Universal Weekly (1924-1936)

14 Universal Weekly Vol. 24, No. 12 Emory J ohm Mrs. .Johnson. The adopte<i daughter of a Swedish minister who became a bishop and a great national figure, Mrs. Johnson came to America when she was twenty. Her son Emory, who was born in San Francisco in 1894, studied architecture at the University of California. He was in a fair way to make a name for himself in his profession when he met "Broncho Billy" Anderson, the idol of early mo\'ie fans. "Broncho Billy" offered him a role in one of his pictures and America lost a promising young architect to win a brilliant motion picture director. His early training, however, has contributed much to the success of his pictures. Taught to perceive and create beauty, his productions are noted for their beautiful lighting, beautiful sets and charming exterior scenes. WHEN the Universal officials left the projection room in the Home Office after the first showing of "The Fourth Commandment" they said : "Emory Johnson has done it again." Everyone who has followed Johnson's career knows what they meant. Somehow, some way, this director extraordinary takes the lives of ordinary folks — the folks who may live next door to you, certainly on your street — and puts them on the screen with all their joys and sorrows so humanly, so realistically and yet so skillfully dramatic that everyone seeing them loves and weeps with them. That, in showmen's language, means "a box office picture." And box office pictures they have always proved. Unique in the realm of motion pic iiiory Johnson, director of ''The Fourth Commandment." tures are Emory Johnson and Emilie Johnson. Unique because they ai-e the only mother and son successfully producing pictures. "Directed by Emory Johnson, story by Emilie Johnson" is fast becoming a "sterling" stamp on motion picture entertainment. The Johnsons have been associated with the motion pictures for nearly twelve years. It is a far cry from the secluded home of a Lutheran minister at the royal court of Oscar II of Sweden to the bustle and orderly chaos of a motion picture studio in Hollywood, yet that is the gap bridged by Glorifier of the American Working .Man Emory Johnson has been called the glorifier of the American working man because he prefers to take the man in the street for his hero rather than some darling of fortune. With characters ^of this type, set in a story with a melodramatic punch written by his mother, he has produced a long series of successes: "In the Name of the Law," "The Third Alarm," "W^estbound Limited," "The Mailman," "The Spirit of the U. S. A.," "Life's Greatest Game," "The Last Edition," "The Right To Be Happy," "The Mystery of the Gray Ghost," ■'Green Magic," "A Mother's Secret," "Green Eyes," "Alias Mike Moran," "Trixie from Broadway," "The Hellion," "The Husband Hunter," "The Sea Lion," "Don't Doubt Your Wife," "Always a Woman," "She Couldn't Help Herself," and others. 100 % Exploitation Pictures His pictures are filled with exploitation possibilities. Frequently they tie up with some large grouji such as the mail service, railroad men, printers, etc. Three of the nine stories which the Johnsons will do for Universal will deal with the military — the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. In "The Fourth Commandment" Emory Johnson has been backed by the full power of Universal's gi-eat resources. To elaborate sets and costumes have been added one of the greatest casts ever assembled. Headed by Belle Bennett, ever-to-be-remembered for "Stella Dallas," there is Mary Carr of "Over the Hill" fame, Henry Victor, until recently