P.,. Two Garbo In Love Aaain. but Will She...

P.,. Two

GarboNew HeartAffair FiresHer ActingBy ROSALIND SHAFFER

Hollywood, Cal.

GARBO Is not attractive to theaverage man. Few menare ardent Garbo fans. She

draws her greatest fan followingIrom the women, who have a betterunderstanding of the things sheportrays. It takes a man 01 eme-tfonal temperament to appreciateher actinq and her personality.Her love of retirement and the dif-ficulty of approaching her automat·ically repel most would-be admir·ers, the Hollywood beaux whocast their dinner partners at a pub-lic cafe with as much care as thltywould a leadinq lady in their newfilm.Yet Garbo is human. She likes

the company of men. She enjoysherself thoroughly when she feelsshe knows a man well enough tobe at ease with him. She tells8lightly naughty storles, pia y 8pranks, gives little parties, evenhas been In love twice.The key to the elusiveness of

Garbo, ,is her Inferiority complex.She's afraid of people, of whatthey think of her, of what they say.She is sensitive about commentsthat come to her att.ntlon, eitherIn print or by word ,pt.mouth. Yetthe last year has seen a decidedchange in Garbo. Fri.ndliness andInformality have increased to amarked degre.. This is due to twothings: Her success finally has re-assured her that she won't belaughed at, and her associationwith George Brent, charming andgay Irishman, has warmed her na-ture and given her the •• ll-eon-Iidence that the knowledge ofbeinq loved qives any woman.

•• •Greta Garbo's life has not been

a happy one aside from her sue-ce.. in films. Born and reared inpoveriy, h"r father dying when shewas a child, her sister dying whenGarbo was lust achlevtng successIn America, a land whose lan-guage she did not know and whoseideas were totally stranq. to her,the shy Greta with her introvertNordic temperament found Uttlooutside her work to make herhappy.Love as such had Uttle chance

in her life. They say she was inlove with Mauritz Stiller, famousEuropean director who introducedher to films and brought her toAmerica. It is hiqhly unlik.ly thatthe f•• Ung between them was loveas American qirls consider it. Amiddle - aqed, pronouncedly unet-tractive man physically, Stillerwould hardly inspire romance in agirl. The bond between them wasmore likely to have been admira-tion and gratitude on the part oftho girl, whatever it may havebeen on the part of Stiller., Thoughhe dominated her life Q9.mpletelyon th.ir arrival in Hollyw-9Qd:thedomination did not last whenthirlgs beqan golnq weU for Garbo.This is not a criticilm. 'I'ime Ihowedthat Garbo acted wisely and wellin continuinq with her studio con-tract when Stmer was let qo afterunsuccessful attempts to ~irect herat Metro-Goldwyn.Mayer.The irony of it was that when

StUler, qreat director, was broughtto Hollywood by Louis B. Mayer.Garbo came as excess baggage.The studio wanted Still.r and tookGarbo because he insisted on it,Stiller failed: Garbo succeeded.Her first film, ••The Torrent," start·ed under Stiller's direction. Un-happy events made it necessary totake him off the film and turn itov~r to another director, who com"pleted it and mad. it into a qreatsuccess for Garbo. When Still.rwas taken off the film it was bruit-ed about that he felt that Garbo

At rJ 9 h t I Th.m a Ie. 1.1 P art1IIthGII mad. gr.atchcmg.s In theGarbo fac.. H.r.ia ho* sh. ap-peared In .arly&1m•• l-WitllBlcarclo Cort•• iD••The TorreDt",2-wlth LllcyBeaumoDt iD thesame play, 3-with Jack GIlbertiD ••A WOIDGDof

Affcdra.H

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•In Love Aaain. but Will She Marry?

1Maurita Stille r introduc.dGarbo to the &lmsand b1Ou9ht

her to America.

should have quit In loyalty to him.If it had been a great'love betweenthem she doubtless would have.Women In love alwaya do suchsilly things and make iust such sac-rifices lor men. Garbo stayed withher contract and achieved greatsuccess by using common sense.Another proof that the much pub-

licized and agonlzed-over love ofGarbo for Stiller was not love isthe fact that Garbo fell very muchin love with Jack GlIbert when shewas working with him In her thirdfilm, .. Flesh and the Devil." Thiswasn't qratitude; this was love. Isaw It, and I know. At this stageGarbo was lust as .. gaga" as anyHollywood film girl. She went toopenings with GlIbert, wearing thestandard Hollywood regalia 01 er-mine coat and orchids. giggled andlaughed and chattered gaily withher debonair escort. Once when 1was prowling about the back lotat the studio, where I had beenwatching a company that complet-ed its work and left me Iree to goback toward the publicity offices,1 passed the huge stage whereGarbo and GlIbert were working.In 'silent days stages frequentlywere rather flimslly made, withsides open to permit the free move-ment of sets and equipment, withlarge canvas drops if privacy wasdesired or the weather Inclement.This ~icular stage, with its flap-

ping canvas, had a sort of wing ofcanvas at the entrance, sheltered onthree sides. As 1passed, almost thelength 01 the stage away I sawGarbo and GlIbert in what wouldbe described as a clinch by theproletariat. Having a polite aver-sion to peeking at people makinglove, 1 kept riqht on going, but thefirst look told me that this was nomere camera rehersal, but a verygenuine piece of love-making be-tween two very-much-in-love youngpersons. I was the only spectator10 the scene in the canvas wing,but no one has ever been able toconvince me since that Garbo iscold and that she i. incapable oithe gentler emotion.

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The mercurial temperament 01GlIbert. who though lovable was amost difficult person to get alongwith, ended the love affafr betweenthe two. After making .. Anna Ke-renlnc," their second film, they lettheir love cool. but Garbo alwaysremembered Gilbert as long as helived, and it was a most generousgesture that she made when sheinsisted on havinq him in ..Chris-tina" as her leading man. By thenGilbert had lost considerable of h13popularity, and her generous acthelped him recoup lost prestigoand finances.Meanwhile Mauritz Stiller had

returned to Sweden and died,never having recaptured the pres-tige he lost In his Hollywood yen·ture. Garbo was overcome withqrief when she heard of his death,but completed her scene in n WildOrchid.... which she was makingat the time, and then went home

2 Jack GObert. the lat. scre.DRomeo. with whom Garbo fell

very much in 10.,.•.

3 ROUbeDMamouliem. the dfr.c-tor. with whom the Sw.dfshstar weDt OD a motor trip.

4 The 9ay lrishmem. Georg.Br.Dt" !sGIIgi""D Gr.tel a D.W

s.U·codd.Dce.

Although she appears elual.,.. and cold to most meD, Gr.ta Garbo actually eD!oys the compcmy of m.D.

for the rest of the day. Her qriefwas intense, but It was probablylargely pity and gratitude, notlove, that moved her emotion., After the unhappy ending of herlove affair with GlIbert, Garbo,who had had a taste of the pub-licity that comes to prominent filmstars and their private affairs,began shunning company. Gilbertloved gay parties, lively peoplearound him. He had tried t~ 'makeher a part of It all, but though shehad loved him. she could not over-come her innate .shyne •• and pre-ferred to be alone with him,· with·out the gay, merrymakinq crowdthat constantly attended him. Nowthat' things had ended betweenthem, Garbo began the completeavoidance of the spetlight that hascharacterized her since.If their love had evolved into a

happy marriage the story of both

their live. might have been quitedifferent. Jack had hoped to marryher. He even had gone 10 far as tohave a lovely boudoir complet.lyfitted and furnished for her as asurprise. Hi. little surprise wentquite awry. She' was offended.feeling he had taken too much forgranted. John, always the spectac-ular lover, the giver of lavish gifta,could not understand her attitude.They broke. Jack went on to loveother women, but it was years be-for.. Garbo fell in love again. Inthe meantime she never appearedat public cafes, openings, or par-ties. An occasional party at thehome of a friend in a limited group,amall informal parties at her homeon rare occasions, made up hersocial life.When Garbo attends a party she

does it in good spirits -laughs,lokes, and enjoys herself. She re-

sents the intrusion of strang.rs,however. At a party given by hergood friend Salka Viertel, scenarist,th.re was provoked an amusingexample of her rather sharp wit andher dislike to be capitalized on.Thyra Samter Winslow, the writ-

er, approached Garbo, saylnq,••I'm goinq to tell all my friends inNew York that I've met Garbo."The retort was instantaneous:••Don't forqet to tell them it wasan accident, will you?"Durinq the filming of ..The Paint-

ed Vell" reports came out thatGeorge Brent was besieging Gar·bo's h.art. Brent's was the firslname to be linked romanticallywith that of the ice prince. sincethe days of her affair with Gilbert.It i. true, of course, that gossipfutilely attempted to conjure up (l

romance out of the Swedish star'svacation trip into Arizona with

5 Leopold StoleowskL the ma ••tro. hGII beeD Garbo's 'com-pcmlODat ••.•.• ra1 • .,..D'"

Rouben Mamoulian, the director, in1934. but, as It turned out, the lovefactor was entirely absent in thatmolor trip.Brent studied Garbo, learned her

likes and disUkes, what interestedher. He talked to her, played ten-nis with her, treated her as a veryfriendly, enjoyable person. Henever treated her as the greatGarbo, the exotic unapproachable,to be worshiped with the incenseof heavy flattery and elaborateg1fts. In other words, it was theold pal stuff that Greta went forfinally in CJ big way.Neiqhbors at Brent's home be-

came accustomed to the figure ina lonq cloak that would run up thewalk to the front door and be ad-mitted immediately and wouldsoon emerge in shorts and jacketto play ball in the back yard. Itwaln't a glamor lady, 'iust a long·legged qirl who wa. having a lotof fun with a very attractive youngman. They always seemed to havea great deal to laugh about.

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Wh.n Garbo started her mOltrecent film, ••Camill.,.. her holidaymood was most perceptible toeveryone in her company. Shedid her love scenes without ascreen around her. She rodearound the set on the camera per-ambulator, lau9hing. She toldfunny stori.s with George Cukor,her director, and memb.rs of th.company. When they went on lo-cation she ate at' the table with thecompany, spurning her regulationdressing room seclusion and th3specially prepared Swedish lunch-eon that is usually provided forher. She even climbed a tree, gotstuck, and had to be helped downby Bob Taylor.You may have noticed that the

love scenes In ••Camille" were the. 'armest and most spontaneous ofmy that Garbo has dorie since theJnes she did with Gilbert in.. Flesh and' the Devil." Beinghappy il very qood for Garbo, asit is for anybody.The holiday mood was excep-

tional enough for Garbo to acceptan 'almost totally strange crew onthe film. Due to circumstance, herfavorite cameraman, BUI Daniels,was not avaflable. No kicks from

6 Rob.rt Taylor played the great10'Nr oppoUt. Garbo iD ••Ca·

mm ••••

Garbo; she went along good·humored1y with the new man.Many of the electricians were new.No murmur from Garbo.Few people who are close to

Garbo are willinq to discuss' her.They know from experience that itis the one sure way to lose horfriendship. A couple of personsfound that out by bitter experience.and no one does it any more.What are the chances that Garbo

wUl marry Brent? Your guess Isas good as mine; the. only oneswho really know 'won't tell.Rece'nt developments have Garbo

and Leopold Stokowski as dinnercompanions -:- as the qaqamlthshave It, ••The most famous handsand feet were seen at a Hollywoodhot spot this week." Garbo hasbeen Stokowskl's companion atseveral events given by local so-ciety peoJ:)1e.Floyd Porter, the electrician who

has lighted Garbo before the cam-era for eleven ,years, says: .•MissGarbo is ideal from the electrician'sviewpoint. She never argues, crit-icizes, nor directs the lighting forher scenes. We follow the system\lied by Bill Daniels In the twentyfilms in which he has photographed~i.. Garbo. For gay scenes weus. strong lights; for dramaticscene I. Including closeups, les8light; for very dramatic scene., asin the deathbed sequence in 'Ca-mille: w. use fewest lights ."Daniels, her cameraman. says

that Garbo la not a sc.ne stealer,never tries to force attention onherself when a scene logically be-longs to encther player. Thts isa rare compliment in a businessfull of tricks to gain and keep thecamera eye.••Long shot. or big close ups are

our rule for photographing MissGarbo:' says Daniel.. .•She is theideal camera subject. because somuch of her acting is not by gea·ture and posture as by little thingsin her eyes, sUght changes in ex-pression. She i. superb in close-ups because of this restraint in heracting."ciarence Brown has directed

more of her pictures than any otherdirector, yet Garbo does not preferone director to another. She workswell under any intelligent direc·tlon.

Garbo r.ach.d Dew .motioDal heights playiDg oPPOsite Bobert T••••loriD ••CCDDiU.... - •

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