The Wilmington morning star., 1940-10-26
In Hollywood
Nv PAUL
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NEA Service Staff Correspondent

HULL WOOD.-T du1 NULL l1CV>
er reads movie stuff, so it will
cause him no embarrassment if
l say what I think of him.
I think he's an awfully nice guy.
Shy, amazingly introverted for an
actor, jittery, and rather painfully
idealistic. For instance, he not
only breads interviews but can't
bear to read about himself. He
worries so much about his acting
that, after viewing a silent make
up test, he never sees a foot OF
the film. :.
Watching the rushes would only
make him dissatisfied and upset,
so he works hard in preparation,
goes through each scene as many
times as a director will permit,
and hopes one of the takes may
be acceptable.
MUM has just finished "Hud-
sons Bay Company at 20th-Fox.
This is an adventure story, a sort
of sub-arctic western which
scarcely calls for his type of finely
shaded histrionics. Yet he worked
at it as if it were a "Pasteur' or
a "Zola," going over each line
again and again with a recording
machine at night, experimenting
in tempo and infection and mood.
DOESN'T READ
REVIEWS
I still don't know why Mum con-
sented to see me, but he was as
cordial as anybody I've ever Wis
tied. We sat by the pool on his
isolated valley ranch and talked
about dogs, New York, movies in
general and his break with War
ner Brothers. But very little about
his work. That's for others to
appraise," he said. II don't want
to appear either boastful or mod
est"
What interested me most was
discovering that Paul MUM doesn't
know what people have been say
ing about him. In matters of Hol-
lywood opinion and publicity, he's
as naive as Baby Sandy. I'll stake
both my tipping fingers that he's
totally unaware ever of having Of
Tended a correspondent with his
aloofness or that anyone consid-
ers him a maddeningly meticulous
eccentric.
It isn't temperament or affecta-
ton that makes him behave the
way. he does. It's a single-track
mind. For example, he said, 1T
would be impossible for me ever
to produce or direct my own pic
lures"
Termination of his Warner con-
tract was a sensation locally, but
MUM regards it casually. 1t was
simply that they couldn't agree on
stories and schedules, and he does
not i nthe least blame the studio.
He should have been freelancing
all along, as he is ~now-either
doing pictures that satisfied him
or not working at all.
TWO HOUSES
NO SLEEP
Producers have sent him scripts
to read, but he doesn't expect to
work for a few months. MUM is
always rather frazzled after finish.
ing a role, and in speaking of his
homes he told a story that shows
what happens to his nerves.
Before beginning I'VE Are Not
Alone" he had rented his ranch
and bought a big house near the
muting. So he rented a place at
Toluca Lake, near the studio, only
to discover it was hemmed in by
crying kids, bowling dogs a d
chronic party-givers.
After enduring those for awhile
and getting pretty haggard from
arising sleepless with the dawn,
he rushed out one evening and
went to a hotel. They put him
next to an elevator shaft. About
2 a.. M, a half-dressed and half
crazy MUM stormed into the lobby,
paid his bill and rushed off to the
studio. On a rickety couch in a
chilly dressing room, he flung him
self down under a topcoat.
Movie star, indeed!" he re-
Elected bitterly. I've worked hard
80 years for comfort and security.
Now, practically in my dotage,
I've got two fine homes, a rented
house and considerable money
yet I'm { disheveled, shivering,
wreck Not for all I possess could
l buy four hours of rest"
Pretty soon he got to laughing
about it. Then he f t better and
slept. 2