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From Jean Arthur: The Actress Nobody Knew By: John Oller |
American Garbo |
"Many saw her as a sort of American Garbo, only even harder to reach. With Garbo talking right out loud in interviews, receiving the press and even welcoming an occasional chance to say her say in the public prints, the plam for elusiveness among screen stars now goes to Jean Arthur," declared Movie Classic in January 1937. "it is Miss Arthur, even more than the divine Garbo, who wants to be left alone."
Arthur felt she understood Garbo |
Arthur felt a certain kinship with the famous Swedish recluse: "I like to think that I understand Garbo a little," she said. "Her seclusion. Her refusal to talk for publication. Her belief that only her work is important to her public . I feel that way, too."
The Day they met |
The two of them met only once, when a friend of Garbo's approached Arthur in New York and asked her to take a package back to Los Angeles and deliver it to the reclusive actress, who was renting a house up the hill from where Arthur lived. After holding the small box for a few days, Arthur summoned up the courage to go up the hill.
She knocked on Garbo's front door, was let into the residence by a servant and stood in the foyer until the great woman descended the stairway. Awestruck and tongue-tied, Arthur introduced herself, explained why she had come, then watched as Garbo opened the package. In it was a huge diamond pin that caused Arthur's eyes to bulge with astonishment at the realization of what she had been carrying around. Garbo then turned to Arthur, said "Vy don't you mind your own business," and walked back upstairs. Where upon Arthur beat it out of the house as fast as she could.
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