Bizarre Los Angeles

“I’d like to correct one impression created by the pictures generally taken of me. I really do have and do wear clothes.” — Gilda Gray  Source: Wayne Weishaar (1926) Photo: Aloma of the South Seas (1926)

“The beauty of Hollywood is due entirely to the hand of man. For once, man has not brought destruction, but grace and charm where there was nothing but waste.” — George Arliss

“An actress cannot give a genuine and sincere portrayal unless she feels the situations.” — Dorothy Revier  Source: 1928   Anybody’s Blonde (1931). Also starring Reed Howes.    

“One cannot be too subtle. There is always the box-office to be considered. Is it not so? But abroad, that is not so important. They do not spend such vast sums on pictures, and so, as a result, they do not require such vast returns. An artistic success may often show a profit.” — Maria […]

“I wanted to act, but all Hollywood wanted me to do was show my legs and chew gum.” – June Havoc Here is another anecdote written by Erskine Johnson: June Havoc was quite a problem to the publicity boys when she first landed in Hollywood. The R.K.O. publicity department called her into a staff meeting and […]

“I’m honest when I say I never want to be a star again. It’s much better to be a featured player. If I’m a featured player I’m cast properly. A story comes up for consideration. It has been picked without thought of cast. There is a role that I may characterize. They give it to […]

“It isn’t that I yearn to play so-called ‘good’ women. They are not interesting – but bad women of the gunmoll type are even less so. They are all cut from the same pattern – a gaudy costume, flashing or bedraggled make-up depending upon the exigencies of the moment, dialogue consisting mostly of wisecracks – […]

“My name is Elizabeth Mary Furness, and although people constantly apologize to me for pronouncing it like the furnace in the basement, that is correct. The movie press agents decided that a casual mumbling of the ‘Fur’ and a heavy emphasis on the ‘ness’ sounded foreign, or something, so I’m Betty Fur-NESS.” — Betty Furness […]

“I’m not quite five feet tall. Therefore, I flap. If I was five feet five do you think I would flap? Not at all.” — Anne Cornwall

“I don’t know why I was so disgusted with myself in that first picture, ‘Ladies of the Night Clubs.’ I guess it was the way I looked on the screen. And then I had the nerve to go right out and sign as a leading lady for a stage production. But I couldn’t see myself […]