Hollywood Filmograph (Jan-Jul 1930)

HOLLYWOOD FILMO * GRAPH NEW YORK 31 MAY 24, 1930 SECTION Schwab Talks About Stage and Screen Broadway Producer Answers Some Very Worrisome Questions NEW YORK. — Dance numbers on the screen are valueless unless they utilize effects which the stage cannot possibly accomplish. This is the opinion of one of the foremost authorities on musical shows in America today — Laurence Schwab, of the producing organization of Schwab and Mandel. Schwab, who with Frank Mandel has produced such stage musical hits as "Follow Thru," "Good News," "The Desert Song," "New Moon," "Queen High," "Captain Jinx" and others, is now in Hollywood co-directing with Lloyd Corrigan, Paramount's all-technicolor, all-talking film version of the golf musical comedy, "Follow Thru." "To merely inject a dance number into a picture because it is a dance number does not enhance the entertainment value of a screen production," says Schwab. "In this phase the stage will continue to remain supreme. "Musical shows are successful because they are in the flesh. The fact that the dancers are living is the chief value of entertainment in a large dance number. Every man, no matter how home-loving, likes' to think that if he dared or was not happily married, he might get a date with the little blonde on the end. "Strangely enough, I believe, dance numbers are not carried into the screen as an actual reality although film patrons easily believe that the characters in the story part of the film are living before them. "When a large group of dancers is seen on the screen, we all feel we are far away from them. The large screen will help technically to get us closer to the dancers, but it will not bring a sense of reality in big dance scenes. "On the stage, one can fix his attentions on one chorus girl who has plenty of personality and ability and watch her eagerly. If we could get close-ups of each dancing girl on the screen we could get the desired effect partially, but not altogether successfully. "But the screen can interest, even in large assembles, in securing a new effect which wouldn't be possible on the stage. We do this in several numbers in the screen version of 'Follow Thru.' On the screen we can do tricks with the camera and secure sudden changes which are startling and thereby entertaining. "I believe that the future in screen dancing lies in the specialty numbers. When one or two dancers are seen on the screen, we have the same illusion of reality which we find in the story. "It is also my opinion that the successful motion picture dancers today are those who dance, not with their feet, but with their heads. They need not be technically marvelous. What they need is personality and an ability to do something new. When we watch a great dancer, we are not gazing at his or her feet, but his face. A stage dancer who is clever with his feet may stop the show but will not be remembered. The girl whose winning smile or vivacious personality grips you is the one the entertainment world throngs to see. People may never remember how perfectly she did her steps, but how graceful she was, and how attractive. "I am also convinced that song and dance numbers should not be dragged in unlogically. They should only be used when they further to story. They must be absolutely logical and just what the character would do at that moment. However, I don't mean that they have to be planted in detail by cues or action; that often seems silly. Neither is it necessary to account for the presence of an orchestra as long as you inject the song skillfully and with good taste. It is only when the thing is done badly that patrons laugh. "In the stage production of 'Follow Thru' we had 18 song and dance numbers. On the screen we have only five numbers. They are plenty because we have built up the story and all five numbers are absolutely logical. "When stage musical shows are brought to the screen, it is not necessary to inject all new songs just because the original ones have been heard. Those numbers, which are hits because they entertain will survive. For that reason, we have retained, 'I Want to be Bad' and 'Button up Your Overcoat.' The way they were presented on the stage, rather than the tunes, made them hits. "With love songs it may be different. Our two-hit love tunes of the stage production have been supplanted with two new ones on the screen. The stage ones have outlived their usefulness. New numbers are necessary because they may strike a sudden public fancy and thus act as advertisements for the screen production." THE BROADWAY SCREEN NEW YORK.— Paramount, in obtaining the services of Eisenstein, noted Russian director of "Potemkin" and "Ten Days That Shook the World," has scored a stroke which in European diplomacy would be ranked as a coup d'etat. He was placed under a long-term contract in Europe by Jesse L. Lasky, first vicepresident in charge of production, while other producers were bidding for his services, and came to this country with Lasky under a six months' permit whereby he will start making his first talking picture during ten weeks that will shake Hollywood. He is now represented on Broadway by his latest creation, "Old nd New," which caused a conservative New York feminine critic to say that she now "took off her hat to him" — a great tribute, when it is considered that taking off this young lady's hat is a somewhat complicated process. This director, who has of late caused the adjectival flood to burst its critical dams, met the local reviewers at a tea at the Savoy Plaza, and astounded everyone by speaking English fluently and by not saying "I was once a newspaperman myself on the Nevsky Prospekt." In spite of having left the Columbia University Club just previously, he managed to talk for two solid hours while the newspaper folks pelted him with questions, and not even at the end did his voice grow so hoarse that his English sounded like Russian. He explained with a characteristic, quick smile — for he has a keen sense of humor despite the earnestness of his films hitherto — that he developed a good, reliable voice by shouting at actors as a stage director. Among the interesting points which he brought out, with the help of a pair of dexterous gesticulatory hands, were the following: That the film of the future will not be 100 per cent talkie, but will have silent elements as well. That color is a great enhancement of a picture, but stereoscopic effects are not really essential, since the sense of depth is lost after the first couple of minutes. That Shakespeare should not be done as a talker, because he should not be cut, and if produced in his entirety the picture would be too long for restless film audiences. That ideas dealing with great social problems offer a fertile field for use in the picture of the future, whereas stereotyped plots are going out. That he will make one picture a year for Paramount for several years. "PATHS O' GLORY" "The Disabled American Veterans of the World War," Quentin Roosevelt Chapter No. 5, are sponsoring a stage production of a four-act psychic war play, entitled "Paths o' Glory," by Comrade Wallace Starke. At the Windsor Square Theatre, Wilshire boulevard at Lucerne. Opening June 29th. This play discourages the ravages of war. The locale is in France ten days before the Armistice. The show opens in a shell hole and ends in a dugout, with psychic phenomena being the main direction of thought to discourage war. The cast includes eleven men and one woman. The play is directed by Oliver Morosco. SCHMELING-SHARKEY MOTION PICTURE RIGHTS SECURED BY MESSRS. HARRY EILPERN and CY. BRAUNSTEIN New Corporation Now in Formation With Offices to be Opened at Film Center Building, 630 Ninth Avenue, New York City NEW YORK — The world's heavyweight championship contest to be held at the Yankee Stadium, New York City, June 12, 1930. 'Under the auspices of Mrs. Wm. Randolph Hearst milk fund, and the management of the Madison Square Garden, have signed contracts with Eilpern and Braunstein giving them the exclusive rights to photograph, "Silent and Sound," this event, and also its exclusive world's distribution rights. Several weeks' negotiations had been under way by leading organizations to secure this contract, which was finally granted to the highest bidder. AH production activities will be under the personal supervision of Cy. Braunstein.