The Wilmington morning star., 1940-10-03
In Hollywood
BY A U HARRISON

BY PAUL HARRISON
NEA Service Staff Correspondent
~HOLLYWOOD-Miss Anna Stem.
the actress who was ba. hooed
into obscurity after having been a
great star in Europe, nov seems
to be safely launched on a third
career.
Chances r you'll be seeing her
pretty often after this, though not
as 1.-The most alluring beauty and
captivating personality ever to
dazzle and enrapture the screen
world" From now on, she'll just
Observation-Disclosures stuff, usu-
ally as the other woman" Call
it glamor-drammer.
She began it a few months ago
in THE Man 1 Married." Nov
she's in 'Flotsam," che of the
oddly assorted refugees whom
Erich Maria Remarque's story as
sembles in Vienna in 1887. She
runs a shooting gallery at the big
amusement park and is in love
with Fredric March, a political
fugitive escaped from a Nazi con-
c%entration camp. When Eric Won
Stroheim discovers and chase
March, Miss Stem halts thu heavy
with n of her little rifles. She
also has the only song in the pic
ture. She likes the role.
DOESN'T HAVE
TO WATCH DIET
Miss Stem talked about these
things over a luncheon plate
that would have brought envious
Whlmperings from IN e average
actress. Avocado, shrimps, mounds
OF dressing, black bread and lots
OF butter. She never diets, and she
looks fine.
She said if l wanted to reduce
| should take up tap dancing. Miss
Stem does a lot of that, mostly for
fun. Her father was a ballet
master in Kiev and she always
has known folk dances and the
more classical forms. But she
never had a chance to dance in a
picture, even while she was a big
name in Europe.
It's plain she still is a little
jumpy about interviews. Anna Stem
got off to a bad start when
Samuel Goldwyn brought her here
in 1884. He spent 500, 900 on her
publicity, and the public and press
assumed a defiant and ~hyrercritic-
al attitude. No actress could have
justified the things the pressagents
said about her.
The beWildered Miss Stem grew
temperamental. Her directors
couldn't even direct her Lecause
she'd play scene only according
to the coaching of her husband.
Goldwyn let her go, but he still
smarts under illusions to his
blunder and her failure. Because
his three Stem pictures, Mama
We Live Today" and The Wed.
ding Night all made money. And
he has commended ever since she
is a good actress.
AT 15,SHE
WON SCHOLARSHIP
She certainly has been a good
trouper. Never complained. The
break with Goldwyn came early
in 1885. In 1886 she went to London
for a picture. Back here, she made
Exile Express" in 1888 for now
defunct Grand National.
Her father, who died in 1922,
when Anna was u, was a Rus,
sian, and she always lived in that
country until she began starring
in pictures in Germany and
France.
Her blue eyes and light brown
hair come from a Swedish mother.
The family had a hard time of
it for awhile. Anna was a slavey
in a restaurant until, at Is, she
won a scholarship to the Russian
Film Academy and frol there
joined a state-endowed theater. In
1880, 81 and '32 sh- was being
acclaimed for screen hits such as
The Brothers KaramaZov," The
Tempest" with Emil J%annings)
and "Trapeze."
She has some relatives in
France to whom she sends money,
and an 88-year-old grandmother
in Russia for whom she has just
done a lot of Christmas shopping.
Miss Stem likes America and
Hollywood and her home with
swimming pool and tennis court.
She still likes making movies, too,
in spite of the bad breaks the
screen has given her. She excited
ly sees all the daily rushes on
"Flotsam," and never is satisfied
with herself. 3
GILL n III