Motion Picture Magazine (Aug 1928-Jan 1929)

A Kid that Looks Like a Gun (Continued from page 31) "That's why casting is such fun," said the vocative member of the Central Casting Bureau. "Nobody ever knows in advance what's going to be needed today in the way of Russians and grandmothers and dollfaced flappers. Every day there's some new demand. "In fact, "the vocative member added with lifted eyebrow to denote that the conversation had gone high-brow, "we're beginning to feel that Hollywood is just like the literary pastures of Upper Morven in which James Branch Cabell stages his slightly Rabelaisian amours. In other words, it's one of those places where anything is rather more than likely to happen, and usually does." Mrs. Ruth McQuoid, who never submits to interviews when she knows they are interviews, nodded her head in agreement. I don't know whether Mrs. McQuoid reads Cabell or not. Probably she doesn't. She's a nice, good looking, slightly gray, motherly sort of woman to whom you confide instinctively stories about the girl-friend and the job and the prospects of a raise if the old man ever gets over his spell of sciatica. Maybe she never even heard of Cabell or Jurgen or the Shirt of Nessus or Morven. But that's no great matter. She knows plenty of things. I've got an idea she was born knowing things. She's that kind of woman. She has charge of the children's division of the Central Casting Bureau. Mothers consult her about Johnny's stubbed toes and little Mary's trouble with adenoids; and sometimes it's more important to know about salves and hay fever remedies and paying jobs than it is to know about places that never existed and people that never lived and shirts that were never worn. Anyhow, she nodded vigorous agreement. "If you think fitting adults into the pic ture is hard work," she said decisively, "you ought to know something about the trials of casting the children. CHORELY PRESSED BY DIRECTORS DIRECTORS can think of the queerest things. You'd almost think they sit up late at night trying to find impossible chores for me. "Just the other day I had a fine example of this: My telephone rang and I answered it. The casting director of one of the companies, I don't remember which one right now, was on the wire. "'Say, Mrs. McQuoid,' he said, 'we need a baby that looks like a gun. Suppose you got anything like that in your files ? ' "'What's that you want?' I asked, thinking maybe I was getting a little hard of hearing. ' Did you say a baby that looks like a gun?' "Sure, that's it. We need a baby that looks like a gun. One about four years old will do.' " I still thought I was hearing a funny story and I kept trying to think back to see if I'd ever heard that one before. When I couldn't remember, or see the point, I sounded a note of warning to the effect that I am a busy woman and, that while I appreciate a good story, I haven't time for such foolishness during office hours. If he wanted me to laugh, he'd have to telephone my home about supper time and I'd do my best to giggle. NO KIDDING ABOUT THE KID LISTEN, Mrs. McQuoid, I'm not kid' ding,' he complained. 'I'm wide awake, and I didn't say we wanted a little son-of-a-gun, either. I said a kid that looks like a gun. You know. No, I 'm not crazy ! (Continued on page 120) Forecasting About (Continued from page 113) A sort of Mohammed and the mountain idea has been used by William De Mille. In his recent picture, "Craig's Wife," the director has done away with shots in which the camera follows characters as they walk to and fro before a background, and in place of such shots has had the camera and actors remain stationary while the background is moved. And De Mille says this is far more satisfactory than to try to catch action with a moving camera. The very first picture to have both sound and color will be called "The Thrall of Leif the Lucky." It will be produced by Technicolor and deal with the adventures of a Viking some thousand years ago. It is interesting to note that the Technicolor film which has always been double coated, will have but one coat in this picture. The double coat might have interfered with the recording of sound. STAGE PLAYERS AT A PREMIUM TT is rumored here that United Artists ■* will go Fox Films one better in making a sound picture using stage players instead of screen celebs. Fox has declared that the all-talking picture, " Behind That Curtain, " will have a mixed cast, the principal characters will be recruited from the stage, the atmosphere from the movies. But, if reportis true, the next John Barrymore vehicle will find Handsome Jack surrounded by a troupe formed entirely of stage players. "Talkies, Talkies, Crazy Over Talkies," describes the Hollywood situation regarding sound films. And as usual the industry is leaping into the swirling new waters without knowing the depth or strength of current, the quicksands or the undertow. An evidence of this is in a questionnaire recently broadcast in an effort to obtain opinions from screen writers upon the new baby. Among the queries were some asking whether the present instruments are adequate to record voices, and if not, where they fall short. Whether sound adds or detracts from the realism of the picture. Whether voice reproduction is desirable, and whether substitution of voices may be made. Whether talkies should be rehearsed like plays. What kind of dialogue is best fitted. Whether talking pictures slow up the story. Whether there is a shock to the audience in changing from sound to silence and vice versa. As well as many other groping queries which somehow suggest a drowning man and a straw. It is well-established that some pictures have already been made and doubled for voice. The action has been filmed in Hollywood, and the players have spoken the lines called for by the story. But there has been no sound device present. The completed film has then been sent to New York, where stage players with trained voices have doubled for the sound^effects, carefully rehearsing the timing so that when the lips of the screen actors move, the words of the double seem to emanate from them. Lustrous, Lovely Hair! Now you can have it; keep it! Now every woman may have lovely hair! The secret lies in proper shampooing! Not just soap-and-water "washings", but regular use of a shampoo that really beautifies—one that was created especially to improve dull hair and add that little something extra so often lacking. Just one Golden Glint Shampoo will show you the way. No other shampoo, anywhere, like Golden Glint Shampoo. Does more than merely cleanse. 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