The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 97

MOVIE MI RA CLE Neither priest nor church is real in I. i scene for bamuel Goldwyns Edge of Doom, yet passers-by, like future audiences, tvould have to look sharp to know it. Church and rectory have been built on parking lot in downtown Los Angeles first location set of this kind in years. Dana Andrews is shown in Father Roth frock, and that's Farley Granger lurking uneasily in background. 'Edge of Doom Too Realistic? Church Set Fools Even Passers-by; Andrews Tells How Priest 'Slain9 Streetcar Star Quits Drab Roles Jessica Tandy Gets Warm Welcome A fter Stage 'Rest Period" BY JOHN L.

SCOTT Jessica Tandy, talented, attractive London-born actress, has become famous because she played a series of drab, uninspired pictures roles. It happened this way. After being more or less "buried" in Hollywood films, Miss Tandy decided back in 1947 to take a vacation. This "rest period" was anything but that, since it resulted in her becoming the brilliant star of the smash stage play, "A Streetcar Named Desire," on Broadway. Now regarded as one of the first ladies of the New York theater, Jessica Tandy has returned to Hollywood and film work, but her cinema roles will no longer be drab and uninspired.

Denies Bitterness Just before she left for the New York engagement, I gave Miss Tandy a chance to "sound off" about the Hollywood run-around. As politic as actors BY PHILIP K. SCHEUER The Catholic church and rectory that have sprung up overnight on a parking lot at 545 San Julian in a dingy part of downtown Los Angeles, are a movie set, though only their immediate neighbors realize it. Even Dana Andrews, who plays Father Roth, assistant to the pastor of St. ''J rJVif i 1 r- i I' I PILOT AND SIREN Janet Leigh says she's off on new tack in "Jet shows her as jet aviatrix but also exerting lure for men.

Miss Leigh tion, was costarred in light comedy-drama "Holiday Affair" soon Jet Pilot' AO GLAMOUR GIRL That's Jane Wyman's own opinion as told to Hedda Hopper. As Laura, lame girl in film ver sion of "The Glass Menagerie" she has character role. come, she said, "It will be a pleas ure to offer a sustained performance; to have the chance to act again." When Miss Tandy returned for a leading role in the Hal Wallis film "September Affair," with Joan Fontaine and Joe CottenI talked to her again. "I was never bitter at Hollywood," she said. "I am not the glamorous photogenic type that achieves movie fame overnight.

At one time I yearned to become Turn to Page 3, Column 1 New i Character -Building' Role but the first man must have taken him for a producer at least and ask, 'Could you use a real Dana chuckled. "When that didn't get him anywhere, he suggested a 'loan' of two bucks." Father Was Minister I asked how it felt to play a man of the church. "Well, actually," he replied, "there's not too much difference between a Catholic priest and a Baptist minister. My father was a Baptist a very good man. I think that gives me a feeling for the church.

"Spirit is spirit, and it's something we all need a lot of help on. Everyone wants peace of mind. The only thing that worries me is how people will accept spiritual matters on the screen. They have to be awfully cleverly handled to be interesting." The subject is "The Edge of Doom," for which Samuel Gold-wyn paid a prepublication price of 5150,000. The author, Leo Brady, is assistant professor of speech and drama at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

Momism' Affliction "There's a boy, Farley Granger," Dana pursued, "whose mother dies. He is a victim of what is it Philip Wylie calls it? Momism. He wants a wonderful funeral for his mom, but he hasn't a dime and the church can't afford one. "When the older priest, my associate, Father Kirkham, ex- Turn to Page 2, Column 1 ROLES MADE REAL BY EDWIX SCHALLERT Josef Von Sternberg, who is directing "Jet Pilot" at RKO, calls Janet Leigh "a dream." He said on the set: "I couldn't have Pilot," prior which not only to this produc to show, Leigh been exceptionally fortunate. I thought 'Romance of Rosy which was the first, was the best that might have come my way at that time.

It still is one of my most cherished experiences to look back on, becausa everybody was so helpful. 'The Red Danube' in more recent days offered me a wonderful dramatic opportunity. Difficult to Choose "But it has always been difficult for me to pick my favorite part, each has enabled me to advance in some direc tion, and has definitely prevented my becoming typed. I myself hope that future developments will be like that. I want the chance above everything else to be versatile in what I do on the screen.

"These two RKO pictures put more responsibility on me and that is an especially good test to face at this juncture. I would not have been ready for it a year or so ago. So I feel that great care has been exercised in handling my fate in pictures." Janet is a Californian, from Stockton. Her grandparents dwelt in the mountain country near Yosemite. She tells of visiting them and seeing the landmarks, including the places where Joaquin Murietta used to hide out.

A subterranean tunnel enabled him to flee the law, because thus he could go from one hide-out to the other when the pursuit became hot. Discovery Recalled It is well known by now that Miss Leigh was discovered by Norma Shearer while she was vacationing at the Sugar Bowl Ski Lodge at Soda Springs, who originally brought her to the attention of Metro. Miss Leigh hopes to see her discoverer again sometime soon, although, Miss Shearer has had a long sojourn in Europe. Janet was married to Stanley Reames, a college sweetheart, Oct. 5, 1945, and they were divorced' well over a year ago.

Her constant escort has been Turn to Page 3, Column 3 BY JANE WYMAN Stephen's, took it for gospel truth the first time he was driven to work there. "We'd been shooting all over town tenement district, Central Police Station, a market, a diner," Andrews relates, "and until I looked closely I thought it was the real thing. "Some of the hangers-on were way ahead of me there. I heard one of them approach a well-dressed man also a bystander, AT THE THEATERS Openings "CRICKET ON THE HE ART Pasadena Playhouse, 8:30. Saturday matinee 2:30.

Starts Wednesday. "INSIDE U.S.A." Philharmonic, 8:30. Wednesday, Saturday matinee. No evening performances Jan. 5, Jan.

12. Starts Monday. Dark Sundays. Limited Runs "A LA CARTE" El Capitan, 8:30. Sunday matinee.

"KITTY DOONE''-Circle, 8:30. Dark Monday. "LAS POSADAS" Padua Hills, Wednesday through Saturday, 8:30. Wednesday, Saturday matinee. Unlimited Runs "DRUNKARD" Theatre Mart, 8:30.

"ABOUT FACE" Turnabout, 9. Dark Monday. TJ' ft i -V- i' Gives Janet invented anyone who would more satisfactorily fulfill my expectations for this picture. She is ideal." Miss Leigh has launched on her greatest departure in acting. She plays a woman jet pilot in the production, her second on loan to RKO from her home studio, Metro.

She was recently in the romantic comedy drama, "Holiday Affair," which has received many" advance encomiums. Robert Mitchum was her male costar in this feature. John Wayne is the he-man hero of "Jet Pilot." New Venture Miss Leigh says that the latest picture is a new venture in more ways than one. "The film has hardly started before I attempt romantically to intrigue Wayne," she said. In the scene which I witnessed on the set, she had just emerged from the shower attired alluringly in a towel, and the place of action, I gathered, was a men's barracks in Alaska.

So allure had practically become her middle name, except that it was pepful rather than sultry as exemplified by Marlene Dietrich, whom Von Sternberg originally introduced as one of the most glamorous of the screen's stars. In scarcely three years Janet has had a succession of assignments that she identifies as remarkably career-building. She has played in 11 pictures in all, beginning with "The Romance of Rosy Ridge" and including recently the noteworthy "Little Women," "The Forsyte Saga," and "The Red Danube," as well as "The Doctor and the Girl" which afforded her a very good part, at Metro. Come as Climax The loanouts to RKO, at the particular request of Howard Hughes, have come as a climax. While she had starred with various other luminaries at her own studio, in both of these films she is overwhelmingly the feminine interest.

"Each picture along the way has been an advantage," said Janet. "So I consider that I have 1 sr A BY HEDDA HOPPER When I hit "The Glass Menag ene set Jane wyman was doing a scene with Arthur Kennedy. The time was late night; the a great city; and the two stood on the balcony of a squalid tenement dwelling where they supposedly resided. Arthur, nagged by his mother and disgusted with the drabness of their lives, had fled the place a few hours previously. Now he had returned inebriated to :4 It tell sister Jane his experiences of the evening.

I studied Jane's performance carefully. Her facial expressions were like fleeting shadows, reacting to Arthur's every word. She was like a child listening to a fairy tale; reflecting something as remote as. the lost years of one's youth. Everything about her stance, expression, voice was Laura, the shy and gentle lame girl of Tennessee Williams poignant story.

Wyman Label Though the scene rightfully belonged to Arthur, I could see that Jane was quietly wrapping it up with the Wyman label. She doesn't act parts; she lives them. After her split-up with Ronnie Reagan he told me that if they divorced, only "Johnny Belinda" could be named as corespondent. She had given so much to her Oscar-winning performance that she became nervous, irritable, run-down, being thus a difficult person not fit for domestic happiness. After the scene Jane took off the specially made shoes that force her to limp, brushed back the flaxen curls of her wig and joined me for lunch in the studio Green Room.

Even as we talked, her face remained in character, radiating the warm, gentle spirit of the lame Laura whom she had not left behind on the sound stage. Her Ears Plugged "Do you want to continue in these character parts?" I asked. "Yes," she replied. "Always give me character roles if they're good ones like this. I've no illusions.

Perhaps I can play a girl with a well-scrubbed face but if I worked for 40 years I couldn't be a glamour girl like Marlene Dietrich. "I spent months preparing for 'Johnny When I tested Turn to Page 4, Column 5 11: I 5 TRIUMPHANT RETURN Jessica Tandy, who left Holly wood after a series of drab roles to score a big hit in "Streetcar Named Desire" in New York, returns to films riding the crest of success. She's not bitter, however, and feels that there is a place for her in both mediums. SOMETHfXG FISHY The mermaid is Beatrice Lillie of London and Broadway posed for. one of her more hilarious acts in musical stage show, "Inside U.A.,n which will open -its Jour'week Los Angeles run tomorrow evening in Philharmonic Story on Page 3,.