 Bidwell McCormick takes you behind the scenes in Hollywood. Very few of us have the time or opportunity to visit in and around the movie studios of Hollywood and actually see how motion pictures are made but really goes on before and after the cameras begin to grind. To talk with the stars, directors, artisans, the cameramen, authors, producers, scriptwriters and stand-ins. To learn at first hand all the interesting and colorful things that bring a completed motion picture to your theater screen. These things, perhaps often just routine to the people who make the pictures, open the doors to a new and fascinating world. So in this series, my associates and I will bring you the stories of the people of Hollywood and what transpires behind the scenes in the great motion picture studios. So to start with, Nathan Hale, will you please tell us what you have learned about the making of Frank Ross's production of The Robe? Well, here's a little sidelight on The Robe, which is being filmed in Technicolor. Producer Ross needed some breastplates. You know the ancient battle garments the Romans used to wear for a scene in the picture. After a long search, he finally found a metal worker who had both the time and the material. The cost estimate was $1,500 per breastplate because each of them had to be handmade and Producer Ross insisted there be authenticity in reproduction. And since he'll need 20 pieces of this one kind of armament alone for his Technicolor production of The Robe, you can imagine how costs are going to soar. And speaking of Technicolor, it's interesting to note that color is as important to black and white photography as it is to Technicolor. That is something one just doesn't realize, Nathan, but most of the studios keep large permanent staffs of painters to color the sets, even though 90% of the film used is black and white. Well, the reason said RKO Radio's paint department head is that black and white and their shades invariably reproduce on the screen in flat, lifeless tones, whereas carefully planned color schemes lend third-dimensional depth, vibrancy, feeling and mood to the total photographic effect. It's, however, unnecessary to use all the prism colors for interior or wall painting. Working in conjunction with the cameramen and electricians, the paint men use four basic colors of four shades each. These basic colors of the studio scene painters are not the usual reds, blues and yellows, the primary colors they might be expected to employ, but like all of Hollywood, they must do things differently. Their colors are gray, blue, green and mulberry. Bedrooms are blue, hallways gray, bathrooms and kitchens green, dining rooms mulberry. In this way, the cameramen when setting up for work in a breakfast nook, for instance, will know exactly what type of lights he will use for the scene and how much current will be needed. The same applies to every other room in the house. There's no guesswork anywhere along the line where picture-making is concerned. It's the science of coordination and when Frank Ross brings Lloyd Douglas's widely-read book, The Robe to the Screen, a tale of color harmony will be brought out to the fullest, what's being filmed entirely in gorgeous technicolor. For more than a year now, it's undergone careful preparation, a year of intensive research, script writing, costume and art designing, character visualization and cast planning. It will soon be ready to go before the cameras. And now a word from your local announcer. And now here are a few production briefs from behind the scenes in Hollywood, presented by Nathan Hale and Manna Ray Ewell. Donald Duck will have three beautiful senioritas as leading ladies in the three Caballeros, the new Walt Disney feature now before the cameras. They are Aurora Miranda, Carmen's sister, Dora Luth and Carmen Molinda. It's to be a gay and carefree superfeature that brings to the screen Walt Disney's newest thrill, the magic combination of live action and cartoon animation. The ingenious, beautyous real-life senioritas singing and dancing to tropic tunes with Donald, Joe and their new pal, Panchito. The Flying Yorkshireman has been purchased as a starring vehicle for Barry Fitzgerald. The story was acquired from director Frank Capra who held the screen rights to it. Dennis Morgan and Eleanor Parker will again be co-starred this time in Catch a Falling Star from the Cosmopolitan magazine novelette by Ruth O'Malley. Faye Emerson is completing an important role in Hotel Berlin and the couple's new picture will go before cameras early in February when Miss Emerson returns from the world premiere of God is My Co-Pilot in Macon, Georgia. Randolph Scott and Ellen Drew are making China Skies a romance with a war background from the novel by Pearl Buck. Major Lewis Aronson, a veteran Marine Corps flight officer who participated in battles of Guam and Saipan has been assigned as technical advisor for Warner Brothers' production This Love of Hours, which is based on the experiences of Sergeant Al Smith, a blinded Guadical hero. After they had been studied by engineers and designers in the Southern California aircraft industry, two captured Jap zeros were loaned for use in making the Arrow Flynn picture Objective Burma. And you're going to hear a lot about Condean Plaza, comedian idol of just about everybody in Mexico because he signed the contract to make a picture for RKO Radio. Condean Plaza's real name is Mario Marino and he is 31 years old. Wherever his pictures are shown in Mexico, the standing room only sign always goes up in the theater. Gypsy Rose Lee, who is seen in international pictures, Bell of the Yukon, is writing a book and calling it Naked Genius. On the set of Murder My Sweet, some of the final scenes have just been shot. You probably wouldn't recognize him, but the man with the slouch and wearing the wrinkle suit is Dick Powell. You've been accustomed to seeing him with his hair slicked down and wearing immaculate clothes. No wonder you wouldn't know him as the rough-necked detective he's playing, rumple suit, sloppy makeup, and packing a snub-nosed automatic in his pocket. He doesn't look much like the Dick Powell you remember, but in the story, he proves to be a lot smarter than he looks and solves the crime all right and under the most amazing circumstances. The motion picture rights to Earth and High Heaven have just been purchased by Samuel Goldwyn for $100,000. The book by Gwethelon Graham was recently chosen as a book of the month. It is the story of a great love between a gentile girl and a Jewish man and boldly dives into the problem of mixed marriages without attempting to preach or educate. Would you like to have a postcard picture of a popular movie star's home? Then just mail a postcard to Bidwell McCormick in care of this station and now 60 seconds for your local announcer. We have a couple of personality close-ups of famous stars for today's broadcast of Behind the Scenes in Hollywood. Suppose first, Manor Ray Ewell, that you tell us about Joan Bennett. For a little girl who is regarded as the ugly duckling of her family, Joan Bennett has done all right for herself and she doesn't care about keeping it a secret either. Her book, How to be Attractive, had a ready sale and has probably proved a godsend to other ugly ducklings who seek to grow up as beautiful a woman as Joan. She believes that beauty is one of woman's greatest assets and intends to do all in her power to train her children in the way of beauty, being convinced that it's a great help to require self-confidence. It has been said of many Hollywood stars, many times without strict regard for the truth, that they are really domestic little homebodies at heart. But it must be reported without tongue-in-cheek that this is exactly what Joan Bennett is. She makes a second career of her home and family. Her management is no hit or miss affair. It's a routine system and husband-producer Walter Wanger is the first to attest to its efficiency. She undertook the interior decorating of her home and has received innumerable requests to do the same for friends, requests that she is unable to satisfy. Like most theatrical people, she bows to all the popular superstitions such as lighting three cigarettes on a match, walking under a ladder, spilling salt, and so forth, and cannot bear to hear anyone sing before breakfast unless they cry before supper. Her favorite color is turquoise blue. Her favorite flowers are Lady Finch roses and gardenias. Her favorite perfume is gardenia and the book she remembers with the most pleasure is Beverly of Grass-Dark. Her main hobby is her collection of rose quartz. The most helpful stars Miss Bennet has ever worked with are Claudette Colbert and Warner Baxter. Of Edward G. Robinson, her co-star in her current picture, The Woman in the Window, she says of all things, he's cute. What do you say, Nathan? Well, to screen fans, Edward G. Robinson is known the world over as a cold, ruthless monster. But to his family and friends, he's just a quiet, peaceful family man. In fact, no Hollywood star loves peace and quiet more than he. He's soft, spoken, and hates guns. He has a hard time not blinking when he has to fire one and is acutely nervous when others handle firearms in his presence. This doesn't mean he's chicken-hearted, for he was under fire several times during his trip to France to entertain the troops and made acquaintance with several robot bombs at close quarters in London. His most absorbing hobby, of course, is his art collection, which is very few estimated at around a million dollars. But he's intensely interested in symphonic music, literary classics, and poetry. Wagner is his favorite classical composer, and Gershwin his favorite modern. Robinson's favorite authors are Anatole France, Bernard Shaw, Samuel Butler, W. H. Hudson, and Lion Fertwanger. Robinson is no health-faddest. The only thing he insists upon is plenty of sleep. And if anybody calls him on the telephone in the morning, his caller will hear a perfect sample of his famed gangster snarl. He hates pink teas and resents being stared at or made a fuss over in public. And he won't write letters unless he's absolutely compelled. Robinson is an avid spectator at practically all outdoor sports, being constantly seen at prize fights, football, baseball, tennis, and ice hockey games. One of his regrets is that he can play no musical instrument. But he has a good time seating himself at his player piano and playing his favorite roles. He once composed a symphony by cutting out 40 roles and pasting them together. Mrs. Robinson listened to it and then shook her head, no Eddie it just won't do was her verdict. So Eddie has tried no more composing. Thank you, Nathan and Manaree, for these interesting sidelights on the lives of two famous Hollywood people. Next week you're going to bring us personality close-ups like Tonya Henney and George Murphy, I understand. Listen again next week when Bidwell McCormick again takes you behind the scenes in Hollywood.