That’s Hollywood For You

I wouldn’t believe it was Natalie Wood if I saw Natalie Wood alone in a restaurant or at the movies. . . . Frank Sinatra should record an album of torch ballads and call it “Songs For Losers Only.” . . . As Sinatra says: “A guy who fights with a doll is in real trouble. Wars you can win.” . . . Jayne Mansfield never blows a line on the set or a chance to act off-screen. . . . I’d say Tony Perkins belongs to the “agonized . . . whisper” school of acting. . . . When blondes get old, they should let their hair get back to its natural color. . . . Kim Novak typifies a silent movie star to me. . . . Place a bet that somewhere in Hollywood at this moment, a fellow is telling a girl—“You oughta be in pictures. And I can help you. Baby.” . . . Whenever I go to the M-G-M studio, I look for the small building which has this sign over the door: “Janitors-Typewriters.” Actresses don’t come more beautiful than Dana Wynter, regardless of how much makeup they wear or gown they don’t wear. Doesn’t Elvis Presley look as if he belonged to Jimmy Cagney’s mob of hoods? Don’t hit me. I’m only casting. . . . I’d say that Anne Rogers of the National Company of “My Fair Lady” has a better chance of becoming a movie star than Julie Andrews, the original “My Fair Lady.” . . . Johnny Indrisano tells me that not so long ago when he was doing a fight picture, a well-known actor hopped into the ring, tossed off his robe, discovered he had forgotten his trunks!

Audrey Hepburn is glossy; Katharine Hepburn is vital. . . . The girls actually camp in the vacant lot next to Marlon Brando’s house in Laurel Canyon and wait to see him. . . . Susan Harrison isn’t pretty but she is interesting. Susan is strictly offbeat, in appearance and behavior. She hasn’t a phone, and if a friend wants to make a date he has to send her a telegram. She’ll begin to smell “The Sweet Smell of Success” because of her performance in this offbeat movie.

Norma Shearer still looks and acts more like a movie star than Piper Laurie. . . . I wonder how Francis X. Bushman felt when he introduced his new wife to Pat Boone. . . . I say this because when Francis X. was the No. 1 movie star he had to keep the fact that he was married a secret from his fans. . . . When they discovered it, he was on his way out. . . . The teenagers know Pat has a wife and three children, but he’s their lover boy, regardless. . . . Hugh O’Brian was talking about another Western actor: “What he lacks in conceit, he makes up for in egotism.”

I’m tired of those tired jokes about Yul Brynner. . . . Clark Gable has a chipped lower front tooth . . . I know because I kept looking at him for two weeks on the set of “Teacher’s Pet.” 

Director Mike Curtiz was very enthusiastic about Carolyn Jones’ performance in “The Bachelor Party.” Mike said: “I saw the picture twice, and the second time she gave even a better performance than the first.” Hollywood For You.

—BY SIDNEY SKOLSKY

It is a quote. PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE AUGUST 1957