The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-05-15
Walter WinchelI
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HOLLYWOOD HUMPTY-DUMPTYI
Hollywood's system Of discovering
star talent Is often done by the
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES method. AL
player will get o thumbs down ver-
dict at one studio and then prove
to be q headline champion at an-
other The average Of funbles
and recoveries at all studios Is even.
The potential stars they drop one
year are borrowed on a second guess
the next year, SO 1t all evens up in
the end.
Sonia Henie was first brought to
Hollywood by Paramount for
screen test. The studio was in a
state Of reorganization, so they
passed up Sonja's test and option
for the sake of economy /. Daryl
r. Zanuck picked her UP for Goth
Century Fox and made her one Of
his biggest money stars u
With her current ice comedy, "Ice-
land" zanuck will have paid her
over one million dollars.
John Payne, who is now co-star-
ring opposite Sonia Henie for the
second time, did one days work in
a year when he was under contract
TO Sam Goldwyn Paramount
and Warner Bros. both tried to de-
velop him and gave 1t up. The fun
bic was recovered by T. g. F., and
Payne Is now one of their top stars.
1t isn't generally known that Uni
versal once gave young actor by
the name of Tyrone Power a role
In tom Brown Of Culver" and gave
him an option on possible con-
tract. This option was dropped be-
cause they didn't think he was star
material. When zanuck signed him
later he was cast opposite Alice
Faye In Sing, Baby, Sing" After
three days in the role, the director
took him out Of the cast and had
him replaced Luckily, the
tumble was recovered by the home
team.
The same studio that made the
above three excellent second guesses
once had a plump, black-haired
dancer by the name Of Rita Can
sino under contract. They finally
dropped her with thud. Columbia
picked her up and gave her thor
ough refurbishing They changed
her name to Rita Hayworth, trimmed
down the weight and changed the
color Of her hair. She was Dor
rowed at a healthy price by goth
Century for my Gal Sal'' and
''Tales of Manhattan"
It was Columbia that first signed
up Gene Tierney. They kept her
under contract for six months and
then decided 1t was no go. Zanuck
took the second guess on Gene and
put her on Hollywood's higher rungs
in leB than a year.
Consider the case of Monty Wool
ley, whose beard was the cause of
his fall and rise Under contract
to MGM fen a couple Of years, the
small bits he played consisted MAIN
1y os French ambassadors because
he refused to shave his beard off
and change character. When MGM
ran out Of French ambassadors in
Then came the stage run and the
its scripts, Wooley was dropped
film of 1.-THE Man Who Came to
Dinner" Now, because of his beard
and his reputation had something
to do with it, too-the Fox Farm Is
starring him in 1.-THE Pied Piper"
Other studios are standing in line
with bearded star roles to offer
him.
Betty Cradle was a tumble on the
part Of Paramount, who gave her a
fair enough buildup via bathing suit
publicity pictures. But in their
films she was the girl you missed
when you sneeZed The New
York stage gave her the buildup in
Panama Hattie, and the Zanuck |
Zoo converted her into high volt
age box office winner.
The old Fox studios built Alice |
Faye into an unsuccessful platinum |
Imitation of the late Jean Harlow.
-. When goth Century merged with |
that studio, Alice was slated for the |
has-been file from which there Is !
no returning. The new regime |
changed her hair back to normal.
took away the clothes that fitted |
her like a frankfurter skin, and |
found that they had normal and |
personable young lady who couldn't
miss Stardom.
pa++a T)avjs was another. star |
whose tumble was due to the per-
oxide bottle Bette was plati-
mum blonde at Universal, unable to
carry off the dizzy roles assigned
to her. Her dropped option was
caught on the bounce by Warner |
Bros. The rest Is film history.
Just before Warmers signed Bette |
Davis, they had young actor to
whom they assigned couple OF
minor gangster roles. He was given |
a vague promise of a contract, If
they could figure out way to use |
him steadily. The verdict Of the
freres Warner was that there |
wouldn be enough gangster roles to
keep the actor busy, so no contract |
MGM signed him up after |
putting him in picture with Joan |
Crawford. He has done pretty well
since then =. His name is Clark |
Gable.