Variety (March 1919)

<y_ >.^^\7^ •> ..- ' 94 I MOVING PIC T U RES mi COAST PICTURE NEWS. By GUY PRICB. Lioa Angeles, March 26. Vera Steadman la tbe second of U>e famous Keystone Beauties to join the Universal. The first week o( "Mickey" at tbe Klnema broke all attendance recorda tor ths house. Hilton Reed Is assisting Richard Spier in the publicity work for the Klnema and Ma- jestic. Charlie Murray has signed a new contract with Mack Senuett. m m Thomoa Buchanan has been added to the ■cenarlo stoS of the Qoldwyn at Culvflr City. Capt LesUe T. Peacocke Is orgonlilog a company of his own. m^ R. Cecil Smith, continuity writer, boa re- covered from an attack of pneumonia. Qeorg Holt la to alternate with Jacqaes 4 Jfaccard in directing Eiddie Polo's series of :'two reel Westerns. Jimmy Aubrey h^ started produotlon on a new comedy at the Titograph's West Coast studio. : Xing W. Vldor has written another atory and is now plcturlaing it ttr the Brentwood Film Corporation. George Webb austained a fracture of tha breast bone while appearing in a aoei^a In : Bollywood. T. Lb Tally goea Bast early in April to look over a few of the new theatrea to gat Ideoa ■for JUs new house. ■%€:■■>:' Ir '■!■: ■;i'' '^{.■■■■•■^-•••'•v.'i^'V ■■'' ,': i .'.W/'-'-'Vi--.- ••■ '■/.. <>.-X'>'' 'Oeorge Bebon went to San Fraooisoo to ';:V-V-'''.'fill an' engagement a. the Tlvoli, where his .; '"'{.feature picture "Hearts of Men" is shown. ■ r- Mabel Normand and Owen Moore made their '.' first appearance betore the camera together '.. J last week. They were often in the same cast in the old Blograph produotiona . Gladys Brockwell baa started gardening and • Bays that she is going to grow everything ex- :■ oept butter and eggs on her own Conn In '.■,'■ Hollywood. r>' Eddie Polo has started work on a new two- •\ reeler enUtled, "Buck Hawson Comes Back," ^.-:; ^between serials- at Universal Cltr. Blleen .;- ■'■•. Sedgewick Is his leading woman. The Kewple Komody Kompany announces '/ '<■ that it is about to start on a aorlea of 26 two- ' 'reel comedies. They will be known aa the Xlean Kut Komodlea and will feature O. Allen Williams, better known around the studios as "Kewple" Wllliame. Charles H. Christie has been re-elected president of the Motion Picture Producer's Association. W. S. Smith Is the new vice- president, William Slstrom, second Tloe; Thoa. H. Inoe, third vice; Frank A. Garbutt, treasurer and W. J. Reynolds, secretary. ,/i,:' A'lL' t^,.''.' ■• ■ ■.-' mens ) ,■ M;|;;:;;k;,., /'-v/.j/type to itf:^;:. After July 1, George Slmmone will be out Dt a Job. His specialty has been "drunk parts" and he had had such wide experience In this line that he was one of the best screen drunks In the buslneas. With the coming of prohibition on July 1 It Is of courae, expected that there will be no more drunks, so Sim- mons Is looki-T for some other particular master. fiV P.*« t'- ■' "• • ii , (BjjJ i . -t ,< ■ „> . ,B'If: ■•■;':■ S-: . Roy L. Manker* of the Palmer Photoplay Company, made a hurried trip to San Francisco -last week. Rumor has It that the Palmer Co.. Is to establish a branch office up north and It is probably that Mr. Manker went up to look over the proposition, 0. Sharpe-MInor, organist at Orauman's ' has been made the grand bandmaster of the ' Southern California command of the Ameri- can Service League, an organisation composed . of all members of Uncle Sam's military and naval forces who served during tbe war. ' William Alexander, western division mana- ger of the United Picture Theatrea of Ameri- ca, Ina, has lust returned from a tour of the western offices of the concern, which includes Denver, Salt Lake, Seattle, PorUond, San Francisco and Los Angeles. When "Pop" Lubin aaw Myron Selxnick busily engaged in supervising tbe activities of the Olive Thomas Co., during the filming of a cafe scene at the Alexandria Hotel end said to him, "That's the way. my boy. I'll write to your father and tell him that you are working hard." "Pop" remembers Vyron when be was a small boy. ALIAS mIkTmORAN. Larry AToung .Wallace Reld Blaine Debaux Ann Little Mike Moran Bmory Johnson Seter Young Charles Ogle [a Young Bdythe Chapman Tick Flynn William Elmer Mr. Vandocar Winter Hall Miss Vandeoar Jean Calhoun . Jim Day .Ouy Oliver One must admire the nerve that Wallace Reld displays In accepting a role that makea him appear aa an absolute weakling for the greater part of this five-reel Paramount pro-. Suction. enUUed Alios Mike Moron." For the bigger part of three reels all the heroics go to an ex-convict who steps into tbe gap that Larry Young (Mr. Reld) was to have filled in tbe draft army. Reld in tbe mean- time displays nothing except the fact that be Is a self-centered coward and fortune hunter, a role that absolutely alienates the sympathy of the audience. Before tbe finish he manages to come back with a wallop and landa with the audience. "Alias Mike Moran" Is token from the "Sat- urday Evening Post" story, "Open Sesame," by Orln Bartlett. the screen adaptation having , been made by Will M. RItohey, who turned out o forceful script James Ortue handled the direction most capably. Both the director and the script writer are to be congratulated on the tact that they did net Insfst on trying to make the roles of Mike Moran and Lorry Young 0 duol one tor the stair. This would have been one of the easiest errors to fall Into, for in the original tbe two men are described aa bearing a marked resemblance to each other. The stoiy Is of a. department store clerk who likes to play "the Avenoo" and h^pes with his "flash'' of clothes to snore on heiress. The result is that he falls for a girl that he believes Is tbe daughter of Vondeeor, the millionaire. In realltj she Is but the oom- panion to the millionaire's daughter; but this fact Is well bidden In the atory until tbe finish. ' Larry Young, the department siore clerk, ia caught In the draft vaad Is called. \In tbe meantime he has dons a favor tor on ex-convict, Mike Moron, who Is onxious to do his bit for the U. 8., but bos been turned down because of his prison record. Mike and Larry discuss the service, and liarry offers to pay Mike $500 If the Utter will substitute (or him. This means on exchange of Identities, tbe ex-con. taking that of Young Ond the latter becoming Mike Moron. But before he answers the call Mlke.delivera on admonition to tbe effect that Young con do anything he pleases to tbe nome of Moron, but no matter what the coat, when tbe time cornea he la to die gome. As Young he goes to tbe front and Is killed otter o deed of heroism, (or which he U djkcorated. The reol Young, in o shipyard, in the meantime develops o courageous streok and decides that os long as Mike sent his name down in a bloxe of glory it is only be- fitting that he do as mtach (or the tlUe of Moran, and he enllsta in the Oanodions, He Is wounded, loses o bond, and on recovery Is dIscoveVed by the girl. The true story, when told, mokes him a hero, although a tordy one. The support In the moln Is oil that could be I asked for, although Ann Little does not up in the Close-ups aa well ak she might, gives a very clever ohtiracterizatlan of role of Young, and Bmory Johnson as Hon puts a lot of pep Into that role. The oi roles are well played. Right now, with tbe troops returning tbeir homes all over the country, the plcton la timely. The big punch Is tbo tact that ha is a boy given up tor dead Fho returns' his sweetheart and parents. There are hi dreds of thote all over tbe country that have given up hope yet aa to their boys, no m^ what the 6fflclal reports bare satd, and tb ore living In hope. The picture is well w< while playing. Fret Mocouley Photoplays, Inc., has signed Hi Reirjienbach (or an additional eight w( to handl« the exploitatlcn o( their next f lease, a film version of Charles Neville Boa big story, "When Bearcat Went Dry," Reu enbach received |6,000 to put over the Id cauley first release. "Whom the Gods Woil Destroy," and tbe renewal Is at the mu figure. World has purchased (rom William N. —,_ "Little Orphan Annie," In six reels, and «l release it as o special. Samuel Coldwya ' ' ^presents ' Vk li t '\ X \^< .^i^MtjJ f i' ' *(!o W ' V » rW,» «C i.i'K^Jf tt-> le Eternal Mi^dalene 'fy Robert H MfrUngKUn One of At moat important motion picturt pro» duetions of At year. First released April 20 as an Easter-season Special production. "The Eternal Magdalene" Is being nocked by the leading first run theatres and behind it every exhibitor is devising; and carrying out one of the biggest publicity and advertising campaighs that he has ever made on a motion picture. A panorama-drama of the hunted woman in ten thousand towns; in your town and my town. A story of love and loyalty; of temptation and re« demptlon; astoryof human heartsapd hypocrites. A plot of the^ present moment about men and women and boys and girls with whom Vou rub elbows every hour of your life^ GOLDWVN PICTURES CORPORATION SAMUIL COUtWTM /VwitfUl 16 East C2m/ Street New York, City ^^i ,-^ ^ \ .*!»;