ONE OF THE SCREEN'S MOST CHARMING WOMEN: MYRNA LOY

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 154, 17 July 1937, Page 13

ONE OF THE SCREEN'S MOST CHARMING WOMEN: MYRNA LOY

They say Myrna Loy lias freckles (writes jLewis li. MiJler in the Christian Science JVlonitor). 1 do hot kiiow. 1 have never seen her except in make-up, the heavy make-up required by klieg lamps and motion-pieture cameras. Thick, brown powder, the1 sort thaxi makes Hollywood studios- appear to be lnkabited by a tribe' of Indians, covered her piquant teatures and blended .harmoniously with the auburn hair which 1 am sure inust be her own. This brown powder will nofc show in the him when you see it, and Miss Loy will be g>ad. She played Oriental roles for some years you remember," until she had become "typed" as a Siren lrom the East; and tlid not mind playing these roles, but she is glad she is no longer limited to them, tor she likes a variety of parts, in order to be able to employ her auility1 to the fullest, and keep. out of the narrow groove iuto wlnch there is a tendency to pusli anyone who makes a suocess of any particular kind of cliaraeterisation. Just now, she has hnisked the hrst costume picture she has made for several years, "Parnell." • As Katie U'Shea, she beconies • the charming young matron of late Victorian days. As siie crossed the "set" foilowing one of the -final "shots"* on -this him and greeted me with the graciousness for which she is fam'ous, 1 could not help but contrast her appearance with the glimpse I had of her more than a ytar ago while she was making "Wiie vs. Becretary." Then she was the extremely modern woman. Now she wore a white evening gown, with a bustle and train of generous proportions. yhe had just been sitting at a rathor ornate grand.piano, while Clark- Gable, as Parnell, wearing sideburns .and evening dress of the .'ejghties, -leaned across the keyboard and heard her explain why she had mvited him to dinner. • Likes Lohg Scehes. ' It was rather a long scbne, as'movie scenes go, and, of course, "it had to be "shot" several tinies, as all movio scenes are, but' Miss Loy was 'as l'resh and enthusiastic at the end of it all as at the bcginhmg. Mr Gable, it appears, likes long scenes. Instead ' of liaving dialogue all broken up into" iraguients, he likes to keep going right along, and so does Miss Lioy. !Sb they get along oxtremeJy well together, as indeed everybody on the set gets along with Mr Gable and Miss Loy. As she was explaining this fco me, I began to realise that here was a youug woman who, among other gifts, has avery rare quality — namely, poise. . She dqps not get excited, . except when • a role calls for it. She does not indulge in what is sometimes deseribed — and exeused— as "temperament." Instead of making things difficult l'or her coliaborators, from person al maid to caineraman, she makes things as easy as possible for them all. Of course, they appreciate it. It is a pleasure to work in a Myrna Loy picture, and the finished product is likely to reflect the harmony that goes into its .making. We were sitting, Miss Loy and 1, beside a very gingerbready sofa which ligures in several scenes of "Parnell." The other Victorian furnitiire which ciuttered up the set, tlie costumes of half a century ago, and the geueral atmosphere of bygone days in England led me to ask Miss Loy if she found it hard to make the transition from modern times to an era which seems to far .in the past. "Pretty Much Alike" '•'Not at all," she replied. "lcn see, i think men and women are ' pretty much alike in all periods of history. The trappings change, and things which are uneonveniional at one time become conventional at another, but, fundamentally, I do not find that Katie O'Shea is very* different from tlie woman of to-day. I am not co'nscious of any great mental effort to trangport myself to another epocli of history. ' it does not seeni to be necessary." • Miss Loy confessed to.a fondness for the quaint furniture and costumes of other days, while being glad that. she does not have to wear a bustle and train anywhere but on the set. Victorian. furniture, funny as it seems to us moderns, has genuine charm, sbe believes, when properly employed. For example, slie tbinks that the furniture of this period .in Helen Hayes's house is exquisite. And somehow Miss Hayes and her liousehold seem to fi-fc into the picture. Yet nobody would describe .them as Victorian. Miss Loy and her husband, Arthur Hornblow junr., have just built a new house, and have been busily engaged in eollecting things for it. This ;is a task to the bride'Si own liking. She

admits that, although she is naturally frugal, she is a veritable spendthrift when she linds herself among old pnnts, water eolours, antiques, brksses and porciains. Miss Loy even feels an urgo to indulge in gardening. She has never done much of this, though she loves fiowers, but now there will be opportunity for digging and planting and pruning, and she feels she is' in a fair way to become a- real gardener. Colour Picture? Our surroundings on the set were so colourful that 1 was prompted to ask Miss Loy if she would not like to make a coiour picture. "It would be interesting, " she remarked, "and perhaps I shall some day make one. But it is uot an easy kind of film to make. There are many complicated problefiis of photography, and such powerful lights have to be used that the heat from them is very try,ing." She had, howeverj enjoyed the experience of having some colour ' ' stills ' ' made during tho filming of "Parnell." The romantic role in which she is cast in "Parnell" is quite different. from the part of Nick Charles's pleasure-loving wife which she played in the "Thin Man" pictures. She enjoys both sorts of Toles. "I enjoy versatile characterisation, ' ' she says. "I would jiever enjoy playing only dramatic roles, and I would never be coutent with a succession of comedy parts. I like to shuffle them up. A comedy role serves as a relief from dramatic portrayals, jnst as a dramatic part, foilowing a Qomedy, breaks'up tlie monotony of trying to he funny all the time. One serves as a relaxation from the other. I only hope that in the future 1 may be perini'tted to do just as I am doing to-dav — to play heavy drama in one -picture, comedy in another, then an occasional romantic character for a change. Miss Loy spoke of the "Thin. Man" pictures as if she had enjoyed making them tremendously. In fact, everybody who had a part in them seeme still to think - of them as great fun. It happened that . wtthin a few days of my ehat with Miss Loy I talked with "William Powell, who played the part of Nick Charles. He is now making a spy picture, entitled "The Emperor's Candlesticks, " with Luise Eainer, but he fouud time between shots to chuckle reminiscently of episodcs in the "Thin Man" filins, and to speak affectionately of the ' wire-haired terrier which appeared in those eutertaining detective storiesCycle Pictures And on the very same day as my talk. with Mr Powell, I sat beside W. B. Van Dyke, who directed the "Thin Man"films, as he was "shooting" Eranchot Tone in the fOrthcoming "They. Gave Him a'Gun. " Mr Vau I)yke, too, had enjoyed making the "Thin .Man" pictures immensely. He himself thinks that "The Thin Mau" was a better picture than "After the Thin Man," but admits that the publie seems to have liked the 6econd picture just aa well "as, or even better than, the first. Other "Thin Man" stories may be made; there seems to be a dem&nd for a cycle. But to return to Miss Loy. The impression she left on me was one of simple straightforwardness and ?incere deyotion to her work.. She has been in pictures ' since 1925, and that is a long timo for anybne to "stick" successfully in.Hollyw.ood. She has seen many an actor and actress rise to fame and sink into oblivion. She has survived the great' rev'Dlu&ou from eilent pictures to .sound firms. And .throughout this period of a ' dozen yearB her record has been bne Of steadily increasing accomplishment and recognition. There is nothing'- sensational about her career, ufiless it be sensational for a girl to make 'steady progress up the ladder to" stardom by sheer merit and ability. Her story makes one feel that the virtues of hard work and p'ersistency count for just as much in Hollywood as they do elsewhere. This girl from Helena, Montana, who weut to California to school and became a dancer and a teacher of dancing, met with many a disappointment on the road' to screen fame. More than once she saw eherished opportunities slip from her grasp througlr no fault of her own, It was odd that, although thore is not the slightest traee of the Orient in her family tree, she should be east

for Ghiuese, Malayan? Hindu, Javanese, Polynesian and Indian roles — all because she once slanted her eyebrows in an exotie part given he'r by N&tacha Kambova. It took Miss Loy several years to get free from this ' ' type ' ' which she had created for herself, and she doesn't intend to be "typed" again. Her forward march has been equally free from sensationalism and from secrecy. Her early roles were exotic, but she makes no attempt to create or maintain mysteries about herself. She is very much concerned with being a good aetress, and sinco last July she has • given much attontion to being a good wife. In fact, several of her recent portrayals on the screen have been in the role of the modern helpmeet. Now that we think of it, that's a pretty good "type" for Miss Loy, or perkap3 we. should say Mrs Hornblow. But she doesn't want to be "typed" even as the modern wife.