Cal York’s Gossip of Hollywood: January 1938

THE TEN MOST IMPORTANT STARS THIS MONTH…


Shirley Temple:
Discovered what a pun was, pointed at a rooster strutting about the set of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, said, ‘There’s a real aroostercrat.’ Her brother, Jack, got a third-assistant-directorship on the 20th Century-Fox lot, which makes the third Temple on that studio’s pay roll. Shirley is making plans for a world tour, if the wars are over by next summer.

Clark Gable: Has been going about occasionally with other gals besides Carole Lombard, according to reports; has lost weight and looks more magnificent than ever; is living on the Rex Ingram ranch in San Fernando Valley.

Fred Astaire: Will go to London at last—to visit his titled sister there. He has hesitated a long while over this decision.

Ginger Rogers: Has been doing her own splashing around in the freezing waters of Big Bear Lake instead of asking a double to do it. Remarks, ‘I can take it but it’s a little hard of them to call the picture Having Wonderful Time. There is a rumour that if husband Lew Ayres wants a divorce, she will give him one.

Robert Taylor: Has been living in a country place outside of London. Tossed a cigarette butt away, a group of women fans made a dash for it, and the British papers said naughty things about him. Has been sending messages to Barbara Stanwyck by returning friends, who couldn’t deliver them because she is strictly in hiding. Very unhappy in England. He will be home by Christmas.

Joan Crawford: Bought theatre tickets for all the New York stage hits before she left with Mr. Tone for the East. She redecorated her Brentwood house, discovered that she would keep her weight down by running a mile every morning. Franchot turned down the lead in Jezebel to go with her to New York.

Claudette Colbert: Bought a new ermine coat and started Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife.

Jeanette MacDonald: Denies that Gene Raymond has been signed by Metro to star with her in pictures; denies that they will work together for at least two years because both have commitments; allowed him to teach her all the riding tricks she must know for Girls of the Golden West.

Gary Cooper: Has discovered, to his dismay, that he is one of the first he-man film stars to set a clothes style for women. His Twelfth Century Chinese gowns in Marco Polo are scheduled as a new vogue. He has taken his wife, Sandra, to night clubs to celebrate his new little daughter’s well-being and has forsaken his usual silent demeanor for voluble camaraderie with all and sundry.

Jane Withers: Is still annoyed because Heidi, originally bought for her, was given to Shirley Temple; is reported to want a raise in salary; has been refused by her mother the privilege of going to the movies for quite a time, as a disciplinary measure. Reason for the latter: while the electricity was cut off in her house she turned the heat on; the electrically controlled pilot light was out, of course, so the house filled with gas and almost asphyxiated the entire family.

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From Photoplay archives

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