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Even Hollywood's Ki+chens Have Glamour; For Instance, Take Note ot Anita Louise's ILL it disillusion you to discover that the glamour girls of Hollywood have kitchens ELS well as Louis XV draw- ing rooms and Madame Pompadour boudoirs ? Thin as test-tubes, the most irresis- tible of screen stars nevertheless must eat, and nobody has ever discovered a substitute for a kitchen. Dining rooms may disappear and swimming pools are not absolutely necessary, but the most skillful of cooks will grow sullen if their kitchens are mere holes in the wall, without light or air. So far as I have been able to discover In a fortnight of concentrated investiga- tion, William Powell is the only player who ever built his house around his kitchen. This is probably because, he has no wife to heckle the .iff. out of him because she must stay in it. No, Bill had no inhibitions when he designed his own kitchen and let the architects do the worrying about the rest of the house. And what a kitchen! It looks like something from Cartier's. It gleams with the dull, expensive shimmer of priceless objects and when you push a button you may find yourself looking into a chest of silver or t Ming vase holding six elegant carrots. You never know. EJverything In the Powell kitchen works with the noiseless efficiency of an electric clock. In fact, then is no gad- get from master mixer to master waffle- iron, roaster to wine mullei, toaster to vegetable Juicer that is not concealed behind some white enameled panel. Elec- trical engineers have been hard put to It to keep up with the demands of the Powell imagination. For Instance, take the matter of his hot dial, cupboard. He had this built and electrically heated so that the dishes come out of it at just the right tempera- ture. Plates and vegetable dishes, plat- ters and side dishes come smack out of the cupboard to the table, with no stacking on stoves or in warming ovens. Why he doesn't have this patented, no- body knows. Taking a tip from jewelers' boxes, Powell has his silver closet lined with black velvet. In this v t.y, his butler can run a discerning eye over the as- sortment of cutlery and *Jistantly tell whether an erring fork has found its way to a freet life in the garbage can. Black and white, like a Pierrot cos- tume, Ihti effect of the kitchen Is dash- ing, with chromium and onyx fittings and a contrasting touch here and there of jade green. In fact, everything is so convenient and sc elegant that the ten>ptatlon to break Into an apple pie Is almost more than human nature can bear. Whether any woman has ever flung herself at Bill Powell's feet and begged him to marry her so she can take charge of his lerfect kitchen, I don't know. I do know, however, that cnly an ocean and a continent saved him- from a pro- posal by a certain reporter, who would rather whip up a prune fluff any day than get a hot head and cold feet trying to write something worth printing. He will never linow what a close call he had X OWELL'S screen wife in variius versions of \The Thin Man,\ Myma Loy, now Mrs. Arthur Homblow, Jr., said to be the American man's Idea of what all wives should be, has a charming kitchen In her farm- house. Here in a typical Basqut peasant kitchen Miss Loy and Homblow spend a lot of time engaged in the gentle art of cooking; both are excellent cooks. Homblow's specialty is crepes suzette, while Myma, by using her best wiles, succeeded finally in worming the secret of a mushroom soup from the chef of 21 in New York. This Is her way of starting the perfect dinner, which her husband finishes with his celebrated French dessert. One's first impression of the Loy kitchen is that of a dazzling cheeriness, a gayety and charm, furthered by lacquer red and gold chintz, with shining copper skillets and pans hanging along the walls and bright geraniums in red pots. A refectory table gleams with peasant pottery and red and white checked tablecloth and sei^^iettes. Win- dows with sprightly chintz curtains look out on a sweep of countryside hills, dotted with trees, while Uie many utili- tarian conveniences are snugly concealed to give a warm feeling of homely house- wifery and genial well being. Wherever she happens to be, whether on the set, at her hairdresser's or at a formal ball, Myma Loy Is always trying to sneak up on the latest recipe for some dish of which she has heard. She Is often observed cutting recipes from papers and magazines and no home eco- nomics department in any journal Is safe from her shears. I simply can't resist a description of the most perfect kitchen I've ever been in. This belongs to Mrs. Frederic Klamp, a leader of Los Angeles society, whose Hollywood house is filled with art treasures and priceless objects from all over the world. When you step into this kitchen, which is about 12 by 14 feet, you are immediately confused, because of an effect of almo.st cloistered simplicity. The walls, floors and tables are of white pine, treated with a lacquered cloth com- position in the natural wood color. This composition makes the wood impervious to heat or water. Sliding panels conceal three-foot shelves in which cooking utensils, elec- trical mixers, ordinary dishes, salad bowls are kept. In the middle of the floor is a 3 by 9 table, on rollers. Be- neath this table are compartments for spices, flour, sugar, condiments, kitchen cutlery and fill the necessities needed by the chef. Drop leaves conceal these compartments in the table. Two refrigerators, one in t.he butler's pantry and one In a comer of the kitchen, are used for beverages, perish- able fruit, vegetables, milk, butter. A revolving cooler with five tiers oper- ates by pushing a button. This seems to be a part of the walls, as it fits snugly against one side, when not In use, but a large bin provides space for hardy vegetables. Cream marquisette curtains with yel- low and blue figures drape the five double windows, three of which look out upon one of California's loveliest gar- dens, the pet and pride of Mr. Klamp's heart, and two of which open on a patio, as do the glass doors. When the butler, chef and serving maids are out of the kitchen, the whole effect is as if one had stumbled upon a study or some sort of restful retiring place, quieting to the nerves and peace- ful to the spirit. This is one of two such kitchens in the United States and has been photographed for use in kitchen displays at three World's Fairs. ANE WITHERS la going to know how to cook and keep house, as well as act for the screen. Her mother is seeing to that and the kitchen in the Withers menage Is one of the brightest and most charming rooms In the house. There the unmitigating and skilled Willie Ritchie holds forth in its bright blue, red and white cheeriness and there Miss Jane Is taking cooking lessons. This is a model kitchen for a medium sized house and Is as neat and compact as a vanity case. There is no place I had rather be than in Una Merkel's kitchen while Papa Merkel cooks up one of^ his famous Mulligan itews. Una herself is an excellent cook; her kitchen is a dream of crisp red and white tiles, curtains, pottery and pots and pans. Everything Is at hand, from the big serving table in the middle of the floor to all the electric gadgets fitted in within easy reach. Ann Sheridan's kitchen in an old- fashioned California bungalow has brick walls, pine cupboards; she has carried out the faiTnhouse kitchen effect with linoleum in brick red and white squares. Over in one end of the room Is a brick and stone fireplace, which she has fitted up as a barbecue. Jeanette MacDonald's kitchen is a symphony of buff and blue, with cur- tains of linen hand-blocked in these colors; linoleum, walls, pottery, utensils, flower pots and even the stove and re- frigerator carry out these same shades. Miss MacDonald Is a thrifty housewife, who does all her own ordering and sur- rounds herself with capable servants, each of whom knows exactly what is expected of him. She know what goes forward In the kitchen as well as in other parts of her very lovely house and takes great pride In the fact that there is light, air and a view In practi- cally every room. Rosalind Russell likes to fuss around her kitche:.. which is as merry as her own personality. An amusing color com- bination of yellow and white prevails and Miss Russell Is quite a.s likrly to point with pride to her handsome new refrigerator as to her new Schiaparelll gown This kitchen thing could gr on mdefl- nitely, with descriptions varying from the trailer type of galley to the real galley of a yacht and from the huge kitchen In various mansions to the sim- ple little kltchenet In some star's apart- ment, but there must be an end to every- thing. And it's In the kitchen where ali good Hollywood parties end; here's hoping our pantry shelves are always well pup- plied and the kitchen fire always brightly burning.
