The Film Daily (1924)

THE 10 ■c2^ 1 DAILV Sunday, August 17, 191^ Westward Ho!— Ho! Ho! Carey Wilson pinch-hitting for 'Danny' — who is, at the present frivolous moment, endeavoring to persuade a recalcitrant steward to put the correct Bond Street wrinkles in his white linen 'plus-fours.' At Sea— Aboard S. S. "Leviathan" Coming over I said. That Fred Niblo behaves we cannot disregard the premise of photographing a percentage of American-made releases. Agamst the backgrounds and scenery of Europe. Or Asia. Or Kamchatka. Theoretically. I then agreed with him. Now. I know there's a lot. In what he said. Needs only the right imagination. Right directors. Right (pardon me) script writers. Right actors. Most of all. Right story. The whole right combination to insure preserving those essentials of box-office American quality. Or rather. To translate the magnificent opportunities of Italy. Rural England (do I hear a chuckle from Danny) ? France. Into a new and wholly desirable variation of the timeworn American stock picture. Best part of it is. That with this conception in mind. You can find dozens of stories which become commercial and possible. Because of the foreign backgrounds. Mind you. I hold no brief for making the whole picture abroad. Nosir, nosir. But perhaps as Neilan made Tess. Studio stuff at home in Culver City. Camera man and principals across the briny for a couple of weeks to grab the right fit-in shots of exteriors. Don't miss my point. This is no revolution. But possibly one of those angles which the wise guy will' seize on. To help out. THE IRREPRESSIVE IRISH. Mickey Neilan. In London. Driving a car. Went wrong side of. One of the ninety-seven safety-zones. Comfort stations. Islands. Or whatever they are called. In Trafalgar Square. Got called by a lovely 'bobby'. Ordered to report to station house next morning. Mickey goes around. Finds charming sergeant. Mickey demands to know why. He was arrested. Sergeant terribly apologetic. Answers: "Pardon, sir, you 'aven't been arrested. You've only beeh SPOKEN TO." Now. Mickey. Going through Trafalgar Square. Waits for a bus., And follows it through the maze. SCANDAL Maybe you heard. Of the rumpus in Paris. Picture producer arrested. For desecrating Versailles Gardens. Making unauthorized films. Without permit. Austrian producer. Sounded like international plot. But no such thing. Only trouble was. Some of the ladies. In the pageant being staged. Were sort of Folies Bergere as to costume. One "still" I saw. A lady. Wore nothing above the waist. But the palm of her hand. In a graceful gesture. I don't think that movie. Will get over here. PROPAGANDA Marcus Loew. And Lee Shubert. Playing shovel-board. On Deck A. Don't know what the stakes were. But Lee said something about a theater of his. That he thought Marcus would get soon anyway. Because of the decay of the American drama. In rural districts. And he might as well. Let him take it now. Marcus plays a darned good game of shovel-board. THE NOBILITY Sir William Jury. A grand guy. Took us all out to Brighton. To see his — -not theater, but institution, the Regent. More of that anon. The point is. Sir William forgot all the movies we were going to. talk. Got into a heavy discussion with the Daimler chaufTeur. About motor cars. Which is. Like his pigeons. One of Sir William's pet hobbies. I noticed he got far more respect. From that chaufifeur. Than any of the rest of us. Despite our talking freely and clubbily. About the wellknown screen celebrities. Of whom we borrowed cigarettes. Or clean handerchiefs. THE REGENT, BRIGHTON I'm sure Danny wants to write a long instructive story abc this opera-house. All I can say is I saw one building. With j lovely theater. All orchestra seats like divans. Also seven res taurants. Nine tea-rooms. A magnificent dance-hall. With ; peach of an American jazz-band. Every one of the several attrac'ij tions doing business. A real city institution. Never have I seen^ So many happy young people. Tea-ing. Lunching. Diningi^ Dancing. Movie-ing. And what a luncheon ! And Sir Willian told us we were served. With just what anybody could bu; For some ridiculous sum. That is, according to American pric The whole enterprise run by one management. They even b food in quantity lots. When it is cheap. And have their o freezing plants and rooms. To beat the jobber. In favor of t! ultimate consumer. Gee! There's a lot of angles to this he: movie business. But I never before saw a theater manager wtt got an hourly report. On the condition, of his larder. HOME TALENT There's a lot of beautiful wimmen. In London. Most | them. At one time or other. Dine at the Savoy. But the othe night. One stopped trafific. A gorgeous young blonde. In simple little (Oh, yes, SIMPLE) Paris frock. She knocked 'en For the well-known row of brick factory-buildings. Blanche Sweet. Followed by her young husband. Wh< after his London operation. Looks like that old Biograph juver ile. With the wavy hair. ROME AGAIN You can't beat that Mae Murray Gal. She sure gets bilHnj Everywhere. They play "Fascination." About every six week In all the neighborhood houses. In Rome. Folks over ther Frequently like to see an old favorite "pitcher" again. Than tal a chance. On a new one. Which probably, as we all kno\i may not be so good. And there's a movie house. Downtown. First-run an everything. It has a movable roof. Which slides off. Cause gets hot as blazes. In Rome. And so. Because it rains. Kino frequent. Like California. The folks all take their umbrella To the movie. And when it rains. They put 'em up. Just tii to see the movie. Dodging the waving umbrellas in front of yo But nobody seems to mind. After all. It only takes a wor To summon the waiter. J EARTHQUAKES Art director. On Ben Hur. Discussing an earthqu effect. With business manager. Manager skeptical. As whether it could be made. Really effective. Art director vei slow speaking gentleman. Answered finally : "Listen, boss, you'll be the Allied Reparations Commission, I'll make Ron look like Tokio and Yokohama." BEING RITZED When in London. Wanting to hire a car. You ge Daimler. From a big rental company. Magnificent cars. Ma nificent condition. Tear off country runs at about forty-five sixty steady going. The other day. Wanted one. To dri down into the country. Porter at the hotel. Investigated. B ported regretfully. That because of bank holiday. The Daimk were all out working. But added. In response to my regreti look. That he had got me another car. 'A very good car s You'll get along quite all right. A very good car sir I^olls Royce.' And it was. But if you'd seen Bob Rubin's face. When came out of the hotel. As I was clambering awkwardly. Ir that silver and maroon jewel-box. It was worth the ten shillin an hour, ($2.20). That the thing cost. Which. By the way a commentary on some hire-car prices. I've been up again h