Exhibitors Herald World (Oct-Dec 1930)

November 29, 1930 EXHIBITORS HERALD -WORLD 39 What a Lot of Baths! He Has 117 Bathrobes (Special to the Herald World) HOLLYWOOD, Nov. 28.— William Bakewell will have to do a lot of bathing to keep up with his wardrobe! In "Dance, Fools, Dance," in which he plays a leading part with Joan Crawford, it is proved that he is a wastrel and a profligate — as far as bis screen activity is concerned. In order to do this, he opens a closet in bis home while the camera cranks, and inside are 117 bathrobes. ~ ihe Sound ^>o>(~ Donates 10 Per Cent of Four Weeks' Receipts to Aid Unemployment Funds (Special to the Herald-World) ALBANY, Nov. 28.— Cooperating with other agencies in bringing about relief from the results of the unemployment situation, C. H. Buckley, owner of the Leland and Harmanus Bleecker Hall motion picture theatres in Albany, N. Y., stepped to the front last week with the announcement that he would donate ten per cent of the gross receipts of the two theatres for the next four weeks to the Mayor's, committee on unemployment relief. It is expected that Mr. Buckley's offer will net several thousands of dollars that will become almost immediately available for the relief of the unemployed in Albany. Buckley said that there had been too much talk about what should be done, and too little action. "It is up to somebody to take the first step," he added, "and I am going to take it. I sincerely hope that this lead will be followed by other Albany business concerns." Arrangements for the relief program will be in charge of Alex Sayles, general manager operating the special midnight show and the theatre received mention on all the advertising and circulars distributed by the association. In addition the event received a break in each of the city's daily papers, as well as several photos. Machnovitch Is Made Pathe' s General Auditor (Special to the Herald-World) NEW YORK, Nov. 28. — Arthur B. Poole, treasurer of Pathe, has appointed Samuel Machnovitch, general auditor of Pathe Exchange, Incorporated, as controller of the company. He has been associated with Pathe since 1910, recently receiving a 20 year service pin. After time spent in various company offices in the East, Machnovitch returned to the home office in 1922 as head accountant. Wolheim Will Act Only In "Gentlemen's Fate" (Special to the HeraldWorld) HOLLYWOOD, Nov. 28.— Louis Wolheim, who recently directed "Sheep's Clothing" for Radio Pictures, is going back to acting exclusively, it was revealed here this week. He has been signed to play the evil brother of John Gilbert, in Gilbert's new production, "Gentlemen's Fate." The story was done for M G M by Ursula Parrott. Mervyn Le Roy will direct. "Scandal Sheet' Is Title (Special to the Herald-World) HOLLYWOOD, Nov. 28. — "Scandal Sheet" replaces "Unfit to Print" as the title for George Bancroft's new starring picture for Paramount. HOLLYWOOD Racket No. 1,435,678,921: One of the prettiest little pieces of flamboozlement being pulled off in Hollywood, Home of Hokum, is the "Stars' Homes Racket." This is a flourishing little industry engaging the attention of not more than a dozen sharpshooters in all. Half of these work at the business regularly, the! others indulge only in weekends and holidays, or when a convention is in town. "The Stars' Homes Racket" is nothing more than the business of showing yokels where the stars live. For fifty cents you are privileged to climb into an automobile, usually a touring car with the top down, and have pointed out to you the home of every player you care to call out. The king of the racket is a gentleman called, for obvious reasons, "Bandy." Bandy wears a cap and charges seventy-five cents. Since most of the gorgeous homes in Hollywood and Beverly Hills are NOT owned by picture stars Bandy is forced to fabricate a bit. Should he point out the home of a Mister Darrow Dutledge, and say that this gentleman controls over 20 per cent of the industry the yokels would feel they were being cheated. What they're paying to see is where Greta Garbo lives ! Well, it's a tough story, mates. You can't see Greta's house from the road. So Bandy, and he feels badly about the deception — honest he does — points to the beautiful home of Darrow Dutledge and announces, "Before you spreads the magnificent home of glorious Greta Garbo, built in May, 1929, at a cost of one million two hundred thousand dollars, exclusive of a mineral water swimming pool, inlaid tennis court and a sun parlor. At this very minute glorious Greta Garbo is in her sun parlor taking her sun bath. No peeping now, ha, ha, ha." Sometimes someone pipes up that he's read that this or that star lived in an apartment. This makes Bandy angry. "Those lousy press agents," he says. If the car is filled, meaning there are six yokels, he takes them around for twenty minutes, pointing out about forty houses, some of which actually are stars' homes, although Bandy admits he doesn't know more than one or two of them to be actually what he says they are. If the car is half filled, Bandy takes them out for ten minutes, still showing them the same number of stars' homes. The thing is easy. If there are only three passengers in the car he puts all the stars close together. "There's Garbo's home, and there's Fairbanks', and there's Chaplin's, see it, that one, and there's Barthelmess'. . . ." It seems they're all neighbors on slow days. At the end of the trip Bandy makes a little speech to the bunch. It seems that by much stealth and labor he has been able to procure the telephone numbers at which the stars may be reached personally. "How would you like to hear Charlie Chaplin's own real voice over the telephone for twentyfive cents?" Almost everyone buys one. We asked Bandy how he had been able to get these exclusive numbers, or were they faked, too. "Oh, they're not fake," he says, "They're the numbers of the studios where they work." Beautiful. He had only one setback. It seems that Mervyn LeRoy, the director, took a ride in Bandy's car. Bandy didn't recognize him until the car started, and then was afraid to open his mouth. Finally he caught LeRoy's eye and LeRoy winked. So when he wound up his speech at the end of the twenty minutes he said, "For twenty-five cents I'll introduce you to a real, live director," but by that time LeRoy was forty miles away. NORMAN KRASNA Warner Program Calls for 70 Pictures for 1930-31 (Special to the Herald-World) HOLLYWOOD, Nov. 28.— Jack L. Warner, vice president in charge of production for Warner Brothers has announced that that company, in conjunction with First National, will soon launch the largest production schedule in the history of the company. The program calls for 70 pictures for the 1930-31 season. Work is to begin December 15 on the first picture. )9 Harry Joe Brown Now Directs Rogers' "Millie (Special to the Herald-World) HOLLYWOOD, Nov. 28.— Harry Joe Brown is now directing "Millie," the Charles Rogers production to be released through Radio Pictures. John Francis Dillon started the picture, but Brown was substituted. Whether Brown will stay to the finish is a conjecture, for he has many duties as associate producer with the Rogers company.