Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • Page 54

SCREEN RADIO WEEKLY 5 I I -j 1 irt el '''iBI harm- It Devastating mimmmmmmmmmmmjmmL urn jmuiu tmfKmtw-; mum i By Emilie Bowers IS CHARM, I had heard, was devastating, off screen as well as on. And I was ready to believe that this statement about John Boles was true. Vividly I recalled, the spells' he had cast on the screen over Ann Harding, Irene Dunne, Lois Wilson, the; notably invulnerable Margaret Sullavan. And there were others. He possessed a gilt indubitably, for making lovely women suffer and like it Only Loretta Young, in f'White Parade," had said a reluctant "No" to the virile love-making of handsome John Boles.

No doubt of it, his charm on the screen was unquestionable. As for Jiis off-screen personality, I set out to find out about that in spite of a confided by some cat, that the Boles aversion to interviews and interviewers was pointed and intense. I went to see the golden-voiced actor whom everyone talks about but who has earned a reputation for talking less about himself than any man in pictures, wkh the possible exception of the sphinxike Ronald Colman. Presto! The dis8ke-of -interviewers myth exploded as wet exchanged greetings. In less time thin it takes to relate the fact, I was being.

Imade to feel that I was actually conferring' the honor by -coming. The Boles charm, backed up by six-feet-one of magnificently healthy good looks and a smile which I dare any one to resist, was hitting on all 12 cylinders. It was up to me to concentrate on the story. HE life of John Boles began in an 1 East Texas com that -triumph, the film jVersipn of "The Age of Innocence" rocketed him. higher.

Since then'The White Parade" and "Music in the Air" the latter with his original film godmother, Gloria Swanson have been released. And this list omits several less distinguished successes crammed into the last year's program. "And, when I went, to New Yprk before Christmas, for a resj and a little play-spell, I was tempted into a radio engagement, murmurs-. John pensively. Proving that an actoo who has Attained the popularity of the stunning Mr: Boles has a difficult time keeping out of the public eye and ear.

He plays polo and tennis; rides a bicycle between the studio and his; Malibu Beach home; goes on mountain hiking trips when time permits, and retains a lively interest in baseball. Ther was, a time in his college days and hie loves to remember it when his!) process as a pitcher brought him professional offers. Boles makes.it courteously plain that his private life is very much his 'own, even in a community where enterprising youths conduct sightseeing tours i past the dooryards of the picture T) wiu munity, Greenville, where the customs, the sentiments, the thought-processes of the chivalrous Old South surrounded him. The. standards of life were secure, if stilted.

It was an environment to be envied: leisurely, ample, serene. "I intended to-be a doctor; you know," he explained, apparently anticipating Form Question A-l, "What precipitated you "into i.cting?" "But circumstances prevented my study of medicine, so here I am." The circumstances were the momentous ones of the World War. The ink on John Boles' diploma from the University of Texas was scarcely dry before he iwas hustled overseas, But opportunity was with John Boles -when, one night during the harrowing spring of 1918, he wandered Snto the Hut in Havre. It was, cold jand dismally rainy outside. Inside there -was light, companionship, and the music of an indifferent orchestra.

It was the orchestra which most attracted the young Texan; he loved music, had grown up with it. When the orchestra leader called for -a volunteer soloist to' help along the rather limping entertainment, John Boles found himself, unexpectedly, upon his feet, putting his whole heart into a half-forgotten melody of the Texas cotton fields. 1 After he resumed his seat, his neighbor on the right, an Englishman, questioned him about his training. "I've had no training. I'm only a rank amateur," laughed Boles, embarrassed.

"Training is the offly thing yon need," the other replied. "With that voice of yours, you can do anything everything. If you'll only study and feel it. I'm a. teacher of voice, and I can recognize' timbre.

Whether or not we ever meet again, remember what I've said to you. Study and feel. They never did meet again, as it happened. But afterward, when the young Texan, had returned to his own country, found Himself recalling the incident with increasing desire to carry out the English voice teacher's advice. IN ALLY he did just that.

But not until he had gone through a wretched interval of uncertainty. To him, as to thousands of other returned young campaigners, the land of his birth was not the same world' in which he had grown up. Everything was strange, unsettled, unstable. He had given up the thought of medicine. He tried being a cotton broker.

It palled. He tried various other things, with the identical i result. Then, when it seemed to fiim that he must float for the rest of his life, he was lucky einough to obtain a voice audition with Oscar Seagle, who was on a concert tour at the time in the Southwest. I Seagle's reaction was so favorable that John Boles'took his courage in both hands, along i with a sum of borrowed money, and went to New York. He would study and feel he determined, until he landed as "a singer in ftght opera, or wherever singers with voices like his did land.

He was entirely untutored in the ways of the stage, but hi; was sufficiently level-headed to know that ahead lay a long stretch of uphill road. He attacked the-climb with grim resolution nt only to conquer the intricacies of voice "production but to earn his living during the period of study. iThis latter he did by teaching singing and French in an up-state New York high school, by becoming business manager and cicerone for a student group on a year's tour of Europe. iThis later venture led to the Paris studio of the great Jean (de Reszke. "IH always think of that, as one of the high lights my life," Boies exclaimed, his eyes luminous, "the chance to come under the training of de: Reszke, a great teacher and a greater philosopher.

"Another favor, romi the gods was being picked by Geraldine Farrar, after my return from studying with de Reszke, to sing opposite her in 'Romany Love It didn't seem spectacularly lucky, at the time, for the opera opened in a Hartford theater and closed the same At charming off the screen am on. John Bolet ham managed to scale the heights in Hollywood and mtill keep his feet on the ground. He set oat to be a doctor, but the war made him a singer. Gloria Swanson took him into pictures from the light opera stage. leading man.

She remembered me, in 'Romany Love and, subsequently, when I was on Broadway in 'Kitty's Kisses, she chose me to be her leading man in The Loves of Sonya. "And that, although the' Swanson feature was produced in New York, brought me to Hollywood. In spite of the small success of the 'The Loves of it made certain film nabobs aware of my existence and led to me being cast in the 'Desert Song" the next year. So you see I've a lot for which to thank gorgeous Gloria." 1 The "Red Shadow of the Riffs' and his singing of the Romberg lyrics in the screen version of "The Desert Song" are still remembered by picture audiences. The "Red Shadow" wasn't much of an actor, then.

Even his enthusiasts admitted i that. But how he jcould and did-sing! As picture history I goes, all this happened long ago, John Boles has gone far ahead, so tar that it's to be doubted whether he remembers with any distinctness the details of his first triumph. And he has been busy. Ambitious producers are naturally tempted to popular an actor before the public which clamors for him. The result is a breathless succession of pibtures.

It has been this way with' John Boles. The acclaim of "Only "Yesterday" was still sounding in hist ears when he appeared in "The Life Of Virgie Winters." Before his admirers had done praising Cat, DUl uiic vail uiciiuvii, vj lovi l.7 and briefly' a titian-haired. Mrsi Boles, who shared all her actor-husband's struggles and is now enjoying his triiumphs. And there are two little daughters. John Boles, have it on his own unimpeachable authority, eschews film parties), premieres and all the Hollywood fanfare whenever possible in favor of family and fireside.

i I A remarkable and admirable! person, this John Boles. Unaffected; unspoiled; unaware, apparently, that he stands out from the trow3 in looks, talent and charm. Possessed of an unshakable poise, he is a man wno ten into nis striae long-ago; a man who, although he makes no! night. But among the spectators of that sbfe performance was Gloria Swanson. Gloria was about to embark upon her independent and disastrous career as a producer, and she was shopping for a ado about it, knows exactly where he is going to the top..