Exhibitors Herald (1925)

April 11, 1925 EXHIBITORS HERALD 25 Speaking of Hollywood A Little Journey via Printers’ Ink to the Home of Pictures and Picture People. By M. J. Q. (“CONTINUING our printers’ ink tour of the West Coast studioland, we arrive back at the United lot as Richard A. Rowland, general manager of First National, and John E. McCormick, who represents First National’s interests in Los Angeles, go into what might be expected to be a solemn conference on production affairs. But it is not a solemn conference at all. Rowland has^ no use for solemnity and formality. He cuts directly and unceremoniously into the heart of things — sharply and intelligently. While others are struggling with the hokum and pretense of surface matters, Rowland is knee-deep in essentials. He is a keen analyst; not with charts and forms and weighty phrases that too often more cloud the issue than clear it, but rather with an incisive appreciation of men and affairs that leads him quickly to knowing what is what — and why. Rowland is very frank in his treatment of production personalities. His frankness encourages real talent and quickly takes the gloss off of the counterfeit. He has made a shining record in production management and those who know him best are inclined to say, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” John McCormick is a star in his own right besides being the husband of Colleen Moore. For more than five years he has been associated with First National interests on the West Coast and, constantly facing difficult problems, has established for himself an enviable reputation for dependability and sound judgment. ♦ * * A great deal of picture history is being made right along on this United lot. Sam Rork, that veteran showman who begins where many of the tyros leave off, makes his pictures here. Abraham Lehr, long the generalissimo of the former Goldwyn studio, is in charge of Samuel Goldwyn’s screen operas. Here the Ritz pictures are produced ; also Eph Asher’s Corinne Griffith productions. From time to time many other production personalities use the United lot as their artistic fort. And all the while Mike Levee laughs off complaints of producers, telling the complainants to go find a better studio and he will join them and make his pictures in the better place. sj: 5^ * Right in the heart of Sunset boulevard the imposing edifice that is the Warner Brothers studio greets the world. And now it is not only greeting optically the world that passes by but it is reaching out to greet the radio world with a broadcasting station recently installed. The studio of the brothers Warner is best of the most commodious and best appointed. West or East. It is the newest large studio. Much experience and many improvements have gone into its making. Here Jack Warner and Bennie Zeidman are the grand overseers of production. Sam Warner also has been spending much time at the studio. Abe Warner seems to prefer the Atlantic seaboard but Harry Warner is a frequent transcontinental tourist. “We can make pictures as good and as great as anyone,” said Harry Warner, “and we have proven that. We are now about to prove that we can both acquire and operate successfully theatres — and that’s the next step in our program.” Whereupon Harry left Los Angeles and proceeded into the Northwest where he and his associates pushed forward negotiations to take over an important string of playhouses. A particularly impressive feature of the Warner studio is the laboratory which is most excellently designed and arranged and has about it the earmarks of highest efficiency. ^ ^ The historic Fox studios occup}^ two spacious corners of Sunset boulevard and Western avenue. Right now William Fox is present in person and has stepped directly and forcefully into production matters. There should be no one in the industry who does not know and realize just what this inevitably will mean to Fox pictures in the season to come. William Fox is an executive of many parts and performances in the motion picture industry. Whether it be a producing role, a selling role or a matter of general executive direction Fox is perfectly at home. The serious business of making comedies holds the boards at the Century studio at Sunset and Gower streets. This is the domain of the Stern brothers who for many years have been turning out reels of laughs for distribution by Universal. One of its claims for historic interest it that it is the locale of one of Hollywood’s oldest and best stories in which Abe Stern is alleged to have indignantly declared, in answer to jibes about his pictures, that, “Century comedies are not to be laughed at.” Here Wanda Wiley is making her steady climb to fame. * * * One might pass the Lasky studio on Vine street — the place where they make the pictures called Paramount — many times without discovering its identity. No placard or nameplate greets the visitor. The exterior is far from inviting or imposing. Apparently, the Lasky forces have been much too busy on the inside making good pictures to worry about what the outside of the studio looks like. Anyhow, the studio exteriors do not get on the screen. Inside the gates, however, is to be found a producing plant of great resources and efficiency. What a great part this lot has played in the artistic advancement of motion pictures f This studio, and the personnel connected with it, could make any nation a contender in the world’s picture market. Victor Clark, keenly alert and wise in the ways of management, is in charge of operations. Here you may find a system of planning and arranging for the production of pictures that is a marvel of adroitness and resourcefulness. Many people might enter the Lasky studio' with the idea that production and producing methods are wasteful ; but, if they had the intelligence to comprehend what goes on behind these modest wooden walls, they would leave with a decidedly changed notion. ^ ^ The studio of the Film Booking Offices of America is typically Californiaesque in appearance. It is a well-arranged and commodious plant (Continued on page 30)