Well I Didn't Know That

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I'm one of those people who enjoys the opportunity to say that! I like learning new interesting facts, especially about Hollywood's "Golden Age" players! I'm reading a biography on Mae West at the moment, but the author has included an interesting side note, quite early on. Jesse Lasky, a Paramount big shot, had this to say in his autobiography about scouting the world for talent for his shows in the early 1900s: "At the Wintergarten in Berlin I found the Pender Troupe, eight acrobats on stilts, including a ten-year old boy, whose stilts were so high that he had to be put on and taken off them from a ladder, and bend down to show his head under the proscenium. The lad's name was Archie Leach." Now to many, this name might not mean a lot, only what it was later changed to and you can probably guess from my discussion who that was! I always think of Cary Grant as this endlessly suave and sophisticated charmer that gave "Charade" its charisma (alongside Ms. Hepburn of course!), but now I have the image of a skinny, little, circus boy trying to earn his way! It's so strange! Does this surprise any one else? When his troupe toured the States, Cary decided to stay and make his name there. I'm glad he did! Cary Grant was later reported to have said that the ladder on which he started his climb to fame was the one he used on forty-sixth street to mount his stilts. That's a lovely line in my opinion. If anyone is interested, the book I'm reading is, "Mae West: It Ain't No Sin" by Simon Louvish.