Hollywood (Jan - Oct 1934)

HARRY CARR'S ■Ray J U7WS Evelyn V enable gives the high sign to her fans as she poses while on a vacation at a California mountain resort. Her next will be Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch 38 Step Viewing the events of the month in Cinemaland through the eyes of a pointed comment is a monthly feature I Am Writing some of this page in New York. The movies are trying to jump the reservation again and move from Hollywood to Broadway. Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur (the husband of Helen Hayes) are the newest producers. They made up their minds that pictures did not have to be made in Hollywood. So they have opened up in the old Long Island studios of the Paramount company. They are apparently unterrified by the jinx. At least one world recordbreaking picture was made there — by Rudolph Valentino. But as a usual thing, pictures that come out of that studio have the poison label on them from the start. High Life NEVER have I seen such a gay rollicking studio. Whatever the fate of the production, they are having a swell time making it together — both directing. They are producing a story called Crime Without Passion. Nobody heard of most of the people in it. The leading man is Claude Rains, a stage actor. The leading lady is a girl who does not seem to have any name beyond "Margot." They found her at a hotel. Those who have seen the rushes say that picture is due to be a sensation. Rueful Kate "The Studio has become the hang-out * of most of New York. The day I was there Lillian Gish, Helen Hayes and Katharine Hepburn dropped in. Some one spoke of a rotten play; his eloquence was fiery. "He must be talking about The Lake," murmured Miss Hepburn — referring to her own flop. When not smart cracking and fencing with reporters and publicity men, Katharine Hepburn is quiet and rather subdued. And, strange to say, very gracious. Lillian Gish is going back to the stage this fall. Hold your breath; she is going to play the part of a street walker. Can't Be Done NO MATTER how brilliantly these two young producers perform, they are kidding themselves. Pictures will continue to be made in Hollywood. I went all through that as a member of the producing staff of D. W. Griffith. For instance, when making Dream Street, Griffith needed a bird in a cage— a thrush. In Hollywood he could have had any conceivable variety of bird in half an hour. Production had to be stopped two days while a property man combed the bird stores — unsuccessfully as it turned out. Another time the prop man turned up with the wrong kind of a revolver. Half a day wasted while he went back to New York for another. The search for extras who looked like starving French women stopped Two Orphans a week. The reason why pictures have to be made in Hollywood is not climate or attractive locations. It is because they have been always made there. Helpful hands are grouped around the studios. What costs in making pictures is the element of time. You hear about "one hundred extras used on this set." That is all bunk. The bills run up with wasted time. And making pictures outside of Hollywood wastes time. Axes For Movies I Am In Washington now. The movies are in great danger of being stepped on with force and violence ... on account of gangster pictures. Under the leadership of the Catholic church there is a movement to discipline the producers. The Catholic prelates say that the producers have promised time and again to clean up their stories. They do not keep their promises. "We shall not take their word again," said one of the leaders in the reprisal movement. "Now we are going to act." The plan adopted is to ignore the producers altogether. It will be the exhibitor who is stepped on. Whenever a crime picture or hot sex picture is shown at any house, the church intends to ban the house — no matter HOLLYWOOD