Slow-.poken Jolm Trent. who waayanked into the moYie. from the

cockpit of a trc:maport plane.

Leading. Menon Way to

StardomBy ROSALIND SHAFFER

Hollywood. Cal.

THEY are as different as old-fashioned apple pie and friv-olous crepes suzettes.

But those in the Hollywood knowhave pounced on John Trent andRay Milland as the most liltely starmaterial in the year's constellationof new leading men.Trent. slow - spolten a I r pilot

yanked from the eockplt of a trans--port plane .to a place before thecamera, is still as clear-hooded aswhen the lives of passengers de-pended on his mental equilibrium.He's quite honelttly a bit dazed

by this success that swooped uponhim in Hollywood. Starred in hissecond film, ••A Doctor's Diary,"Trent Is cannily holding on to hispilot's license -jultt In case; andhe's making no spacious gestures.Not so the debonair Milland.Ray is taking his swilt up-curve

In popularity following ••ThreeSmart Girls" all in the rangy stridethat carried him over a good por-tion of the world before he reachedhis middle twenties.Cook on Q potato boat, gentlo-

man jocky, British household caval-ryman, temporarily affluent memberof thtl international smart set con-spicuous on the Riviera, and nowrising Hollywood star, contemplat-ing a home in San Fernando valleyin company with such luminariesas Paul Munl. the Richar.d Arlens,Mary Astor, and the Joel McCreas-that's Ray Mllland, in brief.They say that it cost the hazel-

eyed Mr. Milland exactly $17,000(every cent of his legacy from anaunt) to attain that Ittate of gracewhere head waiters In the swanlt-lest continental hotels not only re-membered his face but also hisname. The right one.Off-screen life of the two Is sur-

prisingly similar In several re-spects. Both, of course, are young.Trent is 29, Milland Q year older,though he's by far the more uncon-cerned. Each has one marriage,to a nonprofessional" to his credlt.Milland will tell you that his wife

is tall, graceful. lovely. Her namebefore their marriage in 1931 wasMuriel Webber. She's a Hollywoodgirl. but not an actress.Trent, who met and married Har-

riette Dodson In Danville, Va., inthe hazardous days before he be-came a TWA pilot, says modestlythat his wife is responsible for hispresence In Hollywood. She sup-plied the nerve for the adventure.I tallted with John Trent at his

Hollywood flat, a pleasant littlehome on a shady, not particularlyfallhionable street near the foot-hills. It was a 9 a. m. appointment.And no stalling) Accu.tomed torunning his lile by air line sched-ules, where a .pUt second counts,this fiyer turned film player hascarried over the habit of beingpunctual into hi. new life.It's not difficult to see why Trent

draws feminine fan mail from thefour corners of the nation. At 29he's .till the cooed'. ideal of the all-American full baclt. Californiaborn, he grew up on a ranch inOrange county, California (justlOuth of Long Beach), actuallyplayed football at Orange UnionHigh school, and learned to fly ata technical school in San Diego.Like many another ambitious

TwoSmart Fellowsknow how it goes. People say lotiof things 1Ilte that-and then youget to the airport. Even when Mr.Schulberg offered me a test I wasscared. It seemed such an awfulchance, giving up a certain job,where Iwas making my living, forone I didn't know a thing about.••Shucks, I never acted in my

life. II It hadn't been for my wifehere [with a nod at the slim, titian-hatred girl from Virginia who haabeen Mll. John Trent for severalyears] Inever would have come toHollywood at alL"

•••Trent's rise ha, followed the bost

story-book rule •.In his first picture, .•John Meade'.

Woman," that lamou. thtee-mlnutelove scene with Francine Larrimoreso caught the fancy of romanticladie. from Catalina to Nantucltetthat Schulberg cututely plumpedhis discovery straight into the•.A Doctor's Diary" lead. Trentpromptly clicked again, handsomerthan ever as one of the dramaticmen in whit •..•The Great Gamblnl" followed.

And now he's starting worlt on alight little thing with love in thetitle. He thinlts it'. going to befun,Trent, hunching his sweatered

shoulders and thoughtfully puffinghis cigaret, finally concluded thathe had no hanltering \0 play a cer-tain role on the screen. Most actorshave at lecut one favorite part uptheit well tailored .Ieeves.••1 haven't been in Hollywood

long enough lor that," he said... All I aslt is a chance to be natu·ral. And no emoting I Maybe Ican do that later, but not now:'With the same tenacity that got

him a transport pilot's license Trentis learning this .l)ew business ofbeing q. film actor. He go.s faith·fully to dramatic school and has

Note: The Trent contract withProducer B. P. Schulberg i' minusthe .•no flying" clause. Nothingcould have persuaded the avIatorto sign away his right to the air IToday he's Hollywood's number

one .•ladies' man" by right of dis-covery. Feminine member. of Pr0-dueer Schulberg's transcontinentalair party insisted that the good-looking TWA pilot waa preciselytheir idea c» a leading man. A,you might expect, their frank opin-ion carried weight.•.I didn't pay much attenllon,"

Trent explained with a grin. "'You

Trellt alld Buth Coleman In a lCen. from "A Doctor's Diary:'

youth, the boy, then known as LaVerne Browne, leamed. to fly, onlyto discover that handling a ship isonly one of a modem pilot's ac-complishments. Nothing deunted,he enrolled at Hancock Foundationcollege. Santa Maria, Cal., andemerged on schedule as an accred-ited aeronautical engineer.And then he had to fly trans-

ports out of Kanlas City beforeHolly...•,( od found him I

e • •

Dogged in his determination toget those precious air hours neces-sary lor the transport pilot's licensehe wanted more than anything elae "in the world, he barnstormedthrough the deep south in an old •cabin plane, got as high as $1.50 aride from delighted Negroe. whodidn't recognize a risk when theymet one.Perhaps that's one good reason

why Actor Trent keeps such a bull-dog grip en his license. After all.you don't get one because youhave broad sho.ulders, an engag.ing. boyish grin, or fine gray eyes.

.- .•Just after he hCld leCUlled to fly. TNllt beade the plan. In which he

had luat completed hfa firlIt 11010.

found, to hi. intense relief, thatleaming lines is no great tali..Eager to profit by all experience,

he wcu fascinated by Akim Taml-roff's way of mastering his part in.•Gambini.""He translated every word into

Ruslian:' Trent explained envious-ly, .. then back into English, alterhe had learned the part. In thatway he got the feeling of thething, not ju.t the einpty words.I thlnlt It's an advantage. Whenyou finilh you have more than a

Milland In the uDiform b. woreaa member of the Britilb hoU;8'

hold cnaUy.

atrlng of worda. You know what'sbehind them."Except for his obstinacy on the

pilot's licena. matter. Trent hassubmitted meeltly to other Holly-wood vagaries. After the inter-view he was due for a visll fromthe bootmak.r. That worthy wasgoing to step up his alroady ac-ceptable height a few inches.But there has been no change in

the Trent hat size.As a matter of fact, he doesn't

wear one, except for pictures.Studio stenngraphell' and .criptgirls agree, "John's exactly thesame now as the first day hewalked into the studio."

• ••Le.s spectacular i.the lilm ca-

reer of the Britiih Ray Milland. Hehas been filtUng baclt and forthbetween Hollywood and Londonfor the laat five or .Ix yeare, andstarted making an impression onthe populace in Universal's ••NextTime We Lov•.•.•• Jungle Princess,"with seductive Dorothy Lamour,furthered both MUland and MissLamour (one·lime Chicago elevatorgirl) to prominence.Th. fans back home (England to

you) lilted Milland' ••• Next TimeWe Lo".," And with ·the famouslight touch to the .fore in ••Three

Dehoncrir Bay MiUO'Dd.ex ~cnalrymem. ex· coolc. and ex - genUemanloc:ky. who haa crttc:dDedClmettked succe •• in fI1ma.

Smart Girls" he was all set forfame and fortune. Not bad for alad who admittedly took his firstextra job- as a lark IBorn in Wales, the son of a steel

mill supervisor named A, Mullane,Milland spoke Welsh before he didEnglish, and still retains a senti-mental attachment for the land ofhi. birth. Hie favorite dog of themoment is named alter a Welshcanine hero which distinguisheditself for devotion to duty sev.ralhundred years ago.Destined for Cambridge, Milland

studi.d at King's college until hewas sixteen. Then his volatile ne-tur. got the better of common senseand, unable to get a job on a deep-sea veasel, the boy ecntented him-self with a potato boat plying be-

tween the channel islands. Thenhe worked for an uncle, a breederof line heraes. He brolte, trained.and exercised the most capriciousmounts. Expert horsemanship ledto the Cheshire yeomanry andfinally to the British household cav-alry (the" Blues.") Shooting, box-ing, and fencing (all handy ceeom-pli.hment. if you are coming toHollywood) belong to his period.Estelle Brody, a British film

actress whom Milland met on thecontinent while he was getting ridof his aunt's legacy in the moslamusing manner polt8ibl., intro-duced him to her boss, The result-ing extra job as a larlt, and asteady job followed.At the moment he's busy with

••Easy Uving," as the playboy son

A humoroua Iltuatton In the Pc:rrtImount film. ••Ecray IJYing:' MiUandand Jean Arthur.

lIei£e .f tLe ~."ie F•• tetter, J»lbUshed in this department should be written on one side of the paper.If ,ou wish a p.ersonal repl, please inclose a stamped, self·addressed eneelope.

My dear Mae Tinee: t'm a boy of 20years of age and have been your "fan

mail" readerevery Sunday andevery day for along time. I hadto write to you tolet you know howmuch I enj oyr.ading your col-umn, and whenyou praise a play Ithen make a planto se. it. I sawSimone Simon ina movie the othernIght. and really,Mae, this youngstar i. in myheart and I willgo again to •••

SltoIONE SltoION her. I had to letStar b hi hurt of moyl. fall. you know what I

think of this dar-ling. I promise to s.. all her picture.from now on. Weil, my tim. 11 up, andbefore I .ay adios, s.norita, will you pleasemention or print a little about Simon.Simon in Sunday's column? I will appre-ciate your kindn •••.I remain your ••fan mall" reader,

GUSTAVE WAYNE.Editor'. "ote: BI~ S~ WGI bom

at Ma,..elUu, FraflCe, AprU 83, 1914. Atthe age 01 4 she waa toke" to Madagae-car, thO" Oft to V4et&tta,Budaf)eat, BerlfM,Bnu.els, !lAd Pam. B1I.e Cltt6tlde4 8leu6ftschools a"d «a the jlnt of Nr c~ to taketo the tllflater. At the 046 of 11 .he mcIdeher jlrst proluriOf&aJ perf01'fn<lflCo Oft t1l.ePam .tage, hcw4tlga lttle 4tl a mob 'CMe.Bhe «a 5 feet 4 'flChee taJl, we4gM 1J7pot,,,"', hCM brown hair, bltul 61168, CltUrMct-ul' M.e, afld a tUmpl6 Oft her rightcllfJek.

Dear Mae Tinee: I'm no compoaer ofswell .peechel, but I'm sure you'll under-

stand. I want to eay a few word. to thetheater managera, They brought RobertTaylor back in ••Society Doctor" and otherfilms; they brought .•Dancing Lady" andClark Gable; but why not be real amartand bring a grand guy baclt in a greatpicture? Who? Why, Nelaon Eddy in••Student' Tour," Remember how swell hesang the American bolero, .. The Carlo "?Come on, managers, give us a real treat.Thank you. ROBERTA KUCHTA.Editor'. fl.Ote: uti. 1l.op6 .ome mclMg.

er .ees the••

Dear Min Tlnee: 1 recently *XW "Bornto Dance" and would like to know whoplayed the part of the officer in aentralpark who .howed Jame. Stewart lu.t howa band shoull! be directed.Thl. actor waa the prize of the picture,

which I considered dull because of theplayer. breaking out in lOng or danceevery few minute.. Why can't we haveIUlt one .ong or dance in mu.ical. andbuild up a better .tory than what we aregetting? JOSEPH ZMUDA.Editor'. " 0 t e : Reg4ft.alcJ QareUtter

plal/ed the r616 of t1l.e poUcemaft.. MJf"ott

Dear Min Tinee: 1 lu.t read whereDavid Selznick, the producer of ••Gonewith the Wind," haa decided to COlt anunknown girl, preferably from the south.in the role of Scarlett O'Hara. I couldre.train myself no longer I What a stupididea 1 That role will take a fini.hed actre ••to put it oYer, and with all the talent inHollywood 1 see no reason to meanderlouthward. I ean feature no other actre ••in the part of Scarlett than the superb, dra-matic, and finished Bette Davi.. She hcultre J And with her teeth in a role likethat-wow I It'. made for her.With Clark Gable aa Rhett Butler and

Bette Davi. as Scarlett the picture couldn't

\

help but be the biggest hit that ever wasturned out of Hollywood.Pleale help U', MiN Tin•• , by printing

this letter. At leatt get our idea of ••nounknown for the role of Scarlett O'Hara"over .ome way.Gratefully, RITA E. RUSSELL.Ed4tor's Mt6: WeU, 1I.ere'. tt geffiftg

j(our 4cJeaowrl' GtljfW431. Let me 1ct&ow., !lAl/th4ttg C~ of 't.Dear Min Muffitt: So you sent out a

call for the int.me. to go and .ee ••In-terne. Can't TakeM 0 n e r: Whatfor?1. To see Bar-

b a r a Stanwycltfaint from malnu-trition when .h.looltl as healthycu Wimpy, theHamburger ICing?2. To have the

hoapltal .uperin-tendent, Dr. Fear-sen. adv1le themof the newly dis-covered locationof the rectu. mu ••cle? When con-demning InterneWeeka he pointedto the right .id ••of hi. che.t when

he .poke of thi. mu.ele. For your owninformation. it is the muacle of the anteriorabdominal wall.3. 0, and when Inne. was wounded, and

the hero was .aYing hi. life by doing lOmesuturing that wcu exactly not being .hownin the movie, why not at lecut bave thegreat .tar go through the motions of thehand and foreartn necelsary in thi. act?•. What doctor would bring to an under-

nourished .ubject ••hot dog s "?With all the faclUtlee that the industry

'AlIARA STANW'fCIC"r ••• hMlthr I. p1etvre

decl.,.. _ crItic.

hcu it should be easy enough to obtainfor technical detail information that wouldaccurately depict things cu they shouldbe. But why bother? It is only a cloakand .ult industry. L. R.E44tor'. "ote: 0, mrf (.ald. .he from

her tul!I1f).

Dear Mias Tlnee: Would you pleaseprint in your paper the name of the grandactor who played Madeleine Carroll's hua-band In the film .. Uoyds of London"? Hewas really a lord in looks and manners.

A FAN.EcUtor'8 Mte: George Ba.t&deraf)lCl2led

the r6Ie of Lord. Everett Bt4cJI,MlJdelei"eCarroU'. huabmui, i" the aboue jIlm.

Dear Min Tin•• : Why don't we havemoro picture. here .tarring Robert Donat?Is he dead? Did he lo.e hi. voice or abU-ity? What'. the matt.r With movie execu-tives? Can't they take advantage of agood thing when they have it?I always read and greatly enjoy your

reviews and personals. They're my ••moviedictionetty." In only one of hi. foUr pic-tures did 70U disapprove of Mr. Donat; thenyou .aid the fault wcu in the play, not theactor. When people write to your columngiving their favorite actora hi. name i.among the be.t. Hi." Count of MonteCri.to," ••39 Stepe," and ••Gho.t Goe.We.t" were all amuling, different, andentertaining.There's my opinion of Mr. Donat, Min

Tin... My plea is for new. of him. I. he.till making picture.? If '0,what are they?Hopefully youra, MARIE KENNEDY.Bd4tOf'. Mte: Mr. DOtaCltwae out of

pictures for S01M motlth. beCCluae of m..flea.. He'. I" E"gl<Mtd at t1l.e p7'eS6fttdme. Becefttlv, howetle1', he jI,,«a1l.edwork HI ,.,K"'g1l.t Witllout Armor," oppo-lite Marlette Dietrich. It win be releaeedS01M time HI tile future.

of Edward Arnold. He lands in anautomat, with Jean Arthur to COil-

sole him during his dayl of lesseasy living. Paramount has greatplana for her newest favorite. Mil-land's even been mentioned forthe form.r Ronald Colman role in.•Beau Geste," among others.Yes, he takes it all In his .tride,

show. a healthy interest in thestudio restaurant menu while beinginterviewed, dismisses with a men-tal wave of the hand the fact thatwork forced him to mls. the coro-nation of George VI.It would have been hard work,

really, due to his former statlUiwith the household cavalry. Andhe and hi. wife were back in jollyold London lust a year ago. It wasMrs; Mllland'. first vi.lt, and herhusband found her vast enthusiasmamusing. He.aw the city for thefirst time himself through her ex-cited eye •.StatUI of .tar apparent comes

oo.ily to Mllland. He'. well edu-cated, superficially flippant, butessentldlly conservative. He haslittle .ympathy with strike.; helpeddeal with one in England with afirm hand.He reada widely, rapidly, Is

amused by such flashing modemscu Noel Coward, declines to acceptthe populett vIew that " Cavalcade •.was intended to be taken" straight."And the proposed home in San

Fernando valley is the apple of hi"roving eye at the moment.••It may lOund .uperflcial to

you "-he fixed the reporter withan appraising glanc_" but I domean it. Several years ago I u.adto drive through the valley andwonder what it would be Uke tohave a home thete. Now I'm actu-ally going to build one I "