AMERICAN INFORMALITY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 August 1938, Page 9

AMERICAN INFORMALITY

NEW ZEALANDER’S IMPRESSIONS. VISIT TO HOLLYWOOD. “If the President of the United States came to New Zealand and attended a formal function attired in double-breasted sack coat and white flannels, as he did here recently, he would be guilty of violating the sartorial etiquette of my country.” This was one of the many interesting observations made by Mr E. L. Rutledge, managing director of the 20th Cen-tury-Fox Film Corporation (N.Z.), Ltd., in the course of an interview in New York recently, where he had travelled by train after a week’s visit to the studios of the company in Hollywood. “Americans seem to be less severe in the matter of clothes than we New Zealanders,” continued Mr Rutledge. “I find here a greater variety of style, material and colour in the clothes worn by both sexes. The texture of men’s garments is generally lighter, and the majority wear soft, white, collar-attached shirts. Two-piece suits with belt and no waistcoat seem to be the popular everyday vogue.” TRAFFIC IN NEW YORK. “Your traffic in New York is positively hazardous,” the visitor complained. He was referring to the constant stream of motor vehicles which runs ceaselessly through New York thoroughfares at speeds which are none too comfortable to those accustomed to walk across a street in customed to walk across a street in a however, that for the most heavilytrafficked city in the world, the system was orderly, efficient and satisfactory—except to pedestrians with weak hearts.

Despite the fact that his observations were confined chiefly to Los Angeles, Hollywood and New York, Mr Rutledge said he had eaten enough meals to arrive at some conclusions about the American system of dining and wining. “There is certainly an abundance of hotels, restaurants, cafes, eating houses and cocktail bars in these cities, and I must say that the food in every instance is grand. It is well prepared, you have a wide variety to choose from, and whatever you order you get an abundance of. Our dishes in New Zealand are generally simpler, but the American technique of combining foods leaves little to be 'desired in the way of appetite appeal. Up to the present time, at least, I have had no gastronomic reactions.” America’s cocktail bars, he found, differed radically from those of his country. “I was surprised to observe,” he • said, "that bars here are equipped with circular stools for both sexes, and that food as well as" drink are served at the counter. In New Zealand all meals are eaten at tables.” It appeared to Mr Rutledge that the general design and layout of cafes in America provided economy, permitting a greater number of patrons in a smaller area.

SPEED AND COMFORT. Mr Rutledge was asked what he thought about the American system of passenger transportation. His answer was somewhat surprising. “To be frank,” he said, “I admire the high speed and great comfort of your express trains, particularly in the lounge, observation and dining cars. But give me the old New Zealand type of sleeping berth to your Pullmans.” The Pullman apartment, he explained, ran parallel to the tracks,' while on the' New Zealand train the traveller sleeps at right angles' to the tracks, the latter style making for much greater comfort. Asked what, in America, stood out most vividly in his mind, Mr Rut-ledge-replied that it was the week he had spent at the studios in Hollywood! It would leave lasting memories, he said. He had been inside the exclusive grounds of one of the world’s biggest film “factories.” He saw the heroes and heroines of 20th Century-Fox wafted through ingenious mechanism on to sound tracks and celluloid; he mingled and spoke to stars famous the world over; he saw a great organisation at work. HOLLYWOOD STUDIO. “Entering the 20th Century-Fox lot,” he said, describing his visit, “you gain the impression of going into a small city—with footpaths, clean, paved streets and modern buildings. To drive around this 225-acre enclosure is something like making a quick tour of the world. No sooner do you drive past an Arabian desert dotted with palm trees than you find yourself moving by the cobblestoned pavements and ancient narrow streets of the Quartier Latin of Paris; thence to a modern shopping street , in New York, past a peaceful lake in the country and then suddenly into London’s Trafalgar Square. The rapid change of scene on each set, the sudden transformation of atmosphere, colour and locale—all reproduced with remarkable accuracy — inspired me with amazement. As you meet and mingle with the many thousands of employees you cannot fail to be impressed with the spirit of good fellowship and camaraderie that prevails throughout the studios. From the highest executives, directors, stars, down to the junior employees, and even the men at work on the sets, there is evidence of a spirit of co-op-eration and determination to make pictures of which the whole organisation may be proud. When you meet and talk with such stars as Tyrone Power, Loretta Young and Annabella, who were working on their forthcoming production, ‘Suez,’ you readily realise their sincerity and obvious desire to make a picture which millions of film fans the world over will enjoy. I passed on to a huge ice-skating rink and saw Sonja Henie rehearsing a scene for her next picture, “My Lucky Star.” “Not far from the huge sound stages, 20 in number, are the bungalows of various stars. I had a pleasant tete-a-tete with Jane Withers, who had just finished work , on “Keep Smiling,” a title incidentally, which aptly describes Jane’s sunny, smiling nature. Then

come more sound stages and . then a cluster of buildings which contain the various departments through which a film must go before it emerges as complete—the . cutting department, the scenic art department, the property department, a department for research and for sound effects, laboratories for printing and processing and others too numerous to mention. “At lunch time’one goes to the ‘Cafe de Paris,’ the studio cafe, where one sees scores of stars and featured players, many still in make-up, munching sandwiches, writers, musicians and members of. the studio staff and personnel. - ’ “It is all very interesting and fascinating,” Mr Rutledge concluded, “to see this huge organisation functioning like an intricate, well-oiled machine —all working each in his or her respective turning out motion pictures as near dio can provide.” sphere toward the common end of perfection as the resources of the stu-