On the 4th there was a near tragedy at a party, given by director John Farrow and his wife Maureen O’Sullivan. Gathered in the kitchen to make some scrambled eggs, the stove flared up when the match was struck. Caught in the blaze was Simone Simon. Her eyebrows were severely singed. [Simone, the French actress, who had many trials making films in Hollywood, would return to France in August to take up her career again over there. Besides complaints that she was tempermental and hard to work with, she was in the news (see June 20) regarding her secretary, who had embezzled from her, and was threatening more scandal].
The Sol Wurtzel production ‘While New York Sleeps’ at 20th Century Fox to begin shooting today. [A B series under the rubric of The Roving Reporters. It follows the adventures of Barney Callahan, played by Michael Whalen. This is the second installment and would be released in January 1939].
Screenwriter John Twist has been assigned a project at RKO. They have acquired the 1928 novel by Norman S Hall entitled The Balloon Buster. Cliff Reid will produce this story about the ace pilot Frank Luke, known for shooting down dirigibles in the last war. [Another property that must have remained in the RKO script vault, for I have found no further mention. Twist was kept busy on other RKO projects – six for 1939, including one from The Saint series. And Reid went on to produce the Mexican Spitfire series, starring Lupe Velez. His involvement commenced with the second in the series – released in 1939].
The search is underway at MGM for six blonde chorus girls to fill out the cast in ‘Idiot’s Delight.’ Only two have been signed so far – VIrginia Grey and Toby Wing. The timetable for production start is being played with, in order to make it possible for Norma Shearer to take the Scarlett O’Hara role. August is the tentative start date. [Virginia Grey was the only blonde to stick around. Five other gals rounded out the group called Les Blondes. Toby Wing (a woman with a fascinating history, at one time engaged to Jackie Coogan), would be married in October to Dick Merrill, an aviation pioneer. She then retired from the screen – an uncredited role in ‘Sweethearts’ was her last].
A town for midgets has been proposed to be located on the grounds near the Gilmore stadium. About 1000 midgets are believed to be in the US, with about 500 out of work. The proponents think that it would be a valuable solution for those unemployed, and special means would be made available for the aged, and no longer employable. Recent actors in ‘The Terror of Tiny Town’ have pledged their support. [Gilmore Stadium, torn down in 1952, became CBS Televison City].
Bette Davis is back in harness today in ‘The Sisters’ at WB. She comes off of a 10 day hiatus, due to laryngitis.
At the Inglewood Turf club, Cary Grant was spotted with Phyllis Brooks chatting with Eddie Mannix of MGM. Grant sported a darker than usual tan. (In from work on location?)
Columbia settles a plagarism lawsuit brought against them by Sam Hoffman, a playwright and former NY drama critic. The plaintiff alleges that they lifted elements of his original story – Command Performance for their film ‘Racketeers in Exile’ from 1936.
Outside Hollywood
Two cameramen from MGM were dispatched down to the wilds of Dutch Guiana to seek out and film in its remote areas “thrill sequences” to add to the Clark Gable/Myrna Loy project ‘Too Hot to Handle.’ They report that they have come upon tribes so remote, they have never laid eyes on a white man before. They have photographed tribal dances and rituals and will be bringing back native paraphernalia to be used as props.
Johnny Weismuller and his wife Lupe Velez have taken out a 10 year lease for a home down in Ensenada, Mexico. The home, originally built for boxer Jack Dempsey and his wife Estelle Taylor was constructed at the cost of $35,000. It has 13 rooms, and was lavishly furnished, but by the time it was finished, Dempsey and his wife had divorced (in 1931). In the mean time vandals have carried away all the furnishings and fixtures. [Estelle Taylor was a huge star of the silent screen. In 1920 she appeared in ‘While New York Sleeps’ for Fox, which was their highest grossing film for that year (same title, same studio, but different story from the Sol Wurtzel 1939 film mentioned above)].
