STRITCH SPEAKS

"My feeling for [the theatre] hasn't changed. But my feeling is for the memories. I hate how casual it is now. I loved the specialness of going to a Broadway show, the sense of a big treat that you dressed up for. Popcorn is OK for the movies, but for the theater it should be pearls."

STOOD UP, AGAIN

YOU'RE SOAKING IN IT

If we'd been Ginger Rogers we'd have been less concerned about the implications in this publicity shot with Doris Day for STORM WARNING (1951) than the resemblance of her hands to those of the Wicked Witch of the West.

INA CLAIRE, AS IN FLAIR

The stylish comedienne Ina Claire gets off some of the juiciest lines in NINOTCHKA, a movie loaded with juicy lines:

"I know how you feel, my dear. The morning after always does look grim if you happen to be wearing last night's dress. Don't be embarrassed by my presence, though. You couldn't have found anybody more sympathetic to your condition. I remember once in Petrograd when I felt exactly as you do. I had to bow from a balcony to the crowd. My dear, the masses have no understanding of the feelings of a lady before noon. Don't you find this true?"

LIFE GOES TO A PARTY

A night out at El Morocco in 1936,

as reported by LIFE magazine.

• Broadway was represented by personable Ina Claire, the only American actress who is altogether persona grata in Cafe Society. She was accompanied to El Morocco by Writer {sic} Carl Van Vechten and Edward Wassermann of the Seligman banking family.
• Hollywood luminaries were Mr. and Mrs. Jack Warner whose new home in California is embellished with suede-covered walls and a velvet-covered ceiling in bedroom. A New Orleans girl, Mrs. Warner sported a tremendous cabochon emerald.
• Mrs. Orson D. Munn, who won fame in a limited circle by wearing a foxtail for a hat at the Colony Restaurant, drops in at El Morocco several times a week, is known for the spirited way she dances the rhumba with her remarkably agile husband.

ADIOS, OLGA SAN JUAN

We are remiss not to note the passing of Olga San Juan at 81 on January 3rd. Born in Brooklyn, she started early on radio and in the 1940s appeared in several movies with titles like "Are You With It?" and "The Countess of Monte Cristo." On "Variety Girl", which featured just about everyone on the Paramount lot, she played an endearing ditz trying to crash the movies. She retired in the early 50s to raise her family. She was once married to Edmond O'Brien.