Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1951-08-05
Few Women
Resist Age
In Movies
Old Males Lost
Much Longer on
The Screen
By Jock Quiqq
HOLLYWOOD


The people who make movies
and the people who go to see them
apparently consider old men
much more entertaining than old
women.
That's an obvious conclusion,
easily reached, after studying a.
roster of Hollywood stars prepared
by film trade magazine (Box Of
fice). OF the nearly 70 players
who are so or older. more than sol
are males.
The ladies are outnumbered 10I
to l. In fact, only about 3 per
cent Of the actresses are over so.
Fifty, by the way, is in no way
intended to signify the dividing
line between youth and age. It's
merely an arbitrary marker. How
ever, it does seem to be the dan
ger age when bright feminine
lights begin to lose thier luster.
Beauty Perishable.
Why? Certainly a woman is no
less charming at so than at as,
or IS. but one rather obvious an
swer is that in pictures the en-
phasiS is on flesh. Youth, beauty
and sex appeal are the things that
sell movies. These are perishable
commodities.
Perhaps another reason for the
dearth of mature" woman stars
is that most movies are action
affairS-horse operas. crime mel
odramas, adventure thrillers. The
only important actress in the cast
is heroine for the hero to rescue.
She invariably is a pretty cute
chick.
Even when they bring mature
glamour boy like Ezio PIMA SO,
to Hollywood, do they pair him
with a woman of similar years?
Nope. He gets Lana Turner and
Janet Leigh.
Romance on the screen is sell
dom for ladies with gray hairs.
For male over FILTERS it's an
other story. They still pack a lot
OF romantic wallop. Among the big
names still pitching screen WOO
are Ronald Colman, so; William
Powell, So; Fredric March, So; |
Walter Pidgeon, So; Fred Astaire,
Spencer Tracy and Charles Boyer,
all 81. and Clark Gable, Gary
Cooper and Humphrey Bogart, all
so.
The older woman stars are Ethel
Barrymore, still the queen at II:
Billie Burke, IS; Gloria Swanson
and Judith Anderson, both So;
Spring Byington, So, and possibly
Marjorie Main, whose age is her
own secret.
Males Far Buster.
You will notice that their roles
are chosen very carefully.
There are literally dozens of
male veterans in the same age
group. Most of them keep busy
the year around in a variety of
roles. Here are just a few:
Edmund GWenn and Charles
Coburn, both "a: Lionel Barry
more and Sidney Greenstreet, both |
70; Lewis Stone, II; Barry Fitz-
gerald, SO; Charles Bickford and
Monty Woolley, both 81; Adolphe |
Menjou and Edward Arnold, both
81; Claude Rains and Clifton
Webb, both so; William Demarest
and Gene Lockhart, both SO: Ced-
ric Hardwicke, So; Thomas Mitch
ell, ST; Louis Calhern, Sc; Walter
Brennan, SIS; Raymond Massey,
81; j. Carol Naish and Charles
Laughton, 81. and Rudy Vallee, so.
The men are better money
makers, too. Nine of the top II
box-off1ce champions in the Mo-
ton Picture Herald's poll last year
were males. Two of them, Bud
Abbott and Spencer Tracy, are
past so.
Marie an Exception.
The two women? Betty Cradle
and Esther Williams-good ex-
amples of the type of female the
movies go for.
One exception-the late Marie
DreSsler, star of the memorable
Min and Bill and the "Tugboat
Annie" series.
Marie was really something. She
led the poll in 1882 and 1888, the
first two years of it's existence.
She was more than a money
maker-the critics liked her, too.
She won the best actress" Acad-
envy award in 1881 (for Min and
Bil'D at the age of 81, and is the
only actress to win a top Oscar
at 50-plus.
But even in this department the
ladies are tagging. Lionel Barry
more copied a best actor" award
at So (for "A Free SouD and Rom
81