Evening star., 1941-05-25
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cept to a little coterie of high-brow
music lovers.
Crosby's only irritation is over
the occasional canard that the break
in his voice is a deliberate bit OF
business. He insists that he can
no more help it than breathing.
Eddie Cantor has capitalized a
pair of hyper-thyroid or banjo"
eyes, not so important to him now,
perhaps, when he spends much OF
his career over the air, but a main
stay of his early days as a singing
comedian in such well-remembered
smash hits as the Ziegfeld "Follles"
and kid Boots" Cantor also made
his eyes pay dividends on the screen
for many years.
Andy Was Glowing.
More unusual still is Walter Bren-
mans combined cuff and caress from
the hand of fate. Brennan was
gassed in the first World War and
later was respondent to learn that
he must lose all his teeth. When
he got to Hollywood and determined
to break into character roles, he de-
cided to make the best of the in
evitable Now he owns more than
a dozen sets of assorted dentures.
These contribute heavily to his
breadth of characterization on the
screen. Sometimes Brennan has
special plates made for certain roles.
In playing the fanatical Puritan sea
captain in Frank Lloyd's forthcom-
ing picture, based on Gilbert Ga
briels novel, he, for instance. will
come up with hitherto unused set
of molars.
Andy Devine thrust ruler down
his throat while clowning school,
boy initiating a sword-swallower.
Result: The gravel voice. which,
coupled with Andy's tremendous
has made his future secure.
Most important features of Bette
Davis face are her eyes, large and
sensitive. A fire in Betty's home,
during her early childhood, burned
her severely and to the fright of
that ordeal Bette traces much of
her eye-appeal.
Hungry Look Helps.
Mischa Auer has made small
fortune for himself out of comedy
roles because of his appearance
gaunt and starved-looking. MisCha
was a victim of malnutrition suf-
fered when he was a homeless kid
roaming Russian fields after the
Red revolution in 1917. In later
years he remained thin-and funny.
Mischa says he got out of the habit
of eating. To this day he nibbles
like bird at mealtime.
Another beanpole bonus came to
John Carradine, whose haggardness
gives him special distinction among
character actors. Carradine can't
recall missing many meals as child,
but certainly few of them went to
flesh and bone. Standing 6 feet
high, Carradine would have trouble
doing 130 on any set of scales. But
that's all right with him, consider
ing what that hungry look has done
for his bank account.
On the other end, Eugene Palette,
Babe" Hardy, Lou Costello and
Laird Cregar are among present-day
exploiters of a runaway girth, and
the late Fatty" Arbuckle remains a
classic example. Palette was just
another actor until few years ago
when he decided to let his appetite
run away with him. The fatter he
gets the funnier he is to movie fans.
Her Feet Aren't Large.
Adding immensely to Herbert
Marshalls suave and winning per-
sonality is a slight and distinctive
limp in his gait. This is attributed
to a war injury. You may know
about Martha Raye and her cavern
Gus mouth. When Martha became
big stuff at the box office and decided
to go glamorous by rouging out
much OF that opening she hit the
skids so fast it made her head swim.
After two years of night-clubbing,
she's back in pictures again-using
the mouth for its full comedy value.
Many will say Clark Gable can
thank his lucky stars for those ears.
and Garbo for those feet. But those
two claims to fame are myths. Gable
long since has pinned his ears back.
AS for Garbo, her feet aren't excep-
tionally large, never were. She wears
not the lib once attributed to her
by shoeman, but 7-triple A.
Perhaps the record reversal of ma
lures original intentions was that
done for Walter Hampden, when the
distinguished Shakespearean actor
took a role as Big Bear in Royal
Northwest Mounted Police" After
he was cast, it was realized that his
eyes were blue, and whoever heard
of a blue-eyed Indian-especially in
Technicolor? An oculist fitted
Hampden with eye-contact lenses
and before he donned them for each
scene they were filled with caramel
water.
The Observation-Disclosures club is
willing to initiate new member at
any time-but don't 60 scouting
around for an accidentl
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