Evening star., 1944-01-23
Do Not Believe
All You Hear
Of Cinderella
By Harold Hefernan.
HOLLYWOOD.

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Hollywood. Today the average fan
has been led to assume that all a
producer must do to land a potential
star is drop into candy store and
beckon the girl ELLEN Drew behind
the counter. Or maybe pull up at
the service station and sign the
handsome young man Dana An
drews) at the pumps.
Dozens of these overnight leaps
to fame and fortune are chronicled
every year in movietown. Such dis
coveries make great copy for the
newspapers and magazines. The
ones you don't hear so much about
are the boys and girls who beat
their way up over the hard, rocky
road.
So don't get the idea that movie
ranks are peopled exclusively by
such fortunates as Gail Russell,
Dolores Moran. Alexis Smith, We
ronica Lake, Dorothy Lamour and
Janet Blair-who found the trail
to film success neither long nor
winding but an overnight whirl
For every youngster who takes
over like house afire the first time
on there are five who can testify
to the pain of it all when relating
how they got to the top of the mil
lion dollar heap.
Variety Of Splits.
Nobody waved wand over Gin
ger Rogers, for example. She was
practically brought up backstage,
playing split vaudeville weeks until
she landed in Hollywood. And that's
where real trouble began. For three
years she drifted around from one
lot to another, appearing in good,
bad and Indifferent roles. The
dogged determination of Ginger's
mother forced her to stick and
fight against all obstacles. You know
the rest. Ginger, an Academy Award
winner. recently got a S15OOOo fee
out of Paramount for making Lady
In the Dark"
There's no finer actress in town
than Joan Fontaine. another Acad-
emy Award victor, but Joan faced
and surmounted more handicaps
than the average. From footlight
appearances in Los Angeles little"
theaters she achieved a term deal
at RKO. There she became known
as the official 'B" leading woman of
the studio. Had not David c. Selz-
nick happened to see one of these
performances, as the chaser" on
double bill, Joan still might be
drifting around in bit roles
After "Rebecca" no longer was
she referred to as Olivia De Hay
Hands sister.
Joan's Stock Taking.
AS another who ran the gantlet
Of bits, small roles and eventual
graduation into the stellar ranks,
Joan Crawford can recall many days
of despair.
Joan. a jazz-mad kid who won
cups at Los Angeles dance halls,
bears not the slightest resemblance
to the poised Crawford of today
who is embarking on starring
career at Warmers after a long stel-
lar association with M-G-M. Per-
sonal inventory drove Joan to rad
ical steps. She is a walking ex-
ample of Improvement. Voice
lessons, how to dress, how to act
to all these needed accoutrements
of big-time acting Joan subscribed
herself readily.
Bette Davis was once fired by a
major studio as being too mousey
and dull. How did she become the
tragedy queen" the two time
Academy winner. the reigning
favorite on the Warner lot? By
swallowing the sting of criticism
and pitching in to make herself over
so that nothing of drabness re-
manned.
Bette can recall other days, too,
when she was an usherette at a
summer stock playhouse on Cape
Cod, fighting for the chance to
speak couple of lines in a show.
She can tell you about dingy,
crowded hours trudging from man
ager to manager and, during her
first years In Hollywood, from studio
to studio.
Days Of Studiousness.
For Lucille Ball, that pert bomb
shell OF comedy, there's a tale to
tell. Lucille once was lineup
beauty in New York musicals who
decided to take a chance on film
fame. She cashed in on her ability
to wear clothes we'll. RKO gave her
a stock contract and for a couple
OF years all you'd see of Lucille was
a flash here and there in "B" pic
lures. Meanwhile, she didn't stand
around idle. She took lessons from
a drama coach, travelled to the
opposite side of the country for the
opportunity of emoting in a play
for a week, studied and slowly but
surely found that brittle style that
fans recognize and admire.
&aseleased By North American Newspaper
Alliance. 1nc.)