From her suite at the Ambassador Hotel, Paulette refused to answer any questions about Chaplin or even reveal her age (she's 26) in what she claimed was her very first interview. When asked what she plans to do in NY, she answered "breathe deeply" and read Wells' Anatomy Of Frustration. "Like Hollywood, the frustration part," she said. Given this impromptu trip to New York and rumors of a fight with Chaplin, one can't help but read between the lines of that response.
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| Oakland Tribune, October 13th, 1936. Click here to enlarge. |
Day By Day: 1936: An account of one year of Chaplin's life.
It's late October, she's been back in the US for 5 months and no work is coming her way...AND Chaplin is tossing his previous ideas for her (Countess script, Josephine) into the "maybe later" file. I can imagine she did need to breathe a bit and think what can I do to remain relevant and get work? And, if memory serves, it would still be another year before she managed to get Selznick interested in contracting her for Young in Heart, right?
ReplyDeleteYoung In Heart was 1938 so that was still quite a ways off. This is clearly the beginning of their downward spiral. 1937 must have been a rough year for them.
DeleteWas Paulette forced to do interviews? I respect she was a private person, people don't need to know everything but if she did interviews by freewill why reply with one word answers that still answer nothing? I've read the interview "The Mystery Of Paulette Goddard" and I got to say that is the most confusing thing I have ever read.
ReplyDeleteShe wasn't forced into it. I think Paulette liked being mysterious--it kept the public interested in her.
DeleteThank you for clarifying, wasn't sure if she hated it or was being mysterious.
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