The Film Daily (1931)

?riday, January 16, 1931 Timely Topics A Digest of Current Opinion — €)— Talkies Have Changed The Status of Actors VOUNG actors are inclined to be too easily discouraged at their failure to capture fame and fortune at the first grasp. . . . The meteoric and spectacular ascent of many men and women to stardom in pictures has given the impression that this goal can be reached by other means than by hard work and effort. In former times it was considered remarkable if an actor attained any fame whatever before he had spent 20 or 25 years at his profession; but the pictures with their peculiar and distorted values, have given a false impression of what it means to attain eminence as an actor. The new status of pictures brought about by the introduction of sound is giving a different aspect to the actor's profession, and the instances of miraculous elevation to huge salaries and exaggerated publicity will become more rare, I venture to predict. The true actor (and he is the type that will be more and more in demand as the screen develops) is not the product of public fancy. He is the result of a special talent fully and painstakingly developed by years of devotion to his art. The person who engages in the profession should do so with the knowledge that virtually all of the really great actors attained greatness only after they had spent years in mastering their trade. — George Archainbaud A « FILM ^FACT A DAY seating capacity theaters, slightly 1,100 in number, tely 585,000. Aggregate of Canadian more than is approxima -. £Sfr* DAILY • • • THERE ARE so many contradictory stories about Mary Pickf ord now current, that it has got us all flustered she plans to stop in New York for a few days she is going back to Hollywood to immediately prepare her next pix she will use an original story she yearns to do some big classic she also yearns to go on the stage and emulate the success of her pal, Lil Gish, in "Uncle Vanya" she is going to take a vacashe with hubby Doug in Europe now if Mary will only make up her mind what she wants to do, this biz and your favorite (?) kolyumist can settle down to work again * * * * • • • LOOKS AS if this Radio screenario "Cimarron" may revive the lingo, vernacular and argot of the old land rush days with boomers, tenderfeet and bull whackers mixing hectically in a bulger town and sooners and bush whackers keeping the boom town stirred up with an occasional necktie party to lend excitement ending in a trip to the boot hill while these colorful personalities mixing in the panorama of diggins, hogwallows, dust holes and gushers, created what was known as "citnarron" — an atmosphere of lawlessness, excitement and all-round deviltry and if all of the foregoing sounds a li'l bit hazy to you then we feel happy that we have preserved the general atmosphere of this kolyum * * * * • • • SYDNEY COHEN, now concentrating a lot of effort on the department store biz, sez that it's great to be in a field where you can buy "uncontrolled" merchandise Syd is applying empey exploitashe methods to his new line Celeste Levy, Warren Nolan's sec, up and got married t'other day to Sidney Fox, a non-pro wize gel Eileen Brenon is piloting Helen Twelvetrees around town in the interests of Pathe, and not the Lumbermen's Association * * * * • • • A FIELD DAY for United Artists was staged at the A. M. P. A. luncheon at the Dixie hotel yesterday Ed Finney made his maiden speech, which was sympathetically received in the virgin hearts of the p.a's assembled he introduced J. P. Muller, the advertising gent with an aviation complex, who flew all over the world in a rhetorical flight that covered everything from sentiment to statistics then Mike Simmons introduced Warren Nolan, who is rumored to be connected with U. A.'s publicity dep't but from all we could gather from his oration, he was either a p.a. for the American Dog Kennel Association, or advertising manager of Macy's, the dep't store Mister Nolan had some general plan for a new window display for that store on Saturday high noon when the crowds are the greatest but he failed to explain the original window display but passed gracefully into an introduction of Edmund Goulding, the director who needs no introduction and Monsieur Goulding proved a Pleasant Surprise for he could talk interestingly and informatively in our own language Which is English which we have almost forgotten after years in the film biz around Broadway and as his limpid words kept falling like purest pearls direct from Oxford and Cambridge.... ....we marvelled how he could have preserved Pure Speech after years in the film biz in Hollywood and he's a born epigrammist spilling 'em so fast that they run together but we managed to spear several choice ones for you to wit: the hardest thing about directing is getting the job picture making is just one distress after another Heinz has it on the Hollywood canning industry, for the food canner knows when he puts a bean in the can it will look just the same when the can is opened the Era of the Ear (sound pix) allows you to hear how phoney pictures were — and are and to our way of thinking, Edmund Goulding in Person is as charming, witty, scintillating, analytical and sane as his pix which is about the highest compliment we can pay him and Lonnie D'Orsay, his assistant, yessed us on everything we've said about his boss « « « » » » EXPLOITETTES A Clearing House for Tabloid Exploitation Ideas f) Poem Sells Kids In School Campaign A LETTER with enclosed data on "Jaws of Hell" was sent to all the principals of the public schools in Greater New York. The data was for display on the bulletin boards of the schools, and among other things contained the complete poem of Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade." A special canvass of a dozen schools within the radius of a mile of the Central Theater where the picture was being shown, resulted in some cases of having the class recite the poem, each child taking one paragraph, the next one reciting the paragraph following. The poem is complete on the herald throwaway. Each child was given a herald to read from. Free tickets were given the children reading or reciting their paragraphs the best. — Sono Art Footprints Plug Harold Lloyd Film MANAGER Clayton Tunstill stencilled the sidewalks to exploit Harold Lloyd in "Feet First" playing at the PublixLyric, Brownwood, Tex. All downtown sidewalks were stencilled (right where one steps on curb) with "Harold Lloyd says Feci first.'" In front of theater were large outlines of shoes, drawn in water color Each footprint lead to the theater with a slogan printed in each footprint relative to the picture. — Paramount MANY HAPPY RETURNS Beit wishes and congratulations v« extended by ThE FILM DAILY to the following members of the industry, who are celebrating their birthdays: January 16 Harry Carey Lawford Davidson Katherine Stewart Reg Reubenson