YOUR SCREAMS WILL MAKE HIM A STAR

There were many women journalists who had their finger on the pulse of Golden Age Hollywood. One of them was the famous and powerful gossip columnist Louella Parsons. Another force to be reckoned with was Hedda Hopper. Still another was Helen Louise Walker, who may not have been as famous as Parsons or Hopper, but she more than made up for it with her prolific presence in the Hollywood entertainment publications of the day.

As far as I have ascertained, there is scant biographical information available about Walker's life other than her work as a reporter from the 1920s into the late 1950s, when she wrote for numerous movie fan magazines such as MOTION PICTURE CLASSIC, PICTURE PLAY, MOVIELAND, MOVIE MIRROR, PHOTOPLAY, SILVER SCREEN and MOTION PICTURE.

Painting of Helen Louise Walker by Charles Gatchell, 1920s.

Charles Gatchell obit, The Herald-Palladium, Benton Harbor, Michigan,
April 5, 1933 (coincidentally, the birthplace of my late father).

During her career, she wrote countless features and profiles, interviewing stars such as Claudette Colbert, Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, Bing Crosby and Rudolph Valentino just ten days before his death at the age of 31. Her access to so many actors and actresses made her very influential to those looking for publicity in Hollywood celebrity circles.

Walker wrote this article on Boris Karloff for the April 1932 issue of MOTION PICTURE. In the story, she states: "I've known him myself, for five or six [years]. I'm pretty proud of it, too, because he is the first actor that I "knew when." There is no mention of his being cast for THE MUMMY, which would be released at the end of the year, but she does mention that he is up for a role in a remake of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (it was never filmed), as well as appearing in the upcoming THE INVISIBLE MAN (he didn't).

Helen Louise Walker also had a perception about the power of women in Hollywood, and she wrote about it several times in the 1930s. In his February 15, 2022 essay "Hollywood is a Woman's Town’: Masculinity and the Leading Man in American Fan Magazines of the 1930s" (Source: Wiley Online Library, author Stephen Sharot begins by writing:

In their address to a predominantly female readership, fan magazines of the 1930s asserted that Hollywood was one place in which women were not subordinated to men as female stardom was superior to that of male stardom. The magazines’ representations of male actors were both compliant with, and resistant to, the tough-guy image of hegemonic masculinity. The personas of most ‘leading men’ who led the supporting casts of female stars were represented as softer forms of masculinity than that of the majority of male stars. The on-screen hard forms of masculinity of male stars were softened by the magazines’ reports of their off-screen personas, and the personas of some actors were presented as a bipolar masculinity that combined soft and hard forms.

I believe the first time she wrote about the topic was in this article from the September 1932 issue of PHOTOPLAY.

Continued tomorrow.

PHOTOPLAY'S MEMORY ALBUM: LON CHANEY

For a time, PHOTOPLAY, the most popular of the Hollywood fan magazines, ran a regular feature, "Photoplay's Memory Album" that was a kind of scrapbook of sorts comprised of photos from the silent era.

In their February 1936 issue, they included a page showcasing Lon Chaney's work.

SMOKIN' MONSTERS: MERIAN C. COOPER

Not a monster himself, but Merian C. Cooper created the greatest monster of them all -- King Kong! Coop was a dedicated pipe smoker and it's hard to find a photo of him without his trusty briar.

See more SMOKIN' MONSTERS HERE.

This article from PHOTOPLAY (July 1933) is a profile on the amazing life and times of Merian C. Cooper up until the release of KING KONG. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

MEET THE MONSTER!

Many movie fan magazines of the day wrote about Boris Karloff's hard road to stardom. Much like Lon Chaney, his path was also paved with sacrifice and hard labor. After his role in FRANKENSTEIN, however, things changed for him in a big way. This article from the January 1933 issue of the popular PHOTOPLAY magazine tells of Karloff's life before his big break as the world's most famous monster.

FAY WRAY FASHION PARADE

We may best know Fay Wray as "The Girl in the Hairy Paw", aka Ann Darrow in RKO's KING KONG, but Miss Wray was quite a dame as a "clothes hanger", as models were sometimes known in the 1930's.

Here in PHOTOPLAY magazine (June 1933, August 1935, July 1937) she poses in the fashions of the day. One of the photo spreads pairs her with Carole Lombard, which is saying how high Fay's star flew in Hollywood in just a few short years. 

LUGOSI'S INFAMOUS LOVER

The caption for this photo from PHOTOPLAY (December 1924) describes the 19-year old Clara Bow as a "precocious baby vamp". A few years later, she would meet Bela Lugosi backstage after one of his stage performances playing Dracula. A torrid affair ensued (so the legend goes). As an apparent commemoration, Lugosi commissioned a nude painting of Miss Bow which he hung in each of the houses he owned over the years. One can only wonder what his wives thought...

BORIS KARLOFF'S LAST PHOTOGRAPH

Hollywood fan magazines of the 1930s favored scandal over substance, just as they do today. If they could tantalize, titillate or trash, they had done their job. Like journalistic stage magicians, smoke and mirrors and misdirection were also tools that writers and gossip columnists would use to raise the eyebrow or the ire of the reader.

In this page from PHOTOPLAY (February 1933), the caption accompanying the full-page photo of a pensive Boris Karloff boldly states that this is the last picture that fans were likely to see of him. The catch was that his "bosses" at Universal had made an announcement that any photos henceforth would only be of Karloff in his various monster guises. While it was definitely designed as one more publicity stunt, film historians of today can look back and ponder just how powerful was Karloff's fame, and just how typecast he was, at the time.

The moody, chiaroscuro image of Karloff was shot by Jack Freulich, FRANKENSTEIN's still photographer.

Sinister, those eyes ...

LIGHT A CANDLE FOR CAROLE LOMBARD

By the end of the 1930's decade she was the highest paid woman in Hollywood. She had it all: Incomparable good looks, a wonderful sense of humor, married to international star Clark Gable, and idol to millions of women who saw her as free-spirited female. But, her storybook career came literally crashing down on her on the night of January 16, 1942.

Born Jane Alice Peters in Fort Wayne, Indiana on October 6, 1908, Lombard and her two brothers moved to Los Angeles with their mother when their parents' marriage fell apart. She had an aptitude for athletics and was noticed playing baseball by director Allan Dwan, who was scouting for a "cute looking little tomboy" for his next picture.

Lombard was cast in many different roles and as she grew older, she found herself playing "leading lady" parts. When she married William "The Thin Man" Powell, in 1931, her career took off. She divorced Powell two years later. Filmmakers discovered that Lombard had a knack for humor and soon she became highly regarded for her "screwball comedies".

Lombard starred in only one film that could be described as a "horror/thriller". Released in New York by Paramount on April 21, 1933, the pre-code SUPERNATURAL was an early tale of spirit possession, Intended as a sort of follow-up to WHITE ZOMBIE, SUPERNATURAL was produced by Victor and Edward Halperin and with the same writer and film crew as the 1931 surprise hit film starring Bela Lugosi. Lombard reportedly disliked the role she had signed on for and argued on the set with the Halperins.

The reviews were mixed, and even with Lombard headlining the film, SUPERNATURAL did not meet Paramount's expectations at the box office, ending the potential continuation of the zombie/life after death cycle of movies produced by the Halperin brothers. Possessed (no pun intended) of a weak story, SUPERNATURAL is an otherwise moody, atmospheric, even noir-ish film and should be included in all lists of early 30's horror titles. In his excellent book, Horror Noir: Where Cinema's Dark Sisters Meet (McFarland & Co., 2011), author Paul Meehan opines, "Director Victor Halperin sustains the unearthly mood throughout, conjuring the atavistic terrors of the past against a realistic, modern-day backdrop."

Supernatural reviewed in PHOTOPLAY, July 1933.

In 1941,when the United States declared war on Japan, Lombard was the first movie star to enlist her stature as a famous star to help raise money for war bonds. She traveled to her home state of Indiana with her mother to attend a war bond rally. The rally was a huge success and raised $2 million during the single event.

In the early morning of January 16, 1942, Lombard, her mother, her then husband Clark Gable's press agent Otto Winkler, and a group of servicemen boarded a plane headed back to Los Angeles. They were originally planing to return by train, but instead elected to take a faster route. One account claims that Lombard wanted to get back to Gable as quick as possible to make up for their spat over his carrying on with another screen siren, Lana Turner.

After refueling in Las Vegas, the plane took off at 7:00 PM,  Approximately, twelve minutes later, it crashed at 8,200 feet into a cliff face of Potosi Mountain, a little more than 30 miles south of Las Vegas. All 22 aboard were killed instantly. A team of rescue workers recovered the victims, including Lombard's body, which was photographed wrapped in a blanket. She was 33 years old.

Rescuers remove Carole Lombard's blanket-wrapped body from the crash site.

Her remains were transported to California, where she was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale. The name on her headstone reads: "Carole Lombard Gable",

Along with her fame as a Hollywood star, Carole Lombard can be considered a true American patriot. She sacrificed herself for her country, not in battle but by selflessly volunteering her time and using her influence as a celebrity to raise money to help fight and defeat the enemy. She was nominated for an Academy Award, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, known to be a "natural prankster", was liked by everyone, and was said to have a figure "made to be swathed in silver lame." She will deservedly be forever remembered as one of Hollywood's greatest screen actresses.

After Lombard's death, Clark Gable was married twice more. When he died in 1960, he chose to be buried next to his beloved platinum blonde, Carole.

Carole Lombard photographed in 1934.

A promotional shot from Supernatural.

Supernatural fashion statement, NEW MOVIE, June 1933

 

Lombard's gown from Supernatural was haute couture in the day.
A pre-KING KONG Fay Wray is pictured on the left.
From PHOTOPLAY, June 1933.

A portrait by George Hurrell from PHOTOPLAY, June 1933

GINGER ROGERS SKETCHES MARIA

In the July 1938 issue of PHOTOPLAY, the perky actress, Ginger Rogers, was interviewed. The first question she was asked was, "What personal accomplishment are you most proud?" Her answer was a sketch she had done of Maria Ouspenskaya!

LUGOSI ON THE SET OF MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE

Another pre-code perversity was Universal's very loose adaptation of Poe's "Murders in the Rue Morgue". Bela Lugosi and director Robert Florey had both been ushered (no pun intended) from the production of Frankenstein and Murders in the Rue Morgue was their consolation prize. Even with the advantage of hindsight, it is hard to imagine that a Florey-directed Frankenstein would have eclipsed Jame Whale's, Arthur Edeson's, and Jack Pierce's creation of monsterdom's most iconic imagery.

Presented here is a two-page spread of an on-the-set photo from the filming of Murders in the Rue Morgue (Universal, 1932) from the February 1932 issue of Photoplay. Also seen in the shot is the Rue Morgue's murderous ape. Although Charlie Gemora designed and created the ape makeup, it appears in the photo to be more likely stuntman Joe Bonomo, who doubled for Gemora. Nearly a decade earlier, Bonomo had also doubled for Lon Chaney in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Included here are full-page ads from the February and March issues.

ISLAND OF LOST SOULS IN 1930'S MOVIE FAN MAGAZINES

Released in New York City on January 12, 1933, the movie fan magazines of the day were quick to catch on to the newest screen terror, Paramount Pictures' Island of Lost Souls. Pictured above is a full-page ad from Photoplay's February, 1933 issue, and below is a one-page pictorial that was featured in Picture Play in the same month.

ON THE SET OF 'THE MUMMY', 1932

This interesting monster movie arti-film-fact appears in all likelihood to be a promotional shot, photographed by "Bragg" for the December 1932 issue of PHOTOPLAY magazine. The scene is a set from Universal's THE MUMMY and it depicts various elements that are never seen on screen.

The 2-page spread is titled, The Great Pyramids Move to Hollywood and an Egyptian Mummy Comes to Life!, and shows a number of the characters who are found all together only in this shot and not in the film itself. David Manners is seated in the cab along with Zita Johann, who is dressed in her vestal garb seen at the end of the film. Noble Johnson, who plays the Nubian of Mueller's (Edward van Sloan) "Ancient Blood", peers through the window of the cab. Just outside is Boris Karloff in his Ardath Bey makeup, holding up an object -- the car keys perhaps? The caption reads that Karloff was only in this makeup for three minutes onscreen, so it refers to the opening sequence, when we see him as Im-ho-tep, not as Ardath Bey. Over his shoulder appears to be the unidentified actor who plays the security guard in the Cairo Museum and who is done in by Ardath Bey near the beginning of the film. The seated rotund personage is Karl Freund, the director of THE MUMMY.

Detail of the 2-page PHOTOPLAY spread of THE MUMMY set.

 The caption explains that a Universal employee was sent to Egypt in order to photograph various scenery so that backgrounds in the film could be as realistic as possible. The scene shown in this photograph is set up to use rear projection during the sequence when Manners and van Sloan are in the taxi together at approximately 44m.

The caption goes on to say: "Karloff achieves the one of the greatest feats of screen make-up yet known." John P. Fulton received screen credit for his less-than-spectacular special effect of lap dissolving the Ardath Bey/Im-ho-tep character at the end of the film. Ironically, the "greatest feat of screen make-up" was really achieved by the uncredited Jack P. Pierce, who had previously gone uncredited for his Frankenstein monster makeup the previous year. Other notable creative luminaries were uncredited as well: Vera West for costumes and Willy Pogany for art direction.

THE MUMMY was released in the U.S. on December 22, 1932. It is unknown exactly when the December edition of PHOTOPLAY hit the newsstands, but it was probably a few weeks before, and the picture spread was used to promote the film.