Camera (May 1922-April 1923)

CAMERA! Weekly Wake-'Em-U p— CAMERA !'S News Section Page Thirteei WHEN NONE WOULD WRESTLE FILMS SAVE HIM The movies are responsible tor almost everything these days. Emilio Mendez. champion light heavyweight wrestler of South America, says the movies are going to prevent his ever taking part in another wrestling match. That is unless there are some awfully good inducements held out. Mendez, who in five years hogtied and strung in knots all the contenders in Argentine to say nothing of the champion, Ramon Koha, adds that so far he has not acquired the cauliflower ears popular with the lads of the mat and he has no desire to do so as such ears would very materially interfere with his plans for movie fame. Mendez won the championship from Roha, January 7, 1921, the first fall taking one hour three n;inutes and twelve seconds and the second flop being turned in 161/2 minutes. When the South American champ first came to North America he tried to get matches with the champions here, but they did not take his championship seriously although he came out first best in a number of preliminaries, throwing such wrestlers as Douglas Parker, Tom Lala, Frank Nepoleon and Harry Kelly, not one of the matches lasting over fifteen minutes. Discouraged at winning more wrestling fame Mendez turned to the movies. He recently had an interesting and "quarrelsome" part in the Maurice Tourneur production of "The Isle of Lost Ships," just finished at the United Studios. MYSTERY IN DEATH OF MAJOR JUDSON, ACTOR Sheldon Judsoii, popular juvenile character delineator, and a Major in the late war, was buried Thursday, February 8th. He was found dead at his home Monday evening. Police officials were unable to ascertain whether the young actor was a victim of suicide, natural causes, or murder. It was later decided, however, his death was the result of some mysterious deadly powders. Two weeks previous to his untimely death, Mr. Judson had completed an engagement in Captain Leslie T. Peacocke's production of "The Midnight Flower." SHELDON JUDSON Seeks to Stop East*s ISccause of the growing hostility of censors Ihroughout the cast against the showing of motion pictui'es unfolding stories of the far west, Clifford S. Elfelt, head of the Metropolitan Film Company, Inc., and also of the Clifford S. Elfelt Productions Company, seeks to start a counter-campaign in defense of the so-called "westerns" by asking Mayor George E. Cryer and members of the Los Angeles City Council to pass judgment on hi.'-^ latest semi-western photoplay. "Danger," starring J. B. Warner, and which will be p.reviewed for this purpose at the Ambassador Hotel next Monday evening. Mr. Elfelt openly takes issue with those several censor boards which have barred films depicting stirring events of the earlier days in the west as well as those of the present and he denies that even the usual kind of gun-play has any detrimental effects upon the morals of youth as is charged so frequently. "If It is true to life that socalled 'bad men' who have invaded the far west ere now had to be dealt with in extreme ways such as the use of pistols on occasions, there is no reason why this should not be registered wherever required in telling a western story on the screen," he says. "By this I do not mean to infer that there is any necessity for an excess of far-fetched gunplay, but I do mean the same amount which becomes necessary right in the heart of New York City sometimes when the police are obliged to get after gangsters and gunmen." Mr. Elfelt is making a special effort to interest Mayor Cryer in this proposition as a matter of winning a potential spokesman in l)ehalf of the proposition of putting a stop to the tendency to make it impossible to continue the glorifying of the west on the screen because of the various proliibitive rules of various censor boards in the east. "This unfair propaganda against the western style of story has reached a point where a producer must sacrifice every Thalber^ to Aid Mayer A\'ith the arrival of Irving | Thalberg at the Mayer Studio, an immediate expansion program will be inaugurated. Through the acquisition of new conii)anies and new directors, the present production schedule of eight big specials a year will be increased to fifteen with a poli('y of great stories and allstar casts in effect for each picture. The studio facilities will be enlarged accordingly with more than $200,000 to be invested in new covered stages and equipment. Mr. Thalberg's meteoric rise in the motion picture industry has been pointed to by bankers and capitalists all over the country as a striking exami)le of the (|ualities of ability and integrity to be found in the young ( American business man. During Clifford S. Elfelt element of logic in a worthy form of entertainment simply to meet the demands of a few who try to be the dictators of the morals of the masses of i)eople," he says. "The spirit of the west should not be relegated to the back-ground simply because it is not similar to the spirit of the east. Why, censor boards are even barring historical pictures of the early '50's because they contain scenes of white men defending themselves against the attacks of Indians with guns." Mr. Elfelt further points out that on account of making Los Angeles the locale of a typical western story of the present and having a few scenes in which officers of the law make a raid upon desert and nruintain outlaws with drawn pistols, he has been treated in some (luarters as a wilful "corrupter of morals" and he does not think this is fair in any way. Therefore, he wants Mayor Cryer and other city officials to see his latest semi-western feature and pass judgment on it frankly in the belief that it is high time for someone in high position to speak right out loud on the subject. ■ . in Big Expansion Plan I a three-year period he has grown from the position of secretary to Carl Laemmle, president of Universal, to distinction as one of the big i)owers of tilmdom. "11th Hour" Ends in 10th Week "The Elcventti Hour" was practically completed this week. It is a William Fox all-star production and has been almost ten weeks in the making, under the direction of IJernai-d Durning. Shirley Mason is the star and reports state that this will be biggest picture of her entire career. Charles "Buck" Jones, Alan Hale and Edward Martindel have the leading masculine roles and have capably enacted the characters given them. ACTOR DISCOVERS MYSTIC FORCE IN OZONE The man who has travelled widelv and who has been broadened thereby is generally able to get the best perspective on a new community. Eric Mayne, the well-known character actor of the screen, is one of those whose travels have been exceedingly extensive — practically all over the world, to be exact. And, lie declares there is some mystic force in the ozone enveloping sunny California, a mystic force which has a tendency to develop the artistic instincts of mortals: to make them more artistic, as it were. This fact, he says, explains the presence of so many leaders in so many of the fine arts in this state as permanent residents. "Just as they have congregated in Rome and in Greece in past history for the sake of getting into the midst of the proper environments for the artistic indulging, so they congregate in California in these modern days," Mr. Mayne says. "I would not say it is climate alone — it is something more subtle and more conducive to inspiration than mere weather conditions. Just what it is, I don't know and I doubt whether or not a name has ever been selected for it, but, just the same, it acts as a spur to those aspiring to lofty summits in any kind of artistic endeavor." Many people have been prone to give the motion picture industry the whole credit for attracting noted sculptors, painters, authors and other celebrities of classical bent to especially Southern California, but Mr. Mayne points out that this is disproved in the fact that large numbers of famous personages of artistic achievement have settled in most all other parts of this commonwealth too. He cites the settling of Ignace Paderewski, the great Polish pianist, at Paso Robles as a striking example. "Whatever it is in the ozone blessin,g this extreme west coasi, it is spread over most of the l)road expanse of all California and I know from personal experience that it has the effect of making one do better artistic work than he was ever able to do elsewhere," Mr. Mayne concludes. "April Showers" Over "April Showers" are almost over. That is, at least one "April Showers" is. The one is a Torn Formal) production under way at the Louis B. Mayer studio. It is a Preferred Picture by the title above mentioned. Colleen Moore enacts the leading feminine role, while the featured masculine parts are in the capable hands of Kenneth Harlan, Rali>h Faulkner and Gaston Glass. War on Westerns**