Imperial Valley press., 1943-10-29
HOLLYWOOD
BY ERSKINE JOHNSON

more often they fail, and the story
is lost among the shards of broken
hopes that litter the back alleys OF
movie town.
! There was, of instance, the
young man who wrote to a pro-
ducer told of several years eX-
perience with stock companies on
the stage, and enclosed his photo
graph. He said he had just been
told by his doctor that he had only
a year to live.
"All l want" he wrote, lis a
chance to act before the cameras.
Any little part will do-just enough
for me to prove to myself that 1
have what it takes to be a star, be-
fore I die"
1t was a touching request, with
an element of drama that might
appeal to any Hollywoodian. Fur
thermore, the young man was no
amateur, apparently, but a pro
fessional actor, and judging by his
photograph he was handsome. But
the producer was wary. He wrote
back and said that if the young
man would get an affidavit from
his doctor, small part in a picture
was his.
That ended it. The young man
waited a smonth, but finally wrote
confessing the whole thing had
been a hoax. 1t was just that he
wanted a chance n pictures so
very, very much.
P. She did not get the chance.
FAKE PUBLICITY
Bob Cummings arrived at screen
stardom by way of two neatly
executed hoaxes, one of them rath-
er elaborate. He went to Eng
land, made study of the accent,
and had a printer set up numerous
phony clippings about Bryce
Hutchins, leading juvenile of the
English stage. Hutchins was the
stage name he had decided to
take. He also bribed a theater
flunky to set the name in lights on
London marquee. He photo
graphed this and began bombarding
New York producers and editors
with pictures and clippings.
Then he returned to New York
and had himself interviewed-in
character, of course. 1t was no
time until he had landed the juv-
emile lead in q Broadway play. In
fact. the hoax had worked so we'll
that he let Margaret Lindsay in on
it. and she worked it with equal
success.
Coming to Hollywood, Cummings
heard that Producer-Director King
Vidor was looking for a young
Texan to play the juvenile lead in
so Red the Rose" Vidor is a
Texan himself, and must have been
hard to fool. But Cummings draWl-
ed himself into the job-as the
genuine article.
Harold Lloyd crashed pictures by
smearing makeup on his face and
walking through the gates OF a
studio with a crowd of extras at
lunch time. Then he walked onto
set and mingled with some extras
in front of the camera. He did this
for eight days, hand running, until
director singled him out to do a
bit part. He clicked, and when the
time came to pay him, it was found
that his name wasn't even down on
the list, an oversight" that was
quickly adjusted.
What with Central Casting and
the Screen Actors Guild, of course,
the Lloyd trick couldn't be worked
today.
More recently, bright young
man who has since become one of
Hollywood's best directors (and
whom we wouldn't want to embar-
rass by mentioning his name here)
arrived in Los Angeles as a deck
hand on ship. He came to Holly
wood and let it get around that he
was the son of British lord, work.
ing as a sailor for lark. Socially
conscious Hollywood began to lion
ize him, and having become pals
with the right people it was no time
at all until he had sold his first
screen play-but strictly on its owen
merits.
The town loves a good hoax, pro-
vided it is backed by real talent
and doesn't hurt anybody.