Camera - April 14, 1923 to February 16, 1924 (April 1923-February 1924)

Page Ten Weekly tVake-'Ew-Up— CAMERA'S News Section CAMERA ! VETERAN WHO SAW AND HEARD LINCOLN SAYS FILM VERSION OF HIM IS TRUE MARYON AYE GETS FIVE-YEAR JOB WITH TRUART Tack up an ace card for Maryon Aye! This popular little Miss of filmdom has just placed her name on the dotted line of a big, fat movie contract. ' There were clauses galore in the agreement and Attorney Herman L. Roth of Hollywood Productions Company, tried to explain each and every one of them to the actress. But .he clause that attracted the attention of Maryon was the one which stated the length of her contract — five years. Of course the salary was to be considered, but that was all agreed upon beforehand. And insofar as that part be concerned, Maryon's perfectly satisfied. Miss Aye begins her new wood Production banner. This is a sister organization of Truart, the company which recently signed Larry Semon for a period of years. Miss Aye has been in the film world for several years. Coming to Hollywood direct from the footlight world, the pretty maiden soon won her way into the studios and has risen rapidly, having played important roles in many of the recently made pictures. Her most recent work has been with Principal Pictures Corporation in "The Meanest Man in the World,' 'soon to be released. During the life of her new contract, Miss Aye will journey east and to Europe on various productions. This has been her life's ambition — to see the world. Miss Aye was one of the original thirteen "baby stars" selected two years ago by the "Wampas." The publicity men's association announced at that time that each of the thirteen girls they selected, would rise to heights in filmdom. Miss Aye, therefore, helps the prophecy of the "Wampas" and proves the faith placed in her by that organization. "Havoc" Nearing Completion "Havoc," Universal special production from the pen of Lenore J. Coffee, well-known scenarist and author, is rapidly nearing completion. It is a colorful story of the Orient and has a strong cast of players including J. Warren Kerrigan, Anna Q. Nilsson, Tom Santschi and Winifred Bryson. Several unusually big and attractive sets have been built and the company expects the production to be one of the unique pictures of the year. Following a vacation since the completion of "Sawdust," Gladys Walton's circus story, Jack Conway, the director, has returned to Universal City. He has several new stories in view and will decide on his next within a few days. Capt. Harry H. Carmack, Civil War veteran, gave the opinion this week that the reproduction of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address, which the RockettLincoln Film Company staged this week at Sawtelle, is faithful to the original scene in Pennsylvania in all particulars. Capt. Carmack's opinion is to be regarded as that of an authority since, on a leave of absence, he was present at the dedication of the Gettysburg burial grounds in 1863. "I have racked my memory," Capt. Carmack told Al Rockett of the Rockett organization which is producing "The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln" for which the reproduction was made, "to see if your scene is unfaithful in any of its details, but it is as true as the day I saw it. The lay of the land as you have selected it corresponds almost directly with that on which the speakers' platform and the crowd stood at Gettysburg. Your crowd and their costumes are Gettysburg come to life. "Your Lincoln," Capt Carmack continued, referring to George Billings who is enacting the title SCULPTOR HELPS THIS ACTOR WITH MAKE-UP The are of keeping make-up exact from one day to another was the problem which confronted Bowditch (Smoke) Turner, who is enacting the role of Le Chapelier in Rex Ingram's production of "Scaramouche" for Metro. In this portrayal Mr. Turner is compelled to wear a false nose of peculiar shape and rather abnormal proportions. To make the shape of the false nose identical each time it is donned, a sculptor has been assigned the duty of appearing at the Metro studios daily. His task is to place the nose in a plaster cast and mould it before attaching it to Mr. Turner's features. The greatest difficulty of all was encountered during the recent hot weather. On several occasions Mr. Turner was compelled to remove the nose between scenes in order to have it remoulded. Al Austin, formerly with the Charles Chaplin company, has been engaged by Lou Anger Productions to direct Clyde Cook, the famous Australian comedian, in a series of fun films. It is not often that a beauty contest winner is suited to motion pictures, but the exception which proves the rule is found in the fact that Mary Philbin, selected in a Chicago beauty contest, has made good on the screen. She is to play one of the leading parts in Frank Borzage's new production for Arthur H. Jacobs. role, "is in order. His height, his stature, his manner are those of Lincoln, and he delivered the address— I notice he knew it by heart — in much the fashion as Lincoln spoke the original words; too bad that the pictures couldn't get Billings' voice too. He's a real orator. Your cabinet, your Stanton, your Seward, couldn't be told from the originals. Having my duties here at the home, I don't go to see pictures so often, but this is one that I am going to see when it's finished. It's the kind that America needs." Capt. Carmack is at present a member of the honorary firing squad at the Soldier's Home, Sawtelle. At the age of sixteen he ran away from Bethany College in West Virginia to join the Union forces as a private in 1861. At the time he was a resident of Harper's Ferry, Va., and his family divided between the North and the South. H,e is a cousin to the late Senator Carmack of Tennessee. Philip E. Rosen is directing the Lincoln picture. Robert Kurrle and H. Lyman Broening are the cinematographers. LANGDON STARTS NEW COMEDY SERIES HERE Harry Langdon, who signed with Principal Pictures for a series of comedies, has arrived in Los Angeles and has started the first of these new productions at Principal Pictures studios, Hollywood. Sol Lesser, president of Principal, signed the noted comedian when he was playing a vaudeville engagement in Los Angeles. Langdon has been approached many times with reference to picture work but always had contracts too far in advance in the two-a-day route. Alf Goulding has been selected to direct the comedian. Goulding made the Baby Peggy pictures for Universal and has been in the comedy fold of directors for many years. It is the intention of Principal Pictures Corporation to surround the new comedy star with exceptionally well-known comedy players and no expense or time will be spared in giving the public the highest quality in comedies. Langdon is noted for his ability to create and "put over" comedy situations. He was regarded as one of the ace comic headliners on the big vaudeville circuits and when he severed his associations with the footlights, he received the highest tributes from the directors of the circuit who expressed their loss but assured him of greatest success in his camera work. Kit Guard, who plays the fight trainer in "Fighting Blood," is a member of one of England's most aristocratic families . COSTLIER MOVIES NOT NECESSARY, SAYS COOGAN "Bigger and better pictures," says Jack Coogan, senior, who is supervising the entire production of Jackie's first picture for Metro's, "Long Live the King," is suffering the fate of many another slogan. In short, it is being misinterpreted to mean "costlier productions," and that is the one error into which, the producers mUst not fall. Primarily because of the exhibitor and the public, who have to pay ultimately for excessive production costs, but also for the sake of the film itself. "You can't make a scene better,' says Coogan, "by spending more money on it. Its quality depends on many factors, among which the item of expense is merely one, and a comparatively unimportant one, at that. Story, acting and direction— these are the three real essentials of a 'bigger and better' picture, and they are of practically equal importance! Sets and photograohy can be classified right along with these three factors — and there are perhaps a score of others that must be regarded in making a really good picture. "For 'Long Live the King,' which Victor Schertzinger is directing from Eve Unsell's and C. Gardner Sullivan's adaptation of Mary Roberts Rinehart's novel, we are building several groups of sets that will cost close to six figures on the left side of the decimal point, but we are not talking much about this element of them. We know that art director J. J. Hughes has given us backgrounds for the action which are not only beautiful and impressive but — what is more important — in the correct period and with a general feeling that is in keeping with the action that transpires within these sets. That is the one important factor in this phase of picture making. It so happens that the story on which Jackie is now working, calls for palaces, cathedrals, city streets and so on. They have been erected with an eye to adequacy and beauty, but their cost is absolutely incidental." Lenore Coffee Versatile Writer I.enore J. Coffee, author of such photoplays as "Temptation," Daytime Wives," "Havoc,' etc, was a short story writer and fictionist of note before entering the realm of scenario writer. She has also written several vaudeville sketches and dabbled a little in poetry. George Hackathorne is on location at Prescott, Arizona with Eddie Cline and company, filming "When A Man's A Man," the Harold Bell Wright novel.