Evening star., 1942-04-19
A First Paper Yankee Licks Hollywood Bugaboos
Michele Morgan First Three Years Arouse
Fandoms Interest Proves Surprisingly Unique
HOLLYWOOD.

Think OF 2s foreign screen per
eoflalities TO come to these shores
In the past 10 years and you car
write flop" after the names Of a
least 10 of them.
The best screen bets Of Europe
find Il tough 70 succeed In Holly.
wood. Language. weight. tempera.
ment and geography rise up u
smack them down.
Not since the sudden zooning o1
Hedy Keisler Lamar TO front
rating three years ago has Ameri.
can fandom been able TO work ur
such enthusiasm over a foreign ar
rival M 1t has In the appearance
OF Frances Michele Morgan. Joan
OF Paris" which R-K-O put into
release q few weeks ago. reveal,
Michele as a unique personality and
one who should 20 far under the
proper direction.
Michele whipped all the usuaI
bueaboos that beset newcomers
from across the bie pond. Her Eng
hsh, after arduous study. has only
a slight trace of accent. Unlike
most of her European sisters. she
doesn't eat ravenously at every meal
and In careful about her weight. She
has displayed no sign OF tempera-
ment. And she has settled down in
Hollywood like a native. even To
planning snd building her own
home in the hills.
Hollywood found out about
Michele Morgan right from sthe
start. She didn't Use the customary
zees and zaires and oo-la-las. She
did not resort TO Il do not under
stand" when she failed TO grasp
every question put to her upon her
arrival about 10 months ago. In
stead. she answered most OF them
In fairly good, II hesitant English.
Just Another Fan.
Interviewers, who had become
used TO struggling with foreign
ladies who perk and pout and
never do learn TO express them
selves, took time out to recover
~
suspected that Michele had started
10 learn the language In 1887, when
she first sighted her career guns
on Hollywood.
A week after reaching town
Michele pronounced Mish-eD at
tended the premiere of THE Great
Dictator" at the Cathay Circle
Theater. The studio secured choice
seats for her and tipped of the
cameramen that their new glamour
star would be among the guests.
Michele attended the event all right
but as Just another movie fan,
not as an ermined movie star. She
arrived alone, slipped into back
seat and the press crew couldn't
locate her.
Unlike the majority of Holly
wood stars OF foreign birth, Mile,
Morgan lost little time in becoming
an American.s Shortly after her
arrival she had applied for her first
citizenship papers. She captured
New York premiere audience by
appearing on the stage and stating
proudly. I'm first paper Yankee" Z"
Even a Sense of Humor.
At about the same time she started
construction on o Hollywood home.
Two months ago she moved In and
the friends who have visited her in
variably gasp as they admire 1t. It's
the most thoroughly American home
ever built by screen star, from its
barn with the hayloft which con-
tains, instead OF hay, studio where
she paints American landscapes from
the window, to the sleigh near the
entrance, the rustic well, the water
ing trough and the rain barrels.
Even such bit of typical rural
Americana as weather-beaten,
slant-roofed structure of which Chic
Sale might well be proud lends a
quaint, If impractical, backyard
touch.
The usual gathering of newspaper
photographers who greeted Michele
at the hotel in New York when she
arrived there TO attend the world
premiere of Joan OF Paris" were
rocked back on their heels in dis
covering that for the first time they
had encountered an actress from
France with a sense of humor.
The lens boys suggested that a
sweater might be just the right thing
for niademoiselle to wear for their
pictures. Michele retired to the
next room and returned in a sweater
"a nice, heavy. turtle-neck affair,
three sizes too large instead OF the
usual two-sizes- -too-small Hollywood
Etylel
Crossed Up Gossips.
On the night OF the day on which
Carole Lonbard's tragic airplane
death was revealed. Michele was
scheduled to fly out of Hollywood
for New Orleans to appear at Red
Cross benefit. The studio imme-
diately secured train reservations
for her. She Cancelled them. Air