They Tell Me That...

Radio Record, Volume XII, Issue 29, 30 December 1938, Page 15

They Tell Me That...

Our Srecial Correspondent, Jennifer Quentin, Gives You The Latest Hollywood Gossip

ORMA SHEARER is the centre of a mystery that is intriguing the film world at the moment. It’s about the fortune leit by Irving Thalberg. The estate has paid approximately £200,000 to the U.S. Government in death duties. From this fact it is deducted that Thalberg left something like £1,000, 000. ‘The film colony is puzzled, therefore, at Norma’s denial that she is even a dollar millionaire. . "All 1 would have if I were not working,’’ she _ says, ‘would be £4000 to £5000 a year. That would not be enough for me to do all the things I would like to do if I retired.’’ On the same occasion Miss Shearer delivered the interesting announcement that she "believes she is thirty-two years old."’ I don’t wish to be ungallant, but the record books incontroveritibly have it that Norma

was working as a commercial model over cighteen years ago, and it is distinctly unlikely that she was only fourteen at the time. She has been in films Te we ore, *. piety yes Theor Ss en SEY we LE The Hollywood Thentre was jammed with the usual praview erond, Suddenty, in the midst of 2 Pete Smith short subject, there came a wild burst of applause from one Wremen as a small child flushed on the sereen for a brief bit. NO oe sacmed to know what the fuss was abent except these clesa to actress Joan Davis. To them it meant that a mother was applaud. ing her very own daushter’s first Sereen sppearance. Can’t Take It! TpOROTHY PARKER gets her Holywood salary not to be witty, I gather. I have often won-

dered why we never hear any of her noted savage gibes in the screenplays she writes. Here’s one explanation. Faced with another sentimental chore on "Sweethearts," Miss Parker let herself go. Satirised Hollywood producers in a scene of ex-larger-than-life producer sitting in an oitice like an aeroplane ‘aangar. Actual executives viewing scene in projection room decided it was too unkind and had it reshot and rewritten with Kindly Reginald Owen playing producer, Even Hollywood can’t take Miss Parker when she really hands out her wisecracks. "Let Freedom Ring" EN HECHT is writing the screenplay of Nelson Eddy’s next solo starring picture, "Let Freedom Ring." it’s a pioneer story about the rivalry between farmers and railway interests. There is no part for Jeanette, so Eddy will have no singing partner and co all his singing with male choruses. Musical Re-Makes DARRYL ZANUCK, who is now making "The Three Musketeers" as a musical with the Ritz Brothers, will also re-make another famous Douglas Fairbanks film, "Mark of Zorro." as a musical,

Time Marches On MARY PICKFORD witnessed the tearing down of nearly 400,000 dollars’ worth of sets used in famous pictures made on the United Artisis lot, many of them starring vehicles in which she had appeared. The litile star wept, undoubtedly

thinking of the days gone by when she was the greatest star in filmdom, To-day, according to excellent authority, tiny Shirley Temple is the greatest box-office attraction,

Gossips Were Fooled A HANDSOME gentleman sat in the Vendome Cafe and writhed. Occasionally he’d glance at his watch and peer anxiously at the docr. "T,ook," Joan Bennett said to her companion in an excited whisper, "isn’t that Edgar Hoover, the famous ‘G’ man? | wonder whom he’s waiting for," Quickly the word spread through the restaurant that "G" man Hoover was impatiently awaiting a lady fair and speculation as to the lucky one ran high. Then, suddenly, she was there before him. -Blonde, beautifully gracious, smiling. "So sorry to be late,’ she apologised. "We could hardly get through the traffic." Mr. Hoover’s eyes lit up with an inner glow. "It’s quite all right," he replied. "I’d wait all day for you."

"And I’d wait for you," smiled his date, With that Mr. Hoover and Miss. Shirley Temple ordered their lunch! Hope and Scap GOOD, old-fashioned temperament in the grand manner has returned to the studios in the person of Hope Hampton, the opera star, who will long be remembered by cast and crew working on "Road to Reno," which she has just completed. Studio officials at Universal, it is said, have aged appreciably since her advent on the lot. They nearly collapsed when she announced flatly that she would allow only Polin water, a specially refined variety, to touch her body in the rain sequences. This srecious fluid cosis approximately three shillings a quart. When the action cailed for Hope to wash, she instructed the property department to get one particular kind of soap. The unsuspicious prop. man departed in search of the required article, "That soap you asked for,’ he protested on his return, "costs £1 a bar," *But, of course," answered Miss Hampton, as if that settled the matter. It did.

Help Wanted (THOUSANDS of fans have ayked favours of Micke: Rooney, such as autographs and photos, and now the juvenile star would like his fans to aid him in picking out a new name for his San Fernando Valley ranch, He’d like a name that would include the feeling of the old west, motion pictures and either his first or last name. So far Mickey, who is now working in "Stablemates" with Wallace

Beery, has received the following names :- "Mickeyville," "Rooney’s Roost," "Rooneyranch" and "Mickeymanor." Any suggestions? Valentino’s Collection RARE books and swords which once belonged to Rudolph Valentino will soon be disposed of to museums and libraries of California. Juan Romero, who acauvired the collection when he purchased Fal con Lair, the former Valentine estate, made the announcement,