Moving Picture World (Jan-Feb 1927)

January 1, 1927 King Off To New York For 1927 Schedule Edward King, vice-president of Film Booking Offices, left the ■company’s Hollywood Studios for New York City this week. There he will engage in a series of conferences on that corporation’s production schedule for 1927. King, it was reported at the studios, will probably not remain in Manhattan longer than two weeks, when he will hurry back to the Coast and make the big F. B. O. yearly announcement. King will then remain in Hollywood for about two months, when he will repeat his trip to New York, this time to attend the annual sales convention. Start Production In the meantime seven or eight productions of the 1926-27 schedule will be under way during January in the company’s studios here. On the day that King was leaving for New York, Viola Dana was starting production on “Salvation Jane,” under the ■direction of Phil Rosen. “Devil Horse” On Rare “Location” Rex, “The Devil Horse” of the screen, has entered into work on his fourth Pathe feature production in one of the strangest and most interesting locations ever r-eached by a motion picture camera. Several thousand years ago the exact spot where the picture is now being made was the bottom of the ocean. In a year or two it will be at the bottom of that great bed of water to be stored up for California and the Southwestern States by America’s greatest domestic engineering undertaking, Boulder Dam. Tom Tyler 111 Production work in “Knight of the Range,” which was scheduled to start this week at F. B. O., has been delayed for over a week due to the sudden illness of Tom Tyler. Tyler recently collapsed at the Hollywood Athletic Club. He was rushed to a local hospital, where it was found he had a temperature of 104. Bad tonsils were the cause of Tyler’s illness. Hollywood MOVING PICTURE WORLD Writer Retires After Receipt of Refreshments JUST before we closed shop to visit the postoffice and then purchase the material for our Christmas dinner, a batch of mail came into West Coast headquarters. It included Christmas greetings of all dimensions. We wish to express our appreciation for the thought that came with each card to Tom Mix, Mr. and Mrs. Cecil B. De Mille, Harry Langdon, F. W. Murnau, June Mathis Balboni, Silvano Balboni, Gardner James, Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Wilson, Hal Wallace, Mr. and Mrs. Charles David Forrest, Irvin Willat and Lillian “Billie Dove” Willat, Monte Banks, J. Stuart Blackton, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Archibald Reeve, Will T. Gentz, A1 Boasberg, Jerry Madden, Leo Maloney, Barrett C. Kiesling, Don Eddy, Sam Sax, Bud Rogers, Lon Young, Floyd Weber of Gotham Productions. After reading all of these nice greetings and hurrying into our overcoat to step out into the chilly California sunshine, a Western Union boy stopped us with a wire from Madge Bellamy which reminded us about the good things for 1927. Another Western Union boy popped up with a wire from Lou Krameaway out in Detroit. Lou quickly dispensing with formalities, advised us, “If they’re any lonesome extra girls sing to them with that voice of yours about you and I.” As we stepped into the elevator we saw the postman step out and head for our office with a bag full of mail. Although, we were anxious to find out what he had for us, the store was closing where we had purchased our turkey so that we decided to save our curiosity until after securing the feed. On the subject of refreshments we are most grateful to Tom Reed of Universal, Arch. Reeve and Brother Hurley of Paramount, and Bob Yost of Fox. What they gave us should linger with us hilariously for several hours after it has been consumed. We will remember them in our hilarity. Denny Not Hurt All Hollywood was excited when a report reached here from San Luis Obispo that Reginald Denny had a narrow escape from death while filming a racing scene in his next production “Slow Down.” At Universal City, however, it was stated that Denny was operating his racing car at the opposite end of the track where a slight accident took place. Reports here were that a driver in one of the forty or fifty racing cars before the camera at that time, brushed against a prop grandstand but was not injured. Wells Now Stars Texas Ted Wells has just been made a Western star at Universal City. He will appear in a series of his own for Universal under the supervision of William Lord Wright. Wells got into the picture game when a director spotted him while he was with a group of cowboys in a rodeo show here. Recently while he was appearing in a minor role, Universal gave him a special screen test. The projection of that test on the screen brought about his elevation. He is said to be a real hard riding, devilmay-care cowboy, with good looks and good luck A birthday party for Millaard Webb who directed “An Affair of the Follies” for First National. Webb is fifth from the left at the table. Prepares For 1927 31 Tiffany Has Studio Sites In Prospect Two sites within the limits of Hollywood are under consideration to house the new Tiffany studio here, plans for which were announced sometime ago in New York City through the office of M. H. Hoffman, vicepresident of the corporation. It was learned late this week from a reliable source that L. A Young, financial head of the corporation, will probably be out here in February to look over both sites. $600,000 For Studios This same informant, who is associated with Tiffany Productions, told us that plans call for $600,000 being expended for studio buildings. He stated that this sum does not include monies for equipment and the real estate. It was also reported in this respect that Tiffany’s 1927 product will be started in March when it is expected the studios will have been erected. Langdon Figures On Hundred Laughs A laugh every ten feet is what Harry Langdon aspires to in his next feature comedy, “Long Pants,” we were told by Don Eddy at the First National Studios the other day. “That means one hundred laughs per reel,” said Eddy, “and, as we figure on about ten reels, you can tell your exhibitor readers that they may expect one thousand laughs every time they project ‘Long Pans’ to its longest.” Eddy also said something about Langdon being a mathematician and using a yard stick to measure his laughs. When we asked to see the tape measure, Eddy remarked: “It is hidden in a little machine which counts the footage as the picture is thrown upon the screen.” Boasberg Is Busy “Frivolous” A1 Boasberg is one of the busiest writers in Hollywood these days. He is knocking out gags and sobs by the ream on his little Corona. Titling and writing the comedy construction for “The Wisecrackers,” and for ‘‘California or Bust,” also for “Her Father Said No,” gives A1 little time to enjoy Christmas cheer. Advance