Motion Picture Herald (Apr-Jun 1931)

8 MOTION PICTURE HERALD April 11, 19 3 1 TRUE romance item : About twenty years ago when a certain publicity man now of fame in the industry was a dashing, flashing gallant of a young reporter on a great newspaper in New York, he got entangled in a de cidedly wet party and found himself at the dawn in what was then called a cabaret. It was an hour of much mellowness and susceptibility. Across the room She sat. She was a lovely bit of beauty, only slightly disarrayed by the night of wine and dance. It was love at sight and no questions asked. Impulses like that come sometimes at the pink edge of dawn, especially when there has been a purple and hectic night behind. In tears our Hero repented his dissolute life. Here was his ideal, his dream girl, his, etc., etc. He told her so. In telling her so he accumulated a gallery of interested and equally mellow friends. "You love the girl, see — why don't you get married — just like that — it'd be swell." With a grandiose gesture of profound gallantry and tender consideration the young man gravely proposed, in the presence of the gathering, and was accepted on the spot. There was a round of drinks, perhaps two rounds. Then all hands were off in a fleet of taxicabs for such matters as licenses and a marrying magistrate. Within two hours the strangers of dawn were made man-and-wife. The sun was getting up in the sky and the bride-of-the-morning was weary. Her gallant husband emerged from the magistrates office with her and drove her forthwith to her home, kissing her hand in adieu at her home. Thence the groom went to join his friends again at the caravanserie to make merry with the bowl. It was mid afternoon in his apartment when the raucous telephone jangled him awake. He sat up and held a throbbing head. The voice on the wire said in words and figures substantially as follows : "I'm that girl's brother and your a damned scoundrel to marry her like that and you've got to let her get an annulment right away — and so on and on." The Hero could not well remember — but he pieced together bits of the sequence of the night before as they rose +rom the mists of alcohol. Indeed it was true there had been some sort of a fuss at the city hall and maybe — well yes in fact he had been married, but he wasn't sure just about to whom or the details. "Oh, go on and get the old annulment, I'm sleepy," he answered the phone. Then he filled a pitcher with cold water and put it beside the bed. * * * Many years elapsed and the young reporter, young no longer, was sitting at a publicity desk in a West Coast studio. His phone rang and the production manager for the establishment announced : "I'm sending over Miss , to give you the dope for some publicity items. She's a swell jane and be sure and give her a break. I think she'll make the grade out here." Presently the beautiful lady was admitted. There was a considerable consultation about photographs and a large arrav of notes on stories and copy was made. Then in a diffident manner the publicity man looked up. "I'm sorry, but I just didn't quite get your name," he said. She stood up in a whimsical silence for a long minute. "And, really, you don't remember me?" She smiled, and also pouted. The publicity man flushed and puzzled. "No — sorry, but I'm afraid I don't." "Why — you married me one morning in New York, years ago." * * * ^ They had dinner together that night. Soon they were married, again. And marvelously enough, they have been happy in all the several years since. AAA "True-Shot Mike" Goes Blind The weekly efficiency story: The big nickel-and-dime saver on the staff of a widely known distributing concern took a look about the building the other day and in a gust of enthusiasm decided he could dispense entirely with one floor which could then be leased to an outside tenant. His moving squad came at the gallop with the dollies to skid the desk out and the place was cleared in a jiffy. The partition wrecking crew was just about to go to work when the big economy executive heard sounds from behind a door in the corner. He investigated and found that he had overlooked the company's telephone exchange. A call to the telephone company's service department disclosed the fact that it would cost more to move the switchboard and rewire than could be had in rental for the floor for two years. All moves were reversed and another day was spent in moving desks back. Meanwhile two costly departments were out of business for two days and it will take another month to restore morale. The moral is that efficiency and idea men in the motion picture industry should not be permitted to shoot from the hip. In a crowded industrv the innocent bvstanders always get hit. IT was one of those gala nights in Hollywood with another grand world premiere. The canopy was bedecked with two thousand orchids. There were bands playing. There were empty cameras grinding. There was a flaming glare of endless lights and the throb of many motor-generator sets. Flashlights were popping as newsmen, or imitation newsmen, dashed about. It was a big night staged for Her by Him, about her picture and through his money. "Death Valley Scotty," blue shirted and informal, stood by regarding the manifestations. Presently we cut out of the crowd and went over to pass the time of the evening with a friendly traffic officer. "This convinces me," observed the dry "Scotty," "that both Barnum and Darwin were right." AAA Grabbing the Credit The artists' agents of Hollywood are some where near the top of the in-bad list in the industry these days. The rumblings of a rising tide of disapproval are to be heard in many quarters. All too often it has happened that the agent has been able to dash in and claim his 10 per cent on engagements to be classified as breaks with which he could not conceivably have had anything to do. A A a' You Can't Beat the Dutch! Once each month Kodak Research Laboratories issues an abstract bulletin covering papers and publication of articles of technological interest and patents issued pertaining to the art of photography, both motion and still. We are all excited this month by the discovery that French patent 679,568 on a color filter projection process has been issued to none other than the Naamloose Vennootschap tot Exploitatie van Fotografische Finlay en andere Precedes. What a business ! AAA What Price Fame? Fame has its troubles. Frank Wilstach, editorial functionary at the Hays office, between labors for that esteemed organization and the writing of books, also collects similes, publishing an annual summary as, for instance, "The Best Similes of 1931." A year ago he included one of the bon mots of Percy Hammond, dramatic critic of the A^^'^e; York Tribune. The other day Mr. Hammond, meeting Mr. Wilstach on Forty-second street, protested: "Take me out of that damn hst. Do you know it cost me $9 this year paying for clippings the bureaus sent in on it^" THE INSIDERS