Close Up (Oct 1920 - Sep 1923)

i ^ v3 is |IIIIIIIINIIIIIIIIIIIIIilllllllllllllllinilllllllllllllltllltlUUllllllllll!lllllllllllllllllllll!IUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll^ | PERSONALITIES | ^lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllltlll]lllllllllllllllllltllllllllllllllllltltllllllltllllllllllllIlllllllllllIllllllllllllllllllliIllltlllllllllllllllllllllllllll!tlllllllll!llll!lllllllllllllllllllllltlllllllllllllllllll!llllllllllllllltlllllllllllllllllllllllH SMOKE TO THIS PANCHO VILLA’S GHOST PROWLING Did the spirit of Pancho Villa gallop in from the celestial chaparral to hover between lens and screen when Edwin Carewe attempted to show “The Bad Man” in the projection, room at First National studios? “Absurd,” said Carewe. “The veiled blur was caused by heat and when we ran the picture a second time it was sparkling clear.” But others who were in the dimly lighted projection room do not as easily explain away what appeared to be the figure of Pancho Villa, astride a plunging horse, which interposed between the shaft of lift and the screen upon with Holbrook Blinn was impersonating a romantic Mexican bandit whose counterpart is understood to have been the Sinister Shadow of Sonora. Masking taut nerves behind a semblance of mingled amusement and credence, members of Carewe’s company who were in the projection room, differ in opinion. Jack Mulhall, who plays the role of the young rancher, said: “I am not a spiritualist, nor have I believed in ghosts since I was a kiddie, but a thick white vapor in the semblance of a man on a horse was certainly visible in the dusk of the projection room.” Enid Bennett, the heroine of the DOROTHY MORGAN Child Actress story, does not believe that Pancho Villas’ ghost could stand such a cool climate as Los Angeles. “It would take its death of cold,” she said, “after the terrific heat to which I am afraid it has been subjected of late.” Holman Day, famous novelist and now a member of First National’s scenario department, staunchly believes in the ability of spirits to return. “Pancho Villa’s spirit was in that projection room in visible form,” he said emphatically. “I saw it!” It was desperately real. One could almost hear the jingle of his saddletrappings.” “The Bad Man” was filmed as an Edwin Carewe production for First National. It stars Holbrook Blinn, who made the production famous as a stage play. Enid Bennett, Jack Mulhall, Walter McGrail, Charles A. Sellon, Teddy Sampson, Harry Meyers and Stanton Heck are in the cast. Harry Meyers, declining to be serious even in the discussion of metaphysics, said: “Ghost, my grandmother; if that was Pancho Villa, I’m Mrs. Mark A. Cleopatra. What those folks thought was Pancho Villa was cement melting and running down between the lenses of the projection machine. BahPooh-Fooev.” — O VICTOR SCHERTZINGER’S PICTURE Victor Schertzinger has returned to the Metro studios after spending a short vacation at Catalina Island and is preparing to start work on “The Man Whom Life Passed By” in about two weeks. This is an original story by Mr. Schertzinger for which Winifred Dunn is preparing the scenario. It will be a Metro all-star production. William Russell, popular screen star, who is playing a leading role in Thomas H. Ince’s screen adaptation of “Anna Christie” has turned “fireeater.” A law forbidding smoking on the stages of the Ince studios is strictly enforced by the Culver City fire chief who spends much of his time on the grounds of the studios. Russell has one of the most strenuous roles of his career as Matt Burke, the Irish stoker lover of Anna in the play, and after finishing up a rough and tumble fight in a flooding stoke hole of a ship, a tense love scene with Blanche Sweet or a heavy emotional sequence with George Marion he declared a cigaret was the only thing that would soothe his jumping nerves. To outwit the fire chief he acquired the knack of “swallowing” his cigaret and now has become so expert that he can put a lighted “fag” under his tongue, carry on a mumbled conversation and then produce it once more when “danger” is out of the way. “Anna Christie” will be a First National fall release. John J. Glavey, director general of the Hollywood Enterprises, is well known in screeland hereabouts. For years he was at the head of the scenario department of the William Fox West Coast studios and finally went East and put on a series of detective stories that were shown throughout the leading theatres of the world, and with that out of the way, he journeyed westward and associated himself with James McNamara, and the pair formed their present affiliation and signed Eddie Gribbon for a series of five-reel comedy-dramas, and will start shooting the 15th of next month. BROWN ^ CALDWELL 4ND LADD PKo t o -endr aVe r\s 2.4 Y S. BDWY; LOS ANGELES