Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World (Jul-Sep 1928)

EXHIBITORS HERALD and MOVING PICTURE WORLD September 15, 1928 SYNCHRONIZED PICTURES M G M Foreign Stars to Go To School to Learn Accent (Special to the Herald-World) HOLLYWOOD, Sept. 11. — A school for M G M's foreign born players is being planned to teach them to speak English as it is spoken in this country. "This method is really very simple," says Harry Rapf, studio executive. What we propose is to make a series of Movietone tests of a perfect English voice. Then we will make voice tests of the foreign players as their voices are at present. They will read the same selections. By running one after the other, it will be very easy for the player to learn where accent or vocabulary is at fault." Schenck Outlines Complete M G M Plan NE\r YORK, Sept. 11. — Nicholas M. Schenck, president of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer yesterday gave a comprehensive outline of the finished and planned activities of his organization with relation to production and distribution of films, sound and silent. Tremendous activity, has been made by his organization to adapt itself to the revolution in motion pictures. "More than a thousand theatres will be wired by January first," said Schenck. "Considerably in advance of that time we •wi}} be readv ^viih a complete service to all our customers in this line. Our studio at the coast will be in full operation within a few weeks and before September is out we will be similarly situated in the East with the opening of the MetroGold w)-n-M ay er sound studios which were formerly run by Cosmopolitan. Directed by Harry Beaumont. A Cosmopolitan production. "The Last of Mrs. Cheyney." With cast headed by Norma Shearer. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard. "The Bellamy Trial," by Frances Noyes Hart. With Leatrice Joy, Betty Bronson, Eddie Nugent. Directed by Monta Bell. "The Trial of Mary Dugan" by Bayard Veiller. "Nize Baby" by Milt Gross. With Vera Gordon, Harold Walbridge, Tenen Holtz, Alexander Carr, Sally Eilers. Directed by Hobart Henley. "The Wonder of Women" by Hermann Sudermann. Story of Negro Life. Directed by King Vidor. "The Bridge of San Luis Rey." Five to Be Made as Silent Pictures OnlyBuster Keaton in "The Cameraman." Directed by Edward Sedgwick. Karl Dane and George K. Arthur in "Brotherly Love." Directed by Chuck Reisner. With Jean Arthur. Flash, the wonder dog, in "Grease Paint." Lew Cody and Aileen Pringle in "Beau Broadway." Directed by Mai St. Clair with Sue Carrol and James J. Jeffries. Tim McCoy in "Humming Wires," "Sioux Blood" and "Perfecto" by Gouverneur Morris. Junior Features, Both Sound and Silent Kind Of the Hal Roach Comedies, there will be 10 "Our Gang" 10 Laurel and Hardy, 10 Charley Chase, and 10 all-star. Of these the following have already been synchronized: Charley Chase in "Imagine Aly Embarrassment," "Our Gang" in "School Begins," "Our Gang" in "The Old Grey Hoss." There will be six "Great Events" in Technicolor, the first to be "Robert E. Lee." There will be 26 Ufa Oddities, all silent, and 104 issues of M G M and Movietone News Twenty-nine Vaudeville Stars to Make Shorts Following are the 29 vaudeville stars or teams who will make Movietone shorts : Paul Tisen and Orchestra, Colonial Sextette, Morris & Campbell, Miller & Lyle, 5 Lucust Sisters, Elsa Ersi & Nat Aj-er, Jules Bledsoe, Odette Myrtil, Charles King, Mabel Wayne, Mary Katon & Oscar Shaw, Sunshine Sammy, Marion Harris, Leo Beere, Royal Welsh Glesman, Mr. & Mrs. Norman Phillips and Norman Phillips, Jr., Jos. Regan & Pianist, Ponce Sisters, Van & Schenck, Yorke & King, Fuzzy Knight, Frank Gaby, Frances Williams, Johnny Marvin, Eva LaGallienne, Ella Shields, Robert Chisholm, Kramer & Boyle, Harry Rose. "T DO not think it is exaggeration to -1 state that our two sound studios will be the most thoroughly equipped of any in the industry. In the West we will continue our production of 15 features with partial or cornplete talking sequences. In the East we will immediately place into production 30 films of a vaudeville nature, for which contracts have been entered into with many prominent performers. "}ileanwhile our activities in the production of our announced program of synchronized and silent pictures will continue along their routined schedule. I have compiled herewith a list of all productions sound or silent, short or feature length which are in production, finished, or about to go into production. "While many of the talking films so far shown have been interesting, it is the novelty of them which has most helped their success. Our plans are looking beyond the novelty stage." Following is the complete lineup of plans for production during this season : Synchronized Pictures With Sound Effects Cecil B. DeMille's Productions "Show People," starring Marion Davies and William Haines. Directed by King Vidor. Also presenting the many well known stars and personalities of the film world including Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and many others. John Gilbert and Greta Garbo in "A Woman of Affairs" by Michael Arlen, directed by Clarence Brown. In the cast will be Lewis Stone, Hobart Bosvvorth, John Mack Brown, Dorothy Sebastian, Gertrude Astor, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Greta Garbo in "Tiger Skin" by Elinor Glyn and "The Single Standard" by Adela Rogers St. Johns. John Gilbert in "The Masks of the Devil" by Jacob Wasserman. Directed by Victor Seastrom. In the cast will be Eva Von Berne, Ralph Forbes, George Fawcett, Theodore Roberts, Alma Rubens. William Haines in "Excess Baggage" by Jack McGowan. Directed by James Cruze. With Josephine Dunn. Lon Chaney in "While the City Sleeps" by A. P. Younger. Directed by Jack Conway. With Anita Page. Ramon Novarro in "Gold Braid." By Byron Morgan. Directed by George Hill. Lillian Gish in "The Wind" by Dorothy Scarborough. Directed by Victor Seastrom. With Lars Hansen and Montague Love Peter B. Kyne's "Tide of Empire." Directed by Allan Dwan. Joan Crawford in "Our Dancing Daughters" by Josephine Lovett. Directed by Harry Beaumont. With Anita Page, John Mack Brown, Eddie Nugent. Lew Cody and Aileen Pringle in "The Baby Cyclone." Directed by Eddie Sutherland. "Trader Horn." Directed by W. S. Van Dyke. "Slother and Sons;" a Cosmopolitan production. "The Trail of '98" by Robert W Service. Directed by Clarence Brown. With Dolores del Rio, Ralph Forbes, Karl Dane. "White Shadows in the South Seas'' by Frederick O'Brien. With Raquel Torres, Monte Blue and the Marquesan Tribes. "Adrienne Lecouvreur." By Jacob Wasserman. Directed by Fred Niblo. With Joan Crawford, Nils Asther. Pictures With Talking Sequences Or Entirely in Dialogue William Haines in "Alias Jimmy Valentine." By Paul Armstrong. With Karl Dane, Lionel Barrymore, Leila Hyams, Tully Marshall. William Haines in "A Man's Man," by Patrick Kearney. Directed by James Cruze. With Josephine Dunn, Bert Roach, Sam Hardy, Mae Busch. John Gilbert in "Thirst," by Jack Neville and Dale Van Every. With Joan Crawford and Ernest Torrence. Ramon Novarro in "The Pagan," by John Russell. Directed by W. S. Van Dyke. With Raquel Torres. Marion Davies in "Dumb Dora," "The Little Warrior" and "Buddies." Norma Shearer in "Ballyhoo" by Beth Brown and in "A Free Soul" by Adela Rogers St. Johns. Karl Dane and George K. Arthur in "All at Sea." Buster Keaton in "Spite Marriage." "Broadway Melody," by Edmund Goulding.