Born on This Day
- George M Cohan turns sixty and is fêted in newspapers and on the radio across America. [The Yankee Doodle Dandy will have one of his plays filmed by WB in 1939 – ‘The Cowboy Quarterback,’ based on Elmer the Great, which he wrote with Ring Lardner].
- The head of MGM, Louis B Mayer turns 53. At a party at the studio for him Harry Rapf a producer in the shorts department gifts him with a desk set featuring a gold horse. [Rapf knew his boss and his keen interest in horses. Mayer collected thorouhgbreds from around the world for his stables].
News Around Hollywood
- ‘The Wings of the Navy’ company is to leave for Pensacola Florida today for three weeks of shooting. After which they will cross country to San Diego for three more weeks of shooting, before taking up the work at the studio. All together two months are budgeted for making this film.
- In an interview, Merle Oberon talks about the down side of working in the US and having to pay taxes in both countries. Of the $880,000 that she will earn in the next four years, she will clear only $150,000. Besides US taxes and her agent commission, the bulk will be going to the British government. [This is why Charles Laughton and Leslie Howard didn’t want to make pictures here. Leslie Howard must have worked out something to be a part of ‘Gone with the Wind’].
On the Move
Howard Hughes takes off from Wichata KS for New York City. From there he and his crew of the Lockheed plane will take off for their around the world trip.
Items of Interest
- News on the King D Gray murder case [see July 2]. Police knew that he was leading a double life, with at least two women – his wife and the young woman they tracked down in Pennsylvania. Now, they are rethinking the theory that he was killed by a jealous woman after a man’s footprint was discovered in his car.
- Shirley Temple and her parents have dinner at the International Casino on Broadway in New York City. The studio through their PR departments had asked for ‘no publicity,’ but somehow word got out to the papers and they were swarmed by reporters. The newshounds were soon chased away, helped by a famous New York cop, Johnny Broderick. [Broderick was the basis for the Edward G Robinson part in the WB pic ‘Bullets or Ballots.’ Broderick was also controversial, and combative, and was often accused of using excessive force, but having the favorable support of the press he got away with it. He once knocked out Two-Gun Crowley with one punch and was present at the two hour shootout, recreated in ’Too Hot to Handle’ See July 1].