The Film Daily (1934)

PAILV Wednesday, Jan. 24, !Vi4 E Little from "Lots^ By RALPH WILK — HOLLYWOOD "VTEWLY appointed ways and ^ means committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is reported making progress toward reestablishing the association as a service institution. A new plan of financing is being worked out, and the annual awards banquet is expected to take place in March. Donald Gledhill continues as acting executive secretary. * * * James Cagney's next Warner picture, "Goin' to Town," goes in work Jan. 30. Script is by Gene Markey and Kathryn Scola. * * * Pioneer Pictures, financed by John Hay Whitney, will make the "Last Days of Pompeii" which RKO is to release. It will be filmed in Technicolor. * * * Constance Cummings has been given the role in Universal's "Glamour" formerly intended for Gloria Stuart, who is busy on "Where's Brown?" * * * Otto Kruger will play the lead in RKO's "Crime Doctor/' originally scheduled as a Richard Dix vehicle. John Robertson will direct. Cast also includes Wynne Gibson, Nils Asther and Ada Cavell, with screen play by Jane Murfin from the Israel Zangwill story. SHORT SHOTS from EASTERN STUDIOS By CHAS. ALICOATE Wheeler and Woolsey in "HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY" with Dorothy Lee, Ruth Etting and Thelma Todd RKO 68 mins. ABOUT THE BEST AND CLEANEST OF THE WHEELER-WOOLSEY SERIES. PLENTY LAUGHS AND ACTION PLUS MUSICAL TRIMMINGS. Latest of the Wheeler and Woolsey fun fests is first-rate entertainment for the mass audience. It is free of the risque burlesque gags that dotted some of their previous efforts, and consequently is more acceptable as family amusement. The musical side of the picture, though not on a lavish scale, is of good quality and contains one song that will surely be a hit. For story basis, Wheeler and Woolsey, as a couple of pitchmen selling flavored lipsticks, pose as big business men and merge with Thelma Todd's classy beauty parlor after Wheeler has been attracted by Dorothy Lee, who works in the place. One of the male executives, rebuffed by Dot, who knows he is double-crossing the shop in favor of a rival establishment, sets out to expose the two lads and then frames it for Thelma to lose a cross-country auto race in which she has entered a car for publicity results, but Wheeler and Woolsey stumble on the plot and save the day in a fast and amusing finish. Ruth Etting sings a nice number at the start of the picture. Cast: Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Ruth Etting, Thelma Todd, Dorothy Lee, George Meeker, James Burtis, Matt Briggs, Spencer Charters. Director, Mark Sandrich; Authors, Harry Ruby, Bert Kalmar, Edward Kaufman; Mu-; sic and lyrics, Harry Ruby, Bert Kalmar; Dances, Dave Gould; Cameraman, David Abel; Recording Engineer, P. J. Faulkner, Jr.; Editor, Basil Wrangell. Direction, Lively. Photography, A-l. "SIX OF A KIND" with Charlie Ruggles, Mary Boland, W. C. Fields, Alison Skipworth, Burns and Allen Paramount 62 mins. HILARIOUS FARCE COMEDY WITH PLOT SECONDARY TO GAGS WHICH PROVIDE LOADS OF LAUGHS. Having three comedy teams, each with plenty of good material, this concoction is what the laugh fans ordered. It is hawhaw stuff from start to finish, and although the pace of deep laughs is so fast at the start that a letdown is inevitable before the finish, it doesn't matter much because any audience should have had its fill by that time. Plot is unimportant — just a framework on which to hang the quips and gags. Charlie and Mary are taking an auto trip to California for their second honeymoon. As an economical measure, she advertises for a second couple to go along and share expenses. George Burns and Gracie Allen answer the ad, and then the goofy stuff begins for fair. At the same time a crooked cashier at Charlie's bank stuffs a load of bills in the latter's suitcase, with the intention of following him and getting the dough. On finding the money gone, bank officials suspect Charlie. Climax comes at a stopover hotel run by Alison Skipworth, with W. C. Fields as the local sheriff. Cast: Charlie Ruggles, Mary Boland, W. C. Fields, Alison Skipworth, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Bradley Page, Grace Bradley, William J. Kelly, Tammany Young. Director, Leo McCarey; Authors, Keene Thompson, Douglas MacLean; Adaptors, Walter DeLeon, Harry Ruskin; Cameraman, Henry Sharp; Recording Engineer, Eugene Merritt; Editor, LeRoy Stone. Direction, Snappy, Photogarphy, Good. (^HESTER MORRIS has been signed for a leading part with Helen Morgan and Lilyan Tashman in "Frankie and Johnie," to be put in work by Chester Erskin on Feb. 12 at the Biograph Studio. • A musical comedy featuring Bob Hope and Lillian Roth will get under way Monday at the Eastern Service studio in Astoria. Al Christie will produce and direct it for Educational. Irving Berlin Publishing Co. has closed a deal with the Meyer Davis-Van Beuren production unit whereby they will publish all tunes from the pictures made by Meyer Davis. Tunes from the Cliff Edwards and Ethel Waters shorts are now being printed. • Inez Courtney begins work today at the Vitaphone studio in "Alibi Baby,'' two-reel musical. Supporting cast includes Roscoe Ails, Lillian Gordon, Gene Lockhart, Sally Starr, Don Tomkins, Jack Good and Kathleen Lockhart. Philly M P T 0 Urges Full Assent on Code Continued from Page 1) dent, Michael Egnal; treasurer, George Lessy; secretary, George Aarons. Vacancies in the board of managers were filled by the selection of Milton Rogasner, Ben Fertle, Joe Conway and Ed Jeffries. Advisory board members were named as follows: Charles Goodwin, Jay Emanuel, A. B. Smith, Morris Spiers, Morris Tax, George Kline, Herbert Elliott, Izzy Hirschblond, Charles Segal, Sam Somerson, John Bagley, Elliott Goldman, S. Myers, Luke Gring, Norman Lewis, Jack Brown, I. Borowsky, Fred Leopold and Dave Milgram. Opposition to the United Artists sales policy on "Roman Scandals" was recorded in a resolution adopted, and the unit expressed willingness to discuss the matter with distribution company officials. The association pledged its cooperation to aid the President's ball and discussed effects of the code cancellation clause. One hundred members attended the meeting. Lighting Firms Merge; Charles Ross as President Continued from Page 1) Clark. The new company, to be called Motion Picture Lighting and Equipment Corp., will be the largest organization of its kind in the world, handling incandescent and arc lights for sound and talking pictures. Ross will be president of the combined units, with Palmer as vicepresident, Clark as treasurer, William Engelhardt as assistant treasurer and Harry Kleindeinst as secretary. Headquarters will be at 318 West 48th St. Mariam Hopkins in Person Miriam Hopkins will appear in person at the New York Paramount for the week starting Friday. She will do a scene from "Affairs of Anatol," with Rollo Peters opposite her. M-G-M to Make "Copperfield" West Coast Bureau, of THE FILM DAILY Hollywood — David Selznick and George Cukor, producer and director, respectively, of "Dinner at Eight," will join talents again in making Dickens' "David Copperfield" for M-G-M. Skouras Books Astor Lineup Skouras circuit has booked Astor Pictures' entire series of 12 threereelers for immediate booking. "Arizona Nights," second in the series, is complete and ready for release. Philadelphia — Comerford's Fay is now clicking with a policy calling for eight acts of vaudeville and pictures. House is charging 40 cents ''-' top. Akron, O. — Vaudeville will be dropped by Loew's on Jan. 26. St. Petersburg, Fla. — The Ritz, recently leased by E. J. Sparks Enterprises, has been opened with Harry G. Griffin as manager. House was first known as the Patio then the Reno. Buffalo — Herman J. Endres, manager of the Little German theater, who inaugurated a policy of running four days a week as an experiment, has adopted that schedule as a permanent policy. M-G-M Buys "The Thin Man" "The Thin Man," detective story by Dashiell Hammett, has been acquired by M-G-M. Kissimmee, Fla F. 0. Mullins, formerly of Dade City, has purchased the Arcade here and has assumed charge. St. Louis — Lee Theater Co. has been formed with Clarence H. Kaimann, W. J. Kaimann, Thomas M. Curley and Marie Curley as incorporators. Springfield, Mass. — The Broadway, dark since early in December, reopens Jan. 27 under management of Nathan L. Goldstein. Tabloid Reviews of FOREIGN FILMS "ES WIRD SCHON WIEDER BESSER" ("It's Getting Better Again"), in German; produced by Ufa; directed by Kurt Gerron; with Dolly Haas, Heinz Ruehmann, Paul Otto, Ernst Verebes, Fritz Gruenbaum; at the Yorkville Theater. Very amusing German comedy involving a romance between a poor young engineer and the winsome daughter of an automobile magnate. The chap is run down by the girl and injured, so she marries him to prevent his testifying against her. "WIE SAG' ICH'S MEINNEM MANN?" ("How Shall I Tell My Husband?"), in German; produced by Ufa; directed by Reinhold Schuenzel; with Renate Mueller, Georg Alexander, Ida Wuest, Paul Westermeier, Georgia Lind, Otto Wallburg; at the 79th St. Theater. Fairly enjoyable matrimonial comedy with the performances of Renate Mueller and other able players as the outstanding merits. "SAGRARIO", in Spanish; produced by Aspa; directed by Ramon Peon; with Julio Villarreal, Adriana Lamar, Ramon Pereda, Maria Luisa Zea; at the Teatro Variedades. Mexican-made domestic drama, mostly in a serious vein, dealing with the struggles of a family through various vicissitudes, should prove moderately satisfying to the Latin clientele.