 Bidwell McCormick takes you behind the scenes in Hollywood. Another week has rolled around, and many new and interesting things have happened on the movie lots and great sound stages of Hollywood, since my associates and I last had the pleasure of escorting you on a journey to the land of make-believe. So without further ado, we will unroll the magic carpet for a trip behind the scenes in Hollywood. The motion picture industry, contributing its powerful psychological weapon to aiding the global struggle, is considered an important essential to the morale of civilians and the armed forces. Even so, the industry encounters shortage problems. However, the old adage has been altered successfully to fit the 1944 vernacular. Exigency is the parent of Azats. There's no substitute, however, for glamour. Memory of shapely legs, chicly sheathed in silken holes, well may bring nostalgic tears to feminized. And don't forget appreciative masculine orbs, remember? But those sleek threads in their oxidized counterparts, nylon, long ago joined the parade of diminishing civilian luxuries. Hollywood's hosiery problem rests with a textile expert named Willie DeMond. Under the watchful eye of Uncle Sam, this man supplies studio demand for actresses' hose to be used only before the cameras. Since 1923, DeMond has initiated hosiery trends for motion pictures which were adopted later by the manufacturers. His creations have encased the symmetrical limbs of numerous green stars, including Marlene Dietrich, Gypsy Rose Lee, Betty Grable, Alice Fay and Ginger Rogers. He's credited with originating last-text mesh hose, lace inserts in the toes and heels, and the lipstick shade stockings. But DeMond, too, has been confronted with occupational difficulties. Hosiery order for international pictures, Technicolor Musical, Bell of the Yukon, amounted to more than $10,000, ranging from $30 to $120 per pair. Various nylon opera-length hose, worn by Gypsy Rose Lee, starred in the lavish production as Belle de Val, Queen of the Dancehall Girls during that picturesque era, featured applique sequin stripes, sequin butterflies, and on one pair, 8-inch question marks. Exquisite hose made with lace inserts are worn by Donna Shore in the picture. Applique work on hosiery is extremely delicate and tedious. To secure the sequins, for instance, 476 stitches to the inch or necessary. The girls have to work with a magnifying glass, and if one filament is torn, the stocking is ruined. According to DeMond, another innovation by Don Loper, who designed the stage and the entire production for Belle of the Yukon, is the variety of pastel shaded hose worn by the showgirls. Usually, the star wears one color hose, but the showgirls wear another by way of contrast, he says. Solution evolved by a textile expert to his most difficult problem for Belle may prove to be a boon to industry suffering from the current shortage of rubberized materials. The stumper was opera-length one-inch diamond mesh hose for the dancing girls. Resiliency is necessary in order to allow freedom of action while maintaining a snug fit without stretching out of shape. Plastic thread was not obtainable, so DeMond began his experiment to develop an elastic yarn without rubber. I used a braiding machine, he says, and I found I could twist 75 filaments or strands 230 turns to the inch, thus creating an elastic tension having the tensile strength of 420 threads. At first, the rayon and cotton filaments heated from friction and broke, and we found that an oil treatment while the threads were being twisted eliminated that. Due to wartime necessity, great advances have been made in discovering new plastics and other substitute materials. DeMond believes that improvement of his twisted thread may lead to new elastic garments without the use of rubber. And now a word from your local announcer. And here are a few personalities and production highlights from behind the scenes in Hollywood. Anne Harding will play the role of Lorraine Day's mother in RKO Radio's Those Enduring Young Charms, screen adaptation of Jerome Shuderoff's play. Miss Day will co-star with Robert Young. Paul Lucas is rounding out his 16th year as an actor on the American stage and screen. In 1928, he came to Hollywood to play opposite Paula Negra in the Lives of Loves of an Actress. Eddie Lewis, 7-year-old veteran of our gang comedies, has been assigned for a part in Johnny Angel, co-starred are George Raft, Claire Trevore, and Cygni Hassell. And Thelma White, film actress appearing in recent comedy short starring Leon Errol, is the latest Hollywood player to be sent overseas by the USO to entertain the GIs. She heads an all-girl sex set of troopers build their sweethearts on review. When Frank Morgan winds up his role in Hold High the Torch, it will mean the completion of his 60th role in motion pictures. It brings attention to one of the most remarkable careers in show business. Man Alive, a comedy co-starring Pat O'Brien and Ruth Hussie concerning a supposedly dead man who comes to spy on his wife's efforts to commune with spirits, is in production at the Gower Street Studios at RKO Radio Pictures. Ray Enright is directing, and Adolf Menjoo is prominently featured. Gene Krupp is to have a featured role in George White's Scandals of 1945, which Felix Feist is directing. Over at Metro Golden Mayor, the fan dances with us again, and the Virginia Hunter dances it fully garbled. With the Viennese Waltz sequence in Weekend at the Waldorf, Miss Hunter features her black-glazed fan throughout the dance. However, she uses it, as Grandma did, to flirt with. There's no echo of Sally Rand. Sing Your Way Home is announced as the final title for the Jack Haley-Marcy McGuire picture. First called, follow your heart. In the supporting cast are Glenn Vernon and Jeffries, Patty Brill and David Forrest. Power Unlimited, the latest of this is America series, shows the impact of coal on the daily lives of every individual in America. The picture portrays the importance of coal as the spark of our industrial civilization and progress. It shows the vast minefields, the men and machines that dig the coal, its transportation to the mills, foundries and factories, its conversion into coke for iron and steel, and the miracles of chemistry that convert the formerly dissipated smoke into drugs, medicines, dyes, cosmetics, perfumes, plastics and nylon. Greg Garson has been awarded a plaque signifying her selection in the nationwide poll of film exhibitors, critics and members of the National Screen Council as the most popular actress of 1944. Because a $65,000 necklace of white jade photographed an off-white on Haley Lamar's neck for scenes in RKO Radio's experiment perilous, it had to be covered with some 40 cents worth of white washable makeup. The jewelry is important to the story and it is seen in several close-ups. So the producers rented the real McCoy from a Los Angeles dealer, but the white jade wasn't quite white enough for the cameras, hence the need of makeup. Nivenbush, noted author and screenwriter, has been assigned to do the screenplay for The Postman Always Rings Twice, the celebrated bestseller authored by James Kane. This film will have an all-star cast. Richard Wolfe is another versatile chap kept busy by his studio, Metro Golden Mayor. Right now he's at work directing The Hidden Eye, a murder mystery with Edward Arnold and Francis Rafferty in top rules. But Wolfe can act, too. He appeared in pictures and was on the stage for many years with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontaine. Ginger Rogers recently received a gift that was really hot stuff. It came from a GI in Italy and was a cameo that had been carved from the lava of Mount Vesuvius. One of the most lavish sets to ever occupy a single soundstage in the big Fox Hill studio is the Russian Imperial Palace, being used in the filming of a royal scandal, an Ernst Lubitsch production. The inside dimensions of the great soundstage are 206 feet by 128 feet, and the palace fills the entire area. Rose married the camp, who's an important role in the picture. This love of ours has been given a long-term Warner Brothers contract. Janet Martin and Bud Geary drew contract extensions at Republic, and Gene Wallace got a new contract at 20th Century Fox. Would you like to have a picture of a movie star's home? Well, just drop a card asking for it to Biddle McCormick in care of this station. And now a word from your local announcer. We have a couple of personality close-ups of famous stars for today's broadcast behind the scenes in Hollywood. Pat O'Brien is a regular guy. Yes, sir, he's in every way as Irish as the sound of his name or the look on his face. He has lines of patter that are pure blarney, a quick wit and a quick temper, a kind heart and a lot of sentimentality. Pat O'Brien, as you know, is stockily built. He has thinning iron gray hair, a ready complexion and blue eyes. He's fond of athletics and athletes and has a sports room full of trophies and souvenirs. He's a good hand at baseball, kicks a football with a mighty wallop and passes well. Pat's made so many pictures in uniform that he can't tell the number, and he's made long journeys overseas to entertain service folks and feels perfectly at home with men and women in uniform, even though they mob him for autographs. The hardest-boiled marines in the San Diego camps where he worked on a picture last year ask for his autograph. O'Brien is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 175 pounds. He collects rare books and has a priceless Irish library. His next picture is to be called Having Wonderful Crime, in which he will appear with George Murphy and Carol Landis. And now I'm going to turn the microphone over to a charming young lady on Mr. McCormick's staff who has all the information at her fingertips about a charming young lady of the films. Manaree, will you tell us about Miss Lorraine Day? Thank you, Nathan. I surely will. Well, Lorraine Day, who will shortly be seen in a picture with Robert Taylor called Those Enduring Young Charms, was one of twins born in Roosevelt, Utah and spent the first nine years of her life among the Ute Indians learning to ride horseback and rope calves. She and her twin brother Lamar were the youngest of seven children born to Clarence and Ada Johnson. The family moved to California and Lorraine made her school debating team at the age of 10. She continued her public speaking career in the junior high school at Long Beach where she attracted the attention of the late Elias Day, a dramatic coach who sent her on tour with the little theater guild in conflict. She worked with Day for five years and adopted his name when she began her professional career with MGM in 1939. As Lorraine Johnson, however, she had previously played leads in Westerns with Georgia Bryan. Miss Day's first important part was with Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamar in I Take This Woman. This was followed by a calling Dr. Kildare in which she portrayed Nurse Mary Lamar so appealingly that she seemed destined to play nothing else but nurses. She made six Dr. Kildare pictures in two years before MGM wrote a fatal traffic accident into the script of Dr. Kildare's wedding day. Thereafter, she was free to play other roles. Her most recent successes have been Mr. Lucky, the story of Dr. Wassell and Bride by mistake. Lorraine Day is five feet five inches tall, weighs 112 pounds and has blue eyes and light brown hair. Each week on this program, we're presenting the biographies of two Hollywood personalities. They don't need to be the stories of only the well-known stars. Perhaps you'd be interested in hearing about the lives and backgrounds of some up-and-coming starlet or some featured player you admire. If so, just drop a line to a bit of a comic in care of this station and an effort will be made to include the biography of the person you request in an early broadcast. And here's a little thought in closing. The motion picture industry's Red Cross War Fund Week will be in March as a part of the great drive nationally for funds for the cause we Americans all hold most dear to our hearts. I know it won't be necessary to... more than just remind you to do all you possibly can to aid the Red Cross. You always have. It's held a top priority on your gift list and will again this year. Listen next week when Biddle McCormick again takes you behind the scenes in Hollywood.