The Film Daily (1930)

THE Friday, December 26, 1930 Timely Topics A Digest of Current Opinion —€)^ Newspaper Stories Supply Human Drama THE daily newspaper delivered to the doorstep of the householder brings him and his family more melodrama and mystery than they will find in many theaters. Pathos, comedy, revenge, greed and burlesque are but thinly disguised from the reader as he glances over his daily newspaper. Not only do the news columns provide drama in abundance, but the want ads teem with clews to the most thrilling and mystifying stories. It is the keen imagination and appreciation for the dramatic possessed by the trained writer that enables him to see drama in a printed item which to the ordinary writer is a mere chronicle of a humdrum news event. Many a successful story or play has been brought forth, the original idea of which was provided by a newspaper item. Take the want ad columns, for instance. There is where you will find unhappy individuals literally baring their souls to the public gaze. The deserted wife appeals for her husband to return; the heartbroken mother begs her long lost son to write her; crises in the lives of many people are disclosed by their frantic appeals for sums of money to finance this or that project; to provide medical aid for a dying loved one; to complete an education; or to engage in some romantic venture. There is the germ of a great story in almost every news item. The man who has the imagination to perceive it will never be at a great loss for ideas. — George Archainbaud = THE Of MIMI <)M IK*E AllTIHWVS Alt I ill II MI — %-DAILY Congratulates: THE A.~M. P. A. for the series of vital and effective ads, among the finest ever turned out in the industry, for the Film Daily Relief Fund Drive No. 41 of 1930 uGood Deeds" Series ■%£1 DAlLYr • • • IF YOU will reach for the bromo seltzer or the aspirin, and pass it along to us thank gawd this Holiday headache only comes once a year we will try to co-ordinate our mental processes and if you will endeavor to do the same we can go on with this kolyum it will probably read rather hazy but with you in the same atmosphere, we both start from scratch let's see what will we talk about? our New Motto is: To serve the best interests of the biz our One and Only resolution for the New Year a rather original thought, that. but somewhat difficult as a moment's reflection will convince you who ARE the "best" interests? if we pick the guys whom we think represent the "best" and we guess wrong, and find out we've been playing ball with the Wrong Bunch it won't be so hot then again we may pick the present "best" gang and in six months there'll be another crowd sitting on top of the heap and we'll be all shmoozeled out of luck aw, 'ts tuff, trying to pick the "best interests" mebbe our old system wai better writin' about everybody and everthin' giving everybody a Break not taking ourseLcs too s.e.icusly and not taking YOU too seriously for you re Human, too and don't want to be placed on a Pedestal because you feel damned uncomfortable, stuck up on a pedestal with folks pointing at you in Awe and wishing all the time they'd come up and slap you on the back as in the eld days and say: "How're they comin', kid? What's the good word?" so, on second thought, we'll forget that New Motto and go back to our old one: "To se-ve ALL interests of the biz interestingly." for when we fail to serve All and in an interesting, chatty, friendly way you'll fail to read this daily kolyum of kidding komment so, kid, don't take yourself, or us, too SERIOUSLY * * * * • • • OUR DESK is still cluttered up with that confetti which shot all over us when we opened up Tom Gerety's Xmas card and Halsey Raines' 24-sheet the most practical gift was Billy Ferguson's Scotch cigarette lighter which works as well as most lighters, if you get what we mean and we took Eddie Hitchcock's merchandise order for 100 berries to our bank cashier as he suggested and the cashier told us specifically what to do with it just as Eddie prophesied and to all you other girls and boys who sent cards, you will be glad to know that we read them all carefully and stored them away in the attic for our grandchildren to gloat over some day we've got to bequeath the brats Something and why not Xmas Cards? * * * * • • • LARRY DARMOUR, in one of his recent Arkayo productions, tried for days to get the exact sounds produced by a kid jumping up and down on a bed spring in despair he was about to give up, when a property man started idly jiggling some coins in his hand the EXACT sound required to give the effect of a jiggling bed spring now the queer part of this story is that the prop man had shoved the coins back in his pocket, and for several hours Larry tried to get the proper combination of coins to produce the effect it could only be done with a 50 cent piece, a dime and a nickel if you doubt it, try it yourself there is really nothing new about it, though lots of g°nts have tried to get the same effect with coins and failed but Larry gets credit for succeeding * * • # • • • AL SELIG was heading up Broadway the other day when one of our scouts met him Al explained that he was rushing to a bank to change some big bills into small ones for Xmas gifts and our scout asks innocently: "Where is there a bank around here that's OPEN? Which reminds US that Senator Frank has bis 17 berries in the Chelsea he's thinking of getting his western star, Jack Perrin, to jump through the bank window with his horse « « « » » » EXPLOITETTES A Clearing House tor Tabloid Exploitation Ideas © Herald Bombardment From Airplane "LJELL'S ANGELS" at the Des Moines, Des Moines, Iowa, was exploited through the aid of five planes flown over the city in battle formation. A bombardment of heralds was poured down on the city for three days in advance of opening. One plane was flown the night before the opening with the lower part of the plane illuminated so as to show up the title of the picture painted in giant letters on the wings. — United Artists Guessing Contest For "Feet First" ^[ANAGER J. S. Hadden offered prizes to guessers of size of man's shoes in exploiting Harold Lloyd in "Feet First" at the Publix-Paramount, Joplin, Mo. Hadden secured the services of a boy and dressed him in a yellow slicker, glassless _ goggles— with a large sign on his back reading, "Guess the size of my shoes and win a free ticket to see Harold Lloyd in "Feet First"— Paramount — Sunday." — Paramount MANY HAPPY RETURNS Be«t wishes ind congratulations axe extended by THE FILM DAILY to the following members of the in dustry, who are celebrating tneii birthdays : December 25-26 Charles Cruze Earle Fox A. P. Waxman Helen Twelvetrees Marguerite Churchill J. Grubb Alexander Joe Bonomo Le Roy P. Sawyer Mort Blumenstock