COLMAN—MALE ENIGMA OF SCREEN

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 31, 20 February 1937, Page 18

COLMAN—MALE ENIGMA OF SCREEN

Bonald Colman has been talking. A rare happening, for he is the acknowledged holder of the silence belt. Indeed, considering his high position in the stellar firmament it i8 strango how he manages to get along so satisfactorily with auch meagre publicity. Practically the only occasions you are invited to read about Eonald Colman are when a new picture of his ia launched. Colman, once an obscure London actor wondoring where the next £5 a week part was coming from, currently rates as the trousered Garbo, the enigma of the screen. A fan writer called Sheila Worth. ha« got him face to face in the quOstion and answer business which constitntes an interview. Sheila was primarily anxious to know whether there was likely to be any romance in Colman 's life. When a man like Colman seeins to spend all his leisure hours playing tennis with William Powell, Dick Barthelmess and other pals, the majority of romantical-ly-minded cinema patrons are entitled to wonder about the why and wherefore of such a strange happenlng. Aaked if he contemplated marrying again — he was once the husband of Thelma Eaye, but the union was dissolved — and whether the association of his name with a certain British brunette had any significance, he reforted: "I don't plan to marry, again. It's1 not that I have been made cynical by what I «ee around' me every day in Hollywood, or that I have a clo'sed mind on the subject. But it's just this — I have a hunch, a very strong hunch, that I will never marry again. . . You see, perfect marriage is one thing and an average marriage is not sufficient." Ronald Colman can claim the rare accomplishment of having been a frontrank atar in Hollywood for-nine years.) Ali that timo- he has lived a nprmal life, unshattered by the bursts of notoriety which repreteent normality to ko many other stars. From time to timo it is duly recorded that he is in the process of making a. picture. The picture -is duly shown. Then' nothihg more is heard of Colman until he forsakes his tennis eourt and emerges into the public gaze for another session of work. Hi» chilly Teserve is irritating to icandalmongers. The justification for his attitude lies. in the fact that after nine years of hard labonr in Hollywood, wherq reputations are made. and broken over a drink, he can still point to his name glittering in th'e canopies af vhe world picturedromes.