Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1921 - Mar 1922)

62 EXHIBITORS HERALD March 25, 1922 A Few Prominent Electric SIGN INSTALLATIONS Palace Music Hall, Chicago State Theatre, Chicago Ascher's Roosevelt, Chicago Orpheum Theatre, Cleveland, Ohio Davis Theatre, Pittsburgh. Pa. Rivoli Theatre. Toledo. Ohio Orpheum Theatre, Huntington, W. Va. Lyric Theatre. Minneapolis, Minnesota Rialto Theatre. New York City Orpheum Theatre, Paducah, Kentucky Strand Theatre, Cincinnati, Ohio Joyland Theatre. Galveston, Texas Majestic Theatre. Battle Creek. Mich. Garden Theatre. Milwaukee, Wisconsin Lyric Theatre, Duluth. Minnesota Specialists in Electrical Theatre Displays Lu-Mi-Nus Signs, Inc. 1400 Michigan Blvd. Chicago NO PREFERENCE? CERTAIN manufacturers have told us that exhibitors have no preference in the things that make modern motion picture theatres! Would you like complete and reliable information on any of these matters? Heating — Cooling — Ventilating — Roofing — Flooring — Plumbing — Accoustics Music — Furnishings Lighting — Electrical Equipment. We will see that it is sent to you without cost or obligation if you desire. EXHIBITORS HERALD GLENN HUNTER IN THE CRADLE BUSTER (AMERICAN RELEASING) A new star in a pleasing, bright, little comedy that should find a ready welcome in houses catering to discriminating picture-goers. A cast of well known players assists Mr. Hunter. Directed by Frank Tuttle. 5,800 feet in length. Frank Tuttle and Fred Waller, Jr., have given Glenn Hunter a good start in "The Cradle Buster." If they can follow through with others containing as much hilarious comedy, his success is assured and the American Releasing Corp. have a good bet. Hunter, who plays Benjamin Reed, scores in this original, crisp comedy. He is known as "Sweetie" around his own fireside, a boy who has been "mothered" to death and who finally breaks out of his swaddling clothes and asserts himself. He gives a carefully shaded portrayal and does not let the comedy stuff go beyond reason. You will like him and laugh at his predicament as well as sympathize with him in his boyish endeavors. Marguerite Courtot enacts satisfactorily the role of Gay Dixon, a performer in a vaudeville act, while the list of other players includes William H. Tooker, as "Blarney" Dixon, father of Gay; Lois Blaine, as Polly Ann Parsons; Mary Foy, as Melia Prout; Osgood Perkins, in the role of "Spooky"; Townsend Martin, as Holcomb Harry, and Beatrice Morgan, as Benjamin's mother, Mrs. Reed. No elaborate sets have been used but from a production standpoint it will not disappoint even the most exacting. The story moves along briskly from one humorous situation to enother and the business in a Boston hotel dining room is especially funny. Benjamin Franklin Reed upon his twenty-first birthday decides to break away from the cradle and his mother's apron strings and become a man. He turns to smoking black cigars and reading the sensational doings in society. That night at his birthday party he is challenged to visit a notorious cabaret. A cabaret entertainer, Gay Dixon, sings a "Sweetie" song to him and he follows her back stage, kisses her and then begins a romance which terminates in their wedding and elopement to Boston, where, after further complications he is forgiven by his doting mother. This brief outline does not convey the humor of the piece nor the various situations that lead up to the final startling climax. FOOL DAYS (FOX) This Sunshine comedy, starring Al St. John, is about as funny as anything that has come out of the Sunshine studios. It drew gales of applause at the Roosevelt theatre, Chicago, the week of March 5, where il appeared on the bill with "A Doll's House." St. John is a lazy school boy with an ape. Napoleon, for his room mate and companion. The automatic breakfast cooker, worked by means of a series of millcys, was a clever bit of nonsense and the school room antics are equally well handled. J. P. McGOWAN IN HILLS OF MISSING MEN (PATHE) A strong element of mystery makes this Herald production particularly effective. It is a western story centered around picturesque settings near the Mexican border. The plot is away from the ordinary and the mystery angle gives it numerous interest holding propensities. Directed by McGowan. Five reels. "Hills of Missing Men" is a Western thriller that combines the interesting feature of this type of picture with a good mystery angle. The story revolves around a disillusioned man in the hills near the Mexican border who is conspiring to establish a virtual monarchy in the territory. The details leading to the breaking up of the revolutionist's band by a government agent prove absorbing, especially since the identity of the official is not revealed until near the end. A scene from "Hills of Missing Men." (Pathe) McGowan is effective as usual in the role of the supposedly notorious bandit which he is believed to be by the gang which he later exposes. His jump on horseback over a chasm between two cliffs is spectacular and thrilling. He has an able cast in his support in the persons of Jean Perry, James Wang, Charles Brindley, Andrew Waldon and Florence Gilbert. Helen Holmes also plays an important part. Jean Perry is Crandon, the dreamer who hopes to make himself a ruler of all he surveys. McGowan masquerading as the Dragon, a notorious outlaw is taken into the scheme by Crandon. When it is learned that he is not the real Dragon, plans are laid for his disposal by the method through which numerous other government agents preceding him had disappeared. Crandon offers him a poisoned cigarette which he smokes and which makes him fall into a stupor and would eventually have caused his death He is rescued by Hilma who befriended him on a previous occasion. Crandon delays the move which is to make him ruler of the land because of his love for Hilma. He is, in turn loved by Hilma's --istcr, whose efforts to aid him in the death of the Dragon prove useless. A touching climax is furnished with the arrival of soldiers during which Hilma is brought into Crandon's castle where a stray bullet hits Crandon. With the girl he had loved at his side and the realization that all his plans had failed, the dreamer brings about his own death by smoking one of the poisoned cigarettes.