Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World (Apr-Jun 1930)

28 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD April 5, 1930 RadioVictor Gramercy Studio To Aid Eastern Output in June Three Sound Stages Will Be Available — Audio-Cinema Completes “I Pagliacci” as First Screen Opera Made in East — New Music for “Queen High” By DOUGLAS FOX Production in the East is expected to take a step forward in June when recon struction of the Radio-Victor Gramercy studio will be completed. Three fullv equipped sound stages will be available for rental, and the central location of the plant, as well as its record for pretty good acoustics, should keep all three stages busy. Bell & Howell sees it through Some of the machines which are making history in the moving picture industry— general view of the toolroom, milling department, in the new Bell & Howell Engineering Development Building. A new piece of Bell & Howell cinemachinery is never put into production until the conditions under which it might operate are carefully surveyed; not a wheel is turned until the whole function of that instrument is visualized and prepared for in advance. From this care in design, and the precision of their manufacture come the constant dependability of Bell & Howell Standard Film Perforators, Printers, Splicers, and Studio Cameras. Wherever movies are made, printed, or projected, the name Bell & Howell has rightfully become synonymous with known high quality. The foresight of its engineers is but a part of the contribution of the Bell & Howell Engineering Development Laboratories to the progress of the industry. Clear thinking and rare skill in application of theory to practice are daily solving the problems of the moment in these Laboratories. Penetrating vision and mechanical ingenuity are constantly at work in anticipation of the future. Audio Cinema, Western Electric’s studio child, has completed the first screen opera to be made in the East. It’s “I Pagliacci,” sung entirely in Italian by Fernando Bertini and Alba Novella. Paramount, ahead of its production schedule, is swinging along smoothly with “Queen High,” Schwab and Mandel musical comedy that was popular on Broadway some time ago. All music for this production will be new, the idea of popularizing an old legitimate production because it contained song hits since forgotten having died a natural death. “Queen High” Ready April 15 The idea worked with “Rio Rita” and a few other musicals I could name but, with new material constantly flooding the picture mart, it is obvious that it could not last for very long. “Queen Hwh” should be in the can by April 15 when Maurice Chevalier, now tied up in a two week theatre engagement, will start work on “Too Much Luck.” At about the same time Edward Sutherland will start directing Jack Oakie in “The Sap from Syracuse.” This will be Oakie’s first starring vehicle. There’s been variety in the Vitaphone Varieties turned out in the Flatbush plant these past few days. They’ve been occupied with a melodrama, a musical comedy, a farce, a sketch and Mr. Robert L. Ripley, the cartoonist. “Meller” in Death House In step with the fashion in prison plays, the two-reel melodrama, “Strong Arm,” takes place entirely in the death house and press room of a pententiary. The script stars Henry O’Neill as the chaplain. As you probably know, O’Neill is playing a similar role in the legitimate hit, “The Last Mile.” Others in “Strong Arm” are John Harrington, E. L. Fernandez, Paul Harvey and Norvale Keedwell. “The Collegiate Model” is the title of the musical comedy which features Ona Murtsen, Harry Rosenthal and Roger Pryor, all prominent in current Broadway offerings. “The Fight,” a burlesque of the prize ring by Ring Lardner and John Hobble, stars Norman Brokenshire, Hazel Forbes, Charles Lawrence and the inimitable Harry McNaughton of “Three Live Ghosts.” Ripley talked, sketched and exhibited some of his curiosities for the camera. He is. not a handsome man and speaks best with the pencil. Other productions recently completed in Flatbush include “Song Painting” with Ann Seymour of “A Night in Venice,” and “Fish,” a sketch by Homer Mason. Galsworthy Play, With English Cast, For Radio Pictures ( Special to the Herald-World) NEW YORK, April 1. — “Escape,” famous play by John Galsworthy, is now going into production in Great Britain, under the direction of Basil Dean, and as an Associated Radio Picture, will be one of the attractions in the forthcoming program of Radio Pictures for 1930-31. The cast for the talking version will be made up of noted English actors, and the picture will be one of the first to be made under the Radio Pictures banner, and known as an Associated Radio Picture. Lytell Weds Grace Menken ( Special to the Herald-World) HOLLYWOOD, April 1. — Bert Lytell, former husband of Claire Windsor, married Grace Menken, his leading lady, in Philadelphia. Only the immediate family was present. BELL & HOWELL BELL & HOWELL COMPANY, DEPT. P, 1851 LARCHMONT AVE., CHICAGO, ILL. NEW YORK. 11 W. 42nd ST.. HOLLYWOOD. 6324 SANTA MONICA BLVD. LONDON (B. & H. CO., LTD.) 320 REGENT STREET . . . Estahlirhed 1907