Popular Stars

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 904, 22 February 1930, Page 24

Popular Stars

ANNUAL CONTESTS HELD Lon Chaney and Clara Bow JANUAKY is the month in which American motion picture magazines and exhibitors determine the favourites of the past year. There are so many prizes given now, medals and honourable mention that there is wide latitude in choosing, but a poll of the men who control theatres, except in the cases, of course, where chains of theatres are owned by producing companies, is a good indication of the trend of popularity. This year’s results are unusually interesting.

The results of the vote include one astonishing fact—Lon Chaney in silent pictures led the men in popularity. Clara Bow’s almost undisputed

reign is not so surprising. But Chaney, fine actor that he is, has consistently refused to make a talking picture. He could, for he was an actor on the stage. Other male stars who received enough votes to

count are, in the order named, which shows their relative positions: William Haines, Hoot Gibson, “Buddy” Rogers, Richard Barthelmess, Ken Maynard, Tom Mix, Richard Dix, Ramon Novarro, A 1 Jolsori, George Bancroft, Jack Holt, Gary Cooper, Milton Sills, John Gilbert, William Boyd, Douglas Fairbanks, and Harold Lloyd. . Colleen Moore Second Clara Bow ha.d 122 votes, with Colleen Moore coming next, with 58, Miss Moore having held first place the year before, with Tom Mix as the favourite of the men. After Clara and Colleen, the women best liked were Nancy Carroll, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, Bebe Daniels, Alice White, Laura La Plante, Norma Shearer, Billie Dove, Dolores Del Rio, Mary Pickford, Marion Davies, and Janet Gaynor. It is curious to find Janet Gaynor at the bottom of the list. In association with Charles Farrell, she was part of the second most popular “team” in pictures last year. >, Mary Pickford’s low spot may be because of the few pictures she has

made, and Betty Compson has only staged a “come-back.” Karl Dane and George K. Arthur received most votes as a team, with Gaynor-Farrell following. Raymond Hatton and Wallace Beery came third —that combination was broken up early in the year—and Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy fourth. In another survey, to determine the best picture of the year, the result gave the palm to “Four Sons,” shown in Auckland shortly before the talkie advent. In previous years the pictures given distinction were “Humoresque,” “Tollable David,” “Robin Hood,” “The Covered Wagon,” “Abraham Lincoln,” “The Big Parade,” “Beau Geste,” and “Seventh Heaven.”