Show fJjc Mi fate Sunday Morning February 21 ft n 1937 nun i v C 'k 'v5s :f A I 5Spfc ill I The screen's newest matinee idol V 5 vtf c X who was doing very well in Europe and needed a lot of persuading He looks like a certain party A i yv ' -- yy vV Vt' who abdicated a throne— which won’t hurt a bit- - More than a year ago Croucho Marx and Norman Kras-n- a v V t wrote a story ’C about king love M" j $ t " J ?Ti y Fernand Cravet and Joan Blondell with whom he his first American film HOLLV Gra-VA- pronounce it’ spelled a pair of wood Y rather smooth- sounding frontispieces go with it — Fernand Mertens Fernand Mertens Gravel — it rolls very softly from the tongue and it belongs to a fascinatEveryone who met him during young man first few weeks his in Hollywood thought ing Warner Brothers hope that you will think so ' too ' In Hollywood Mr Gravet falls undei the ’ heading of "importations — oi does'he? In one way be does and in another he ctoesn’L True he was born abroad and his recent picture for Warners was his first American one However most Hollywood “importations' You hnd have rather vague professional pasts so references to terrific triumphs "somewhere in the old country ’ but no one seems to know They’ll bring certain well timed just where phrases about "dinmgjvith thp Duke" into the But before you have a chance conversation to butt in and inquire “Duke who?" the sub lect has been switrhed to Kentucky Colonels ill very smart— one tf the Perhaps that tricks that count in effecting an aura of mstery Sometimes it's most expedient and glamour on the part of Miss Muflet from Marseilles because jhe Jias never really appeared in a pic ture in her life and has never been outside the workshop of a dressmaking establishment long enough—to-h- a veanytftmg6 h"ld Sidling-happe- her such ‘pretense is necessary where M He can hardly he is concerned called a "shot in the dark " Here is no young punk to be put through the studio 'mill and turned out with a personality as' definite a He already has one Gable’s or Taylor’s In fact Fernand Gravel has more to give Hollywood than Hollywood has to give to Fernand Cravet — unless you want to bring money into the matter and who doesn't? Foi he has something that Hollywood wants and wants badly: a new (ace a “different" per sonahty He’s tall and dark and handsome but lots of people are like that It's something of a trick to label him with just the right adjectives He stands a shade ufider six feet He has NO i is ed In 1917 he became a British marine cadeL Two years later he returned to Brussels where he shouldered the managerial duties of his father at the Galleries St Hubert A year later his mother’s traveling stock company went on an extended tour and young Fernand went along on a tour of the world— Greece Turkey Egypt Rumania — to all the Durcountries of Europe and South America ing these travels he served as baggagemaster transportation manager and most exciting of all as an actor In 1924 he was recalled to Brussels to serve his required two years m the army — a year with the cavalry and a year as a first sergeant in the balloon corps Then he returned to Paris to resume his stage career and it was there he met (too bad girls!) and later married the golden-haire- d Parisian stage star Jane Re nourdt For nearly three years they were eo starred on the French stage i in Jeannette Meehan By YOU a mythical who fell in with a chorus girl t it that his first American picture deals with a king who abdicates and marries a commoner Fernand Gravet actu-all- y looks like the Duke of Windsor Gravet is on the left in the above picture do you see the resemblance? Aptly enough considering is a Belgian hair and — well — challenge you to sit across the luncheon table from him and name the color of his eyes (They’re You nearly write big eyes too) "brown” and then you realize that they’re not brown at all While you try not to look confused the gentleman at last decides to be help ful “It is rather difficult isn’t it?" And he smiles "Their color actually changes witn the weather and they change when I’m tired” That little speech of his was something of He has no accent At (east no aca shock cent to speak of Only with certain words do you catch the faintest trace of the French coal black tongue He was But he wasn’t born in France born in Belgium and for several years he has been one of the biggest names in French GerMr Graver's aveman and English pictures nue to Hollywood wenMnto conrtruition almost 4 months ago He was absent at the time none of the other tljree parties concerned ever having heard of him ways good and he swears on a stack of bibles up to here that the story — laid in a mythical kingdom and concerning a weary monarch who gives up the obligations and traditions of his heritage to seek peace and quiet in exile and finally in the arms of a beautiful commoner — was written and purchased many months - " — he-fo- Edward VIII King of England Emperor of India and Defender of the Faith abdicated and was linked romantically with Wallis Simpson This assertion is substantial by thp authors themselves Norman Krasna and if you please Groucho Marx So give Mr LeRoy credit Many Hollywood producers have interpreted history but very few bf them have anticipated it OUl rPHL three’ parties included Mervyn LeRoy who is known as the "biggest little direcloi in Hollywood’’ (Because ol his slight slat ure and his knack foi making box office pic Beside being a director Mi tures ) is now a producer in his own right and" one for whom Hollywood has a great deal of re-spect' I he other"! wo gentlemen wejen writer and a Hollywood actor fe TToI-lywoo- d spectively It was more tlnn a year ago that these three were having dinnei togethei in the Brown Derby® Along with his soup Mr LeRoy hap pened to mention a certain story that he wa looking lor — "about a king and a commonei His two guests hastily intimated that such a How about yarn was right down then alley letting them write it? ’ And a few days later Mervyn The)' did bought from them a light comedy titled "The King and the Chorus Girl1 That title naturally reminds us of a certain dramatic page in recent history Every one around Hollywood has the idea that the story was a hurried adaptation of current head lines Be that as it may Mr LeRoy ’s word is al- - let’s go back to the spring of 9 If) With this story under his belt the direc tor with Mrs LeRoy left foi a trip to Europe While stopping off in France to sample bouillabaisse as it should be made the director saw one ol Mr Gravet’s French pictures Thereafter no other man would do as the hero "He surprised me ‘explains Mervyn LeRoy foday “I was counting 1116 months it would' take him to learn English and I found that he speaks better Fnglish than I do And then I discovered that he didn’t want to come to Hollywood" Didn’t wapt — I A chance at Hollywood what every actor wants — except Mi Gravet When Mr LeRoy appeared on the scene the cagey Belgian had turned down a number ot Bin Mervyn walked off Hollywood offjju with the because he offered the most attractive bait Mr Gravet Would not be under contract to (Warners but tinder personal contract to Mr LeRoy whov would supervise his American career and direct all of his pictures The Belgian star would also be permitted to pursue his career abroad after each commitment here Those were the terms that won Fernand Gravet over He signed And that’s the is prrze--perh- (Copyright aps 1937 by BvaryWaak UaaalaJ ' Fernand Gravet and Joan Blondell in a scene from “The King and the ’ Chorus Girl” r story of how he came to Hollywood where he has just finished making cinematic love to Joan Blondell in a picture which boasts the prize title of the year -- Fernand Gravet was bom in Brussels on Christmas Day 1905 He was educated at St Paul’s school at Hammersmith England Having once met him you’ll remember these things: — his fine baritone voice ' —his military carriage — htf remarkable resemblance to the preset Duke of Windsor "crallbe’ way he pronounces —the t ' ' : V |