Dorothy Hall movies

Across Pacific Magazine

Grandma, A Famous Movie Star?

Your Grandma MIGHT have become a famous movie star, IF..
Here's the story from Aunt Bev:

I'll attach the pic.

Love,
Dad

Dear Family,

I just got a phone call from Helen. I had sent the retouched picture of Mom/Grandma via attachment to her and asked if she knew how old Mom was when the photo was taken. She told the following story. I had heard only the most basic element of it from Mom, so it's good to get the details.

Grandma Byrum and Mom were out in LA. They were sitting at the counter of the famous drugstore having a coke. (It might have been Schwab's - see link below.)
They were aware that a man was watching them and became concerned. Finally the man approached Grandma and said I've been watching you. "Yes, we noticed." He went on to tell her that he thought the girl to be right for the movies. Could he do a screen test of her? Grandma became indignant and said, "Not on your life!. We want nothing to do with you." Of course they didn't go to movies and anything connected with movies was a total no-no.

Now we know the version of the story as Helen remembers it from Mom. The only part I remember ever hearing was: "We were approached one time by a man who wanted to do a screen test of me to become an actress in Hollywood." I had always wondered how they had found her in Denver.

Helen's recollection is that Mom was ten years old at the time. This picture of her was taken that year and was always linked in her mind with that Hollywood encounter. So this would have been in 1929.

Shirley Temple first appeared in films beginning in 1931 at the age of 3. So perhaps this scout was already, in 1929, looking for a child actress and eventually found S Temple. Or perhaps the drug store encounter really happened in '32 or later after S T was popular and other scouts were looking for "another S T" to make them rich.

Also, my recollection of those few times the talent scout was mentioned were linked to Darla in the OurGang/Little Rascals movies. However, when I looked it up on Google, Darla wasn't born until 1931, and the movies were being made beginning in 1936 (the year Mom was married), so Mom wouldn't have been right for that role either. Perhaps because she didn't go to movies, she only linked herself with Darla because of Darla's big eyes and dark hair and imagined herself in a similar role as a child.

See: http://www.starpulse.com/Actresses/Hood,_Darla/gallery/847572/

Schwab's: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9500E3DC133BF936A15753C1A965948260

Bev/Mom/Nonna