HOLLYWOOD REVOLTS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 47, 17 October 1931, Page 7

HOLLYWOOD REVOLTS

LESLIE HOWARD REFUSES TO ACT AS FOIL FOR LOVELY LADIES. WODEHOUSE'S EASY TIME. Leslie Howard has refused to act as a graceful f oil for any more lovely ladies. Apparently he decided a f oil part was a fool part. The game was to cast this firstclass actor with such beauties as Norma Shearer, Marion Davies, Conchita Montenegro and Ann Harding. They took all the limelight, and. Howard was used as an effective bolster. Certainly Marion Davies gave him a fair chance in "Five and Ten," but although she declared he was the best leading man she had ever had, he turned down an offer to play opposite her again, and has joined the ranks of the freelance artists. In doing this Howard refused a nice, fat contract, so that there is one young actor without the dollar eomplex. Perhaps- he does not feel the want of a mansion on Beverly Hills or a palatial yacht. However, he will not be among the unemployed, for immediately he was freed of the incubus of the lovely ladies he was snapped up by Columbia for "Gallagher," a newspaper story promising more scope for a leading man than Howard has had since "Outward Bound," the talkie that first brought him before the screen public. Apparently this fair youth with the voice which intrigues the female portion of the audience is determined that parts, even gilt-edged, so to speak, that do not give him a chance to act are of no use. It would be interesting to know how many artists would voluntarily relinquish an opportunity of being billed with some of the star beauties of the world. According to Mollie Merrick, however, Hollywood receives shocks of this sort from time to time. Although money is usually the reigning deity, there are those who refuse to worship. Refused Photos. Steichen, a photographer with an

international reputation, recently refused £600 a week and an unlimited opportunity to malce studies of the famous. Some of them kept him waiting; most of them showed plainly that they thought the honour was all Steichen's, so he declined to provide Hollywood with examples of his amazing pictures in form and rhythm. Prederick Lonsdale, on the other hand, after blowing hot and cold, has settled in, and promised to adapt himself to the usual eonditions of film writers. Ho will give wit where wanted, and dialogue, not as his brilliant fancy dictates, but as the subjeet selected by the stpdio magnates demands. Wodehouse's Way. Meanwhile, P. G. ("Plum") Wodehouse has a gorgeous time in the most extraordinary centre of industry in the world. He is paid on a princely scale. Now and again he comes to the rescue of somebody else's story with a touch of humour here and there, but mostly he draws his money regularly, entertains royally, and seems to be enjoying a wellpaid rest in his magnificent American home.