Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Jul 1929)

so Nils Asther has the role of a Javanese prince — Europeanized, of course — in Greta Garbo's "Wild Orchids." THEY have a new one on Lon Chaney. Lon is completing a picture called "Where East is East," in which he plays a wild-animal trapper. Many of its scenes were filmed in a Siamese jungle. During production it was peremptorily decided that a giraffe was needed to lend color, and perhaps also stateliness to the primitive forest, where Chaney did his capturing of mammalia. Tod Browning, the director, sent a ( call to the animal-casting bureau, or whatever studio department it is that procures talent from menageries. "We need a giraffe in a hurry," his order said. "Can you get us one?" The answer came back shortly, "Giraffes scarce. None just now in Hollywood, stuck, but have a suggestion to make. Why Chaney disguise himself as one?" Dick's Salary Takes Leap. Richard Barthelmess has boosted his salary high, and it's because he has a good voice for talkies. Dick has signed up again with National. The reported stipend amounts to about $350,000 a year, or some $9,000 for every week he works. By this we mean that he is to have about twelve weeks off annually. Barthelmess' former salary was hardly more than $6,000 per week. So this is an increase of approximately one half. Both First National and Warner Brothers, who recently took over that company, are said to entertain lively expectations for Dick's success in the speaking — or, if you wish, squawking photographs. Til f S S ' ■ 8 ■ ■ * » What's doing in the studio world, with odds and ends of gossip such as you like to know. Talkies Boost Bessie. Whoopee for Bessie Love! Her first effort in sound films is crowned with glory. After free lancing for ye-ahs and ye-ahs, so to say, she has gained a long-term contract with Metro-Goldwyn. It's all the outcome of the songand-dance cinema, "Broadway Melody," in which Bessie is a sprightly performer, with Charles King, a musical comedy star, and clever Anita Page. Bessie wasn't doing so well just before this big chance — in fact, she had left the studios and gone on a vaudeville tour for a while. But it is asserted that her work in "Broadway Melody" will make her a star, plus, overnight. Another big thrill will be the voice of Norma Shearer. We have heard her test for "The Trial of Mary Dugan " and it surprised us with its exceptionally clear and attractive quality. Norma's naturally crisp intonation seems ideal for recording. What is more, she evinces a remarkable emotional ability in the new medium. An "Exaggerated" Demise. Rumors that a star has died are most disconcerting—especially to the star concerned, when he or she happens to be going right on living. Gloria Swanson was a victim of rumors of this sort a few years ago. At one time Mary Pickford similarly suffered. They always seem to attach themselves to a picture luminary when he or she is at the height of popularity. Clara Bow is the latest to be pursued by the demise canard. It started when she had an attack of flu during an epidemic that raged merrily and otherwise through the studios. Fully two hundred fans wrote in bemoaning her death. "I don't know why they should choose me," she told us plaintively the last time we saw her. "It gives you a terribly embarrassing feeling — I very like, I imagine, returning from I a war, wherein you were reported killed, and finding people unveiling ■ a monument or something in your K honor." \ Chicken Values Soar. Here's one for poultry dealers to set down in their note books. A rooster recently cost a Hollywood studio $5,003. His name is Bonanza — though truth to tell, the word is used with rather sarcastic intent — and he is on exhibiMaria Corda, long ab tion as the highestsent from the screen, priced fowl in exreturns as an Italian istence. opera singer in "Love Bonanza was a and the Devil," with troublesome cusMilton Sills. tomer. He lived