Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, The Glamor Boys

Glamour Boys: Get them while they're Hot

Fishing for glamour boys? The term glamor boy was assigned to a group of good looking, well dressed male celebrities many of them actors primarily in the 1930s through the mid-1960s. 

A mid-1938 Life Magazine cover presents the handsome Errol Flynn giving us an enigmatic Mona Lisa smile. He wears a polo shirt and silk scarf around his neck, a nice watch on his wrist and his trademark mustache. The only text on the cover: Errol Flynn, Glamor Boy. While maybe the quintessential glamor boy, the label would haunt Flynn later in troubled times.

Errol Flynn 1943

• What does it mean to be a Glamour Boy?
• Humphrey Bogart: glamour boy
• The label used against Flynn in 1943 court case

Articles ran in newspapers and magazines, how to behave as a glamor boy, traits women wanted, movie stars' instructions. Was it what women wanted? Did the behavior bring the results men wanted?

On an episode of the Burns and Allen radio show, George Burns and guest star Jack Carson talk about how men are being called glamor boys. 

George asks Jack, "Don't you think it's a little embarrassing to be called Radio's Glamor Boy?"  

"Not when it fits," Jack says with obvious pride in his voice.

They're specifically discussing Clark Gable. Both George and Jack think that Gracie wants him to replace Clark Gable in the upcoming film, The Hucksters.

Maybe you and your father are both glamor boys?
Douglas Fairbanks Jr shows off the
world's largest Panama hat as of 1930.
At this time Mr. Fairbanks was married to Joan Crawford.

What is a Glamour Boy?

Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and John Barrymore would be glamor boys, predecessors of Mr. Flynn. Your movie swashbucklers who who look fantastic in a shirtless sword fight and then gorgeous in white tie and tails in the evening. Fairbanks was also an acrobat like Cary Grant and Burt Lancaster. Douglas Fairbanks Jr and so many others are Flynn's contemporaries.

Hey, is it Glamour or Glamor? Apparently both are correct. Depends on which source you check. You'll see both spellings here, partly due to the use of direct quotes. 

The glamor boy probably likes designer clothing. He takes care of them, or he can afford to pay someone else to do it, maybe he has a valet, a gentleman's gentleman like Jeeves or Mr. French.  In the old Hollywood contracts I've seen, male actors' valets were sometimes mentioned as standard practice, their transportation, their hotel accommodation, etc. 

You may go into debt for the cause of your looks, you may be clever and do this on a budget, find your own style. What was called a bit of a reckless lifestyle and a high-profile lifestyle at that may be part of it. Enough to bankroll your exploits and a little extra cash to pass around is good. At least to some extent, it can be finally more fun to watch than regularly live this lifestyle.

How to be a glamor boy
"The American divorce rate would fall if husbands would learn how to look in the mirror. ... Learn how to glamorize yourself for your wife. ... If the husband keeps his glamor the wife will no longer think she has the freedom to be sloppy and they both will like each other better."
 -- From a 1947 Sarasota FL newspaper article

Fortune Modern Frameless Beveled Wall Mirror

Humphrey Bogart, Glamor Boy

Hollywood Magazine ran a tongue in cheek 1939 article so you or your boyfriend

With the Sophisticate appear
to be World-Weary and Bored
just like she is

can Be a Glamour Boy like Humphrey Bogart. "'Had I but known you 20 years ago' is effective for the Sweet Young Thing." 

Just like watching an old movie, much should be thought of the time that these articles were written. The Hays Office, the Production Code, sometimes called the Hays Code censoring all aspects of films was in high gear in 1939. The term really came into fashion about the same time as the code.

Photos are shown of different outfits to wear when courting girls of different types. Bogart tells how to behave and even does his hair differently. 

He says that the Hays Office doesn't think it's acceptable for the gangster or the villain to have a love interest apart from the moll. "He's lucky if he rates a moll and the way things have been going even the molls are turning out to be poor misunderstood little girls who really have hearts of gold underneath all the tinsel."

"Haunted wistfulness
combined
with a look of
hungry respect is right
for the Home Girl"

Even in the 1970s they said that Kris Kristofferson was becoming a glamor boy. Who might fit the category today? Johnny Depp?

What we call a metrosexual may be part of what was a glamor boy. Part of it was taking care in how you looked. Some was about suavity, technique in reaching your goal, getting the women, the job, ultimately the money that you want.
 
Men who had good manners (around women), who cared about their appearances, dressed well may be categorized as glamor boys.

In the mid-1940s Dick Powell was complaining about the path his career was taking. First he was typed as a glamor boy in musicals. Then he was typed as a tough guy. He couldn't get a break.

Actors who are typecast as glamor boys such as Adolphe Menjou complain that they can only get that sort of role. We hear many performers say they'd like to play a range of roles.

Probably the oddest thing I found was from 1949 showing how ubiquitous the term had become. It was a short blurb titled Natural Gas Becomes Glamor Boy Of Utility Industry.

Glamor Boy dress code per Humphrey Bogart
1939: Formal wear studiously correct,
English shoes custom made $35 per pair,
black pearl shirt studs gifts if you've done your work well.....

The Last of Robin Hood 2014 with Kevin Kline, Dakota Fanning, Susan Sarandon
(In Chaplin 1992, Kline played Douglas Fairbanks)

Flynn reads article about John Barrymore

Errol Flynn interviews himself 1940

It's 1940 and Errol Flynn is in a self analytical mood looking up at the ceiling sitting outside with his feet up meditating aloud. Flynn coincidentally played Barrymore in Too Much Too Soon written by Diana Barrymore, actress, daughter of John Barrymore.

The actor did nothing to discourage his reputation. Far from it. The antics in his personal life helped to sell movie tickets as much as anything the press agents did or any movie magazine interviews could have done. All added to the persona.

"I found the other day that I was boring the hell out of myself. And so what I thought must I be doing to others? ....So I tore into the question of being a bore and found that I am also becoming very impatient of persons or situations of persons or situations which I find intolerably dull. 

"Whereas I used to be a very polite person, bearing with bores with graciousness and glazed eyes, I now find myself looking a dullie right in the eye and saying oh hell and walking away. I don't hold this against myself however because I am not offended when others say 'oh hell' as they walk out on me. ....

"I tell myself that I am acquiring poise. I entertain the hope that one day I may be as good as the old roué in Paris who, the story goes, met up with his wife one day just as he was helping his mistress out of a cab. Now most men would have ducked. But not our old roué.

"He made them both a sweeping bow and said to his wife, 'My dear, I want you to meet Miss Floozie Floobottom,' and then the introduction effected, he added, 'and now I am sure you ladies have a lot in common to talk about.' 

"With another gallant bend from the waist, he stepped back into his cab and was off. That illustrates my point exactly. That was enjoying maliciously a situation and leaving it right in the middle. The touch you two ladies raises it to classic heights."
-- Errol Flynn interviews himself, 1940

"He is the glamor man of all glamor men"

In his 1943 court case the prosecutor called Flynn the Glamor Boy of all Glamor Boys

His glamor boy charm was used against him in his statutory rape court case in 1943. Charges that female jurors were not impartial came up and jurors had to be dismissed nearly causing a mistrial. 

There were letters to magazines saying that the judge would go easy on Flynn, who was acquitted, because he was a movie star. At the same time some wrote saying that they should be lenient because he was a good looking heroic movie star who had done charitable works. 

Woman Trouble delays trial of Glamour Boy
A female juror confessed she'd won her seat by deceit

Issues revolved around his bringing underage girls out on his yacht. Sadly whether or not these high school-age girls were virgins became an issue in newspaper articles. They talked about drinking an emerald green cocktail that made them ill.  

I haven't read enough about the case or know about the reality of the situation, but absinthe is a drink known for its bright green color. That probably comes to mind when people hear that information.

Do we treat the rich and famous as we treat others? Do we react to them

Flynn had numerous
photo spreads

differently. They were 15 and 16. Questioning included asking if they'd objected to his behavior, if they had interest in him. 

Flynn's actual bedroom door was brought into the courtroom. Was there evidence of tampering with the lock? One of the girls had testified that she'd been trapped in his bedroom for nearly an hour. There was discussion of from the weather bureau of how high the moon was to judge the moonlight over the boat on the night in question.

Magazines had editorials about the case. Flynn's studio Warner Brothers was suitably concerned about the situation.

Maybe the Beatles had it right when they said, "All I gotta do is Act Naturally." Self improvement is great. Putting on a show, especially if you're not being paid to act, isn't going to enhance your relationship and it will probably be exhausting physically, mentally and financially in the long run.

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John Barrymore 1927 silent movie exhibitor ad T-shirts

He is the grandfather of actress Drew Barrymore

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Links to Related Pages of Interest:

Errol Flynn Birthday Brawl 1942

Hollywood Before Glamour: Fashion in American Silent Film

George Hurrell's Hollywood: Glamour Portraits 1925-1992 

Get to know the lovely Olivia de Havilland a friend and frequent costar of Errol Flynn's. You can watch their films and read about her and them.
Legends of Hollywood: The Life of Olivia de Havilland

My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Autobiography of Errol Flynn

Rudolph Valentino's Impact National Lover, Movie Idol, Sex Symbol: Would he be such big a star today? 

Classic Film actors talk about work, clothes, their tools of the trade 

The High cost of men's clothes, Hollywood actors' clothes 1930s-1960s

Pinball Wizard Boots

1930s Dressing Rathbone, Gable, Dietrich

"The first thing to do if you want to dress like your Hollywood hero is rob a bank"

Gable wears his opera hat
at just the correct angle

"During one year Basil Rathbone paid into the coffers of Watson and Son over $7000 for suits and overcoats alone. Not to mention his purchase of sundry shirts, hats and shoes from the other Hollywood haberdasheries." The reporter is visiting the Hollywood tailor shop for a first-hand story.

Marlene Dietrich walks in accompanied by Josef von Sternberg. She went into a fitting room (alone, they specify) to try on a dress suit she'd ordered for use in the film Morocco. 

"You know she can wear a dress suit with more aplomb than the average male."

While she is trying on her suit, in walks Rod La Rocque, husband of actress Vilma Banky. He "has more suits than any other man in Hollywood."

Marlene Dietrich in
Top Hat & Tails Poster
Hat also at jaunty angle

"'Look here,' he said. 'I'm not entirely satisfied with the way my clothes look on the screen.' ...  'They look great on me in the flesh but on the screen every wrinkle is magnified to two or three times its actual size. Let's see if we can work out something a little different.'"

They tried to come up with something that would get rid of wrinkles around the arms for a screen test. The clothes get a screen test just like the actors do.

We find out that Warner Baxter likes light shades of blue and brown worsteds. He likes his clothes to fit snugly. Buddy Rogers is among their regular customers. He prefers soft fabrics.
-- 1931 article

Why did Dietrich go to the store for her tux? She wanted to wear a men's tux. There must have been something different about this tuxedo. Morocco was Dietrich's first talking picture. 

It wasn't the only time she'd wear a tuxedo or menswear in movies. Rathbone is known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes the movies in the late 1930s and 1940s.

In 1934 Marlene Dietrich had an interview where she was asked why she wears

Maurice Chevalier and
Marlene Dietrich

trousers. The interviewer notes that Ms. Dietrich is wearing a suit with no vest. She also wore a striped shirt with a broad black four in hand tie, silk sox and low heeled shoes. A small beret worn over one eye completed her ensemble.

As to why she wears trousers and menswear, she said that to her they're more comfortable than many dresses. Some women look more feminine in masculine clothes ..."even better than they do in frills and laces!"

"Also it takes too much time, trouble and money to be a well-dressed woman in Hollywood. Motion picture stars are always buying some terrifically expensive gown wearing it once or twice and then discarding it because they 'can't afford' to be seen in the same dress more often! ... 

"In my present wardrobe though, I have ten suits, a few pairs of extra trousers, a sweater or two, some shirts and a polo coat. That is all I need, the style will be good two years from now.

"I wouldn't advise every woman to wear trousers however because they don't fit every figure.... my shoulders are wide like a pair of masculine shoulders."  

In 2010 Jerry Mayer's Dietrich & Chevalier: The Musical was playing in New York. Chevalier and Dietrich "fell in love while they were married to others."
In the photo of Clark Gable above, it's asked that you note his accessories "winged collar, bow and boutonniere." He and Mr. James Blakeley below are giving us "simple authentic pointers on what's correct" when it comes to formal dress, circa 1935. Their facial expressions are mighty fine and formal as well. 

From what I've read top hats were often called opera hats because they were worn to the opera. There was not a real difference between the two. 

Powell and Clive Brook as Philo Vance and Sherlock Holmes
in Paramount on Parade

Clive Brook played Sherlock Holmes three times 1929-1930. Paramount on Parade was the last time he played Holmes on screen. 

Do you think the Sherlock Holmes coat and deerstalker hat were considered a costume and made to measure by the studio whereas Mr. Powell was expected to purchase his clothes (and hats) for Philo Vance and Nick Charles? From all I've read, yes, Powell did purchase the clothes he wore on screen apart from period costumes.

Sherlock Holmes costumes and accessories for you, the family

Powell played detective Philo Vance multiple times including Paramount on Parade. The Kennel Murder Case, 1933 was the last time he'd play Vance. In 1934 he and Myrna Loy made a new film called The Thin Man. They played Nick and Nora Charles and things changed with his on-screen detecting.
  
Worth noting that in 1922 there was a silent film version of Sherlock Holmes starring John Barrymore. Roland Young as Watson. It was William Powell's first movie appearance.

Robert Montgomery has "broad shoulders and a generous pocketbook"
he's "The answer to a tailor's prayer"
(In a couple of years he'd be the new father of baby Elizabeth Montgomery, too)

Who paid for what male stars wore on the screen?

"Feminine wardrobes are made almost always by the studios not so the men's. A male star must furnish his own dress suit, riding togs, street wear and in fact

"James Blakeley in
correct formal dress,
opera hat and pumps
to go with tails" 1935

practically everything except 'costumes' which are almost always rented or made to order by a rental company according to specification sent them by a studio. .... 

"Every important male star has three copies of every costume worn. One is for himself; one is for his double, and this fits him if his own becomes damaged and the third is for his stand-in man who relieves a star of the irksome business of posing while electricians are adjusting lights."
-- 1930 article

Stars' Stand-Ins
Interesting account of backstage life
Cary Grant's stand-in, Malcolm Merrihugh was asked what he thought about his job and to list his duties. Nowadays job descriptions are apt to say 'other duties as assigned.' This one ends with 'does everything in general.'

In 1940 a casual Cary Grant was
divorced from Virginia Cherrill
and said to be engaged to
Phyllis Brooks (seen here).
He was soon to marry
Barbara Hutton.

"A good stand-in takes care of his principal's make-up box, his clothes, sees that they're pressed and hung properly, checks the assistant director to find out when the star is working, sees that he's at work, keeps the dressing room orderly.

"He makes and breaks dates on the telephone, does secretarial work, acts as companion, runs errands, sees that certain people come on and off the set and does everything in general. ...

"The star gets his stand-in better than the wage minimum and when the stand-in works for the star, puts a little more in the pay envelope. Grant's a swell fellow when it comes to that extra help."

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Even though Merrihugh was six feet tall, he would wear Cuban heels to make up the difference in height when necessary. He says that he liked working with Grant, who once took a director aside and told him not to yell at his stand-in, not to discipline him in front of others, and to do it quietly if he needed to be corrected. -- 1938 interview 

"We are the shadows," Lillian Kilgannon, stand in for Marlene Dietrich said. "We stand in while the set is being lighted, sometimes for an hour or more, so that all my be in readiness for the star who may then do the scene in five minutes. ... We just step out. We are the shadows."

William Holden retrieves a collar button from under the bed.
Accessories can be tricky for men and women.
He's preparing for a date with Brenda Marshall (1941)

Joan Crawford classic movie magazine cover Watch by Jakestuff
Shop for more Wristwatches at Zazzle

Leatrice Joy silent movie star poster by Jakestuff
Browse more Posters at Zazzle

Anna Lee First A Girl 1935 movie advertisement Laptop Computer Sleeve  
First a Girl with Anna Lee, Sonnie Hale, Jessie Matthews was adapted from the 1933 German film Viktor und Viktoria.
It was remade into the 1982 American musical comedy Victor Victoria starring Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston, Lesley Ann Warren and Alex Karras.

"The Thief of Bagdad" Bag by moviebuffs
Carry your top hat, your gift swag or supplies in this cool bag

Links to Related Pages of Interest:

Classic Film Actors talk about work, clothes, tools of the trade, money
William Powell's tux, Bob Cummings' underwear, Spencer Tracy's work clothes, Marlon Brando's T-Shirt "Hey, Stella!"..... Tour their closets.

Dressing Male Stars of the 1930s and 1940s
Robert Taylor, Charles Laughton and the Internal Revenue Service...

You can tell them Clark Gable left his Jacket at your place

Samantha Stephens and Endora: Famous TV Moms, trivia, costumes


Unless otherwise stated images and information, including quotes, paraphrases taken from sources in the public domain. 

Silver Screen, Talking Screen magazines

Old Hollywood stars homes your home Personality

Personalities: The homes of Old Hollywood Stars
Put personality in your home

Carole Lombard at home

Bill Haines helped Carole Lombard decorate her house. He said, "If you are considering doing a house or room to fit your personality, it is advisable to look at yourself in the mirror and see what colors become you, your eyes, your mouth, your lipstick. Try different colors behind you and see what shows you to the best advantage. .... 

"Wealthy Romans had special rooms in their palaces which were done in backgrounds to make women stand out effectively and be more attractive. The backgrounds were planned to frame a woman's beauty rather

Class Act: William Haines
Legendary Hollywood Decorator

than to dominate the room."

William Haines was an actor in Hollywood. He had a talent for decorating and put that talent to use when he had fewer roles in movies. After opening an interior design shop in Hollywood he was decorating the homes of some of the biggest film stars.

Think about how easy or difficult your idea would be to change. Kids' rooms are maybe the most apt to change as our children grow up and their taste changes. How expensive is your idea? Chandeliers are popular now, jewelry for your room. 

They can be really old Hollywood or shabby chic, even designed for a coastal room since there are so many different light fixtures out there. Home decorating is something you can always change to suit your mood, the seasons or changes happening in your circumstances. 

Haines knew about glamorous lighting. He designed the original Ice Crystals sconces for the May house in 1953. They look like something frozen, art deco in feel, geometric bling. The house belonged to Tom and Anita May of the May Company, the department store chain. The Mays were big fans of Bill Haines' work.

I'm seeing people take found objects and unusual finds at flea markets then repurpose them. Try LED lights. You can make something one-of-a-kind. Turn one thing into something entirely different. It looks expensive. It can look old Hollywood. Make it for a party or make it a permanent fixture for your home.

Her dressing room employs colors to match her personality
pale blue walls, white furnishings, lemon yellow upholstery -- Picture Play Fall 1935
Reading about her dressing room's being remodeled was common.

Carole's bedroom is described as being directly above her living room, the same

size, with a lower ceiling. "I found a fireplace on the long side of the wall and opposite the bed, which looked like an enormous Empire couch in faded plum

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color.

"The walls were of a color unknown to me. Carole told me it was puce, and then laughed as I looked very blank. If you are as much in the dark as I was, I'll confess: it is flea color or pinkish beige! ..."

"Carole you see frankly admits that she's just a leetle bit insane. But divinely so, her friends insist. Remember originality is the keynote of this beautiful girl's personality. 

"Adapt yourself to the circumstances or you'll be the victim. Probably you'll find Carole in her playroom, which itself expresses her craving for the unusual. The bar and piano are done in blue and pink plaid." 

She also had a wide assortment of pets, dogs and cats (some of them rescues), chickens and ducks. 

Interior Design for Blue Ladies

Color is so important. Carole Lombard has a Blue Room. It is "designed so that Carole looks her best and every other woman (with different coloring) looks her worst."

Joan Crawford loves all colors but won't let Bill Haines use anything but blue and white and more blue until he's been put to it to invent new shades of blue for her. He only recently achieved a lovely greenish-blue which he calls the Crawford color. 


Joan Crawford made a public service announcement for a children's charity. It was shown in theaters

They say that the blue-eyed Crawford, a lover of star sapphires, had dresses made in a new shade of blue, that was dubbed Joan Blue. Lombard also had blue eyes.

Remember though, there is a rule that kitchens and dining rooms do not look good in blue. It is the least appetizing color. Mr. Alfred Hitchcock knew this.

Joan Crawford 8x10" Photo

Joan Crawford Entertains
1935 Magazine Clipping
orig 2pg

Binnie Barnes had a house that was all white with touches of pink and gray. It was designed to show off her red hair and light complexion. 

Barnes began making movies in the 1930s and appeared in the movie 40 Carats in 1973 with Liv Ullman, Edward Albert and Gene Kelly.

Jean Harlow said her favorite 'color' is white. Much of her home and her dressing room was white. 

William Powell Carole Lombard 8x10"
Publicity Photo taken when they were married early 1930s

A lot of William Powell's house was operated by push-buttons and other gadgets of the day. Walls opened and closed making rooms bigger or smaller. They said that tables and chairs appeared and disappeared. He also was known for having a very large bed.

When Powell was older and retired from acting, he was still interested in modifying his home. He told an interviewer that he was an 'amateur architect.' 

In 1935 some said they could see a neon illuminated harp in the bay window of the home of Harpo Marx. It was formerly Polly Frederick's home, later Norma Shearer and Irving Thalberg lived there while their Santa Monica home was being built.
-- Silver Screen 1935

I remember reading that Harpo had said he wanted enough children so there'd be a child's face in every window of his home when he returned from work in the evening. He had several kids and pets.

"When Gary Cooper first returned from Africa and had for the first time in his life a house to himself I went to lunch with him in it. It was designed he told me, for entertaining. 

"There were a great many heads of stuffed animals hanging on the walls. But the divans were wide and comfortable and Gary explained that it wouldn't matter if anyone spilled something on one of them." 

-- Picture Play 1936 
  
Create what you've always dreamed about....

"What would seem utterly mad in the city or town becomes charming at the shore. You might want and entire white and blue home with a star spangled living room! Joan Bennett always did and now it really exists!" 

She used to dream of such a place when she was a little girl looking up at the blue ceiling of her nursery, a ceiling that had sparkly stars. 

Joan Bennett planned her dining room in blue and white. It's "planned so that the one large room gives the effect of two separate rooms. 

"She let her fancy run free in the living-dining room of her Malibu beach home." In the living room end- star-spangled and all done in blue and white. Stars are features on the curtains and on the walls.
-- Movie Classic Summer 1935

Joan Bennett has the living room of her Malibu beach home "about a huge portrait of her father, Richard Bennett, arranging all the furniture and the colors of the room to emphasize the picture."

Joan Bennett is famous as being a film noir femme fatale. She's known for her roles in director Fritz Lang movies The Woman in the Window (1944) and Scarlet Street (1945). In 1966, she played Elizabeth Collins Stoddard on the TV show Dark Shadows.




There's a very brief 1914 video of the famous Broadway actor Richard Bennett, with his wife, actress Mabel Adrienne Morrison with daughters Constance Bennett, Barbara Bennett and Joan Bennett. Joan Bennett had a portrait of her father in her living room.

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William Haines vintage 1930 portrait Tees by Jakestuff
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Norma Shearer had a large home dressing room just off her bedroom. "The curtains?

Norma Shearer 8x10 photo

You'll love 'em if you have a flare for the modern. They are of hand-blocked linen of a citron color with the design blocked on in white, the design being an incredible blue and green leaf pattern."

Seeing and reading about Bill Haines work suggests that he may have been involved in the design of her dressing room, but that wasn't suggested in the article.

Over at MGM, Ms. Shearer aka Mrs. Irving Thalberg has "a suite finished in chartreuse green and topaz with a background of beige which it is explained is a reflection of Norma's personality." This is from a newspaper article on the luxurious dressing rooms of the stars. More on their dressing rooms in a future article.
-- The Wilmington Delaware Star, 1935

Virginia Bruce's sitting room-bedroom
in the home of her parents 1936

Virginia Bruce wanted a rocking chair in her room. "It is white, upholstered in blue Chinese cloth. This with the little rosebuds and Dresden ashtrays that Virginia likes around, give it an old fashioned air. 

"You can see that although the room is quite modern, it has this old-fashioned girl touch." 

She was the last wife of actor John Gilbert. They had a daughter born in 1933.

Bruce played a Ziegfeld showgirl in The Great Ziegfeld. She also appeared in movies such as Yellow Jack with Robert Montgomery, Escapade with William Powell and The Invisible Woman with John Barrymore.

Hiding a feature or sectioning a room. You might want to do this if you're having a party. Maybe you have storage or the cat box in a small space. You want to break a larger room into smaller sections. Have a work space or play area for your kids?

Billie Burke said she hates to look at her fireplace in the summertime. She hides it with a decorative screen. In front of the screen she might have a low table and on that a large bowl of flowers. 

The article suggested buying a cheap wooden fireplace screen. Paint or cover it with wallpaper in a pattern that you like. "Brass nails studding it at the edge are extremely good if you care to add them." 
--Movie Classic summer 1935

Recent Auction of William Haines items

In August 2014 there was an auction of over 30 custom William Haines designs commissioned for homes in 1960. "He did the entire interior, which has never been published,' said Peter Loughrey, director of the auction house [Los Angeles Modern Auctions]. 'It's also an intact commission, with the original finishes, upholstery fabrics and lampshades, which is very rare. For people who care about seeing exactly how it was made in 1960 this is how Haines wanted it all to look.'"
 
Among the pieces: a fern print-covered sofa (estimated at $4,000 to $6,000) and a matching piece with a backless, armless section (estimated at $5,000 to $7,000), two lacquer-topped coffee tables with walnut legs (estimated at $5,000 to $7,000 each), three swivel stools (estimated at $1,500 to $2,000 each) and a yellow Chinese pottery table lamp (estimated at $1,200 to $2,000).

A Tang-style horse lamp, estimated at $7,000 to $9,000, is bolted on a triangular side table with planter ($1,500-$2,000). A Seniah (Haines' name spelled backward) chair is valued at $3,000 to $5,000. That chair sold for $6,875.
 
Although the article says the Tang-style horse lamp was bolted to the William "Billy" Haines, designer table with inset planter, the items sold separately.

According to the auction house prices realized page, the table went for $1875 and the lamp for $46,250. While all of the Haines pieces did well, the Tang style lamps and those with his fern print sold particularly well, going above and beyond their high estimated prices.
-- Los Angeles Times May 14, 2014 and Los Angeles Modern Auction: prices realized pages 

** This is the first in a recurring theme of articles that will appear. When there are new posts, links to others will be added.

Norma Shearer in a Kimono Posters pre-code
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Browse more Talkies Posters at Zazzle

Bebe Daniels 1926 silent movie exhibitor ad Mirror For Makeup by Jakestuff
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Marion Davies 1919 vintage portrait Clock by Jakestuff
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Books and Links to Related Pages of Interest

Sapphires, Gem Symbolism Old Hollywood Carole Lombard Joan Crawford, Joan Blue Mae West

Carole Lombard and her chickens

Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star by William J. Mann 

William Powell and Carole Lombard

Lon Chaney Johnny Depp Knives Hands and Love: Knives, Hands and Unrequited Love Alonzo and Nanon, Edward and Kim, The Unknown, Edward Scissorhands

Jan Brady helps welcome in The Year of the Horse, Celebrities born in the Year of the Horse. Props we see in multiple TV shows and films. How about The Brady Bunch horse statue?

Alfred Hitchcock's Blue Food dinner parties, the practical joke so nice he played it twice

Knit with Joan Crawford

For the bride, birthday girl or business woman wanting buzz: Decorate your car with bling, perfect gifts

Quotes and photos not otherwise credited from Silver Screen 1936

Magazine & newspaper articles were often as much for publicity as information. But here they're also for your enjoyment and you can get some info about decorating and about our favorite stars.