The Wilmington morning star., 1940-07-17
In Hollywood

HOI T.YWOOD-Short takes: It's
heartening to be able to report
that musicals are on the up-beat
again-tap-and-tune shows full +
cuties and nonsense, cellophane
moons and complaints from t n e
Hays G zee. The six musicals al
ready in production are enough to
lift the tempo of the town, and to
obscure somewhat the grim rea-
son for their being.
War jitters brought the demand
for musicals, and for action pic
lures and light comedies, too. At
this writing there ;-e 81 big-sclae
westerns and related outdoor
operas either in production or
ready for release. Metro and
Warmers are racing to start pic
lures about Calamity j; >, wi h
Ann Sothern and Bette Davis an
noun c,d for the character.
The town is having its usual in
f x of tourists, the studios have
issued their sual firm statements
banning all visitors from the sound
stages, and the usual exceptions
are being made. . 4. What may
change the situation this year is
a proposal to charge S. admission,
with the Red Cross collecting the
cash. It's figured that such a stiff
fee would keep down the number
of sightseers and spare the studios
a lot of trouble.
The Red Cross is doing all right
these days. Besides that huge ra-
dio benefit there have ben nu-
merous local projects such as Tay
and Helga Garnett's lottery, which
had only $500 prize, but so many
ticket sales that about $500 was
left over for war relief.
At Ciro's one evening, Lupe Velez
raised $1750 by auctioning off a
dress (not her own, or she'd have
got more than that. :. And at a
party at the Edward G. Robinsons
az New Yorker named William Pal
mer paid $1025 to the mercy fund
for a kiss from Marlene Dietrich.
Palmer exclaimed: This is m y
first visit to Hollywood, and look
what 1 get on my first night out!'
To counteract local gossip col
umn mentions of the all-h o S
night clubbing Of Jackie Cooper,
Paramount has invented myste-
rious double for the juvenile. In
ference is that all the time this
unknown image of the actor S
rounding the gay spots, the real
Jackie is curled up at home with
"a good book. . Rich Howard
Hughes, who for months has been
poised to re-enter movie produc-
ton, has taken out two television
broadcasting licenses. {. What
ever happened to Mayor La
Guardia's campaign to move Holly
wood to New York? Too much
talkie, answers Irving Hoffman,
and not enough movie.
Michael Curtiz was showed under
with work and wanted to break an
appointment with his physician for
a physical examination that after
noon. Call him and tell him l
can't make it," he ordered his
secretary. Tell him I'm not feel
ing WE'LL" Worried about the
unpopularity of war pictures, 10th
Fox has changed the title of I
Married a Nazi'' to THE Man l
Married.. The Norma Shear
er-George Raft romance is just
memory.
Most of the action of "A Long
Voyage Home" takes place on a
freighters at sea, so John Ford has
decided to score the picture with
something more appropriate t h a n
a symphony orchestra. All the
background music will come from
an accordion, and occasional shots
of sailor playing the instrument
will be cut into the picture.
songwriter Harry Revel, indict-
ed for passport fraud in re-en.
tering this country nine years ago,
tells friends he has paid $40, 900
to bogus immigration officials
since that time =. incidentally,
Greta Carlo gave an incorrect
address here in Hollywood while
getting her citizenship papers. The
address is that of her friend and
business agent, Salka Viertel. But
the immigration people knew
about it, SO it's all right. 8