The Film Daily (1930)

THE Fday, January 17, 1930 -.agg^ DAILV Timely Topics A Digest of Current Opinion € Tkers Open New Medium F American Composers r BELIEVE the talking picture i offers the American popular omposer for the first time a real liiedium for long dramatic com.osition. The traditional Coninental grand opera is not by ,.ny stretch of the imagination a orm that the American compos,!r can adapt himself to. It is too listrionic, too morbid and enirely too stilted. ; No American composer _ has :;ver been successful in writing im authentic grand opera. That loes not mean that he can't write music for dramatic materikl I think the young American :omposers who are now looking 'it the talking picture with curiosity will find in it the inspiration for extended musical comIposition. 1 In this they will be moved by the impulse to create for drarnat ic framework for the first tirne in the history of American music. Emo Rupee in New York "Telegram" * * * liidience Reactions Guiding ew Trends in Talking Films I HAVE just come from a Hollywood theater where I was .watching the audience reaction to Greta Garbo's last silent picture. The archaic ruses of the old Itime medium were so apparent in places that the small boys in I the audience, who yesterday were ' rapt, openly gave the film the razzberry. Without a doubt, it's going to be a better movie season. The revues can't become any bigger, even if the screen is about to become much broader. So the "better" angle is the only one left to develop. But that development is going to involve some problems — these problems deal chiefly with the reactions of audiences in whom a definite taste has been developed during the year 1929. Mollie Merrick in New York "Evening World" • THEIR FIRST JOBS RICHARD L. SMITH office boy Along The Rialto with PhilM, Daly, Jr, X>ACLANOVA arrives on the Paris Tuesday. The picture in which she was to star abroad has been cancelled. Previous to gangplanking for Europe some weeks ago, Baclanova thrilled RKO vaude enthusiasts As a matter of record Bert Adler gets credit for conceiving and carrying out the Fanchon & Marco Manhattan talent quest in which the "Evening Graphic" cooperated * * ^i * Major Edward Bowes gave Allister G. McDonald, son of the British premier, an intimate glimpse of the Capitol yesterday afternoon, escorting him on a tour of the house Via Buffalo trickles word that Billy Sunday, former ace evangelist, is considering an offer to enter pictures Alfred T. Mannon, president of Tec-Art Studios, is New Yorking on a three weeks' business trip Larry Lipton has joined the publicity staff of Fox Metropolitan Theaters, under David Flamm. Lipton, a brother of Dave Lipton of Balaban & Katz, was in charge of publicity at the Fox Detroit, prior to coming here, Joe Bonomo, serial artist and strong man, has completed a vaudeville tour of the RKO theaters in Bklyn First National Pictures received quite a break in the "ad" campaign carried on by Technicolor in SatEvePost Two Pathe shorts are hitting their stride on B'way, "Rubeville" is at the Hipp while "Fifty Miles from Broadway" is holding forth at the Cameo, N. Y George Bancroft, Paramount 's big man of "The Mighty" now at the N. Y. Rivoli, will be the highlight of the Paramount-Publix weekly radio hour Saturday night at 10 P. M Judith Barrie, one of the leads in Tiffany's "Party Girl" once was a model for James Montgomery Flagg. The Tiffany opus is her first picture effort "Disraeli" and "General Crack" both Warner highpowered vehicles are still holding up on N. Y.'s B'way, while in Sydney and Melbourne "Gold Diggers of Broadway" is catching the gold, says the reports Hazzard Short, musical comedy producer, now is at Fox Movietone City preparing to start work on his first production for the company "Round Robins" is the name of the new Robins Music Corp. house organ, which is being edited by George D. Lottman, head of the advertising and publicity dept Erno Rapee said good-bye to the newspaper and trade paper people at a luncheon at Sardi's yesterday. He will go to the Coast via the Canal, leaving New York Jan. 25 Final selection of the ten best pictures of 1929 appear in the forthcoming issue of the 1930 FILM DAILY YEAR BOOK— which will be out shortly. JANUARY 17-MANY HAPPY RETORNS Best wishes and congratulations are extended by THE FILM DAILY to the following members of the industry, who are celebrating their birthdays today: Nils Asther Ann Cornwall Paul Cruger Carl Laemmle Patsy Ruth Miller Gertrude Orr Grant Withers George B. Smith -AND THATS THAT By PHIL M. DALY HERE IS something for the fillum industry to worry about some rainy day. Years ago a certain class of grinds used to find it possible to keep the wolf from the door by catering to a section of the floating or loafing population that was glad (if able) to pay anywhere from a dime to two bits for the privilege of going into a dark and sometimes quiet picture house to grab off a few hours' sleep. It is even claimed, by some of the reminiscent old timers, that a lot of bozos, probably of Scotch extraction, who had night jobs, used the 10-cent grinds for snoozing quarters and thereby saved room rent, as well as having a daily ration of amusement thrown in. Of course, in the modern de luxe houses they have a polite but persuasive way of interfering with customers of this kind, but our scouts tell us that the practice still is quite popular in the lower strata of grinds. But now it is becoming generally known that a person can sleep all night in handsome places like the Pennsylvania Station in New York by merely buying a 15-cent ticket to Newark, and — here's the best part of it — upon Waking up, satisfied and refreshed the ticket can be turned in for a refund of the face value. Now, the question is, what are the fillum theater boys going to do about this threatening competition? Some of them may be able to point to the softer seats in their houses, but the station folks can counter right away with their big benches that permit "guests" to lay down at full length. Then you might raise the point about the darkness in a picture house being more conducive to gentle slumber, but the depot competition will again outbid you on the ground that the boys who snore have nothing to fear in the station, whereas they couldn't get away with it in a picture house — even by trying to pass off their schnozzle music as "sound effects." So that's the situation. The one offering the best solution will be awarded two seats for the Erie Station. TEN YEARS AGO TO-DAY IN Goldwyn reported to have purchased 50 per cent of Asher Bros. Chicago circuit. * ♦ * Marcus Loew, Richard A. Rowland and Joe Engel en route to Coast ; may build new studio. * * r^ International Film secures Harlem River Park studio in New York.