Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World (Apr-Jun 1930)

78 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD June 7, I93( B. P. Fineman M G M associate producer Hunt Stromberg M G M associate producer Harry Rapf M G M associate producer Edw. J. Mannix M G M associate producer Paul Bern M G M associate producer Bernard Hyman M G M associate producer Laurence Weingarten M G M associate producer Albert Lewin In charge of story material ( Continued from page 74) shops and labor departments, as well as lumber yards accommodating 100,000 square feet of material. There are more than 50,000 feet of paved roadway in the industrial center, a miniature city of shops half a mile long, and in which more than 1,000 workers are employed. _ The new telephone system is an automatic installation, the joint work of the Western Electric and Southern California Telephone Companies There are more than 500 stations on the switchboards, with capacity for 600 calls per hour. Composers, musicians and orchestras are now housed FEATURE productions will be released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the coming season beginning August 1. More than half of the 1930-31 product, the company announces, will represent starring vehicles for Marion Davies, Greta Garbo, Lon Chaney, John Gilbert, Norma Shearer, Lawrence Tibbett, Joan Crawford, William Haines, Ramon Novarro, Marie Dressier and Polly Moran. Grace Moore, Metropolitan Opera soprano and former musical comedy favorite, will be starred in at least two pictures, and among the other new personalities to appear in new season films will be Jack Buchanan, star of “Wake Up and Dream.” All M G M productions will be in dialog with some silent versions. Many will be produced in several languages. Pictures already finished are “Trader Horn,” filmed in British East Africa; the musical success, “Good News,” and “The Singer of Seville,” described as Ramon Novarro’s masterpiece. Twenty-three of the new season pictures are adaptations of popular books or plays. Outstanding among the story properties are “The Merry Widow” (now' in music), “Naughty Marietta,” “The World’s Illusion,” “The New Moon,” “Jenny Lind,” “Trader Horn,” “The Bugle Sounds,” and “Good News.” Marion Davies will appear in adaptations of two New York musical comedy successes — “Rosalie” and “The Five o’Clock Girl.” Her third production for the season has not been determined. Greta Garbo will be seen in at least three productions, the first being “Red Dust,” based on Wilson Collison’s story. It presents the Swedish star as a Parisian girl transferred to the background of a Chinese rubber plantation. John Gilbert’s first starring film will be “Way for a Sailor,” based on Albert Wetjen’s story of marine adventure in various corners of the globe. He will be seen in at least one other production during 1930-31. Two of Ramon Novarro’s three scheduled productions for the coming season will be “The Singer of Seville,” in which the star appears as an opera singer, and “Song of India,” based on an original screen story now being prepared by Achmed Abdullah. “The Bugle Sounds” will be a Lon Chaney starring film. It is an adaptation of Commandant Zinovi Pechkoff’s book of the same name, dealing with adventures in North Africa of the French Foreign Legion. George Hill will direct. William Haines will be seen in four productions. One will be “Remote Control,” based on the Broadway comedy melodrama of the same name. Norma Shearer will be seen in at least two productions, but these stories have not yet been definitely selected. in a soundproof music building, a two-story concre structure, 80 by 150 feet. Offices and studios for wri ers, orchestra rooms and six rehearsal halls for dan< spectacles or for plays, are in this structure. The expansion required a new power installation 1 “step down” the current brought in on hightensiq lines. In 1929 the studios used about 250,000 kilowat hourly, or about 1,800 horsepower. In 1930 it use 400,000, or 4,000 horsepower, and the coming year schedule of production will increase this about 30 pi cent, according to E. S. Bradley, electrical engineer ; the plant. Joan Crawford’s first of four starring films wi be “Great Day,” based on Vincent Youmans’ stag production of the same name, a story of Louisian; with musical score by Youmans. “Her Fortune, i a story by James Montgomery, her second vehicb deals with a telephone operator who wins a sma fortune on a lottery ticket and goes to Florid; Lawrence Tibett’s second starring film for nex i year has not been determined, but “New Moon] will be his first. This is an adaptation of th stage musical of the same name and will be d rected by Jack Conway, using the original musics ! score by Sigmund Romberg. The first of four cosmoplitan productions wi be Grace Moore’s “Jenny Lind,” an original sug gested by the glamorous career of the “Swedis* Nightingale.” Other talking pictures announced by M G M are “Madame Satan,” an adventurous romance wit a musical background directed by Cecil B. D Mille. Kay Johnson and Reginald Denny featurec “Razzle-Dazzle,” co-starring Marie Dressier an Polly Moran. “Billy the Kid,” a picturization of the career c| the western boy bandit, directed by King Vidoi I John Mack Brown in the title role. “Trader Horn,” directed by W. S. VanDyke fror the Trader’s book. “The World’s Illusion,” Jacob Wassermann’ i literary success of the same name. “Dixie,” a story of the old South. “War Nurse,” based on a true story of a wom l an’s side of the World War. “Ballyhoo,” Beth Brown’s novel, with a bacl| ground of circus adventure. “Dance, Fools, Dance,” an adaptation of Marti! Flavin’s stage play, “Cross Roads.” “The Great Meadow,” Elizabeth Madox Robert; story of the days of Daniel Boone and the Ker ■ tucky pioneers. _ j “Doing That Thing,” a musical comedy wit lyrics and music by Jimmy McHugh and Dorth Fields. “Tampico,” a transcription of Joseph Herge' heimer’s story of the Mexican oil fields. “The March of Time,” a revue presenting sue I old favorites as Weber and Fields, DeWolf Hop ■ per, Trixie Friganza, Marie Dressier, and Josephin Sabel, with a host of younger stars and novel! skits. “The Crisis,” Winston Churchill’s novel of Civ; War days. “The Passion Flower,” Kathleen Norris’ bes: seller. “Monsieur Le Fox,” a story of the Northwesj' Mounted by Willard Mack, directed by Hal Roacl “The Dark Star,” Lorna Moon’s story of mothe love, with Marie Dressier in the central role. “Those Three French Girls,” a comedy o Parisian adventure.