Evening star., 1939-09-19

Linda Ware. Universal has rhap-
sodized over baby Sandy and Gloria
Jean and Metro Goldwyn- Mayer
has trumpeted the praises of young
Bobs Watson.
Funny thing about it all to many
brilliant lay analyst of child act
ing genius (don't ask us to define
the phrase or identify any one to
whom it applies) is the comparative
silence concerning Virginia Weidler.
For a lot of peoples money, which is
lot different from lot of money,
Virginia can spot any other child
In the cinema stars part and the
undivided devotion of the whole stu
dio staff and still walk away with
any acting honors involved.
The scrawny, imp-faced 10-year-
old just seems to be up against the
fate of so many truly excellent ac-
tresses in Hollywood, namely, being
so useful IN so many ways that she
cannot be spared for glamorization
or buildup. At her tender age, she
is virtually character actress and
so good at it that she asks no handi-
cap from any one when it comes to
dominating a scene. She has dom
mated them against such expert
spotlight kleptomanics as John
Barrymore in "The Great Man
Votes" Mickey Rooney in "The
Hardys Out West" and the newest
sensation, Gloria Jean, in "The Un-
der-Pup." In spite of it all, how
ever, she gets the barest of men,
ton from the hallaujah choruses,
which sing the praises of Holly
woods wares and stars.
The critics, though, love her and
very especially in THE Women" in
which Virgina's competition is tough
to an extreme represented by Joan
Crawford, Norma Shearer, Rosalind
Russell, Paulette Goddard, Mary
Boland, etc.
| X X i
what a Life" Paramount's ar
rangement of the old George Alb
bott hit with Betty Field and Jackie
Cooper in the leading roles, is the
attraction finally selected for the
Earle's screen starting Friday .
It is Miss Fields debut in pictures,
and her debut in pictures should
mean one of the classiest kid
napings from Broadway which
Hollywood has staged in many a
day Those eerie crime tales
of Emlyn Williams which exercise
such a fascination on Robert Mont
gomery that he almost won an
academy award with his perform
ance in Might Must Fall" con-
tinue to hold Montgomery in their
spell He would like to produce
the latest of the lot on Broadway,
an enterprise in which he would
have the cooperation of S. N.
Bahrman Two other bidders
would like to do the same thing,
so it is all on the lap of fate .
which has a pretty full lap these
days Marsha Hunt, Washing
tons ingenue gift to the movies, Is
still more definitely back to a
sound place in the cinema scheme
these days :. This time, and more
permanently and profltably, it will
be in the playing of character parts
-. Yes, even for one so young
In "A Call on the President"
Marsha plays the mother of Tom
Neal Neal, last seen in They
All Come Out" is the older of
the two . Mothers, of course, are
not as old as they used to be
After Larry Clinton, starting Friday
there will come what amounts to
a cavalcade of bands to the Capitol
. Next in line is Phil Spitalny
with all those beautiful, musical
girls . And, after Spitalny, comes
Glen Gray, the tick-tock rhythm
man Noel Coward is another of
its great names snatched from the
stage by the war Mr.. Coward
is attached currently to the British
Embassy in Paris and probably will
remain there for the duration of
the war.