Fox Folks (1922)

Fo:?r^T Folks Fox is at Flalf-way Mark of Its Very Surpassing Achievements in 1926-27 Production Activities ^ITH BOTH ITS Eastern and ' ’ West Coast studios going full blast, Fox Films production schedule for the current season has reached the half-way mark. Fourteen of the feature productions, including Tom Mix and Buck Jones starring vehicles, have been completed and as many more are in various stages of production. On the West Coast eleven companies are occupying every available inch of studio space, while in the east Allan Dwan has been keeping the big Tenth Avenue Studio in a constant bustle as he filmed “Summer Bachelors” and prepared for the dramatic moment when he is to call “Camera” for the picturization of that greatest of dramas, “The Music Master.” Making exterior shots in the East is Irving Cummings, who arrived in New York recently. Cummings’ assignment is the celebrated A. H. Woods melodrama, “Bertha, the Sewing Machine Girl,” in which Madge Bellamy is to be starred with a suppoi’ting cast which includes Allan Simpson and Paul Nicholson. Cummings was joined as an exterior hunter in New York and environs by Alfred E. Green, who started bringing to the screen “The Auctioneer.” George Sidney will play the title role, and Doris Lloyd, Gareth Hughes and Sammy Cohen have been cast in important supporting roles. In work at the West Coast are such productions as “7th Heaven,” “Mother Machree,” “Going Crooked,” “On the Wings of the Storm,” “Gaby,” “The City,” “The Monkey Talks,” “Sunrise,” “Canyons of Light” and “Desert Valley.” Preparations to start on interiors for “One Increasing Purpose,” “The Auctioneer,” and “Bertha, the Sewing Machine Girl,” are also engaging the attention of the studio staffs. John Ford, who has “3 Bad Men” and “The Blue Eagle” of this season’s schedule to his credit, is directing “Mother Machree” with Belle Bennett in the title role and an exceptional supporting cast which includes Neil Hamilton, Ethel Clayton, Victor McLaglen, Ted McNamara and Rodney Hildebrand. Frank Borzage is the lucky megaphone wielder to be assigned the filming of “7th Heaven.” “The Monkey Talks” is at present receiving Director Raoul Walsh’s time. Olive Borden has the lead in “The Monkey Talks,” while the name role is being enacted by its originator on the stage, Jacques Lerner, whn was imported from France especially for this production. George Melford has “Going Crooked” completed with Bessie Love and Oscar Shaw in the leading roles. “On the Wings of the Storm,” a canine story featuring Thunder, the latest dog marvel, is directed by J. G. Blystone vdth Virginia Brown Faire and Reed Howes as the human leads. Howard Hawks is not resting on the laurels he gathered by his work on “Fig Leaves,” first Fox release for the current season, but is busy directing Virginia Valli in the name role of “Gaby,” a story based on the life of that sensational international figure. Gaby Deslys. George O’Brien has the male lead in this production. “The City” is being directed by R. William Neill with a cast of stars which includes May Allison, Walter McGrail, Robert Frazier, George Irving, Lillian Elliott, Richard Walling and Nancy Nash. F. W. Murnau, the great German director, is the possessor of the directorial rights to “Sunrise,” a story based on an idea suggested to him by Herman Suddermann’s classic novel, “A Trip to Tilsit.” Murnau to date has been occupied with directing the building of his sets, hunting exteriors and the selection of the three principals, namely George O’Brien, Janet Gaynor and Margaret Livingston. Page Ten