Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-09-05
HOLLYWOOD


A constant reader of this column
might be able to make q list OF the
stars with whom, at one time and
another, I have had some words
during my eight years in Hollywood,
Regardless of personal feelings, l
have tried to write the news OF Hol-
lywood honestly and without preju-
dice. But human nature being what
1t is, doubt whether the follow
ing account of feuds fought, lost or
won will do more than fill in some
details of what you already guess or
know. Only a couple of the fights
were at close range. And even they
were only verbal,
One of the funniest things about
fighting with a Hollywood person.
atty is that you are not always GER
tain of when you have or when you
have not offended him or her. After
writing column that has dripped
with praise you are met sometimes
by a frozen stare, and for rushed off
the set. And when you know you
have been little naughty and ap-
proach the paragraphee with GER
tain amount of trembling you are
as welcome as a cool day In Sep
TENDER!
Cary Grant and have never been
as friendly as we might have been
If this column had omitted men,
ton of his prewar cautiousness in
spending a dollar The local stories
were corroborated by his first wife,
Virginia Cherrill. now the Countess
of Jersey. Came the war and Cary
changed. He gave huge sums to
various war relief projects. This
occurred after the quarrel Cary had
with his then house guest Noel Cow
ard. who had assumed at the begin
ming of the war that Cary would
be going back with him to his ma
tive Britain. Instead of returning
Cary did the next best thing, he
gave large hunks of his salary to
worthy. causes. And these have
also been recorded in this column.
Unfortunately, Cary has only re-
membered the earlier item.
But You Know Charlie.
A short while ago wrote para
graph about how Ella Raines was
under personal contract to Charles
Bower and how he was giving her
lessons in acting, including the love
scenes. All this was learned via the
iady's own little lips. The story was
written with the idea of acquainting
other females with Elias eXtraor-
binary good luck, and of making
them the wee-est bit jealous. But
was Ella happy when she read the
story? She was not What will
Mr.. Boyer Think" she wanted to
know. If I know Charles and I
do, he was delighted with the pub
iicity for the girl whose contract
he has since sold to Universal.
Spencer Tracy and I are now
friends-I think If you remember
he objected a short time ago to
yelled allusion in the column re-
garding his private life. But one
good thing about a spat with Spen-
cer-he comes right to the point
when he sees you. While this IS
alarming for the duration of the
conversation, it clears the air and
you know where you stand and know
what to do to retain his friendship,
which, in his case, was to state IN
print his side of the case.
The worst battle I ever had in
Hollywood was with Constance
Bennett. had put off the pleas
ure of meeting Connie because of
the many stories concerning her
tantrums. But, like lamb going |
to the slaughter, I allowed the pro-
ducer of her last Topper film to |
take me over to be introduced. You |
could see Connie drooling with |
pleasure as she went to work in
some high-grade language on this
wretched columnist. Kind friends
who were present among the 200
or so people on the set told me
afterward I acquitted myself fairly
well, but I still think Connie had
the best of it. And the door was
such a long way off. I had to stand
there with phony smile and take
It! never did find out what had
made her angry. think she was
letting off steam because of the
largeness of the crowd, which is
something no exhibitionist can re-
sist.
Nelson Won't Understand.
My old sparring partner, Nelson
Eddy, has been more or less absent
from the Hollywood scene in recent
years with the exception of "Phan-
tom of tht Opera" so we have not
had occasion to renew the fracas
started way back in 1896, when I
interviewed him and he said he did
not care overmuch for the people
of Hollywood When the story ap-
peared he denied he ever said such
q thing. And I still don't know
why he did this, because lots of
people dislike lots of people, and
it can't be helped.
And that brings me to Marlene
Dietrich, who ceased to be friendly
with this writer after our interview,
in which she stated that she pre-
ferred European for a male COM
panion. Marlene wanted to deny
her conversation after it appeared
in print. However, a representa-
tive of the David Selznick Studio,
for whom Marlene was making
picture at the time, was present
during the talk. I read some time
ago that had described Miss Diet
rich as 80 per cent nail varnish
and 10 per cent animal 1t is an
amusing sentence, but I did not
say or write it.
I once fell afoul of sisters Olivia
de Hayilland and Joan Fontaine, or
rather the latter, for printing what
Hollywood knew already, to wit,
D,;o