Claire Luce and June Clyde — Guests we Delight to Honour (1935) 🇬🇧
Not everyone has the good fortune that I had the other day to run into two of the most charming visitors from Hollywood at present in this country.
The first was Claire Luce, who answered my somewhat conventional opening as to how long she was staying here by the heartening assurance, "As long as the Home Office will let me."
She went on to tell me that she is just starting work at Twickenham studios on the new Seymour Hicks' picture, "Vintage Wine."
"After that I may make another film in New York," she said, "or I may do a play; I am not certain, and have no definite plans for the future."
Vintage Wine will not be the first picture that Claire Luce has made in this country. Some time ago she made a film, with Ian Hunter, of "Lazybones," which was recently trade shown.
This American actress's love of England is really genuine, not just the conventional lip service which is epitomised in the "I think your London policemen wonderful" convention.
"I would like to stay over here," she told me. "I adore England and the English people. I am not going to say I like fog, but when I got to Waterloo after my recent visit to America, I have never felt so glad that it was foggy. It seemed so typical of London.
"Proof of my fondness for England and the English people lies in the fact that my little sister Jeanne is at school in Hertfordshire, while my sister Polly is happily married to an Englishman and lives in the country.
"I had a bungalow last summer at Cookham Dene, near Marlow, and although it was a good distance out of town, after each performance at Daly's I went down there. The scenery was superb.
"I also have a lovely bungalow in New Mexico of which I am very fond and which I am keen to see again."
Miss Luce has a very favourable opinion of British films.
"Although I have not seen many," she said, "those I have seen, such as 'Henry VIII' and 'Jew Suss,' have been extremely good and quite on a par with the best American films."
But, like most American artistes I have Interviewed, I found that Miss Luce was not so optimistic about the chances for artistes in this country.
"I should say there was much more chance to make good on the screen in America than in England," she volunteered, "because in the U.S.A. they will make a star, while over here they seem to want only people who have already made their names either on the legitimate stage or in films.
"It is not always ability which attracts a producer's attention. It is a matter of being lucky just at the moment when a producer is requiring a person of your figure, features or particular personality, combined with your ability." Like most stars, Claire Luce has her own favourite. I think every film star is a film fan at heart.
"My favourite actresses are Garbo and Barbara Stanwyck," she answered in reply to my next query. "If I had to choose a film to see to-night, I should go to see Garbo in The Painted Veil. There are no male stars who particularly attract me."
The other visitor I was lucky enough to interview was June Clyde. In her dressing-room at the Strand Theatre, where she is appearing in Lucky Break, June told me how it came about that she was appearing in a successful London run.
"I came over with 'T' (which is her affectionate abbreviation for her husband, Thornton Freeland), who had an assignment to direct 'Brewster's Millions.'
"After its completion we intended to take a holiday on the Continent. However, it took longer to produce than was originally contemplated owing to weather and other conditions interfering, and I was approached to appear in a stage production. I turned a deaf ear to all appeals as I felt quite sure that in a very short while we should be on our way back home."
However, the delay resulted in June joining Leslie Henson in Lucky Break, and now "T" has finished his picture and he's doing the resting for a while.
June is simply thrilled with English audiences. "Before I came over," she said, "I heard that British audiences were not responsive, but I think they are really marvellous. Instead of wanting to run off on holiday and then get back home, I'm simply thrilled with the idea of staying here longer."
June, at the moment, is putting in a very hard day, leaving home at 6.30 in the morning and dashing to Welwyn, where she is co-starring with Buddy Rogers in "Dance Band." At the end of the strenuous day she dashes back to the Strand Theatre.
"'T' and I," she told me, "are having a wonderful time. We are enjoying every minute of our stay here and we are making good friends wherever we go."
Claire Luce and Seymour Hicks in the stage version of Vintage Wine which is being adapted for the screen.
Right: June Clyde as she appears in "Hold Me Tight".
Next Week's Unique Number
Next week The Picturegoer, continuing its enterprising 1935 programme of regularly placing before its readers big and entirely new features in film journalism, is publishing a wonderful Animal Friends of the Stars Number.
In this fine issue you will learn all about a fascinating side of film production that has never before been so fully described and illustrated.
Famous stars will talk to you about their pets and the animals they use in their films.
You will be told for the first time the secrets of directing animal stars; how they are groomed for stardom; what happens to them when their screen careers are finished. Order your copy now.
Collection: Picturegoer Magazine, February 1935