OCR Text |
Show rt4 Looking at Hollywood! THE moviegoing public thinks of Monty Woolley as a middle-aged middle-aged brat with a beard who has made good in a big way. Although Monty (who was christened chris-tened Edgar) will probably deny it, much of this is due primarily to "the Beard" himself. Just now it pleases him to be , sick and tired of p ;:1 the tag and 0'';: ' r-threadbare r-threadbare jests f, A:':; y : about his hirsute v-. ;j-.k.V; adornment. But . ' ' there was a day : 1 when Monty wel- ;S: j f, I " Monty Woolley 'Av-Zjvs corned any flip re- ' ' ' mark about his ' ti'-r'i chm curtain aS CV furthering his lv's- v name and fame v tri?ii if you're for- Grncie Fields 'tunale nou6hT io catch Edgar Mon- tillion Wooley on one of his talkative talka-tive days he'll give you a story of the weird ups and downs that have fccFct him from the cradle. He'll tell you the way was not smooth for Woolley even before he became the bearded half of the Gracie Fields-Monty Woolley team which is box' office honey right now. That combination, which has just culminated culmi-nated in ''Molly and Me," has provided pro-vided the Beard with a new screen personality. It has sandpapered down the cutting edge of his acidulous acidu-lous screen personality to a likable old devil whose bark is louder than his bite. But regardless of this, his beard that hated wind-wooing alfalfa, alfal-fa, to hear him talk still figures as the most salable feature of the Wool-ley Wool-ley personality. Get Out of My Beard! When Woolley once told me: '"I'm .sick and tired of this printed drool about my whiskers. For heaven's sake, Hedda, keep my beard out of your typewriter! So far as the public pub-lic is concerned I've ceased to be an actor or even a man with any personality. per-sonality. I'm just a beard now, and in the future I want no more tall? of it!" I fell for it head over heels. Imagine, then, my surprise to find "Molly and Me" featuring a scene-one scene-one of. the funniest in the picture, pic-ture, incidentally pitched entirely around Monty's chin wool. Then I learned he turned down a starring role in "Colonel Effingham's Effing-ham's Raid" because it called for a smooth face. At the time Woolley became professor pro-fessor of English at Yale university univer-sity that seemed a career worthy of fighting for. In the suave superiority of his classroom position Monty gave deep thought to the finest nuances of the language. Spoke his sentences with elegance and precision. But the theater was strong at the back of his mind and he asked for the post of dramatic director. George Pierce Baker's appointment appoint-ment to the post precipitated Monty's Mon-ty's resignation. Brought on a penniless penni-less and dispirited period in which Monty appealed to his friends in the theater. They didn't fail him; he nded this phase by directing "Fifty Million Frenchmen," "Champagne Sec," and "Jubilee" no mean record. rec-ord. But his friends in Hollywood were directing pictures at plush salaries. sala-ries. So Monty landed in movietown. That Beard Again Now the beard comes into the picture pic-ture once again. The beard got Monty his first job in movies a Russian Rus-sian impresario. But Waller Connollya Connol-lya fat man without a beard continued con-tinued to get the parts Monty had his eye on. Monty turned back to the theater for solace. Was on the eve of returning re-turning to Broadway to direct another an-other play when Moss Hart rang him, asking him to play the lead role in a play called "Strange People," Peo-ple," if I remember correctly. The play turned out to be "The Man Who Came to Dinner." It put the Beard right in the bead of the spotlight. spot-light. Hollywood didn't see him again until Warners determined to make the picture with Bctte Davis. But Bette demanded him and got him. Then 20th Century got Monty for "The Pied Piper," signed him to a long-termer out of which came a unique romantic team the Gracie Fields - Monty Woolley combination. These two invest an autumn love story with a sprig of spring. "Why not?" shouts the veteran of many bitterly fought artistic battles. "All things being considered, a beard covers almost any facial defect de-fect and in the long run makes Its wearer look younger. Yes, and feel younger, too. So there!" To a Great Gal Fibber McGee has written a song, "My Molly," dedicating it to his wife, Molly's a star wherever she goes. It doesn't matter what glamour glam-our girl's in the room when Molly starts using her little girl voice, everybody stops to listen, laugh and to applaud. . . . Thomas Mitchell goes right back where he belongs in the big time, with Clark Gable and Grccr Garson in "Strange Adventure." . , . Ray Collins plays the district attorney in "Leave Her to Heaven." |