Hollywood Filmograph (Jan-Jul 1930)

18 June 28, 1930 ' Eisenstein Noted Director Is Here Francis X. Bushman, Jr. Signed By Big 'IT Actress Tells About Jeanne Eagels Rise Chevalier To Sing Sunday At Benefit Paramount Stages Luncheon for Press at Ambassador Sergei M. Eisenstein, Russian director who evolved the "mass movement" in motion pictures, was informally presented to film newspaper and magazine writers at a luncheon in the Indian room at the Ambassador Hotel Tuesday noon. The director of such productions as "Potemkin," "Ten Days That Shook the World" and "New and Old" has been brought to Hollywood by Paramount to direct a picture which will combine his unique silent screen technique with the talking film. Eisenstein was introduced to the luncheon gathering by B. P. Schulberg, general manager of West Coast production for Paramount. Other executives at the table of honor were M. C. Levee, executive manager of the Hollywood studio; Albert A. Kaufman, executive assistant to Jesse L. Lasky; Henry Herzbrun, attorney for the company; Sam Jaffe, production manager, and Melville A. Shauer, supervisor of foreign production. Representatives of the Paramount exchange and Fred Beetson of the Association of Motion Picture Producers also were present. Eisenstein's present trip is his first in this country, and during his journey from Europe to Hollywood he studied American types and characteristics in a number of Eastern and Midwestern cities. He also gave lectures on film technique at Harvard, Yale and Columbia. The thirty-two-year-old director is hopeful of perfecting a new style in talking pictures and plans to make sound and mass conversation rather than dialogue carry the major part of his first American film. He will be in Hollywood six months and will then return to Russia to direct a production in his native country, and will then again return to the United States for another picture. Eisenstein was born in Riga, Russia, and educated at the Institute of Civil Engineers in Leningrad. Here he became interested in architecture and art, and in 1916 began creating designs for the experimental little theatre. His career was interrupted by the war, after which he again returned to theatrical art work. He later introduced radical ideas in staging of such plays as "Listen, Moscow," and "Gas Masks." His desire to recreate actuall life on the stage brought him to a study of motion pic To Star in "The Big Circus," Directed by Robt. F. Hill Upon finishing in "Way Out West," starring William Haines, under the direction of Fred Niblo at the M.-G.M. studios, Francis X. Bushman, Jr., has been signed by Universal for the leading role in "The Big Circus." He is to be surrounded by an excellent cast, including Alberta Vaughn, Tom London, Walter Shumway, Monte Montague, Charles Murphy and Bobby Nelson. Robert F. Hill is to direct the ten chapter picture, as his first real effort since the advent of the talkies in cinemaland. You will notice the name of Charles Murphy listed among the cast. Mr. Murphy for years has been in charge of the Universal Zoo and since Uncle Carl Laemmle has sold all of his wild animals to the Luna Park Zoo, Mr. Murphy has once more taken up acting in pictures. i 1 1 PASSES AWAY John J. Curley, father of Pauline Curley, who has been connected with the Lasky studios for 12 years, suddenly passed away leaving besides Pauline a wife, Rose D. Curley, another daughter, Mrs. John McGinley, and a son, Frank. Mr. Curley made many friends on the Lasky lot and they, with the Hollywood Filmograph, join the bereaved family in their hour of sorrow. ■f -f -f MOVES MAKE-UP KIT Buddy Fisher has moved his makeup kit from the First National studio where he has been working in "Adios," over to the Paramount studio where he has been keeping busy in "The Little Cafe." He recently worked in "Monte Carlo" on the Paramount lot. He looks and acts enough to be the twin brother of Benny Rubin, the famous comedian. tures, and in 1924 he made "Strike," the first example of his "mass" method. His other works followed. In addition to his film activities, he has been teaching theory and practice of motion picture directing at the State Technical Institute of the Cinema in Moscow, and is head of the Cinema Division of the Psycho-Physical Laboratories organized to study the reactions of the spectator. He speaks English, German, French and Japanese, besides his native tongue. Relates Incidents Which Finally Ended Life of Great Actress Six chorus girls swayed coyly and chanted the chorus of the zestful satyr song in "The Pink Lady" in August, 1912, when Cecil Cunningham succeeded Hazel Dawn in the title role at the New Amsterdam Theatre. One of them was a frail little creature with big sapphire blue eyes and a quaint little turned-up nose. She sang in a tiny indifferent voice and her gestures were carelessly mechanical. She was Jeanne Eagels, regarded by many as the greatest actress of the nineteenth century and among the greatest of all time. "And she was probably the worst chorus girl who ever played in a big production in New York," says Miss Cunningham, musical comedy and vaudeville star of international reputation, who appears with Ruth Chatterton and Clive Brook in Paramount's "The Better Wife," and who will have a featured role in Maurice Chevalier's new picture, "The Little Cafe." "She acted like it was the last thing in the world, she wanted to do — and it was," adds Miss Cunningham. "Even then Jeanne was the great dramatic actress. That is, she felt she was, and being in the chorus meant nothing more than earning a living on the stage, awaiting the time when her opportunity would come. "I liked this frail little kid. She looked like she was half starved. John Fisher, who produced the original 'Floradora' and who was our company manager, had picked her up somewhere. 'We need another girl and she looks like she needed work,' he said to me. I let Jeanne share my dressing room. She more than repaid me by the laughs she gave me. Jeanne was really a great comedienne. She used to do 'Camille' for me in my dressing room and I'd howl with laughter." It was Miss Cunningham who gave Miss Eagels the opportunity for success as a dramatic actres. She introduced her to Reynold Wolfe, New York dramatic critic, and it was through Wolfe that Miss Eagels obtained a part in the road company of "Outcast." Wolfe's constant and effusive praise of Miss Eagels was the help she needed at the outset of her brilliant, erratic career. "Two of Jeanne's greatest friends and admirers were Henry Blossom, producer of 'Mile. Modiste' and 'The French War Veterans Hold Monster Frolic and Picnic Maurice Chevalier, who has done so much for his countrymen, will again come to their aid Sunday afternoon when he will sing at their gigantic picnic and frolic, which the French War Veterans of Los Angeles have scheduled at Whiting Woods near La Cresenta. The Paramount international star has gained permission from Jesse Lasky and Adolph Zukor to make this public appearance and to sing both in English and French at 4 p. m. as the added attraction to the affair. Those in charge of the affair announce a great big barbecue, plenty of entertainment and dancing until midnight. Many satelites of film and theatrical circles will be on hand to help along the boys who gave their all during the World War. Red Mill," and Booth Tarkington," Miss Cunningham says. "I had known Mr. Blossom for 3 ears and he introduced me to Mr. Tarkington. Jeanne and I visited them often in New York and at Mr. Tarkington's home in Indianapolis. "Jeanne neither smoked nor drank when I knew her in those days. The three things which I blame for the trouble that ended in her tragic death were the death of her baby, her brutal treatment at the hands of a New York millionaire who was nothing more than a stevedore made wealthy by war profits, and her disappointment in her one great love, which was for a young New York boy of an established family, a romance that, strangely enough, was broken by a former well-known actress who had become related to the boy through marriage. It was after this unhappy experience that she married Ted Coy, the football hero." Miss Cunningham (you pronounce her first name, "Cecil," as if it were spelled "Sesil") comes to pictures with a seldom surpassed reputation as a musical comedy and vaudeville star. She was born in St. Louis, the daughter of Patrick Henry Cunningham, old-time baseball player and star of the St. Louis Browns of many years ago. From the age of seven until she was seventeen she sang in St. Louis church choirs, sometimes earning as high as $150 a month before she was fifteen.