Hollywood Spectator (Apr-May 1939)

developed within the industry to stimulate box-cilice receipts— the movie quizz contest — having proved a magnificent bust, it might be wise for it to accept a suggestion from the outside. If one producing organization is not brave enough to try the suggestion the Spectator advances, no doubt all the others could be persuaded to chip in until the production kitty became big enough to bear the cost of making just one picture that would be as true as is practical to its art medium, which would say more with its camera and less with the microphone, and in a large measure restore to the film theatre the peace and quiet which built the foundation upon which the entire industry now rests. The two billion dollars which rests on the foundation could be made secure by underpinning it with the kind of product the industry will make when it acquires knowledge of the nature of the business it is supposed to be in. ★ ★ ★ Can Do Nothing About It HILE the Spectator has no apologies to make for any opinion it expresses and will stand staunchly behind any statement it makes, it can go no farther than that in assuming responsibility for the effect of its utterances. I am impelled to make such statement because of the alarming possibilities suggested by a message the mailman brings me in the handwriting of an Oakland, California, subscriber, Barbara L. Bowman. It says, "The Spectator has just arrived, and as usual I am reading it instead of washing the breakfast dishes." If the writer is a Miss, living alone, there is no menace for the Spectator personnel in her neglect of her household duties, but if married, and perhaps to a fussy husband who can derive no esthetic pleasure from gazing on a pile of unwashed dishes, 1 wish to assure him the situation is one he will have to handle himself without dragging the Spectator into it. This paper regards itself as a crusader in a noble cause, and it cannot be swerved from its purpose by thoughts of egg stains hardening and marmalade congealing on dishes which need washing. ★ ★ ★ Fame That Jack Built ETRO has made a discovery. It has put Jack Mulhall under contract. A decade ago Jack was a reigning favorite. He never lost the quality which made him popular, but got trampled underfoot in the screen's mad rush for stage talent when pictures began to talk, a folly for which it now is paying in the form of constantly lessening box-office receipts. There are other Jack Mulhalls scattered through Hollywood, half of them women, and: it would pay all the studios to do some discovering. * ★ ★ Ray Golden Wanted to See It RARE theatrical treat was provided when Ray Golden and Everett Weil presented "Our Town" at Biltmore Theatre. It was daring of Thornton Wilder to take such a revolutionary step in dramatic writing, and much to the credit of Jed Harris to give it a New York production. How the play happened to get a Los Angeles showing is an interesting story. When Jed Harris was out here recently, Ray Golden urged the New York producer to send us the play, if for no other reason than that he, Ray, wanted to see it and did not have time to go to New York. "Well," said Jed, "bring it out yourself and have a look at it." And that is what Ray did. "Our Town" is one greatly human document I hope no picture producer will bring to the screen. The fine fabric which Wilder fashioned would have to be tortured to meet the demands of the camera for visual attractiveness. It is a play which belongs solely to the stage. However, it introduces to us in Martha Scott a talented and beautiful girl with great screen possibilities. And it reminds us that we would like to see more frequent appearances in pictures of Frank Craven and Ann Shoemaker, both of whom give superlative performances in the play. ★ ★ ★ To Tell Secret of Getting In SEEMS the public is becoming conscious that the film industry offers careers in something besides acting. The Spectator always had had plenty of mail asking it how the writers can get a chance to start acting careers, but for the last year it has received a steadily increasing number of requests for information about other openings. Some women have asked how they can get work in studios as designers of gowns for the stars, and one San Francisco woman asks how she can get started on a career as a film editor. We have heard from men who want to be art directors, cameramen, assistant directors, sound recorders, casting directors, still photographers, but, of course, most of those who write us want to direct pictures. It has been our practice to answer personally all such inquiries. But we have thought of a new plan. We do not know what one should do to get a job in pictures, but we can tell our readers how others got started, and that is what we intend to do. Our chunky Robert Watson is buzzing around interviewing people who now have jobs, directors, writers, technicians, cameramen. One man, for instance, owes a good job in pictures to ★ * ★ the fact that in Texas at one time he slept with a cobra to keep it warm. I think he is the only one who got in that way. However, beginning in the next Spectator we will publish a series of How-I-Got-Ins which should be interesting. Less Talk, More News ADIO broadcasting could do with a little more showmanship. My pet peeve now is the manner in which news is broadcast. Walter Winchell is the only one who seems to know how a radio commentator should operate. He gets the greatest possible number of news items into the time allowed him, consequently he has the greatest audience. He skims over the news, recently including twenty-seven items in his broadcast. I checked one of Pat Bishop's turns on the air. In a longer net time than is ing us the full names and titles of law officers who accorded Winchell, Pat presented eight news items, in one instance carrying his love for detail to the extent of givcrrrested an uninteresting criminal in an eastern city. All the other local news commentators have the same weakness. That is why Walter Winchell comes as a relief on Sunday nights. * * * La Hepburn a Hit OUR little Katy Hepburn has made the East sit up and take notice. She was not an outstanding success on the screen, but each of her appearances made one feel she had the stuff it takes and would be a success if only she could overcome whatever it was that was barring her progress. Her career on the stage was much the same, criticisms of her performances being more adverse than favorable. But at last she has made a real hit and no doubt before long will be back in Hollywood again. I quote from Stage, the excellent New York magazine which for years had been a monthly and now appears twice a month: "To Miss Hepburn the theatre should give the special wreath of absolution that it reserves for actors who redeem themselves nobly. There is nothing, in fact, that could be said against her performance in The Philadelphia Story.' It is extremely sincere and fresh and lovely. It has none of the monotony and none of the equine mannerisms that have annoyed her detractors. Of course she still speaks with her particular brand of PAGE FOUR HOLLYWOOD SPECTATOR