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Show Star EBissl Pearl Was Canny Gargan Reduces "Willie" Flops ' By Virginia Vale PEARL WHITE'S death brought out an odd fact, when her father denied that she was forty-nine. She was forty-one, he said, and added that she had just tacked on a few years, long ago, "to keep ahead of Mary Pick-ford." Pick-ford." A woman who interviewed the serial se-rial star in the heyday of her popularity popu-larity was talking about her recently. recent-ly. "She was an amazing person," she said. "Think of her having sense enough to save money, back in those days when to be a movie star meant throwing it around. I'll never forget, for-get, either, going to see her one day, and finding her reading a French book in French." It seemed odd, too, that Warner Oland, who so often played the villain vil-lain In Pearl White's pictures, should have died soon after she did. He was famous in those days, but of course his great success came with his creation on the screen of the character of "Charlie Chan." "The Crowd Roars" not only gives Robert Taylor a chance to give an excellent performance; it also brings Bill Gargan back to us in a good picture, minus some 20 pounds. Leslie Howard sent for him to come BILL GARGAN to. England and play in "Alias Mrs. Jones," which he is producing, before be-fore Gargan made a hit in the new Taylor picture. But the name of the production will have to be changed, probably, when it is shown in this country, otherwise people are going to think it's just another of the Jones family pictures. If you've seen Hedy Laraarr in "Algiers" you probably have wondered won-dered whether she will be one of our A-l mavie stars in a year or so, or will just be making pictures that are nothing special. And if you've seen the announcement that Josef von Sternberg has been engaged to direct her first picture for Metro, probably you're still wondering. Of course, Mr. von Sternberg may not have been responsible for slowing Marlene Dietrich down so that she seemed to be doing nothing but stand around, but sometimes he's been blamed for it. There are a lot of good pictures at large nowadays; better make a list of them. Include "The Crowd Roars," "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Mother Carey's Chickens," "The Rage of Paris," and, If foreign for-eign pictures come your way, "May-erling." "May-erling." Charlie McCarthy has been such a success on the air here that the British Broad- f A casting company tried out the idea of having a Charlie Char-lie of their own. They called the puppet "Willie Winkett." And "Willie" was " a flop. Which proves how clever clev-er Edgar Bergen really is. Incidentally, i Bergen is work- I ing on another puppet figuring Edgar Bergen that, no matter how popular you are, there's always a time ahead when the public grows tired of the same old thing. ODDS AND ENDS Watch W. C. Fields make a come-back as author oj, and actor in, "You Can't Cheat an Honest Hon-est Man," and make Paramount regret releasing him . . . Isn't it good news that Carole Lombard and Bill Powell are to make a picture together again , , , Harold Lloyd is threatening to turn producer though he'd still act in a picture occasionally and is also atn sidering making his next picture in England , . . After having too much excitement, ex-citement, seeing too many people and having the door of a cab slammed on her finger, Shirley Temple was awfully glad to end her vacation and get back home . . . Lots of people didn't believe be-lieve that Simone Simon would really tail off to France without signing a new contract, though the only contract that offered seemed to be one for appearances ap-pearances at a New York night club. Western Newspaper Union. |