Hollywood Filmograph (Jun-Aug 1929)

HOLLYWOOD FILMOGRAPH Robbins Sees New Music Changes "Tin Pan Alley" Days Are Over Says Music Firm Head. Unrelated Theme Songs Also Being Eliminated and Song-writing Styles Due for Change "Linking of two such important factors in modern American life as the popular song and the motion picture, will result in far-reaching changes in these modes of expression," says J. J. Robbins, vice-president of the Robbins Music Corporation, which is affiliated with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Robbins is now at the M-G-M Studios. In Robbins' opinion, popular song-writing has received an impetus that will elevate the profession of songwriting and place the business of music publishing on a much higher level. "The Tin Pan Alley days are oyer," says Robbins. "Changing times will bring a uniformly governed business, comparing favorably with other leading lines of endeavor." Robbins further states that the day of the reckless insertion of theme songs into pictures is over also. The new trend is to weave 'the song closely into the action of the story. At M-G-M, it is stated, the musical interpolations are being as closely supervised as are the story construction, acting and directing. Latest Cooper And Schoedsack Film Released Released by Paramount, "The Four Feathers," made by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack over a period of two years, will have its world premiere at the Criterion Theatre, New York, on June 12. Instead of relying for drama on nature and primitive peoples, as they did in two previous offerings, "Gross" and "Chang," the producers have woven in a story this time, using established film actors in the leading roles. Story is taken from the well-known novel of the same name by Alfred Woodley Mason, and features Richard Arlen, Clive Brook, William Powell, Ted von Eltz, Fay Wray, Noah Beery, George Fawcett, Philippe de Lacy and Noble Johnson. The explorer-producers brought back over 60,000 feet of film of African scenes, which were cut and worked into the story action shot in Hollywood. The production is synchronized with music and effects only. 1 1 1 Select Alternates For Academy Conciliation Selection of alternate members on the conciliation committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is announced by Secretary Frank Woods. The committee is now constituted as follows: Actors: Rod La Roque, committeeman; Conrad Nagel, alternate; directors: Reginald Barker, Sam Taylor, alternate; producers: William Sistrom, L. B.Mayer, alternate; technicians: J. T. Reed, H. H. Barter, alternate; writers: Tom Miranda, John Goodrich, alternate. The conciliation committee was augmented by the appointment of alternates to serve when any regular member is unable to be present or is ineligible to act because of being associated with or in the employ of one of the parties to the contest. The committee has been functioning since the organization of the Academy. 111 Plan 26 Comedy Shorts Campbell-Hess Productions will start shooting a Kidland Komedy, the first of a series of 26 two-reelers with dialogue and sound, next week. Direction will be under the supervision of William Campbell. Charles Diltz has been engaged to supervise the story department. Irving Thallberg has established the policy that songs must be logically introduced into a picture as a vital part of the story, or not used at all. It is for that reason that a number of M-G-M pictures have been released without theme songs of any sort, on the theory that the aimless insertion of theme songs can detract from the values of the productions to which they are unsuited. Many "themies," it is claimed, had no relationship to the pictures in which they were used, and sold merely on the strength of the picture exploitation. "Mary Dugan" might have had one, but the officials decided aaginst it, preferring to keep the production on a high plane, and the same is true of "Madame X" and several other pictures produced by this company. According to Robbins, pursuing the plan of having a song link up closely with the story, will develop a more intelligent song writing. It will enforce the changing of many prevailing standards of popular song-writing. The stop rhythm so popular with the jazzily-inclined, and prevalent in the Charleston, Black Bottom and similar creations, will give way to a more melodic style that is more easily adapted to describing the mood of the story. Vincent Youmans, whose music is particularly tuneful, and at the same time catchy, is a good example of the composer, whose style is particularly adaptable for motion picture work, to which Robbins refers. It will have a wide appeal, for his rhythms, unlike those of other writers of smart musical comedy music, are not intricate and the melody is pleasing; a happy combination suiting the Park Avenue taste as well as the Tenth Avenue inclinations. Continued on Page 11 111 Young Plans Eight Independent Talkers Lon Young, formerly in charge of production for Chesterfield Pictures, state-right producing organization, has severed his connection with that concern and will in the future make his own pictures for the independent market. Young has in the past year made a quota of eight pictures originally scheduled \>y his company in the allotted time. He proposes to make in the future eight dialogue and sound pictures, for state-right release, using one of the prominent recording devices, and will utilize the Tec-Art studios for the making of the pictures. Covered Wagon Shot Caught By 20 Microphones Twenty microphones were used, spread over a distance of a mile, to record the march of a covered wagon train in "Song ot The West, Warner Brothers' all-color talking epic now being filmed and recorded near Lone Pine, California. An elaborate system of wiring and switches enabled Ray Enright, who is directing the film, to take a long shot of the 60 covered wagons and at the same time record the plodding of the horses and oxen and catch bits of conversation of the occupants of the wagons over the distance of a mile. A complete Vitaphone recording plant was installed on the location. It's the first time an outdoor picture has ever been recorded in such an elaborate manner, previous outdoor scenes having either been recorded by remote control, or by means of a newsreel camera car. i 1 1 Le Baron Signs Ruggles To Direct Own Story Wesley Ruggles will direct the alltalker version of William Le Baron's stage farce bit, "The Very Idea," for Radio Pictures. Production will start immediately on the completion of "Street Girl," starring Betty Cornyson, which Ruggles is now directing for Radio. Le Baron, Radio production head, has signed Ruggles to a new contract to direct his brain-child, in which Ernst Truex was starred on the stage. Casting is now in progress. 1 1 1 Universal Plans to Make Five Serials Five serials, one of IS episodes and four of 10 episodes, will be made at Universal for the new program. "Tarzan the Tiger," from the story by Edgar Rice Burroughs, will extend to 15 episodes. The four others already selected are ''The Jade Box," "The Lightning Express," "Terry of the Times" and "Ace of Scotland Yard," the last being in production. 111 Dorothy Lee, who was in a Broadway chorus, when picked by Bert Glennon for a part in "Syncopation," has been added to the cast of "Rio Rita," which goes into production at the Radio Studios here. Sid Grauman Quits Exhibitor Ranks To Produce 'Rasty' Wright Will Be New Manager of Chinese Sid Grauman will retire completely from the exhibition field with the transfer to Fox of his interests in Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Grauman states that after the new owners assume control he will devote his entire time to other interests, most probably to the production of motion pictures, a field he long has wished to enter. He holds the picture rights to "The Turn in the Road." A well earned vacation of several months will come first. Probably no individual in the history of films has contributed as much as Grauman to the elaborate presentation of motion pictures as it is done today. He is given individual credit for being the first theatre magnate to introduce a symphony orchestra into a motion picture playhouse and for aggrandizing the picture prologue from a mere program of vaudeville acts into a glamorous atmospheric introduction rivaling extravaganzas of the legitimate stage. Grauman's history as a showman is as colorful as that of the late P. T. Barnum in the "big top" field. He first attracted wide attention with his father. Grauman was one of the first independent exhibitors in the country to recognize the future of the talking picture by equipping his theatre for both Movietone and Vitaphone projection. His prologue spectacles and elab • orate edifices have been imitated all over the world. Leading producers assert that he has been the guiding genius in the evolution of the motion picture theatre from the so-called prehistoric nickelodeons to the palaces of the day. And they predict a great future for the Grauman creative genius when it is turned loose in the field of motion picture production. "Rasty" Wright, for many years with the Fox-West Coast organization, and most recently at j^oew's State for past few years, will take over the management of the Chinese under Fox operation, next week. M-G-M's musical spectacle, "The Hollywood Revue of 1929," opens shortly, following the current "Broadway Melody." 111 Silent Film Being Made At Tec-Art International Film Productions, producing at Tec-Art Studios, are making a picture for foreign release, called "Why Women Love." The picture is being directed by Desiter Pek, also the producer, and in the cast are Gene Porter, Jack Donovan and Tibor von Jany, the latter a Hungarian actor. The picture will be released in Germany, Hungary and Czecho-Slovakia and several others of the Balkan countries. It is a silent picture.