The Film Daily (1930)

THE liday, August 24, 1930 ■%&n DAILY PRODUCTION IN THE EAST WHO'S WHO AND WHAT'S WHAT IN GREATER NEW YORK STUDIOS IRE VARIETY IN SHORTS MOCATED BY SAM SAX .niphatically denying rumors that Brooklyn Vitaphone studios will ndon the \"arieties type of shorts make standard comedies instead, 11 Sax, general production manr, advises producers to inject re variety into their programs. With stage shows and vaudeville hdrawn from many houses, the ilic refuse to he satisfied with ijrani consisting of only a feae, new>reel and comedy," Sax lares. "The talkies have trained liences in the straight picture ises to expect more for their ney. too. Producers should take ice of this trend and get out of rut of making only two reel .ledies. By no means will the Vitaphone dio deviate from its schedule, ich includes dramas, musicals, elties and celebrities as well as nedies. In fact, the directorial flf has been lined up with parilar attention to obtaining a group men each of whom are especially ptable to a different type of film. irray Roth, director-in-chief, is a neer of the Varieties, having rked on the first talkie shorts. y Mack, a dance director and muan, is best on musicals. Arthur rley, formerly a stage producer, assigned the dramas. Alf Gould. latest addition to the staff, has g been one of Hollywood's most >lific comedy directors and we will him continue with that type of rk." >ax further cited that if it is poor nvnianship for an exhibitor to )k a feature comedy and follow up with a short subject program comedies, it is equally bad for a iducer to make only one type of >duct. He added: Our sales statistics show that the taphone Varieties are enjoying ater favor now than ever before, evidently we are supplying the aters with a needed balance for -ir programs." Short Shots from New York Studios j By HARRY N. BLAIR "NJANCY CARROLL recently made a personal appearance in Manhattan in connection with her gift of a radio to the Soldiers', Sailors' and Marines' Home in Washington, D. C. The mob of admirers was so huge that it required the services of the police riot squad to extricate the star. With Hugh O'Connell, the veteran interpreter of "souse" roles, busy on Broctdicay in the Kaufman play, "Once in a Lifetime," Murray Roth was forced to find another actor to play the drunken reporter in one of those vev;spaper comedies they mzke every now and then at the Vitaphone studio. Stanley Ridges, comedian, who had worked i)i many Broadway plays as well as Vitaphone Varieties, got the assignment and was used in "For Two Cents." Peggy Thompson, formerly on scripts at both the East and West Coast studios of Paramount, is being given her chance as a scenarist at the New York plant of the company. She recently completed the first treatment of the initial screen sto)-y assigned to her. Arthur Cozine, wiio has a flying field on his country place at Rhineheck, N. Y., played host recently to Assen Tordanoff of the Curtiss Co. The flying ace landed a Curtiss Fledgling on Cozine Field and carried a number of Paramount New York studio executives on brief trips. Joke on Levy Harold Levy, the man behind the bars at the Brooklyn Vitaphone plant (he's the musical director), splurged last' week and bought hisself a nize new Buick. Harold almost passed out when Arthur Hurley told him he was going to use the car for an auto smashup in a film he was making. The joke was too sudden for Harold, but he recovered. Gaston Duval, \n charge of research for Paramount, has dug up a number of theater programs of 1767 vintage for use in "The Royal Family," soon to go into production. Blondes predominated among the principals in the cast of "The Best People," sez Fred Graf, who knows all about hair. They are Miriam Hopkins. Winifred Harris and Carol Lombard. .8. WORKING HARD IN PARIS Twenty-four hour ivorking shifts are no longer a novelty to Miriam Hopkins. While playing in the stage production of "Lysistrata,'* she has been appearing before the cameras in the principal feminine role in Paramount' s Neiv York picturization of "The Best People." That has meant day-and-night and night-and-day schedules. Something novel is looked for this season from the "talking marionette" division established by Audio-Cinema at the rebuilt Edison Studio in the Bronx. Die tests already made of this new feature have proved very successful. The new studio has a group of the most completely equipped sound units in the East, and, as in the past, AudioCinema will make the two stages available to visiting producers. Talk about mixing pleasure with business and vice versa, Burnet Hershey, Vitaphone scenarist, takes all prizes. Burnet recently departed on his honeymoon (.his first one), and on his return to the studio handed in a completed script for a new -hurt. And. helieye it or not, the title was "Honeymoon Trail." Just a gagman's holiday, evidently. Fredric March, who has been sharing hoywrs with Nancy Carroll and Frank Morgan in "Laughter," is enjoying a brief vacation in Canada before returning to the Eastam Paramount studio to start rehearsals with hut Claire for "The Royal Family." With Mrs. March, he motored north and will return by boat. Mary Brian, who is on her way East from Hollywood, will play the role of the young daughter of the noted stage family in "The Royal Family," which Paramount will produce. Ina Claire will have the chief feminine role. Two of the most popular novelists of the hour are now at work at the Eastern studio of Paramount on original screen stories for Claudette Colbert. The writers are Ursula Parrott, of "Ex-Wife" and "Strangers May Kiss" fame, and Faith Baldwin, whose "The Office Wife" has been a consistent best seller. Ted Pahle, formerfy chief cameraman at the Pathe studio in New York, is presiding over the camera work in the German version of "The Letter," being made at the Paramount studios in Joinville, near Paris, under the supervision of Robert T. Kane. Dimitri Buchowetzki is directing "The Letter." Harry Stradling, who also was a cameraman at the Pathe studios, is photographing the Italian version of "Sarah and Son" at Joinville. Phil Tannura, besides supervising all camera work at the Paramount plant in Joinville, acts as a sort of liaison officer and is kept so busy that he seems to be in two places at once. Another former Eastern studio man, Arthur Ellis, who was at the RCA Gramercy studio, has supervised the cutting of 20 features in seven different languages since he arrived in Joinville on June 4. Kendall Kay is doing the publicity for the Joinville studio, and another familiar American name at the Paris plant is Horace Ashton. Charles DeRoche, who acted in pictures on the Coast several years ago, also is directing at the Paris plant. His present assignment is on the French version of "The Lady Lies." Evidently the Vitaphone officials are pleased with that combination of Roy Mack, director, and Paul Gerard Smith, author. When Mack finished the direction of "The Gob," which was Smith's first screen piece, he was immediately assigned the handling of "One on the Aisle." another script from the same author. Cutting room gossip gives high praise to both comedies. Charles Starrett and Frank Kirby arc reunited at the Paramount Long I sand workshop. They both worked on "Vikings of the North," produced in Labrador, the former as its star ami tin latter as a cameraman. Andrew Tombes for Talkers Andrew Tombes, Broadway musical comedy star recently seen in "Ripples," "Three Cheers" and other Dillingham shows, has succumbed to the lure of the talkies and will soon be seen in "Knocking Them Cold," a Vitaphone Varieties comedy directed by Arthur Hurley from a script by Stanley Rauh. Supporting Tombes are Kitty Kelly, Frank Howson, C. W. Secrest and Camilla Crume. Short Kids Tourists Murray Roth, director-in-chief at the Eastern Vitaphone studios, is producing "A Trip to Paris," a cornids satirizing Continental tourists, for Vitaphone Varieties. Bobby Jarvis, musical comedy juvenile, and Eloise Taylor head the large cast. Wallace Sullivan and A. D. Otvos wrote the storj-. PHIL ARMAND Chief Cameraman Ten years with Christy Cabanne. Lately with Warner Vitaphone International Ph< tographeri, Local 644 233 W. 42nd St.. Tel. Wisconsin 3465