Hollywood Spectator (1937-39)

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Page Six September 18, 1937 today. Hitchcock might as well argue that a man who selects a canvas, buys the color and brushes and picks out a landscape, contributes more to the painting than the artist who paints it. * * * WE HEAR IT THE FIRST TIME . . . HEN radio broadcasting begins to develope mentally to catch up with its technical advances, I hope the first manifestation of its newly acquired intelligence will be the elimination of tautological signings-on, such as: “This is the Chase & Sanborn hour, presenting Don Ameche as master of ceremonies,” followed instantly by: “This is the Chase & Sanborn hours; Don Ameche speaking.” You can multiply it by almost the total number of sponsors represented on the air. * * * PERSONS AND PERSONALITIES . . . RANK JENKS is a character actor whose performances I always enjoy; an important and suitable role would gain him great popularity. . . . Some producer should make it his business to develope the boxoffice possibilities of Madge Evans, a charming girl who has everything that makes for success on the screen. . . . Tom Jackson, seen frequently as a hardboiled detective, could win a prize at a country fair for the marmalade he makes. . . . Jonathan Hale is a bird-lover; in the spring prowls around on the alert for nests of baby birds whose mothers have been killed: takes little ones home, feeds them by hand, sets them loose when they are big enough to go it alone. . . . I would enjoy seeing the stalwart, dignified, handsome David Torrance in a good part. . . . No one else can deliver a comedy line with quite as much expression as Jean Arthur puts into it. . . . I would like to see another production directed by Joe von Sternberg. . . . And a really important story directed by young Frank McDonald. ... Of all the noted stage actors in pictures I know no one who possesses greater elements that make for screen popularity than Joe Schildkraut. . . . The great success of The Prisoner of Zenda is a tribute to the lasting power of Ronnie Colman’s popularity. . . . There is one thing I want to do when I listen to one of Jimmy Fiddler’s open letters — and I do mean booh: but we must say this for Jimmie — he’s making good money and, if careful, probably will not have to end his days in an old ladies’ home. ... If Leo Carrillo really runs for governor of the state, he can count on all the votes in my family. . . . Just heard of another of Marion Davies’ charitable acts: would annoy her greatly if I told of it, for not more than one in twenty of her benefactions is known by even her close friends: there is a great Irish heart inside Marion. . . . Will Jack Benny please move over and give Mary Livingstone a place beside him in the acting hall of fame? In her first picture, This Way, Please, Mary comes through with flying colors. . . . Dropped in on the De Mille set at Paramount to say hello to C. B.; New Orleans waterfront set smelled so fishy I beat it to stage 13 and watched Frank Lloyd shooting Abraham Lincoln for his Wells Fargo ; good director, Frank. . . . Also visited Kurt Neumann when he was directing Mary Carlisle and John Howard in a love scene; Kurt told me the SPECTATOR has taught him a great deal: reads it thoroughly. . . . George Lewis, former screen juvenile, is rehearsing for the play in which Sylvia Sidney will star in New York. . . . Harriet Hilliard has a charming, appealing screen presence: I like her singing. * * * MEETS WITH OUR APPROVAL . . . SCRAPPING a whole lot of writing which had the stage as a background for The Goldwyn Follies story, Sam has changed the locale and will present his picture against the background of a Hollywood film studio. Thus once more our most astute producer demonstrates his astuteness. But the idea was in the Warner Brothers studio before Sam thought of it. On January 12th last, when Sam was having his story written against a stage background, I wrote a letter to Hal Wallis, Warner production chief. To show how thoroughly I agree with Sam on the wisdom of his switch, I quote from my letter to Hal, a letter, by the way, which produced no results: “At present all the song-dance-spectacle pictures are imitations of one another and all have the same theme: a struggle to produce a stage show. The film industry doesn’t seem capable of thinking about anything else. If the stage had a hold on the imagination of the public to justify the theme, there would be legitimate theatres in all the cities in the country. To the public at large the stage is about the deadest theme there is, yet all of you constantly present it. And all the time it is getting harder to think up anything new about it. What is the world’s most glamorous form of entertainment? The screen. Very well — make a picture showing how the adventuresome young hero is struggling to make a picture. The story is right under the noses of all you producers — has been for years — and none of you has seen it. In the screen you have a background the whole world is aching to see more intimately, a background which would make reasonable the great spectacles you now make unreasonable by trying to make us believe they are staged in theatres. The screen is alive. The stage is dead. Get on a live one!” * * * OLIVIA ON SCREEN ACTING . . . STAGE acting consists of a player’s absorption in his role and his conscious projection of it to an audience separated from him by the footlights. Screen acting consists of as complete absorption, but does not concern itself with the projection of his emotions to the audience. On the stage a player has to act his part: on the screen, he has to feel it. That is why players without stage training must, in the long run, become the best screen actors. Of course,