davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1943-07-11
All, the Significant!
BY Jay Carm ody

Not helpful to the reviewers Is
their recent experience with Mis-
sion to Moscow" Not more than
mere handful Of them came out
Of that experience with their pro-
fessional facades intact. 1t, too,
was a motion picture fraught with
significance and majority OF the
reviewers overlooked that fact.
When they neglected to point out
that fragrant propaganda quality of
the picture, or failed to detect it
while being carried away by the
meditations of Ambassador Davies
on collective security. some brash
commentators dared to question the
competence of the motion picture
reviewers. That. of course, had
been done before but on q rather
limited scale and with a petty re-
luctance for mentioning names.
This time it was vociferous and per-
sonal and some Of the professional
critics were a little confused as to
who the blank was the critic around
here, anyway.
The whole experience was dis
concerting. Some OF the more
adroit members Of the profession
eased themselves of the spot as
best they could by second-guessing
their original opinions OF Mission
to Moscow" Others just sat there
dazed by the experience OF being
criticized as if they were Lana
Turner or a Hollywood quickie.
Shakiness Is Logical
If they still are a little shaky as
For Whom the Bell Tolls" ap-
proaches, it is not to be wondered
at
They are not made easier in their
minds by the circumstance that
Hemingway's novel Of the Spanish
civil war has been in controversy
because it. expresses a strident opin-
ion on the conflicting political phi
losophies and politicians Of Spain.
There have been reports that Gen.
Franco made representations to the
State Department that Hemingway
was heckling him and that he,
Franco, did not like it. The au-
thenticity of these reports has been
questioned by cynics who think
everything associated with the mo-
ton picture industry is inspired by
the publicity department. Para
mount publicity department, COM
posed Of some men of noble skill in
fomenting controversy, is no more
suspect of this fault than any other.
1t merely happens to be the one
involved in the case of "For Whom
the Bell Tolls"
Whether or not there is any truth
in these rumors, they were sup
ported for a long period after the
picture was completed by other ru-
mors Of retakes, or changes, In the
original. No one ever explained
what the changes were, II any, or
why they were made.
They represent that many more
significances for audiences and
! critics to be on the alert for on
Wednesday night.
Evening star., 1943-07-11

Barrymore in The Constant Wife. T"
Smith played his first American
movie, '"The Lie" in 1915. 1t was
filmed in New York City.
Back to America after the war,
he starred In Bachelor Father" at
the Belasco Theater and repeated
his role for the screen. Little Lord
Fauntleroy," THE Prisoner of
Zenda" and "The Crusader are the
favorite movies in which he has ap-
peared.
His movieland home, rambling
white stucco, sits on the summit Of
Coldwater Canyon, with the Pacific
Ocean only a few hundred feet from
his fornt door. He arises at 6 every
morning, enjoys reminiscing and
has . camera like memory. He corre-
spends with dozens Of servicemen
here and abroad, reads four hours a
day, drives his own car, smokes a
pipe from breakfast to bedtime and,
on August Z, celebrates what to him
Is far more important than that i'm
pending S0th birthday anniversary.
"On August T." says c. Aubrey,
my wife and I celebrate Al years Of
married life"
Producer Brown, who long ago
dubbed him Mr.. One Take" Is SO
fond Of Smith As = man and an
actor, that he tries to land him
for every one Of his pictures.
mo actor in this business, regard
less Of age, is quicker on dialogue,
Is Browns tribute. II wish we had
hundred grand old BOYS like
him"
a'l's''A 3. = = sal:s As:'n s News
Evening star., 1943-07-11
HOLLYWOOD.

This is an appropriate time to
write few lines about one of Hol-
lywood's favorite heroes. He's 6 feet
inches tall, weighs 1874 pounds, is
straight as a ramrod, has a per-
petual twinkle in his deep-set blue
eyes-and he's 80 years old!
BY name, he's c., Aubrey Smith,
dean of Hollywood's featured actors,
an affable but dignified fellow, loved
and respected by all with whom he
comes in contact. And C. Aubrey
comes in contact with many peo-
pie, for he is seldom idle. In perfect
health and teeming with energy
and ambition, he appears in more
movies than top-featured players
many years his junior.
Physically and mentally, G. Au-
brey doesn't seem a day over SO.
He's right in that Hollywood groove,
too. His favorite attire is striped
blazers: red, blue and gray striped.
Other outfits combine orange, blue
and green. Still others blend white,
yellow, red and green. There's even
a tie to match each of theta.
Only thing this grand veteran Of
the stage and screen is sensitive
about is age. He doesn't want to be
mistaken for an OLD man. After
a hard days work on picture,
what would you expect an 8o-year-
old actor to do? Go home to bed?
Not G. Aubrey Smith. He hurries
through dinner and over to the
Beverly Fills courts, where he en-
cages In . session Of bowling on
the gfoen with soTno Of his cronies.
Evening star., 1943-07-11

Wednesday night in New York,
those miscellaneous people who at
tend gala premieres OF motion pic
lures will see For Whom the Bell
Tolls" Shortly after midnight they
will gather in little groups in their
favorite whisky and griddle cake
shoppes to discuss the most pub
licized motion picture since Gone
With the Wind"
The critics, meanwhile, will put
on their most tortured expressions,
sit nervously In front of their type
writer's, and watch time slip around
the clock while they try to put their
reactions into words before their
headlines.
For Whom the Bell Tolls" will be
a difficult picture to review. Ernest
Hemingway, author Of the original,
is a significant fellow. Paramount
in making the picture, is significant.
too; not that it is insignificant at
other times. The cast is full Of
significant actors and Sam Wood is
a significant director. The story, Of
course, is the basically significant
element from which all the other
significances stem.
The Significant Is Rare.
1t is bad for reviewers when Sig
nificance comes into their lives.
They deal so regularly with the triv-
ial and the uninmportant. They de-
velop nice techniques for giving lit
tie pictures made by little men the
quick and deadly brushoff. Their
brains grow f1abby and they are
usually out of condition when they
are pitted against sinewy stuff.
They wished they had lived better
lives, say like the fine little charac-
ters who make such tinkling music
in story by William Saroyan.
Their remorse would surprise a
great many people, composed as it
is of a pathetic yearning to be just
and adequate, concise and clear If
only this one more time. t-
Furtive notions of hating Holly
wood will dart through the mind
Why does it start playing around
with literature and ideas instead Of
sticking to its little boy-meets-girl
fables which have brought it fame,
fortune and more swimming pools
per capita than Henry Wallace ever
dreamed?
Now is not a time for remorse or
animosity. Now is time to write
a review. And 1t is a short time and
a long review. 1t took years for
Hemingway, Paramount, Gary Coop
er and Ingrid Bergman to shape
the thing for the reviewers-al-
though primarily for the public.
And the reviewer must dispose of it
in few minutes. 1t is sad world,
and reviewing is sad business, and
Wednesday night will be one of the
saddest nights in the lives of the
heirs to the mantles of Shaw,
Huneker, Hammond and the other
masters of the past who, in their
turn, lived identical moments Of
anguish
Evening star., 1943-07-11

likes best to remember his aSsocia-
tions with George Bernard Shaw.
A great etching of Shaw by Walter
Title occupies the honor spot in
Smiths den. The personal tnscrip-
ton from the great playwright to
the actor reads:
II disclaim the nose, which is
pudgy. Mine isn't. I confess the
rest
&C. BERNARD SHAW, 25-5-28."
This goes back to the days when
Smith was secretary to the Stage
Society of London. They were put
ting on Shaw's "The Admirable
Bashville." Smith was a policeman
in the play. He asked Shaw's per-
mission to play him as an Irishman.
Then, by means of wig and make
up, he transformed himself into q
facsimile Of Shaw.
Back to Early Days.
when appeared on that stage"
he said, his blue eyes sparkling in
the recollection, II received tre-
mendous ovation. The audience
thought they were seeing the author
himself. And no one enjoyed the
joke as much as GBS."
Since his first professional stage
appearance in historic Hastings,
England, In 1892, Smith has played
with practically every stage and
screen name In theatrical history.
He was with Forbes Robertson in his
farewell revival of The Light That
Failed" He was with Mrs. Patrick
Campbell in The Second Mrs. Tan
quersy' and Warp and Wool" In
this country hs ap0earsd With 1thsl
Evening star., 1943-07-11
So You Think
War Pictures
Are Passing
HOLLYWOOD.


II you've been under the impress
sion Hollywood has thrown the
brakes on war pictures and gone all
out for comedy, musical and other
"escapist" themes. check on this
weeks production schedule COM
pletely upsets the dope.
A tour Of the sound stages reveals
the same old pattern. The Marines
are in the Solomons, tank forces
in North Africa, Flying Fortresses
over the Ruhr and one studio is
about to film the year-old raid on
Toxic. Parachutists. buck privates,
two more Russian films and a pair
of psychological treatments of Hit
Ter and Hirohito and their gangs
comprise other fiery subjects max
ing up 81 OF As pictures facing the
cameras.
Stopping in front OF stage IA at
Warner Bros, We find a freshly
brushed, three-color paint job "Ab-
solutely no visitors" They mean
business this time The set Of "Des-
tination Toxic" Is closed to the
press. A lot Of the picture is regard
ed As q naval secret, some one in
authority explains to us, adding in
a whisper "a lot Of things are hap
pening inside there that the public
isn't supposed to know about yet"
However, you can get a pretty
good idea OF what's going on in
the Pacific by just standing outside
that stage door and visiting with
the players and technical experts
as they come out for a breath of
fresh air and a smoke between cam
era setups.
It's submarine stuff, with Cary
Grant playing the commander and
John Garfield one of the crew.
Comdr. D. w. Walker, captain of
the famous underwater marauder
that sank 20 Jap ships on one pa
troll and won presidential cita-
ton, is on hand to see that Grant
doesn't bark the wrong orders or
that Garfield doesn't pull the wrong
lever.
There's one thing that makes
us feel good" says Comdr. Walker.
"Our weapon-I mean our subma-
rine-is the best weapon of it's kind
in the world. Better than the Brit
ish, better than the German, far
better than the Jap. Our craft Is
designed for long-range fighting,
for two-month cruises. So we're
better in the Pacific than anywhere.
We get 'em every time"
The yarn the commander tells
best Is the one about leaving 5000
Japs to drown north Of New Guinea.
Grant and Garfield have had him
tell it over and over again, at least
IS times to date.
Released by the North American
Newspaper Alliance. Ine.)
Evening star., 1943-07-11
British Public
Follows Its
Secret Heart
By Russell Landsfrom.
LONDON.

LolNbSN.
The British public, in this war,
has upset the rules, ignored the
critics. and picked its own shows,
good or bad, precisely as it pleased.
While many argue about what the
theater needs, inveigh against re-
vivals and farce, and scold equally
the writers of escapist shown and
the "propagandists," the people
simply lined up at the box Offices.
Few dare now to stick out their
necks prophetically.
A mediocre production Of Rose
Marie" ran for nearly a year in one
of London's largest theaters, but
Paul Vincent CAROLS Shadow and
Substance" in smaller house,
lasted only a few weeks. Flare
path" a comedy drama of the RAF,
and Men in Shadow" melodrama
of occupied France, Topped in New
York. yet each has been running
here for almost a year.
Old-timers such as Rose Marie" +"
The Chocolate Soldier" Show
Boat" THE Merry Widow" The
Vagabond King" Blossom Time"
The Student Prince" and "The
Count of Luxembourg" owe their
success to nostalgia loyalties as
well as-in some cases. anyway-to
the quality of the music. With that
in mind. some students of the
theater theorize that high favor
awaits the craftsman who presents
new musical romance, with a
modern setting, but devoid of sub
tleties.
The general tendency to 60
through the morgue has prompted
lot of gags. 1t is said. for in
stance, that revival of "Abie S
Irish Rose" is inevitable. Well,
Potash and Perlmutter" is coming
and that's close.
Old actors have come out of
retirement to fill the gaps left by
young artists called into the serv-
ices; strapping women of outmoded
experience have been summoned to
duty in provincial musical shows;
some of the romantic tenors en-
gagged for London productions would
At more suitably into mellow avun-
cular roles.
1t is not surprising, then, that a
Londoner, noting what he thought
was a dwindling number of buskers,
those ragged. pathetic and fire.
quently idiotic street performers
who try to wheedle coins from
theater queues, commented, May
be you'll find most Of them in new
shows"
Thus the boom continues, along
the Rialto and in the outlands.
Nearly 20 productions are "queuing
up" in the provinces, waiting a
chance to get into the West End.
{See I,ANDSTROM Page CRY
Evening star., 1943-07-11
Thought for Moderns

(See PERRY, Page C-S)
Evening star., 1943-07-11
By Laurence Perry
NEW YORK.

NE w oIbA.
Some day the stories will be told
Meanwhile, backstage happenings
on Thornton Wilder's dynamic fan
tasy, "The Skin of Our Teeth" up
to the recent departure Of the three
original characters, must remain
unchronicled.
1t is known that the play had
curious mental effect on audiences.
Aside from its controversial quality
1t exerted a more immediate influ-
ence upon auditors. They either sat
enravished and enthralled or
stormed to the box Office and de-
manded their money back. Now, 1t
seems, members of the company
shared in the emotional effects of
this Pulitzer Prize winner. So much
so, am advised, that had scene and
incident behind the curtain been
substituted for the play itself there
would have been no loss of exciting
entertainment value. Quite the con-
trary, indeed.
But all that is past now. Peace
reigns backstage and the prevailing
complacency of the players is re-
f1ected in the Office of the producer,
Michael Myerberg. While he likes
to see actors and actresses dwelling
together in amity, his present mood
of equanimity is perhaps less due to
an existing concord among his hired
hands than to an improved aspect
on the counting room ledger.
1t may surprise you to know that
despite its run to full houses going
on eight months the comedy has
paid greater dividends in fame than
in lucre. With takings averaging
up to the hot spell Of weather-some
S23, 900 weekly, its weekly profit was
less than $4,000 A few details easily
explain the discrepancy.
Both Tallulah Bankhead and
Frederic March had contracts call
ing for payment of 10 per cent of
receipts. Thus, on the basis of a
$23 900 intake, $4,600 went to the
two stars. The theater got 80 per
cent, the author 10 per cent-in all
so per cent outlay week after
week. Out Of the remaining 40 per
cent the producer had, of course,
other salarieS-several Of them siZ-
able-to pay, together with various
other expenses When you consider
that plays such as Watch On the
Rhine" and The Little Foxes" re-
turned some $1,000 net each every
week it will be grasped that the
ownership of a prize winning smash
hit comedy need not necessarily
mean a gold mine.
Evening star., 1943-07-11
HUMPHREY BOGART.
Bogey Growls Genuinely
HUMPHREY BOGART.

The change Of pace and type be-
gan with the stage version Of THE
Petrifed Forest"
II fooled Hollywood" says Bogey,
into thinking 7 was tough guy.
I went to a barber shop on Eighth
avenue in New York and had the
patent leather hair hacked off. The
barber recognized me as the boy
juvenile and at first refused to do it.
I grew beard, which was swell be-
cause I'm a lazy man and hate to
shave" He came to Hollywood to
appear with Leslie Howard and Bette
Davis in the movie version and has
been a more or less tough guy in
subsequent films, even when he is on
the right side of The law. Currently
on the screen in Action in the
North Atlantic" Bogart has now re-
turned to the type of role he loves
best: a heel in Conflict" He was
recently suspended for refusing to
report for work on this picture.
Just a Tired Actor.
II had nothing against the pic
ture," he tells me, but I did A
weeks without a break, IL of them
in the sandstorms and heat OF
Brawley (for Sahara, and I ex-
pected a four week vacation. Then
I had expected to do Passage to
Marseilles.' Suddenly they threw
Conflict at me- So I took my wife
and went to my boat at Balboa and
sat there, and Warner sat where he
sits, and when I got sick and tired
of the vacation (after six weeks I
came back, was greeted with open
arms by the studio and started
work in Conflict
Bogart's boat, by the way, is a 30
foot number. Warmers" he says,
made it grow to so feet. Hollywood
people can't have anything simple.
have small house and no pool.
I'm strictly an across-the-p -pool-and-
out guy; not lengthwise. just across.
And toy for an hour before going
in when it's cold!"
/ ought to mention that our talk
has taken place during lunch at the
Lakeside Golf Club where" says
Bogey, Il go to get away from in
reviewers" He has lunched here
every day for the past two years
and has had the same lunch every
day-a dry martini. bottle of beer,
eggs and bacon and green salad.
Released by the North American News
paper Alliance, 1nc,)
Evening star., 1943-07-11
By Sheilah Graham

HOLLYWOOD.
"You go along in life, you marry,
you're not spit upon by the ladies,
then a bald-headed man looks at
you and says: You know something?
You got sex appeal I've been 60
ing along for 43 years and they sud-
denly discover I've got sex appeal" !"
says Humphrey Bogart, until re-
Gently one Of the toughest of the
tough guys Of the screen.
We are discussing the romantic
build-up promised him by Jack
Warner Of the Warner Bros studio.
And to say that Bogart is against
the idea is to put it much too mildly.
"In the first place." says Bogey,
ct know lot of fellows who can do
1t better than can. In the second,
my audience is among the 100000
men in the Army and Navy who like
1t better the other way. When the
studio builds up something they like,
why do they change it?" 1t seems
that when Bogart made love to In
grid Bergman in "Casablanca" a new
and female audience was tapped and
they are now clamoring for Mr.
Bogart, the lover, as well as Bogey,
the screen tough guy. THE whole
thing is silly" he says, but what
the hell. You get paid for it."
A little adroit delving and find
out why Bogart would prefer to cut
out the romance from his movies
and private life.
II don't like working with wom-
en-" he tells me. II have more fun
with Just men. Danes mess things
up. They take too long to make up,
and they're never ready for the
scene. Besides, I prefer to make
love in private. I haven't yet gotten
over my inhibitions. It's never sat
isfactory anyhow for the screen, no
matter how pretty the dame is.
There are 40 people out in front
watching you, her lipStick comes off
end you have to wait until she gets
it on again. You're just about to
get into the clutch when the director
s2ys, Cut You start again, and
then you stop because you didn't
keep her face in the light. If I
have to make love to DANES in pic
lures I'll do it, but only as busi-
ness proposition"
Qualified Statement.
Even in private life Bogart doesn't
feel the same way
I'm all for striking out all wom-
en-" he asserts, except my wife"
To which Mrs. Bogart adds a loud
and clear amen"
Searching for motive behind Mr..
Bogart's words, I made some find
ings.
Il was stage hero at the age Of
21," he says. Il had patent-leather
hair and made love to Mary Boland
In The Cradle Snatchers.' I in
trigued a lot of elderly ladies who
didn't like their husbands and who
hoped they too would get gigolo to
admire them" His first chance to
act was with Grace George in "A
Ruined Lady" Other plays include
Meet the Wife" "A Most Immoral
Lady" and Its a Wise Child" In
all OF these he was the boy who
made love to the girl.
Evening star., 1943-07-11
Wilder Play Begins to Pay

Things are much better now.
Both Miriam Hopkins and Conrad
Nagel are engaged on q nat salary
basis and when the show goes on the
road, as 1t will, probably IN the fall,
Mr.. Myerberg will begin to reap
where previously he merely cleaned.
With motive more honorable than
mere curiosity we dropped into the
Plymouth recently to see what-and
how-Miss Hopkins was doing with
the role of Sabina, the timeless par
lor maid, left vacant when Tallulah
Bankhead retired to her Connecticut
farm. In our opinion she Is doing
very well, indeed. She is-we think
-effecting the transition between
burlesque and honest drama more
subtly than did her predecessor
when we viewed her performance on
the first night Of the play.
Where, as it then seemed, Miss
Bankhead's abandoned rendition
threw the play out of focus, making
it something of a personal vehicle.
Miss Miriam integrates herself more
subtly into its structure. Art. there
fore, is the better served and We
would be surprised II Maj. Wilder
does not think so, too-provided he
has seen his play under the new dis
pensation.
1t was a trying night for Miriam
Hopkins, as for all in the cast and
as for the audience, too. 1t was tor
ridly hot, the refrigerating plant
had gone kaput because Of non
delivery of ice and two elderly ladies
asleep in the front row throughout
most of the play left Sabina in .
state of mind when the final cur
tain fell where she could easily have
yielded to gibbering hysteria. But,
like the gallant little trouper she is,
temperament was kept on the right
side of the border line as she talked
about her immediate future.
Her contract, as perhaps you
know, calls for an eight-week en-
Evening star., 1943-07-11
Landlubber Laurel
Gets a Nickname
BY the Associated Press

BY the Associated Press
HOLLYWOOD.
Laurel and Hardy were among the
first to make the Caribbean camp
tour, in November, 1941, and Laurels
nickname from the trip has stuck.
Laurel, the small. fearful men,
Der of the comedy team, hates fly
ing, and as there we're 10 flying
hours on the trip, he was in bad
way. Hardy dubbed him "Winslow,
pun on a cartoon strip character
noted for his daring and adventur-
GUS spirit
And Winslow it is.
Evening star., 1943-07-11
Coming Attractions

NATIoNA-"Jane Sylvia Sidney starting
night
Burlesque" with Barbara StanwycA and
Michael OShea starting Thursday.
COIUMBIA-"Stormy Weather" with Ethel Waters.
with Randolph Scott and Glenn Ford;
starting Friday.
KEITHs-"Mr Bgg" with and Donald oConnor:
starting Thursday.
Eisenens start
ing Wednesday,
METROPOLTTAN-"Whats BuZzn, Cousin with Ann Miller;
starting Friday
PAIACE-Coney Betty Cradle and George Mont
gamery; starting Thursday
Evening star., 1943-07-11

When Deanna Durbin's new film
hits the screen, the foreword will
read:
The foods. drinks, clothes, shoes,
rubber, gas and other articles con-
sumed or used in this picture are
purely imaginary and have no re-
lation to any actual foods, drinks,
clothes, shoes, rubber, gas or other
articles Of today, rationed or unra-
toned. Any resemblance Is purely
accidental. This is fable OF the Gay
before yesterday"
Evening star., 1943-07-11

(See LANDSTROM, Page C-8.)