Boy's Cinema (1930-31)

Every Tuesday nearest 'phone ? The ' Morning World ' can't come off the presses till I give the noid to Graham." "There's a 'phone over there," he was told. Jimmy raced for tlie call-box, and ■Ellen hurried after him. She joined him in the 'phone-booth just as he was lift- ing the receiver. . "Give mo Long Distance—Los Angeles, ' !Morning 'World,' " ho jerked. '' Reverse the charges and step on it, sis Er—I mean, step on it, iniss, will you, please V At seven fifty-nine, when Graham was tearing his hair, the 'phone-boll rang in the editorial office of the " ilorn- ing World." Half a dozen hands reached for the instrument, but Graham scattered his subordinates in one blun- dering rush that was reminiscent of a buffalo stampede. "Here, gimme that 'phone," he snarled. He picked up the receiver, anxiety written in every line of his face. Then his brow cleared, and gradually a beam spread across his countenance. "Hallo?" he panted. "Jimmy? Jimmy Gray? Aw, thank heavens^——" " Jloro dope for you, chief," came the voice of Jimmy. "I just arrested Kenton with my own hands. Knocked him off the quay, then dived after him and brought him to the shore. Say, chief, if you think this has been a picnic But get a load of this, will you " He talked on, Graham listening atten- tively. "Good work, boy." the editor said, as Jimmy finally ended his report. "Good work ! Hold on a minute, Jimmy, will you ?" He turned to the re-writo man. "Add this to Jimmy's story," he ordered: "'Kenton's accomplice, Nick Corrigan, was bumped off in a gun-duel with the police-officers who tried to arro«t him. Kenton was taken after a <lcsperate hand-to-hand struggle with the " Morning World's " special crime representative.' "All right, Jimmy," ho added, speak- ing into the telephone once again. " It's a wonderful story, pal, and thanks a lot. Hurry back." "I'll catch the next train," Jimmy assured him. "So-long, chief!" Graham hung up the leceiver and then faced the members of his staff. "Gee, what a scoop!" ho announced enthusiastically. "Say, if I had to go through another two or three hours like that I'd go crazy. Yes, sir—plumb crazy. Oh, boy, when we get that edition on the streets can you imagine what the guys on the other papers in this town arc gonna do?" Ho fixed his cje on an office-boy ;.nd rapped out a command. "Go down to the works and tell Jake to let her rip! Quick, son, snap into it." " "\'es, sir," the boy answered, fairly leaping to obey. I'ar from the clamour and \\i6 hiislle of n(nvspaper offices, .Tinuny (jlray was drawing Ellen Garwood deeper into the telephone-box, hnd, enfolding her in his arms, he stooped to kiss her tenderly. Fully a minute afterwards an elderly man hurried up, and ho had actually grasped the handle of the booth before he realised that it was occupied. Ho did not «eo Ellen, and was only able to dis- tinguish the broad back of Jinuiiy, |,Whom he imagined to bo 'phoning. With an impatient shrug he passed pn. (By permission of the Gaumont Film ^0., Ltd., starring Charles Delaney and Vera Reynolds.) BOY'S CINEMA HOLLYWOOD, though too young in years to possess any history, has many monuments of its own in the shape of "sets " still standing of famous pictuie classics of the past. In the days before the talkies many pic- tures were made by the largest of the producing companies which entailed the erection and equipment of sets of gigan- tic dimensions. After the picture was completed it was often found that to dismantle the set would take so much time and labour that it woidd be a more economical proposition to let it remain standing, particularly if it happened to stand on ground that was not urgently needed for immediate use for another production. Many strangers in Hollywood, ignorant of tlie pfctures in which these sets were used, would pass these landmarks in film history without as much as a second's thought, for, to the uninitiated, they are no£hing but the remains of old scenes apparently used in days gone by for some picture or another, dead and for- gotten. To the veterans of film-land, however, these old settings bring back pleasant memories. Whilst in the busiest studios the sets erected for present-day pictures are being changed practically every day, these old relics, often on the outskirts of Hollywood, remain as monuments to the greatness of the particular picture for which they were originally built. Sometimes a corner of a wall in one of these old sets is even now used for a close-up in a present-day picture; often a part of an old set is remodelled so that it is given an entirely different appear- ance for a new film. It was only a short time ago when the famous Rex Ingram production, "The Four Horsemen of tJie Apocalypse," was recalled by the destruction of the huge set of the ruined chateau, which played such an important part in that film. Many people made wealthy and famous by this picture used to look upon this set with a feeling almast of I'everonce, for it had been one of the few permanent reminders of one of the greatest films the silent screen ever linew, bringing in its trail of conquest the fortunes of Rudolph Valentino, Alice Terry and Rex Ingram, to name only a few of those who were "made " by its success. About a quarter of a mile away from the Culver City studio is the old Pathe .studio, where, still standing, close to the boundary fence, is a towering castle, partly liidden in these hectic days by smaller sets which have been built in front of it. Despite this, however, its battlements .stand above everything else in the neighbour- hood to remind one of the first pichire Cecil B. de Mille made as an inde- pendent produce!', "The Road to Yes- terday." Big sets for motion pictures are never mentioned in the best-informed circles without some reference to what has been claimed by many to be the mightiest of them all, the marvellous Notre Dame Cathedral setting ac Universal City. There Carl Laemmle 25 Monuments. poured in hundreds of thousands of dollars to perfect every detail in making as near as human ingenuity and en- deavour could devise an exact replica of the original cathedral it was built to represent. There, for many mont'ns, crowds of thousands played in huge scenes in making one of the biggest and most spectacular films of all time, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," which set the seal on the fame of the late I^on Chaney. Now the set, still standing, is looked >ipon as a mute reminder of this great character actor. No visitor to Hollywood can say that he has had a proper look over alt the sights miless he has seen this set on the Universal lot, for to come away without doing so would be as bad as "seeing the sights of London " and leaving with- out a visit to the Tower! When a couple of the largest of the new stages on the Metro lot were built to make space for the making of an even bigger number of talkies, a long, majestic flight of steps was destroyed. They had stood for years since being first built for the making of the old Goldwyn film, "Three Weeks ''; in fact, a large amount of the action of the film took place on them. Just off Motor Boulevard, in Culver City, the high walls of a gigantic prison can be seen towering over the walls that siuround the studio. Curious visitors, peering quickly through the gate which admits to the guarded enclosure, woidd see what appeared to be a part of a great house of detention, a cold, grey expanse of confining walls. To folks who know their film lore that setting will always be "The Big House," for it was for the film of that name that it was originally built. . ■ Not far away from it is a six-story orphanage, built to provide the many- thrills in that pictorial glorification of the fireman, "The Fire Brigade," re- leased in this country under the title of "Fire!" At the corner of Vine Street and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood there stretches an enormous vacant lot, cover- ing several acres in the very heart of the film colony. It was here that the old Lasky and the present Paramount studio was foimded. Several years ago the whole studio was transferred to a new location, and all the old buildings were either razed to the ground or moved. In an odd corner, however, can still be found the crumbling remains of a plaster pedestal. On this stood the "GoWen Calf," \ised in the first of the great Biblical pictures, "The Ten Com- mandments." (Continued on page 28.) RILEYSHOMt^ BILLIARD TABLES Write lor pnrticulara to E« .1 RILEY LTD Howard 'worka, ACCRINGTO'n, and at Dept. 35, 147, Aldersgate Streat, LOiiiiO:i, E.C.I. Kovctnber 14tb, 19SL