Exhibitors Herald World (Jan-Mar 1929)

24 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD March 2,1929 Motion Picture Club *pHE Motion Picture Club has made itself a definite and invaluable part of Broadway and the motion picture industry. Here, in the very heart of the Broadway district devoted to the theatre, you can find the active workers of the industry. You just know they're active, because nobody but an active man in the best of health and spirits could fight his way into the elevators at 1560 Broadway. The subway looks like Trinity Churchyard at sunrise compared with the lobby of this building at noontime. Once you get into the club on the sixth floor, and pull your tattered garments back onto your weary body to hide the blackand-blue spots, all is serene. The lounge is peaceful and comforting, except perhaps for the little group in the corner, gathered around the ticker. The food is excellent. The books are inviting, fresh and new and quite unopened. The card rooms are populous and contented. The ping-pong table is popping with activity. The pool tables are cheerful. The handball court and the gym are glowing with health. Of course, the manager may give you a curt answer now and then and thumb his nose at you, but it's all in good fun. Finally, and this is a matter of no small importance, the club is prospering. It has won a place in the industry, thanks to the good fellowship it engenders and the pleasant refuge it provides. It is immensely popular and its popularity is deserved. Don't come to New York without taking a look at the Motion Picture Club. * * * The other night they had some boxing bouts at the Motion Picture Club and there is a movement on foot to have them regu•arly. This sounds a little ominous; you should have seen Moe Mark clamber into the front row, ringside. However, I take it that the boxing business is being introduced merely as a matter of entertainment. * * * Doug Fairbanks TJOUG FAIRBANKS has gone and made a swell picture in "The Iron Mask." To me, it was as good as any picture he has ever made, which is about all that can be said for any film. This is great news, because Fairbanks has been a favorite of the films so long that it would be nothing short of tragic to be forced to record, regretfully, that anything of his showed any signs of sliding. "The I ron Mask" isn't just a good picture, or a good Fairbanks picture. It is a strong romantic story, played with fire and fervor, extraordinarily well done. Fairbanks himself is as dashing as ever he was; he is a rattling good actor who somehow transports you into the mood of what he is playing. * * * Fairbanks' ingenious method of employing the voice isn't terribly important. He steps forward with a brief recitation at the beginning of the picture, and again at the beginning of the second half. In the manner of the traditional Greek chorus he introduces the subject and comments briefly. You hear his voice, which is enough. He has the good sense not to make the lords and ladies of Louis XIV's day talk in Hollywood English. PETER VISCHER. Famous Citizens of Dixie V U , ET^|t Mr FIonan Slappey, of course. And probably other Sons and DaughnT tC~ • • W Rise For they are 0ctavus R°y Cohen's famous fiction characters. Now Chnstie-Paramount has incarnated them on the screen, in "Music Hath Charms," produced with an all-colored cast. Roberta Hyson, Spencer Williams, Harry Tracy, Nathan Curry, Leon Hereford and Harry Porter have the principal parts. Walter Graham directed. Above: Octavus Roy Cohen, author of the widely read negro stories from which have come such celebrated expressions as "Is you is or is you ain't," and "That is something I a in' t no t hi n' else but." With Cohen is shown Al Christie, who is producing the stories for Paramount release. They are shown examining a new type of W e stern Electric microphone. Left: The eminent Mr. Florian Slappey of Birmingham, man about town and a leading light in the doings of Darktown. Below: Mr. Roscoe Griggers overwhelms Miss Zenia Shrowl, luscious manicurist, with a flock of badges pronouncing him a man of vast affairs.