Evening star., 1943-04-05
BY SHEILAH GRAHAM,
HOLLYWOOD.

I1oLL WooD.
Harry Ritz is just going to eat a
succulent steak in Never a Dull
Moment when he turns to the
audience (yoU and says, Don t
get excited, folks, it's only prop!"
AS usual, when I ask the funny
member of the Ritz brothers team
for the plot of the movie, he acts
the whole thing out for me from
beginning to end. I gather from
Harry that the trio are three hungry
vaudevillians who walk into an
empty Office they think is an en-
ployment agency. But it turns out
to be a front for some gangsters.
They are just making themselves
comfortable for the scene I happen
to see) when call comes in.
Harry answers the phone, while
his brothers make faces over his
shoulder (their method of showing
their thoughts. The voice at the
other end wants three good men.
It's for a murder job. But Harry
thinks it's merely the old routine
job OF numbering an audience
We're just the men you want" he
gurgles. I'VE killed them in Du-
luth, we slaughtered them in Philly.
And in St. Louis we got the keys
to the city"
IT'S the best movie we've had in
years" Harry tells me after the
scene is canned It's story with
plot"
I think he's got something there.
The boys were amusing in their
early films. They failed. in my
opinion, when their movies were
strung together with gags only.
Following this film they are plan
ming another trip to Army camps
here and abroad.
What happened to me yesterday
shouldn't happen to dog" says
Judy Garland on the outdoor set
Of Girl Crazy" "I got here at 8
in the morning, sat around in the
broiling sun, l was hungry, no one
told me when lunch was called
Then at 30 some one said, What
are you doing here, the company
broke for lunch an hour agoI ]
rushed to get lunch, had one bite
and was rushed back to the set. We
did one take then I was told
could 60 home At the gate I was
stopped and the man asked, Where
are you going?' I said I was going
home. You're due for more shoot
it,er 1a tN1I Loo r.
the set, waited one hour. then they
said I was right the first time ano
I could go home. I quit. I said
went home and collapsed" docs
any one still want to be a movie
star?)
Luise Rainer is skipping all over
the set of Hostages" being nice to
every one. She asks the name of
this person and that person, so that
she can surprise them by addressing
them correctly. She poses for a
"still' in a corner of the set. Then
she runs over to the wardrobe girl
to have tear on her dress mended
Then she gets cozy with a girl from
the publicity department who has
some newspaper clippings for her
Luise. in other words, has graduated
from the ranks of the shy introverts
into gay extrovert!
The former difficult, rude Acad-
envy winner twice) is now easy for
a working reporter to interview
I'm glad to be making pictures
again." she tells me. It's about
three years since she was last in
a Aim. Il was so unhappy in my
work and life when I was here be-
FORE" she confesses. But time has
taken care of everything"
And LuiSe bounds away to be nice
to some one else. It takes big
person to realize past errors, ano
to correct them. And Miss Rainel
deserves big hand for the change
in her behavior. I'm told she is
doing a magnificent job in Hos.
tages." And that's the best news Of
all.
Laurel and Hardy are as happy
with their current picture plans az
are the Ritz brothers with theil
new movie. I find the rotund Mr.
Hardy talking to his business man.
ager on the set of "Jitterbugs.
I've always wanted to be a Span
ish grandee," he tells me, "ano
that's what I'm going to be with
my new setup. We're making Dor
Quixote' in Mexico City 1t will bt
in technicolor, and we have un-
limited cash for it. And on the sidf