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Show ! STAR ! ! DUST ! 1 Movie Ra Jio J Dy VIRGINIA VALE rIIIE great experiment of A a Fred Astaire picture without Ginger Rogers Is now up for public approval, and first reports promise that it will triumph at the box office. "Damsel in Distress" hasn't the effervescent Ginger, but it has that most blithe of din-wits, din-wits, Gracie Allen, and her solemn George Burns. The setting of this giddy, tuneful story Is England, where Astaire as 7' ! V . r ' , ' . ' a shy matlneo Idol becomes romantically romantical-ly entangled with a peer's daughter, played by the ingratiating ingra-tiating Joan Fontaine. Fon-taine. The story doesn't get In the way of the dancing, and Astaire has never nev-er danced with such breathtaking skill Derore. Fred Astaire When you see him and Gracie romping through a carnival engaging In dU-zy dU-zy antics on treadmills, revolving barrels, and In front of those crazy mirrors that distort reflections, you will wonder why Grade's amazing talent as dancer has been overlooked over-looked so long. The long delay In making another feature picture with the Dlonne quintuplets hai at lut been explained ex-plained by Twentieth Century-Fox officials. They have been waiting for the Ultle glrlj to learn English, figuring that audiences can't be eonnted on to study French just In order to understand the little cherubs. cher-ubs. Waves of dissatisfaction spread through Hollywood like an epldemlo every once In while, and lately producers have been having their troubles pacifying pouting stars. Lo-retta Lo-retta Young has decided that she doesn't want to make any more pictures pic-tures with Tyrone Power for a while. Not that she doesn't like him. She docs, but she thinks that the public tires of seeing the same couple on the screen in picture after 1 picture. Ginger Rogers has served I notice on R. K. O. that In addition to her salary she wants a 6hare of the profits of pictures she appears ! In. Fred Astaire and Katherine Hep-j Hep-j burn both share in the profits of j theirs. Dorothy Lamour has rebelled i against wearing native dress in pic-I pic-I turcs. Wants to be clothed like a civilized lady. And Wayne Morris wants no more build-up as a handsome hand-some youth. Wallace Ford Is one of the screen players over whom the first-night audience au-dience at "Of Mice and Men" cheered In New York recently. Even If the play runs all year, however, Wally flfrnres that his fans out through the country won't forget him, for before going Into the play he completed the as yet unreleascd "Swing It, Sailor" for Grand National, Na-tional, and three pictures In England. Eng-land. Jack Holt lj rounding out his twentieth year as an actor and hlj eighteenth as a mo- i tion-picture star. No other performer has enjoyed outstanding popularity more than half as long as he has, and Hollywood Holly-wood producers will tell you that he is just as popular with them as with the public Whether he n ' I - : ft i or top hats. Jack U Jack Holt always amiable, and If a story seems thin he figures H Is up to him to give a performance that will build It up. Some of the young players supporting him in Columbia's "Under Suspicion" asked him recently how he got his start, and then shuddered a bit as he told them that he rode a horse over a thirty-five foot clin into swirling swirl-ing rapids. ODDS AND ENDS-Marlene DieU rich shed her wan and bored manner in a New York night club and joined the crowd truckin . . . She could be as sensational in comedy as Irene Dunne is if she only would but she tcon't ... Ballroom dancing bores Fred Astaire until Benny Goodman starts playing and then he just can't sit still . . . Betty Jaynes, youthful sensation of the Chicago opera, will play Norma Shearer's old role in "Student Prince" when ftl-G'M films it again as a musical musi-cal . . . When Dick Powell stopped over in Chicago betiveen trains a group of fans surprised him by pre-senting pre-senting him with their autographed photos . . . Spencer Tracy will send out his Christmas cards from Ireland . . . Fathers of twins are the only eligibles for Hollywood's most exclusive exclu-sive club. Membership so far consists of Bing Crosby, Laurence Tibbett, I Charles Starrett and Richard Dix . . . Girls don't want to be cast in the next Mauch twins picture because their favorite pets nowadays are white mice . . . The Voice of Experience will be broadcast coast-looast beginning December De-cember 27. Western Nw.narr Union. |