On Drawing the Line Holh^vood Defenders Want to Know Where Realism Should Replace Glamour By Horry MocArthur Hollywood seems to remain of one mind and the more serious movie-goers of another in this matter of screen realism. But Hollywood Is getting self-conscious about it. By way of the Loew’s Theaters publicity department it is taking sensitive exception to those critics who continue to maintain that some films would be better if they paid a little more attention to at least the outward aspects of reality. The substance of most of these critical remonstrances is that $30-a-week stenographers are not customers of Valentina, nor do they usually live in apartments that would cost no less than $150 a month under the strictest rent control. There is some thought, too, that a girl who rides horseback across the West all day and all night might greet the dawn with her face dusty and her gown mussed. The complaints again have brought forth an answer—again be cause this is an old battle. Now Hollywood’s defenders in the affair of reality vs. glamour are saying they want to know where the line should be drawn in matters of this kind. To quote the Loew’s pub licists: “Is, for instance, Cyd Charisse supposed to cover up her heaven sent assets in ‘Three Wise Fools’ merely because an 1870 role calls for lots of crinoline and not so much epidermis? Or is Esther Williams, when the film shifts to an early-morning boudoir scene, supposed to awaken from a sound sleep looking like Gravel Gertie merely because that’s the way John Q. Public’s wife looks before she climbs out of bed to squeeze the orange juice? Money Is the Concern. “Devotees of the Moscow Art Theater, students at the Yale School of the Drama, subscribers of the late Group Theater and cus tomers of those pneumonia traps where ‘arty’ films are shown might reply with a resounding ‘Yes!’ to the above questions, but the mil lions of movie fans scattered around the globe would most likely dis agree_and disagree in the one manner that could well sound the death knell of all motion pictures: By their studied and continued absence from the box office." Stop crying and listen a minute, fellows. We of the reality school know you in Hollywood are more interested in making money than in producing "art'’ (which must be put in quotes to indicate the way you look down your noses at it). As a matter of fact, we do not want you to go out of business: some of us are too soft for indulging in police headquarters poker games or fire engine chasing. But there is a place to draw the line you mention. No one complains if a fantasy ignores fact. No one complains at any flight of fancy .in a Marx brothers’ picture (such as that wild airplane ride in "A Night in Casa blanca," which would have had any 10-hour pilot snarling at technical flaws if he ha^ wanted to stop laughing for anything so foolish as that.) No one objects if Bob Hope wants to make cracks about Bing Crosby in a period piece set in the time of Louis XV. There * a Happy Medium. There is, however, some fair basis for answering with a polite if not a resounding “Yes!” to those questions above. You could put Cyd Charisse on a 1946 bathing beath if it is her “heaven-sent assets” you want to give movie audiences. And if ^his “Three Wise Fools is seriously supposed to be set in 1870 you had better stick to crinolines, there are plenty of pretty-faced Hollywood actresses who look better in crinoline.. As for Miss Williams' appearance in an early-morning scene, there Is a happy medium to be drawn there, too. Contrary to the allegation in the above chip-on-shoulder defense statement, John Q. Public's wife probably does not look like Gravel Gertie when the alarm goes off. But neither does she appear to have spent the night in a beauty par lor, to emerge with her makeup slick and every hair in place. There are, to be sure, unfair complaints lodged against what seem to be lapses from realism in motion pictures. It was not so long ago that Producer Carey Wilson, passing through town, felt called upon to defend the crisp neatness of Lana Turner, as a waitress in a roadside stand in "The Postman Always Rings Twice.” “That was California,” Mr. Wilson pointed out. “If you have ever been there you know that all waitresses dress like that. They get a package of clean uniforms every week, so they have one a day. And there isn't a girl ©ut there who doesn't own a half dozen sun suits, even if she only owns one dress.” With Authentic Sniffles. • There also are occasional films which demonstrate the vast dif ference between the run-of-mlne Hollywood product and the picture with the realistic approach. One of these was an excellent photoplay entertainment called “Vacation From Marriage,” about which we have heard more favorable comment (and not from Moscow Art Theater devotees) than about any glamour movie in a year. In this, Deborah Kerr was supposed to impersonate a British housewife with the sniffles, who wrapped herself in a bathrobe and got up to fix her husband’s breakfast without first making a trip to the beauty parlor and the hairdresser. And that is exactly what she did look like. She resem bled neither Gravel Gertie nor Esther Williams as Van Johnson enters the room. And it is highly doubtful if she lost any of the fan follow ing she is building up in this country while she was bowing toward realism. There is a place “where the line should be drawn in matters of this kind ” If Hollywood will stop swinging wildly in its own defense and use some common sense. New Edition, Elot Off the Press By Jack O'Brian NEW YORK. The fall theatrical season will get off to a rowdy start Wednesday j when "The Front Page.” Ben Hecht's and Charles MacArthur’s j valentine to their own Chicago po lice reporting days, is revived at the Royale Theater. A good many paradoxical notes have accrued to the brash and bril liant comedy since it premiered Au gust 14,1928 at the old Times Square Theater. It was made into a fabu-j lous movie success in 1931, after running 276 times on Broadway. Pat O’Brien, who played Hildy Johnson in the first film, got the role because he was believed to have played it originally on Broadway. Lee Tracy, who later went to film prominence,) actually was the original Hildy. On the basis that “if at first you do succeed, try, try again,” Holly wood remade “The Front Page” a few years later, this time changing Hildy to a girl, played by Rosalind Russel). Cary Grant played the managing editor, done originally by Osgood Perkins and in the first movie version by Adolph Menjou. Won an Award. Undoubtedly Hecht and MacAr ttiur's largest success, “The Front Page” set Hollywood off on a rash of pictures about newspapermen, none of which approached its drive, verve and tone. The playwriting pair wrote it in 1923 but tossed it aside as unfit to present. They got together on it again in 1928. Jed Harris read it and produced it al most immediately. It started both writers off to fabulous screen suc cess, although each alone and in concert, has bemoaned the literary constrictions the movies impose on a writer. Hecht recently explained his approach to screen-writing. "I put on my sport jacket and take off my brain.” One movie Hecht and MacArthur WTote and produced independently as a gesture to bolster their con victions on Hollywood’s absence of esthetics won an Academy Award: “The Scoundrel.” Currently they are represented on Broadway by a drama, “Swan Song,” which they somehow have managed to keep alive and running in the face of extremely bad reviews. The cast of the new and revised mm /Hfk| « T»«#nin\*iwr^ m«i ii vi ivn pppl0>P> U. t. TWUSUHV on UTH tT. A She’s an Actress and Wants to Prove It That’s Marie MacDonald, Who Wants as Much Recognition for Her Talent as She Gets for Her Figure By Sneiiah Graham HOLLYWOOD. Marie MacDonald came into the commissary at Metro Goldwyn Mayer. She was wearing a white blouse and a long, but *lit-at-the side skirt. There wasn't a man in! the place who didn’t stop eating to stare and drool at the blond actress as she walked to my table. “I am dropping my title, The Body,’ ” says Marie, when the rest of the dining room has more or less regained its equilibrium. T don’t mind them calling me ‘The Body,’" she continues, with a slight lift of one shoulder, "but, I do resent it when they don’t look any further.” Then says Marie, with a grin, ‘‘Do you mind if I sit on the other side of the table? I want to look at Spen cer Tracy!” This is one gal apparently with no inhibitions whatsoever. She says what she thinks and she thinks sur prisingly, considering her beautiful face and a figure that can take all the well-worn adjectives. I watch Marie put away a steak and pota toes and top them off with apple pie. “I can eat all I want and I don’t gain,” she tells me complacently. Marie weighs 118 pounds and is 6 feet 5 inches tall. One-Track Mind. “I’d like to sign a long-term deal ■ with Metro,” continues Marie. ‘‘I like this studio.” She should. Marie now is co-starring with Gene Kelly in ‘‘Life's For The Loving” and she should come out of it a big star. The only hitch in the signing of the contract is that she first must wait j to see if Hunt Stromberg will con-! test the case, recently won by Marie for release of her contract with Stromberg. ‘‘They wanted me at Metro four years ago, she tells me, after a little 1 more drooling in the direction of Tracy, who, by the way, is the one. man in the commissary NOT look ing at Marie. He's eating and Spence has a one track mind. - ‘‘Pan Berman wanted to sign me as a showgirl. But I didn't want, that, so I signed instead to sing with Tommy Dorsey’s band.” It was Dorsey w'ho changed her name from Marie Frye to MacDonald. “Every-! one will call you ‘Small Fry,’ ” he told her. MacDonald was the name of Marie's mother who was a Zieg- j feld beauty. Press Agent's Title. “Then I sang with Charlie Bar nett’s band. Next I signed up for. some Bs at Universal and I had a year and a half at Paramount, also in Bs. Then I signed with Strom | berg. In this life, that's being around a long time. I’m 22 now, but people say, 'Oh, she must be at least 25’” i | Marie has made 16 pictures already. It was Stromberg's press agent W'ho gave Miss MacDonald the title, ' “The Body.” But it was Stromberg who gave her first chance to prove I she could act, as the model in “Guest in the House.” Marie was [ good and she was hoping she w'ould get more and bigger parts. | “But when Mr. Stromberg w'anted to put me in ‘Young Widow” (which Jane Russell had instead), I knew where I stood. I haven’t been knock ; ing my brains out for the past six ! years for nothing. I want to be a good dramatic actress. And that 1 means I must have good pictures.” Won’t Remarry Soon. Marie insists that she is not the Cinderella type. “Things just don't 1; happen like that for me. I’ve been broke in hotels and I’ve done my share of going hungry.” And that > brings us to the story that Marie !i recently dined alone at a fashion | Late Show Tonight! LOEW S CAPITOL Last Stage Show 11 P.M. Last Feature 11:45 dj] “SMOKY” II i M |] FRED MaeMURRAY 11 ”^|1 ANNE BAXTER-BURL IVES II dl 20tk CtnturyFox VI III JOHNNY I) yil DESMOND H THURSDAY J If ft JOHN MODIU • NANCY 8UILN J % Ik“SOMEWHERE ia Hn ^ll^Vstm •««»! tit* IV Now Doors Open 12:15 VI If It's All Unfit | | 11 and a Smile H ide. ftl Ubob hope|| 11 JOAN CAULFIELD II 11 Monsieur 11 uBeaucaireft ft] A Paramount Pictura | I P COMING | k»;“THE OUTLAO Its. JANE RUSSELL /II eheehM ftl Now Doors Open 12-1 *11 II IRENE DUNNE REX HARRISON II II LINDA DARNELL II || “ANNA and the II [IKING OF SIAWTll ftl 20th CtnturyFox || 4 MARIE MacDONALD. Coming Attractions NATIONAL—“The Magnificent Heel” with Peggy Wood, start ing September 9. CAPITOL—“Somewhere In the Night" with John Hodiak, starting Thursday. COLUMBIA — “Cluny Brown" with Charles Boyer and Jenni fer Jones, starting Thursday. EARLE—“Of Human Bondage" with Paul Henreid. KEITH’S — “The Kid From Brooklyn” with Danny Kaye, starting tomorrow. LITTLE—"Jane Eyre” with Joan Fontaine, starting Wed. METROPOLITAN—“Night and Day” with Gary Grant, start ing Thursday. PALACE—“The Outlaw” with Jane Russell and Jack Beutel. able restaurant and that she paid her owm check. “Look,” says Marie, “do I look like the sort of girl who has to pay her own ticket?” She does not, “I haven't paid for a meal for myself for the past six years.” At this point in the conversation Marie's husband, agent Vie Orsatti from whom she is separated, comes into the cafe. They wave to eacl other. Then Marie starts to sing softly, to the tune of “I Marriec An Angel”: “Have you heard? 1 married an agent, I'm sure that the change will be—awfully gooc for me!” She then.tells me that she will divorce Vic just as soon as she finishes “Life's for the Loving.” “Vic,” says Marie, “still handle: all my business and I wouldn’t d( a thing without him.” The divoref will be in California because Marit has no plans for remarriage. “What do I want to get marriec NOW PLAYING “The Curtain Rises” Tues. Thru Sun., 8:45 Sunday Matinee 2:45 Ba« Ga. and Tlrkfit* Now Alaska Arp#, nirht- Spiling at Kitt's If at 8:00. rptnms 1336 G St. aftpr show. and at ths thpator for again?” she demands. “I have a house in Encino and I have a mother, a father, a horse, a dog, two cats, a trailer and a maid. Daddy feeds the horses, mother cooks and the maid dusts. What do I need a husband for?” All I can say is that it’s a pleasure for a reporter to talk with Miss MacDonald. She's colorful. And that Is getting to be a rare quality in Hollywood. (Released by North American Newspaper _Alliance. >_ Director Signed Paramount has extended its con tract with John Farrow, director, for one year. Farrow has directed eight pictures for Paramount. The j most recent was the Technicolor j production, “California.” His other pictures are “Easy Come, Easy Go,” i “Calcutta,” “Two Years Before the Mast,” “You Come Along." “The ' Hitler Gang,” “China” and “Wake Island.” which won the New York | Critics’ Award for 1942. Farrow now Is preparing “Blaze of Noon.” TONIGHT—8:30 Aqua Follies of 1946 E. Potomac Park Pool, Hain* Point SI.30. SI.80. S3.40 (inti, tax' Tickets at Willard. Kitt's, Statler, Paol Reservations* RE. 0109 Bus Leaves Treasury 6::i0— ’Jth 8t. Cars to Cross Channel Ferry | i I NATIANAI • final week: a:: ?« 11 ■» I IVHflL MATINEES WEDNESDAY AND SATlTtDAY 2 SUNDAY SHOWS TODAY XI *“ SNOW OF IOOI WONDERS IN 2 ACTS AND 39 SCENES All Evas., Sat. and Sin. Mats 60c, $1.20, SI.OO, $2.40 BARGAIN MAT. WED.i 60c, $1.20, SI.OO (Tax Inel.) ONE WEEK ONLY, BEG. MON., SEPT. 9th WITH RICHARD VERNEY —FRANK MERLIN and EDITH MEISER DIRECTED BY MR. PEMBERTON SETTINGS AND COSTUMES BY JOHN ROOT A Pre-Broadway Presentation Eves. |1 M, $1:80. $2:40, $3.6G—M*U. $1.30, $1.80. $2.40 (Tsx IneL) -BOX OFFICE SEAT SALE TOMORROW One W«ek Only Beg. Mon., Sept. 16th „ VINTON FREEDLEY/w•«*»*» FRANONE LARRIMOREji SUSANH S SEATMCt COII Mischo Millard Fanla i\! " AUER 0 MITCHELL * MARINOff Dkeoed ky BILLY GILBERT & Utiieg, ky DONALD OENSIAGE! MAIL { Evanincsi I ill, 1.80, 2.40, 1.00, S.89 ORDERS 1 Mpniir Matlnaasi $1.20, 1.00, 2.40 f ROW L Eleoee Enclote SeH-Add retted Stomped Envelope J U. ■ * •1 * JCOK* I * r '■He-- •'