Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1945-04-06

with a haunting 4 y
performance in =
1.-THE Women loan Fontaine
Joan has fire.
quently been a storm center, and
most always towns gossip CONVEX
sation piece.
Joan, when she wants to be, can
be witch right out of Macbeth"
She once said: II express my feel
ings by action. I have a frightful
temper, and I can fly into RACES
about almost anything that gets on
my nerves at any time of day or
night"
Surprise, Surprise!
The big news of the moment is
that she went through one whole pic
ture without once losing her temper.
That was 1.-THE Affairs of Susan"
for Hal Wallis at Paramount.
Producer Wallis, a wise man Che
must be-anyway he won q Oscars
during l0-year period), provided
Joan with everything an actress
could set her heart upon. She had
not one but four leading men
George Brent, Dennis O'Keefe, Don
De Fore, and Walter Abel. In the
picture each of these men falls in
love with her and wants to marry
her.
In 1.-The Affairs of Susan" Joan
played her first comedy role, and
that scared her, she confided to me.
Says I to her: you've got one Of
the finest comedy directors in the
business-Bill Setter. He knows
more than many of our supposed
big shots, whom he's taught all they
know, but can't remember because
their hats are now too high for them
to balance the hat and the brain
underneath 'em. So with Bill just
let yourself go. He'll carry the ball
over the goal line, and you'll get the
credit" She did, and now says, Il
prefer comedy to those droopy roles
I've been playing"
It's Contagious
But it wasn't always sweetness
and light with Joan. On her last
picture, the 100000 "Frenchman's
Creek" there was more than a little
trouble between her and Arturo De
CordOva, the technicolor pirate.
Joan was very unhappy on that one,
and when Joan's unhappy every one
within shouting and shooting range
is apt to be unhappy, too.
All due to a misunderstanding of
the language. He apologized, she
apologized, and they were friends
again.
Many of the reports circulated
about Joan are pure malice. Joan
just never bothers to answer back.
But don't let those things both
er me any more" she told me. Aft
er all, by this time they've said ev-
erything and written everything that
could be said or written about me,
so why explain anything?"
Don't You Believe 1t
The Fontaine-De Havilland ''feud"
rumors, for instance, are part of
the legion of legends about her. Joan
contends there isn't any feud, never
has been one. why" says she, IF
Livvy ever needed help I'd be the
first one she came to, and vice
versa
No, there is no feud, but the fact
that she took the name Fontaine,
and not Livvy's made talk, as Joan
knew it would. She wanted no one
to write story about Livvy's baby
sister, said she. "If l can't win on
my own, being tied to Livvys apron
strings won't help me. So what the
heck! Just call me Joan Fontaine-
or don't call me-
Regarding the reports that she
has trouble with her directors she
answers: ''How's any one going to
undermine a Hitchcock or Cukor
or Bill Setter? It's ridiculous"
Joan is a determined person with
a will of iron. If something comes
up she disagrees with she just plants
herself in the position she intends to
maintain-and she maintains it. Ask
David o. Selznick. He knows
Il was sick of being the sad sack
of the SCREEN" said she. 81 wanted
to play comedy, and now that I've
done it, I'm happier than I've ever
been in Hollywood.
UnknoUn Becomes knoUn
A new guy named Tommy Trout,
six footer, 1876 pounds, appeared at
the studio, asking for job. They
thought he wanted to work as la
borer. Said he, Il want to act" As
a joke, he was sent to Lillian Burns,
Metros coach. After five minutes
with him she phoned the boss, and
said, eff we don't sign him we ought
to have our heads examined" They
signed. He's finished his first, Main
Street After Dark" They swear
from his performance he's been act
ing all his life.