PICTURE STARS’ MAIL

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 822, 16 November 1929, Page 30

PICTURE STARS’ MAIL

CLARA BOW GETS 35,000 LETTERS A MONTH I CHARLES ROGERS LEADS MEN ! Proposals oi marriage, requests tor money, poems, criticisms from cranks, praise Irom admirers, the immature philosophy of school boys and Middle West Americans, broad hints that sec-ond-hand clothes would be appreciated —letters on every subject under the sun come to the motion picture stars of Hollywood in tremendous quantities. Clara Bow, fan mail favourite of the town, who holds a record for receiving letters from admirers, friends, and others, bends the postman's back with from 35,000 to 35,000 pieces of mail a month. They come from every land and are written in every language. Never before in Hollywood’s liistory has a film star received so much mail as comes to the little redhead from Brooklyn. Mail honours lor males on the Paramount lot go to Charles Rogers, who receives an average of 20,000 letters a month. Close to Rogers in popularity as denoted by letters sent in are Gary Cooper, Richard Arlen and James Hall. So huge is the demand for photographs of favourite players that leading studios have been forced to change their policy. Up until a few months ago photographs were sent out free of cost. Now the studios ask that 10 cents to cover part of the cost be sent with the request for pictures. The post office of the Paramount-Famous-Lasky Corporation in Hollywood handles an average of 200,000 pieces of incoming mail a month. It is in charge of a postmaster who has three assistants. While the majority of fan letters come from girls of 16 to 18 years of - age and from boys of the high school j a S e ’ by no means all of it is confined ito this group. Many old people write I in. thanking the star for having “Given ; me an entertaining evening, or afterj noon.” bailors, lonely at sea, frequently send letters. Particularly is this true of the men in the naval service, on battleships, where films are shown for j weekly entertainment. Some letters j come from penitentiaries. Hundreds of the missives are from men, women and children anxious to work in motion pictures. “I know you have influence.” they write, “and so please put in a good word for me. I have long been your admirer (writers invariably offer that praise), and I know that you will help me, for I am j sure you have a generous nature.” | Infrequently letters come from ana- : lytically intelligent persons who praise | or condemn a performance in a certain j picture, giving detailed reasons why I they liked it or why they were displeased. All players are appreciative of such a friendly interest. I Richard Dix evidently appeals to all | classes and ages. His mail includes ; letters from schoolgirls, spinsters and

widows, little notes of friendly praise from Boy Scouts and from business men. Women frequently send him proposals of marriage, invariably stressing the fact that they are good cooks and that their chief pleasure would come from making him happy and comfortable in “a little home of our own.” Most of Emil Jannings's mail is from students of the drama and of the screen. Adolphe Menjou’s dapper sophistication brings many little notes on tinted and scented stationery; usually well-written and rather formal letters. George Bancroft’s fan mail includes a large proportion from housewives, the discontented mates of meek males, who, from their tone, admire Bancroft's two-fisted and deep-chested virility. Even before Maurice Chevalier’s first motion picture. ‘‘lnnocents of Paris,” was released, he received a quantity of fan mail, the major ity of letters coming to him from France. Most of his correspondents ask l'or a picture, for since his arrival in America there has been a great, curiosity manifested bv persons eager to see what he looks like.