Exhibitor's Trade Review (Nov 1925 - Feb 1926)

Page 68 Exhibitors Trade Review At the left and at the right, respectively, are scenes from the 1926 contribution of the famous PickfordFairbanks family. Mary is seen in a characteristic scene from "Scraps," and Doug is doing his stuff in "The Black Pirate," both United Artists releases. The Van Loan Trade Mark H. H. Van Loan is a name which, to the members of the film field, stands for a definite identity with scripts that have acted as a lubricant to the ticket machines in box-offices throughout the country. And what is meant by the Van Loan trade-mark is nothing else but the full name — H. H. Van Loan — attached to the "by" line of a script for any given story. Trade-marks come to be associated with well-known characteristics ; as for example, when we see the Gillette Razor trade-mark, we know just what to expect in the nature of quality, service and other institutional details behind the oft-experienced felicity of the razor and the blade. By the same token, when we see an original story from the Van Loan pen, we know — without any further knowledge of plot, details or sundry — that there is something in it that fundamentally appeals to a popular taste, something based on previous successes in catering to the public's screen wants. Just what it is, just what mysterious power is injected into the plot that produces an allengrossing illusion for the play of emotions and other human faculties is something for the psychologist to worry about. The exhibitor, who uses the story in its final form, is concerned only with the results at the entrance of his theatre, and this question has been answered for him as it has in the case of the consistent user of the Gillette razor or blade. In other words experience alone has established the meaning of the Van Loan trade mark, and just exactly what is meant by this can be determined by a glance at the following titles of films, all of which dripped off in story form from the fertile pen of H. H. The list includes : "The Virgin of Stamboul," "The New Moon," "The Great Redeemer," "The Siren of Seville," Fightin' Mad," "Nellie the Beautiful Cloak Model," ''Speedwild," "The Drivin' Fool," "Stormswept," "Flattery," "The Speed Maniac," "The Night Letter,' "A Rogue's Romance," "The Highest Trump," "When a Man Loves," and most recently, "Her Excellency the Governor." A graphic insight into what motivates the Van Loan method is revealed by noting the experience of the author with the last mentioned, "Her Excellency the Governor." Mr. Van Loan wrote this over a year ago, but refused to dispose of it because he was unsatisfied with its result as a whole. He felt that there was something else he could add to it, some amplification of its plot or details that would enhance its value. And, although in its then finished state it was already sal able, Mr. Van Loan decided to hold it and, with characteristic persistency and painstaking endeavor to be satisfied only with the best, spent four months of well-directed effort moulding it to perfection. That has been the policy of this free-lance script writer, who has remained free of producer affiliations for the whole of his career. Nevertheless, by dint of getting that quality into his stories which in the last analysis rolls up the gross, the largest producing companies in the business have constantly used his material. Mr. Van Loan, who is staying temporarily at the Astor Hotel, N. Y., has had a colorful career, practically saturating his stories with actual experiences from his vivid personal adventures all over the world. This has resulted in creating atmosphere, in which authenticity of detail and realism are strikingly manifest. He presents an inspiring example of the writer who records his own convictions, fearlessly, artistically, and yet with pertinent attention to the needs of those who have to capitalize his talents at the box-office. Mary Alden As the domineering old aunt in Universal's "Siege" she gave character artists a new model to emulate FRANCIS X. BUSHMAN IN COMEBACK To attempt to chronicle the various events associating Francis X. Bushman with the motion picture industry would be as fullsome a job as recording half the history of the business. Suffice at the moment to say, that this star is as well impressed on the minds of the great fan public as anything would be that had been projected into the consciousness of human beings by countless advertisements, innumerable film appearances, and other addenda that brings hero worshippers to the universal acceptance of a matinee idol. In late years, the infrequency of Bushman's appearance has rather subordinated him to other players in the minds of the public. Now, however, by his recent contract agreement to appear in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer pictures, Bushman stands fair to win back a goodly amount of his former prestige. Not the least important factor in his "come back" is the notable role of the mighty Messalina he portrays in Metro's most lavish contribution of the year, "Ben Hur." * * * Charlie McHugh Comes From "Philly", But— Charlie McHugh, who most recently attracted attention in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's "Lights of Old Broadway," boasts Philadelphia as his home. Judging by his active work in this picture, the "sleepy city" has injected little of its proverbial character into him. In "Lights of Old Broadway," as Shamus O'Tandy, an irrepressible, brick-throwing Irishman, McHugh comes into his own as a notable character actor. McHugh entered this business when it was still in its swaddling clothes, or more precisely in 1904. His first appearance in films was with Lubin as a bettor at the Fitzsimmons — Corbett fight. Since then he has appeared in a list of productions longer than an alligator's tail. Some of his more recent appearances have been in Chadwick's "Prince of Broadway," "The Seventh Bandit," "Smiling at Troubles," and as before mentioned, "Lights of Old Broadway."