Hollywood Spectator (1937-39)

Page Four January 30, 1937 thetic parts he plays so well. . . . Thirty-five years ago I reported international field trials for Forest and Stream, New York; watched the most famous setters from U. S. and Canadian kennels at work in the open, one of the most enjoyable jobs in my career as reporter. . . . Bobbie, intellectual, writer of books; P. H., her husband, successful business man, civic leader, phoned us they were at a Los Angeles hotel. We were delighted ; hadn’t seen them for years. Their first visit to Hollywood. Quick phoning to studios to arrange for their meeting stars on sets. Lunch at Brown Derby. No interest whatever in studios or stars ; wanted to see only us. Bet Bobbie a pair of gloves that before she left town she would be in love with a movie actor. She laughed me to scorn. Took them out to Carl Spitz’s place in San Fernando valley, introduced Buck, magnificent St. Bernard actor, to Bobbie; Carl directed Buck to act as if he were her dog. This morning the mailman brought me a nice pair of gloves. * * * FROM the Examiner gossip column: “Douglas Montgomery’s many friends welcoming him after an absence of over a year at Helen Ferguson’s cocktail party.” Hollywood is noted for guests who do not know when to go home, but when Doug stays at one party over a year — well, really, someone should speak to him about it. Someone also should suggest to Helen that she divide her parties into six months shifts to allow her to get some sleep. This marathon thing is pretty well played out, and, anyway, there are available few prospective guests sturdy enough to stick it out for over a year on a diet of nothing but cocktails and Hollywood conversation. The fact of Doug’s having done it merely points to him as the exception that proves the rule; he should be given the prize for endurance and we should be permitted to forget the whole thing. * * * rHE box-office value of a picture must be, in the long run, in ratio to its adherence to the fundamental principles of the art of which it is a unit. The basic appeal of a picture gets its strength from the degree in which it observes cinematic laws. Given any permissible theme and made in reasonable length, a picture which strictly obeys the laws must have general appeal. Not all, of course, would have the divine spark of greatness, but none would be an artistic failure, and with appropriate themes and care exercised in applying to them the laws of the art, there should be no financial failures. * * * CLASS B pictures form the bulk of the output of major studios, but they do not receive the consideration their commercial importance demands. Under the block-booking system their producers are assured a profit on them before they are released and exhibitors have to carry' the burden of their lack of box-office draw. Some day a wise producer is going to realize the potentialities of his class B pictures, put the best brains in his organization on them and steal a march on his competitors. It may be a long grind, but eventually he will make his trademark mean so much to the public that he will not have to rely on big names as a box-office asset. The public buys automobiles on the strength of their makers’ names. There is no fundamental difference between marketing automobiles and marketing motion pictures. “An Atlas Picture” can be made to mean as much on a theatre marquee as “A General Motors Car” means in an automobile advertisement. For all the scores of millions of dollars it has spent on exploitation throughout the years, the name MetroGoldwyn-Mayer has less box-office value than that of Robert Taylor. A Taylor picture gets its importance from Bob’s name. If the film industry conducted its affairs on sound business principles, Bob would be important because of his appearance in a Metro picture, and the picture, not Bob, would be the thing of box-office value. * * * ONE bit of evidence indicating increased interest through. out the country in the study of the screen is the constant demand for my book, Know Your Movies. It is out of print. After the first edition was printed the plates were destroyed. I was disappointed with it in spite of the generous things said about it by book reviewers. The editions sold out, more because of the lack of such books than by virtue of the merits of mine. As soon as I can find the time, I will make an effort to write another which will more nearly satisfy me. In the meantime this paragraph will serve as notice that there are no more copies of Know Your Movies available. m m m NIFERSAL is said to be preparing a story with an operatic background for Deanna Durbin’s second picture. I suppose it is inevitable — the child can sing, therefore she must be presented as a singer in a grand opera atmosphere, even though no grand opera presents one of its characters as a singer. The strength of Adele Comandini’s story, Three Smart Girls, Deanna’s current success, lies in her characterization as merely a child who is taking singing lessons. That is as far toward grand opera as a picture should go. But it should go in the other direction— it should present singers without mentioning their singing. To give Deanna Durbin an opera house background is a mistake. * * * HEN Billy and Bobby Mauck, identical twins, appear in The Prince and the Pauper, it will be the first time in the history of the stage or the screen, as far as I am able to discover, that twins played together in parts calling for a perfect resemblance. * * • HIS from the Motion Picture Herald: “Official word came this week from the WPA of an expected drastic reduction in the federal theatre project, which has been taking some 425,000 potential customers away from film theatres every week — a potential loss of $2,420,000 to motion picture box-offices.” Motion pictures themselves are responsible for the loss of their 425,000 customers; the federal theatre project did not take them away from picture houses. It merely caught them when pictures failed to hold them. Instead of viewing with satisfaction the elimination of competition, the film industry should welcome it and make its product entertaining enough to hold its audience in spite of all counter attractions.