Exhibitors Herald World (Oct-Dec 1930)

December 27, 1930 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD w HOLLYWOOD Hot Job for Jack Frost! (Special to the Herald-World) HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 26.— Jack Frost has one of the hottest jobs in Hollywood. He is a projectionist at the Paramount studios. He works in a metal-lined, £repioof booth, hemmed in by oven-like projection lamps. He likes his job. He hates cold weather. 10 Writers, 10 Actors Hired as M G M Points Toward a Busy Winter Two German Writers Start Foreign Films; Bennett, Wolheim Borrowed (Special to the Herald-World) HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 26.— Signs of a busy winter at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios took form this week when it was announced that 10 writers have been hired to do continuity and dialog and an equal number of actors and actresses have been placed under contract for coming pictures. The dialog assignment on "Stepping Out" has been turned over to Elmer Harris, playwright, who will also be co-director. Edwin Justus Mayer will dialog Peter B. Kyne's novel, "Never the Twain Shall Meet." Adela Rogers St. John has been signed for the task of giving story treatment to "Copy Cat," and Malcolmn Stuart Boylan will handle a similar assignment on "Shipmates." Paul Schofield will write the continuity for "A Tailor-made Man." 2 German Writers on Foreign Two short story writers, Doris Anderson and Mildred Cram, are new additions to the general scenario staff, while Walter Hasenclever and Heinrich Fraenkel are to undertake the German dialog for "Free and Easy" and "Let Us Be Gay." Yves Mirande, French playwright, is another writer who has received a new M G M contract. Additions to the acting personnel include Constance Bennett, who has been borrowed from Pathe to appear in "The Easiest Way;" Robert Armstrong, another star for Pathe, will appear in "Paid," and Louis Wolheim leaves Howard Hughes temporarily to take a starring role in "Gentlemen's Fate." Lily Damita Hired for 3 Films William Holden, a Fox player, and Hale Hamilton are other acting recruits, both of whom will play in "Dance, Fools, Dance." Juan de Landa is under contract to appear in English and Spanish pictures. Marjorie Rambeau has been signed to a new longterm contract, while Lily Damita, borrowed from Samuel Goldwyn, Inc., will play in three M G M multi-lingual productions. Radio Opens Laboratory for Sound and Camera Research LeBaron Is Nominal Head of Pioneering Move — Two Producing Companies Reported Angling for "Men Without Women" — More Than Sixty Now in M G M's Foreign Colony By DOUGLAS HODGES HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 26. — Following in line with other motion picture producing companies and cooperating with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Radio Pictures had stepped into the field of research with an experimental laboratory to be used in the development of aids to better sound and clearer photography. The laboratory, according to reports, will be independent of routine functions and will_ be used solely for the materialization of ideas. Any feasible suggestion will be worked out under the direction of its author until success or failure is assured. LeBaron to Direct Research William LeBaron, vicepresident in charge of production, will serve as the nominal head in the conduct of this pioneering research laboratory. It is his purpose to place machinery and technicians at the disposal of the studio's would-be inventors. The studio, LeBaron declared, already has pioneered several devices which have proved of inestimable value to production. Notable among these are the "beam" microphone developed by Carl Dreher, Radio Pictures sound director. At present a new camera shutter is being developed. This device is expected to eliminate 90 per cent of the background noises made by the movement of metal parts and enable the camera to function under poor light conditions. Angling for Play Reports that two producing companies are angling for the film rights to "Men Without Women" by Lenore Coffee are current following the production of the play at the Writers' Club under the direction of William Cowen, Miss Coffee's husband. The play was well received. Hot Dog! Pursuing their policy of burlesquing current photoplay types in their all dog, all talking comedies, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer will produce "The Dog-on Foreign Legion." Jules White and Zion Myers are the originators of the talking dogs. There will be four dog "leads" in the product, all male. Oscar, the dog-on impersonator, will play a feminine "lead." Set Back Approximately $100,000 worth of genuine antiques are being used in the various scenes in George Archainbaud's current directorial assignment, "Ladies for Hire." Adaptation is being done by Wallace Smith. Discriminating audiences will be pleasantly surprised. Invasion The foreign invasion at Metro-GoldwynMayer grows apace, with nine more added to the colony this week. The total now is more than sixty. M G M is planning to produce one foreign picture for every Eng lish speaking product and now boasts of more foreign artists than any other studio in the world. Of the latest group, five are from Spain, three from France and one from Mexico. Back Again Clara Kimball Young and Bryant Washburn, years ago stars of the first rank, are back in pictures again. Lloyd Bacon, the First National director loaned to Radio Pictures, will direct them with Dorothy Mackaill in "Kept Husbands," which he is handling for Radio Pictures. Too Much Dialog Howard Estabrook, noted scenarist, who recently completed his work on "Cimarron," is concentrating on removing as much dialog as possible from "Madame Julie," which he is preparing for Radio Pictures. Mexico to Produce Spanish Pictures in Own "Hollywood" (Special to the Herald-World) LAREDO, TEXAS, Dec. 26.— Mexico will have a Hollywood of its own. Construction has already been started on studios in Mexico City, within the shadow of Chapultepec, the hill on which the "West Point of Mexico" is situated. Talking pictures are to be made in the Spanish language, with Mexican stars taking the roles. The first studio is expected to be ready by April 1. The plot for "Hollywood de Mexico" covers 8,000 square meters of ground. All buildings will be of Spanish architecture. Landscape gardening will be used to enhance the beauty of the little film metropolis, it is reported. The Spanish pictures to be produced will be for consumption in Central and South America, Spain, Mexico and parts of the United States. Aileen Pringle in Western (S fecial to the Herald-World) HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 26.— Aileen Pringle had a happy Christmas yesterday. She signed a contract just before the holidays with Columbia Pictures to play opposite Buck Jones in "Juaquin Murietta."' This is her first Western in vears.