter their
decision solemnly, and Mr.. Olivier
would listen intently. Then he
would go play his own choice He
ended the program far ahead of his
advisors.
A day at the races with Mr.
Olivier is Illuminating, however, in
other respects than getting the
answers to the questions usually
asked of celebrities or celebrities
to-be. One discovers that he has no
sense of being star, which is by
no means the same as having no
sense. He will get over the first part
of that sentence, of course, LATTER
''Wuthering Heights" for it is pic
ture to make his face familiar to a
public which does not know him as
yet. That he will get over the latter
is seriously to be questioned. He
seems to be a young man with an
unshakable equilibrium.
So far as the public at Bowie was
concerned, Mr.. Olivier was just an
other guy wearing a camel's-hair
coat. They paid no attention to him
and he returned the compliment. It
was very patent he preferred it that
way, that he probably always will.
He is an actor, not glamour boy.
because he wants to be an actor and
has definite desire to be nothing
else. If he were glamour boy, for
instance, one might ask him about
that romance with Vivien Leigh, she
who is Scarlet O'Hara. 1t seems
significant that one does not want
to be so intrusive
Being unrecognized gave Mr..
Olivier just the chance he wanted
to be another Bowie customer. It
permitted him, at the start of the
third race, to climb up on window
sil-Which movie personality
could not do-and witness the start
of race which he could not other
wise have seen. A Robert Montgom-
cry would not have dared. Nor a
Clark Gable. Mr.. Olivier did so be-
cause never a thought entered his
head that it would make him con-
spicuous.
1t is evident that Mr.. Olivier is
an actor in the first few minutes
OF meeting him. There is nothing
about him of the sinister, cruel, |
dark-hearted Heathcliff of 'Wuth-
ering Heights" On the contrary,
he is an easy-going, shy, warmly
friendly person, who appears to be
entirely free from any self-con-
sciousness. Heathcliff was sheer
acting-or yesterday was.
He is, in brief, apparently Just a
young without the ac-
cent-who wants to know what you
have IN the next race and will play