Stuart's performance in the theatre in Carmel brought her to the attention of Gilmor Brown's private theater, The Playbox, in Pasadena.
She was invited there to appear as Masha in Anton Chekhov's The Seagull.
Opening night, casting directors from Paramount and Universal were in the audience.
Both came backstage to arrange a screen test, both studios claimed her.
Finally the studios flipped a coin and Universal won the toss.
Stuart considered herself a serious actress in theater but she and Newell "were stony broke, living hand to mouth" so she decided to sign the contract with Universal, which paid a bit more than Paramount.

Stuart does not mention it in her book, but the Internet Movie Database includes her with thirty other players in a slapstick comedy, The Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood, A Behind-the-Scenes Farce.
Produced by Universal in the spring of 1932, this is likely Gloria Stuart's first appearance before the camera.
According to Stuart, she began her film career by playing an ingénue confronting her father's mistress in the Warner Bros. film Street of Women, a Pre-Code fallen-women film for which she was loaned by Universal.
Stuart's second film, again playing an ingénue, was in the football-hero film, The All-American.

In early December, 1932, the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers announced that Gloria Stuart was one of fifteen new movie actresses "Most Likely to Succeed"—she was a WAMPAS Baby Star.
Ginger Rogers, Mary Carlisle, Eleanor Holm were among the others.
Stuart's career advanced when English director James Whale chose her for his film The Old Dark House (1932), playing the glamour role of a sentimental wife who winds up stranded among strangers at a spooky mansion, among the ensemble cast (Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Lilian Bond, Ernest Thesiger, Eva Moore and Raymond Massey).
The film was critically praised, and The New York Times called Stuart's performance "clever and charming," with the movie later becoming a cult classic.
Stuart's experience filming The Old Dark House also became integral to the formation of the Screen Actors Guild in 1933:
James [Whale] joined all the English actors," Stuart recalled. "
So on one side of the set they had their 'elevensies' and `foursies,' and Melvyn [Douglas] and I would be sitting together, not invited.
One day, Melvyn said to me, `Are you interested in forming a union together?'
I said, 'What's a union?'
He said, 'Like in New York – Actor's Equity.
The actors get together and work for better working conditions.'
I said, 'Oh wonderful,' because I was getting up at five every morning; in makeup at seven, in hair at eight, wardrobe at quarter of nine, and then sometimes if production wanted you to, you worked until four or five the next morning.
There was no overtime.
They fed us when they felt like it, when it was convenient for production.
It was really very, very hard work.

After filming completed, Stuart began canvassing for supporters; she became one of the union's first founding members.
In June 1936, she helped Paul Muni, Franchot Tone, Ernst Lubitsch, and Oscar Hammerstein II form the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League.
 That same year she and writer Dorothy Parker helped create the League to Support the Spanish Civil War Orphans.

Stuart was given her first co-starring role by director John Ford in her next film, Air Mail, playing opposite Pat O'Brien and Ralph Bellamy.
Of her performance in the movie, the New York Times's Mordaunt Hall wrote: "Gloria Stuart, who does so well in The Old Dark House, a picture now at the Rialto, makes the most of the part of the girl ..." That two Gloria Stuart movies were in theaters simultaneously became the rule rather than the exception in her early career.
In 1932, her first year, Stuart had four films released, then nine in 1933, six in 1934.
In 1935, Stuart was having a baby, so only four movies were released.
Six movies followed in 1936.
After Air Mail, Mordaunt Hall's notices for Gloria Stuart came down to a few words.
Laughter in Hell: "Gloria Stuart appears as Lorraine ...";  Sweepi
Stuart's performance in the theatre in Carmel brought her to the attention of Gilmor Brown's private theater, The Playbox, in Pasadena. She was invited there to appear as Masha in Anton Chekhov's The Seagull. Opening night, casting directors from Paramount and Universal were in the audience. Both came backstage to arrange a screen test, both studios claimed her. Finally the studios flipped a coin and Universal won the toss. Stuart considered herself a serious actress in theater but she and Newell "were stony broke, living hand to mouth" so she decided to sign the contract with Universal, which paid a bit more than Paramount.
Stuart does not mention it in her book, but the Internet Movie Database includes her with thirty other players in a slapstick comedy, The Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood, A Behind-the-Scenes Farce. Produced by Universal in the spring of 1932, this is likely Gloria Stuart's first appearance before the camera. According to Stuart, she began her film career by playing an ingénue confronting her father's mistress in the Warner Bros. film Street of Women, a Pre-Code fallen-women film for which she was loaned by Universal. Stuart's second film, again playing an ingénue, was in the football-hero film, The All-American.
In early December, 1932, the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers announced that Gloria Stuart was one of fifteen new movie actresses "Most Likely to Succeed"—she was a WAMPAS Baby Star. Ginger Rogers, Mary Carlisle, Eleanor Holm were among the others. Stuart's career advanced when English director James Whale chose her for his film The Old Dark House (1932), playing the glamour role of a sentimental wife who winds up stranded among strangers at a spooky mansion, among the ensemble cast (Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Lilian Bond, Ernest Thesiger, Eva Moore and Raymond Massey). The film was critically praised, and The New York Times called Stuart's performance "clever and charming," with the movie later becoming a cult classic. Stuart's experience filming The Old Dark House also became integral to the formation of the Screen Actors Guild in 1933:
James [Whale] joined all the English actors," Stuart recalled. "So on one side of the set they had their 'elevensies' and `foursies,' and Melvyn [Douglas] and I would be sitting together, not invited. One day, Melvyn said to me, `Are you interested in forming a union together?' I said, 'What's a union?' He said, 'Like in New York – Actor's Equity. The actors get together and work for better working conditions.' I said, 'Oh wonderful,' because I was getting up at five every morning; in makeup at seven, in hair at eight, wardrobe at quarter of nine, and then sometimes if production wanted you to, you worked until four or five the next morning. There was no overtime. They fed us when they felt like it, when it was convenient for production. It was really very, very hard work.
After filming completed, Stuart began canvassing for supporters; she became one of the union's first founding members. In June 1936, she helped Paul Muni, Franchot Tone, Ernst Lubitsch, and Oscar Hammerstein II form the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League.  That same year she and writer Dorothy Parker helped create the League to Support the Spanish Civil War Orphans.
Stuart was given her first co-starring role by director John Ford in her next film, Air Mail, playing opposite Pat O'Brien and Ralph Bellamy. Of her performance in the movie, the New York Times's Mordaunt Hall wrote: "Gloria Stuart, who does so well in The Old Dark House, a picture now at the Rialto, makes the most of the part of the girl ..." That two Gloria Stuart movies were in theaters simultaneously became the rule rather than the exception in her early career. In 1932, her first year, Stuart had four films released, then nine in 1933, six in 1934. In 1935, Stuart was having a baby, so only four movies were released. Six movies followed in 1936. After Air Mail, Mordaunt Hall's notices for Gloria Stuart came down to a few words. Laughter in Hell: "Gloria Stuart appears as Lorraine ...";  Sweepi
Gloria Stuart