Motion Picture News (Oct-Dec 1930)

22 Motion Picture News X o i ber 1 . 19 JO W1IHN a man's in a position of power he's got plenty of friends — preferred and common. When things go wrong — well, there's always the Salvation Army. The theme of this bedtime yarn might be entitled "Friendship." The object under fire is a well known production executive in Hollywood who values his pals more highly than wisely — that is, for his own career's sake. When this worthy took over his present job, he brought in his friends, the chaps he had worked with in other days at other studios, ft is now many, many months since the acquisitions were made. There have been changes on the lot, but all of them have been additions. The Old Guard stands as is, Gibraltarlike in its solidity, stability and stupidity. The executive is turning out a lot of pictures. More so than he, or any other individual on the Coast, should have to worry about, although that is the fault of the system and not the person. But some of them are passable, a lot of them are terrible, and all too few above the average. The world and its observers know where a good deal of the fault is to be traced. In the friends who bask in the headliner's spotlight, as you have, by this time, surmised. The reason is simple : They are trading on friendship, not on ability as picture makers. The boss, in whom the quality of friendship is undoubtedly strained beyond all reasonable bounds, knows his prestige is being jeopardized ; the sales department has squawked to the president and the president has passed the yelps to the studio. You would think that ultimately this blindness would be replaced by the light. Only it isn't and today the man's future hangs uncomfortably in the balance with the scales slowly, but steadily, swinging in his disfavor. Touched by "Genius" From all indications, a certain director will start on a vacation as soon as he completes his current opus. That vacation will probably take the form of a rest cure. Strange tales of his weird behavior on the set are being circulated up and down the Hollywood foothills. An instance : For no apparent reason this director wanted a group of galloping horsemen to pull up to a particular spot. The easy and natural thing for both men and horses was to continue past this imaginary line, coming to a more gradual stop. Where they halted had nothing to do with the sequence, as they are still riding hard when they passed the cameras. In fact, the whole incident could be termed nothing more than an idiosyncrasy on the part of the director. Yet he was adamant in his demands. Those horsemen would stop where he wanted them to, or he would know the reason why. They tried it again. A score or more were unable to stop in INSIDERS' time. Again and three or four were over the line. Again with the same result. In vain cameramen and sound experts tried to reason with the director. The takes in each instance had been perfect, so why bother about the rest? The director refused to listen. These riders would do as he told them or else . Another take and the director delivered his ultimatum. Grabbing a prop pistol, he shouted : "The next man that crosses the line is going to get shot." The horsemen lined up. At command they started riding full gallop past the cameras and tried to draw up. From the milling group of horses and men one lone rider was pushed across the line. Promptly the director emptied his pistol at the man. When none of the shots took effect, our friend realized he was firing blanks. "Give me a gun with real bullets," he demanded, "I'll show the ." His It Is No Longer A Mystery — WHY "Way for a Sailor' was pulled at the New York Capitol the day before its scheduled opening and "The Big House" rushed in as a substitute immediately after it had closed its run at the Astor. Why a certain big shot wants to place the blame on the sales department when the production forces under his jurisdiction aren't hitting the ball. That a certain advertising man got away with graft for a long time before the searchlight hit him. That a usually level-headed executive drew real disdain from his employes when he issued his asinine order on socalled economy. That the boys were quick to peg the wise guy who turned high hat. Who the fellow was who had plenty of palpitations before scanning the morning papers to make sure his name wasn't mentioned in the news. That a certain company chief is plenty sorry that he didn't give recognition to a valued executive who took the air, to the immense satisfaction of another company. assistants were too scared to move. "Hurry up," he growled, "or everyone of you are all washed up on this unit." Finally someone shoved another gun in his hand, hoping to placate him. He broke it. found it contained blanks, too, and sought out the fellow who had given it to him. Finding the "culprit," the man was fired, but meanwhile the director forgot his wrath against the horsemen and called it a day. Still another story is being heard about a different director and a group of riding extras. In filming a mob scene, twentyseven men were sent to the hospital after having been ridden down by horses. It seems the director operates upon the theory it is up to extras to get out of the way — if they can. The studio, however, in reporting the accident, overlooked mentioning the fact that the horses all had riders. Tenacity Two executives are in a quandary. The head of a certain department under their direct jurisdiction has occupied his post for years. But internal shif tings now find the man's assistant his superior. The hunch was this would force the stormy petrel into resignation. Onlv it didn't. He still reports every morning like clock-work with no duties to engage his attention. No question of monev involved, because he who has fallen into disfavor is worth several millions and proposes to see how long he can keep the executive pair embarrassed by his tenacity. There isn't any contract at stake, hut certain circumstances make it a tough job to tell the man he's through. In the interim, he continues to appear on deck daily, and collect at the end of each week. As confusion reigns in executive chambers. Eyes on Hughes Again Howard Hughes' course in putting over Multicolor is being watched on the Coast. The multi-millionaire who plunged so heavily on "Hell's Angels" is prepared to put plenty into an effort to put over the color project, it is understood. Multicolor differs from Technicolor in that it has color on both sides of the film, making the film thicker. The company now is working on improvement of the process, and soon will open its new laboratory on the Coast. Hughes went into Multicolor when he hit a stone wall on use of Technicolor for "Hell's Angels." At the time Warner had the eight Technicolor cameras sewed up. Fox had had an option on Multicolor, which was used in a few Fox pictures. Later Universal and Pathe are