Evening star., 1944-08-20
HOLLYWOOD Whats 1t Like?
By Infa Arvad.

lit Is hard to find the father-but
those things happen right where you
live, only you keep quiet about it,
whereas whatever a big name does
out here Is told in New York, Palm
Beach and Chicago the next morn
ing.
Helps in War Program.
When the war broke out, many
other industries refused to 60 into
war production without q guaran-
tee of per cent profit. The mo-
ton picture industry didn't hesitate
to pitch in. 1t simply said, Take
anything we've got. anytime you
want It," Nothing is ever charged
against the armed services when
they make training pictures in our
studios, just plain cost, and I mean
cost.
Take, for instance, the Walt
Disney studios, where the armed
services work within the studio. Be-
sides there isn't a studio in town
where training films haven't been
made at sometime or other. Or
take the orientation films, as made
by the First Motion Picture Unit
and such units as that headed by
Col. Frank Capra for the Special
Service Division of the War Depart
ment.
just as essential as training films
are the entertainment pictures.
Our boys and those of the Allied
Army will tramp miles and miles,
or wait hours in the tropical rain
in New Guinea or in below zero
temperature of the Aleutians just to
see picture from home. The new
pictures are shown to the boys
before they have their local open
ings, so when the war ends We are
the ones who have to catch up
with the boys and not the other
way about.
Stories keep on coming back
about the influence pictures have
on boys. Take the impression "The
Song of Bernadette" had on the
front lines in New Guinea. talked
to the chaplain, who returned some
time ago to California, and he told
me that after the picture had been
running two evenings, the next day
was Sunday.
And" said the chaplain. ito my
surprise the attendance at church
had gone up more than 200 per
cent"
Incident in Far East.
Or the evening when marines
were watching and listening to a
movie In which, at this particular
moment, Deanna Durbin was sing
ing Ave Maria"-suddenly an
alert sounded; the lights went out,
searchlights and ack ack made new
sight and sound. The men rolled
peu-mell to the bottom of the ra-
vine. Jap planes hit both ravine
rims repeatedly, but when the raid
terminated and lights went up, not
a man had been injured. On the
screen, the world-famous voice took
up again, as in hymn of thankful
ness, Ave Maria"
Letters from the boys pour into
the studios to thank the executives
for letting the stars 60 overseas to
entertain. Those letters are pathetic,
because of the sheer joy and de-
light in every line.
The hundred of entertainers who
went abroad this year are too nu-
merous to mention, but 1 believe it
Is fair to say that Bob Hope is the
most widely known. Not only be-
cause he can tickle the funny-bone
OF even the toughest soldier or the
worst wounded, but because Bob
has covered more mileage than
any one else. And the only COM
plant I ever heard was that some
boys wrote home and said, Gee!
That Bob Hope show was terrific
but 1t sure makes some of the other
entertainers seem awful drab."
Some are scared to go overseas to
entertain. Take Gary Cooper.
Gary said just before leaving, I'm
am not funny, like Bob, what shall
l say or do?" But after singing
Pistol Packin' Mama" to the troops.
Coop is among the top favorites and
is going back.
Actresses Go Everywhere.
Our feminine stars have joyfully
tracked through mud and dirt in
Sicily, North Africa and New
Guinea, and shivered bravely while
their breaths froze in the Aleutians.
1ngrid Bergman has told Swedish
(See ARVAD, page C-90