Show Oakie Sturdy Charlotte Doing Dance By PAUL HARRISON HOLLYWOOD NEA Any NEA-Any Any vIsItor visitor vis vIs- who can crash the rehearsal hall at a certain studio these days may witness the never for never for gotten spectacle of overstuffed Jack Oakie and limber legged d lanky Charlotte Greenwood practicing practicing practicing dance numbers As they didn't didn say back in vaudeville days that pair can really jive the corn The sturdy Oakie Oakle of course us used d to be a hoofer but the marvel now is that he can flit flit- from irom bow to bow low with such agility Miss Green Green Green- wo wood d at 46 is as peculiarly hinged hinged hing as she was a quarter quart r century ago when she liked to smooth her back hair with h her r right foot while warbling I I Dreamt I Dwelt Dwelt- in ur Mar Halls But she never d danced like this She never danced at all in pIctures pictures pic plc- tures altho although gh this is js' js her er third camp campaign since she tried the silent In 1918 While she was just a comedienne they wouldn't l let t her ber be funny Later having been acclaimed as an an actress they wouldn't let her act Today she's doing everything And loving it First Hit Stage As Chorus Girl Miss Greenwood is such a favorIte favorite favor favor- ite ftc of ot the London theater that many of ot us have thought of ot her heras heras as an English actress She's no such thing Her father was a Philadelphia b barber and her moth moth- er a working hard-working American woman woman woman wo wo- wo- wo man who began to support Frances Charlotte when the child was 1 1 Poverty wasn't the only reason Charlotte couldn't dress attractively attractive attractive- ly At the age of 11 she was 5 feet 8 Inches tall and was no more streamlined than the automobiles of her timeA time A sense of comedy was a compensating com corn gift of nature but by a strange set of ot circumstances Involving in involving involving In- In a note to Ned Wayburn her first job right job right after she had quit school In n the seventh grade grade- was in a chorus Show Showgirls wore tights in those days so Miss Greenwood Greenwood Greenwood Green Green- wood was fitted out with a set of leg and hip pads called From the waist down she looked like Lillian Russell From the waist up she looked like Charlotte Charlotte Charlotte Char Char- lotte Greenwood After one startled startled star star- tIed glance Wayburn ordered her into the length floor-length kimono of ot a Japanese maiden Next as half of ot a vaudeville sister sister sister sis sis- sis sis- ter act she discovered that audiences audiences audiences audi audi- became hysterical over her lugubrious and tl iw songs a double joint iw songs a ed gestures Came fame with three years vears at the Shubert in So Long Letty then more snore musicals plays road tours five years in Loo London I |