OCR Text |
Show BY INEZ GERHARD BILL "HOPALONG CASSIDY" Boyd is probably one of the 10 most popular men in the United States; both youngsters and adults are now tuning their radios to Mutual at 4 p.m Sundays, to hear the program he launched on New L.a-v, C&i Bill "Hopalong Cassidy" Boyd Year's day. Bill started in pictures as an extra, in 1919, in C. B. De-Mille's De-Mille's "Why Change Your Wife;" in 1934 he really hit his stride, ; starring in the "Hopalong Cassidy" j series, and has never played any- thing else since. "I fell in love with I the part," he says; the part has piled up a fortune for him. And the way the public almost mobs him at personal appearances is proof of his popularity. Back in the days of silent films Jane Novak was a star; in many a William S. Hart movie she was the gal who gazed into the sunset at the end, with Bill and his horse. In Paramount's "The Furies" she is again linked with the West; she plays a frontier mother. Walter Huston, Barbara Stanwyck and Wendell Corey are co-starred in this dramatization of Niven Busch's book. As you probably know, Ralph Sigwald won the finals on the "Horace Heidt" show, and was awarded the $5,000 prize, a gold championship belt that wasn't big enough and the dubious honor of having a full-size statue of himself erected in his home town, Charleston, 8.C. It does seem as If that lovely city rould put the statue's cost to better use, if permitted. Jerry Ambler, world's champion bronc rider of 1946 and '47, who makes his living staying on a horse, is getting paid to be thrown off one in Columbia's "Beyond the Purple Hills." He'll do special falls in the Gene Autry starrer. Chester Conklin, of the walrus mustache and rimless spectacles, made his screen debut in 1912 and won fame in Mack Sennett's comedies. com-edies. He tackles his first straight role in RKO's "Come Share My Love," as caretaker of a ramshackle ram-shackle ranch. Another old-timer is "Tarzan," who first appeared in print 35 years ago. Author Edgar Rice Burroughs, Bur-roughs, his creator, attended a party on the set of Sol Lesser's "Tarzan and the Slave Girl," and met Lex Barker, current "Tarzan." Before any stunt I tried on a contestant during Ralph Edwards' Ed-wards' "Truth or Consequences" it Is pre-tested by Fred Carney, Car-ney, the prop man. He lists the recent "Mule Train" stunt as the toughest had to fasten a paper horn to his head and see If a whip - cracking expert could pick it off within an Inch of his nose. For safety's sake Fred had it tried out on himself him-self twice. As a result of learning to sing "d.i-dee-dum" in place of the title when warbling tunes on "Stop the Music." Kay Armen and Dick Brown have ' found themselves skipping the words of song titles while singing on their other shows. Radio editors in Motion Picture Daily's annunl Fame poll named Gordon MacRae "most promising star of tomorrow," and his program. pro-gram. NBC's "The Railroad Hour." of equal rank with Fred Waring's as a musical show. The leading newspaoer of Caracas. Venezuela, voted Ruth Roman "the most striking strik-ing new screen personality of 1949," in a poll of its readers. Charles Laughton, meanwhile, was appreciated by the Paris po-, po-, lice. The Surete National gave him an honorary diploma after he completed com-pleted his study of French police methods for his role in "The Man on the Eiffel Tower." ODDS AXI ENDS . . . Pine and Thomas have advised John Payne I that they will honor him by hnld-, hnld-, in? the world premiere of "Cap-I "Cap-I tain China," in which he stars, j in his home town, Roanoke, Va. . . . Red Skelton has developed more than 350 different comedy sketches, which he can perform at the drop of a hat; his fans like best the "Guzzler's Gin" and "Irish Tenor" routines . . . Columbia Colum-bia pictures has purchased the screen rights to the radio serial "David Harding, Counterspy." |