Hollywood Fairy Tale

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19987, 12 July 1939, Page 15

Hollywood Fairy Tale

JILL you boys please demonstrate ''the beauty of real acting—temperament, .sincerity, and deadly precision,’’ said Rouben Mamoulian to a group of players on the "Golden Joy” set in Hollywood, and there ,/.j perhaps a trace oii sarcasm in iiis tone

J'he screening of ClifTorfl Odet’s

...age success marks the conclusion or a tong search to rind the ideal man to play “Golden Boy,” and the discovery of William Holden (his rca. name is William Franklin Beadle, jun.), reads nice one of those Hollywood iairy-taies which are more usually associated with women man with men.

dove ted Role

THE part called for someone who chuld combine skill with the boxing gloves with a gift for the violin, and William Holden has both. The producers wanted a girl to play a part in “Coast Guard,” and looked at the test in which Holden had participated. Mamoulian was impressed by the youth's appearance, and after a further screen test he was given the coveted role. He will make his screen debut with Barbara Stanwyck, whose name over her dressing room door has already been changed to “Mrs. Robert Taylor.” Holden has a fleeting resemblance to Richard Greene, but he is leaner in the face, and the impression soon passes. H e has a piercing blue eye, a wide smile, and an earnest endeavour to succeed in his iirst screen role. He has played only one character part on tne amateur stage, and he is realising that making pictures can sometimes be a tedious business.

Strained Patience

’THE action mentioned was a dra- *■ malic incident after the fight; but so many factors had to be considered that the scene was taken nine times before Mamoulian whs satisfied. Holden had fewer than two dozen words to say: there was a .scuffle between a couple of men, and that was all. But the “deadly precision” for which Mamoulian asked was difficult to obtain. On .the stage, if an actor is inches

New “Ideal Man” Discovered

Anna Neagle Interviewed

Edith Cavell’s Letter

out of position it docs not matter very much, but on the set he is likely to be out of camera range. During a quick scuffle one actor is likely to obscure another from the camera, and the too-sudden closing of a door can “kill” somebody’s vital lines.

For two hours the newcomer and Ihe experienced actors went through their rehearsals, while Mamoulian suggested changes of position, Holden was “sprayed” with perspiration, and a man in a greatcoat sweltered in the glare of the high-powered lamps. Technicians and others sustained themselves with iced water, strained patience betrayed itself in subdued aimless chatter, and through it all Mamoulian watched his players, consulted his camera-man, and finally was satisfied.

“T PREFER portraying on the screen 1 the characters of real people, but playing Queen Victoria was a great responsibility,” said Anna Neagle at afternoon tea in her dressing-room on one of the Edith Cavell sets not tong ago.

“I was almost terrified at first,” she continued, “but the Royal Family was so helpful that much of my nervousnes's disappeared. I have become known for my characterisations of real people, and I really am very thrilled with my ' role as Edith Cavell.

“It is my first American film, and is designed to introduce me to a

wider audience than those which' have greeted my English films. Thi character of tne devoted nurse whe was one of the heroines of the Great War appeals to me tremendously, anc I have been reading all the biographies I can find.

“QNE of my most treasured posses.sions is a letter written by Edith Cavell, and given me by Sister Wilkins, who was with her at the hospital in Brussels. Sister Wilkins is now living in Somerset, and she has

told me much about her friend, which has been helpful to rnc in building up my portrayal of the character."

Like “Jane Eyre," the film “Nurse Edith Cavell” might be termed “a novel without a hero,” but the romantic interest is given by George Sanders, who has had considerable experience on the stage and screen in England, and who has replaced Louis Hayward as “The Saint" in the series of films dealing with Leslie Charteris's adventurer.

Link With New Zealand

LOOKING at the slight figure of the " English actress as she sipped her tea and refused a cigarette—she does not smoke —it is difficult to realise that she is the same person who portrayed Queen Victoria. Anna Neagle is very slender, with softly-waving golden brown hair, and steady grey eyes. She wants to continue her character-parts, developed from the lives of real people, and she wants to make a film in Scotland. Anna Neagle has a definite link with New Zealand for her father, Captain Robertson, was for nearly fourty years on ships running between Australia and New Zealand, and last year, after his retirement, he visited Australia Her brother, Stuart Robertson, toured with Melba, and is doing well recording and broadcasting in England.

Wanted by Disney

WALT Disney has already made an offer for fhc juvenile successor to “'Ferdinand Hie Bull,” “The Elephant Whb Learned to Fly,” all about a pachyderm who goes a riel when his ears grow as long as wings. It. was written one day by an unemployed newspaperman.

lESLIE HOWARD'S son, Ronald, who is still at Cambridge, is gradually lbsing his remarkable resemblance to his famous father. A few years ago he used to “double in autograph’s” for his dad. When crowds descended on Howard for autographs, Ronnie could step in, and pose as Leslie and sign all the books.