MARTHA SCOTT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 March 1941, Page 9

MARTHA SCOTT

STARRED IN SECOND FILM. RAPID PROMOTION. One of the most interesting newcomers to Hollywood is the Missouri girl, Martha Seott, who made her film debut in “Our Town,” and who is costarred with Cary Grant in her second film, "The Tree of Liberty,” the screen presentation of Elizabeth Page's bestselling novel. Even in Hollywood, when sudden successes are not surprising, Miss Scott's rise to stardom has been somewhat of a record. A few years ago she was acting in radio plays written by another Hollywood sensation, Orson Welles, and now she is a star at the Columbia Studios. Miss Scott failed in her first Hollywood screen test, when the producer told her she “just wasn't the type." Less than three months later she 'proved him wrong when she made a success of her role in "Our Town. As in the case of Madeleine Carroll Miss Scott began her career as a teacher, but the six months that she was engaged teaching taught her that she would never eiijoy this profession. When she heard that the Eonstelle Theatre in Detroit was recruiting a winter company she took a bus to that city, and the theatre management gave her bits and walk-ons.

She returned to the university after an inauspicious season with the company, but went back to the stage the following winter. She next tried New York, where she arrived with fifty dollars and a lot of enthusiasm.

In the summer Martha played with the Dennis summer theatre, where her fellow actors included Phillips Holmes and Julie Hayden, both of whom have appeared in films. The character woman of the company was Evelyn Warden, who was responsible for Martha's first film chance.

When Jed Harris was casting "Our Town” for his Broadway production he chose Miss Warden for the part of “Mother Gibbs.” and she suggested that Martha Scott should play the part of Emily. Her ether stage appearances have been with Edward Everett Horton in “Springtime for Henry” and the lead in Frederick Lonsdale's "The Foreigners."

In "The Tree of Liberty," Miss Scott appears as a Virginia aristocrat in colonial America, and Cary Grant is the backwoodsman and believer in American democracy with whom she falls in love.

He: "I hope my visits are not distasteful to you.” She (politely): “Not at all.” "I have sometimes thought that I worried you!” "Oh, no! No matter how gloomy I feel when you call. I am always happy when you go!"