International photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

The INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER May, 1934 Earl Theisens Hollywood Note Book Honorary Curator Motion Pictures Los Angeles Museum [Member of the Faculty as Lecturer in the Department of Cinematography, University of Southern California. — Editor's Note] [AN'T is an obsolete word in Hollywood. They ^ don't use the word any more. An illustration £M of this is the artificial waterfall made at RKO L Ubs—^4 Radio. On stages 8 and 9, in a space of 20,000 square feet, is this indoor pool. It is made of plaster to resemble granite and the water coming from a fire hose at full capacity falls fifty feet into this artificially rock-bound pool. Around the edge of the pool are some fifty cocoanut palms made of stuff by the artisans over in the trick department. On the synthetic bench of a lagoon is a 150 foot wrecked yacht. If you don't think this seems like the real thing go and see "Down to Their Last Yacht." Most of the action of the picture will take place on this setting which is the tropical island of Malakamokalu. Eddie Cronjager, the camera artist, has about 200 angles in the setting. Some 500 extras are scheduled to be taken from the "forgotten man" list for the picture. * * * Have you seen the Technicolor three-color sequence in the "House of Rothschild?" That is the color process that J. A. Ball of Technicolor has been working on for years and which was shown in this real life picture for the first time. It is practically the same process which is used in the Walt Disney Silly Symphonies that have been praised and welcomed by art critics. When you see this color on the screen, do not let your judgment be influenced by bad memories of past attempts at colored motion pictures. There is a natural dislike for color due to the poor and unnatural color of the past ; but forget the psychological aspects and open your eyes and mind to this new color. In it is a promise of good things in color if the box office won't "thumbs down" after reasoning like this: All colored pictures of the past have been bad ; this is a colored picture, therefore, it is bad, too. The old color process photographed only two colors and in those two colors tried to make natural colors ; whereas this new process records the three primary colors. As is known, practically any color can be rendered by blending the three primary colors. * * * Speaking of thrills in the movies! The other day Wheeler and Woolsey had a wild boar hunt, on a stage at RKO, for their picture "Cockeyed Cavaliers." The studio imported a 375 pound boar from Santa Cruz Island and turned him loose on the set. In turning loose the boar, one of the carpenters got too close and the boar bit the hickory handle of a hammer hanging on the carpenter's hip. The comedians engaged the beastie, armed with tin foil spears and their sense of humor. Because these weapons might fail, the studio had the well known sharpshooter, Pardner Jones, with a high powered rifle, set on a parallel overlooking the set. "And to think," sighed the comics after the filming was over, "folks go clear to Africa to be scared by big game." That was one instance in the movies when a thrill was provided by a boar. * * * Clark Gable forgot to put on his dark glasses the other day when he left the studio. Result: He spent a half hour in the autograph business. His holiday in the East last month cost him a couple dozen silk handkerchiefs, twenty-seven coat buttons and one shirt sleeve. He felt the shirt sleeve rip and saw it go disappearing in the crowd in Kansas City. Most of the handkerchiefs were given away in Baltimore and the buttons were pulled off his clothes between Hollywood and New York. In Baltimore, the police would not let him return to his hotel because of the vast crowd. He had to stay in another hotel. And in Kansas City the Chief, the crack Santa Fe transcontinental flyer, was delayed while police got Gable to the station. * * * "There are 127 major studios in Japan," according to Roanna W. Hill, Assistant in the Department of Cinematography of the University of Southern California. "Sixty-one of these produce educational films." Japan's Department of Education spends approximately $125,000 a year in producing patriotic and other films depicting the life of her people. On the other hand we won't say what the United States Government is doing toward furthering the use of films in education. * * * According to a recent survey 77,000,000 people see motion pictures every week, 11,000,000 being children. That is a very conservative estimate, since other surveys have placed those figures much higher. * * * Victor Fleming keeps a "dead man's chart." In filming Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island," at M. G. M., so many pirates are movie-killed that he found it necessary to make up a list so a pirate once killed won't appear in a later scene. Because it is unlawful to photograph real money, M. G. M. has installed their own mint. They make movie money in all denominations, including both coins and paper. They made a special money for Viva Villa with a picture of Wallace Beery ; doubloons and "pieces of eight" for "Treasure Island" ; special money for a picture of Garbo as "Queen Christina" ; and fictitious money was made for the "Merry Widow." This is just one of the many features that enter into studio routine when making a picture. Did you ever stop to realize, for example, just how many complaints would be sent the studio if they used Please mention The International Photographer when corresponding with advertisers.