Evening star., 1944-01-23
Glamour Girls
Grow ReStive
|AndGrOwU Up
By Inea Arvad.
HOLLYWOOD.

Hollywood is maturing. There Is
no more significnt indication than
the present willingness, even eager
ness, on the part Of its glamour girls,
to play character roles, to age II q
part calls for 1t, even to be the
mothers of grownup children.
# that had been the case 5, 10
or is years ago, then Pola Negri,
Anita Stewart, Norma Shearer,
Marion Davies and many others
might still be on top. But it wasn't,
SO what Is there to do about It?
Back In 1892 Norma Shearer
created sensation by wearing old
age makeup for Strange Inter-
lude." This was considered at the
time the most sensational event in
cinematography since Leonardo de
Vinci experimented with the mir
acle of photography. And Miss
Shearer was considered no less dar-
ing as recently as 1888 when she
admitted to being old enough to
have a 7-year-old daughter in THE
Women"
In the past four years, top flight
actresses have kicked over the youth
fetish and have been willing to
portray mature women. The result
has been more realistic pictures with
vital themes, and more exciting and
worthwhile performances.
Path to HonOrS.
This chasm between glamour girl
and character actress has not been
bridged without some pain. Occa-
sionally a star will balk at appearing
before her public in a de-glamour-
izing role But it has been increas-
ingly evident that meaty character
part is not only good box Office, it is
the surest approach to consideration
for an Academy Award
Bette Davis broke the ice. When
she was willing to portray character
parts, no matter how drab, she
created a sensation and has ever
since. watch on the Rhine" packed
wallop because Bette not only
played but looked the part Of the
mother Of three children.
Greer Carson, the flamboyant red
head, has made the character part
something to be sought rather than
evaded. She scored her first success
in the character role of Kathie in
Goodbye, Mr.. Chips" and in Mrs
Miniver" won the Academy Award
as the mother of three children, one
a son old enough to be an Raj flyer
And More Old-Age.
In her new film, Mrs. Parking
ton" due to 60 before the cameras
around February l, she plays Susie
Parkington, for the most part in an
84-year-old makeup job, although
there are flashbacks of her as a
young girl, a matron and a middle
aged woman.
Blunt, forceful Katharine Hep
burn makes no pretenses about her
role of Jade in Dragon Seed" She
is playing Jade in filthy farm clothes
and says, why try to kid anybody ?
This is character part"
Rosalind Russell. who started her
career and had her biggest sue
cesses as wacky comedienne, has
joined the character actress clique
with her preparations to portray
Sister Kenny, the savior of infan-
tile paralysis victims. Claudette
Colbert has none less than glamour
girl Shirley Temple and Jennifer
Jones as her daughters in the new
David O. Selznick picture, Since
You Went Away
Youthful actresses are now coming
into pictures with the idea Of point
ing Their careers toward character
parts. Ann Richards, the 23-year-
old actress from Australia, gets her
big chance opposite Brian Donlevy
in "An American Story" formerly
American. playing an Irish i'm
migrant girl who progressively ages
until she is IS and the mother OF
five children.
Dorothy Lamollr, with Bob Hope
and Bing Crosby. will each be so
in their new film. The Road to
Utopia" It's comedy, of course
with Dottie, Bing and Bob meeting
as oldsters. and then looking back
on the DAYS Of their youth.
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