Inside facts of stage and screen (January 25, 1930)

SATURDAY, JAN. 25, 1930 INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN PAGE THREE FOX PICTURE BEST OF MONTH Month’s Best in Pictures BEST PICTURE: ‘ROMANCE OF THE RIO GRANDE’ Best performance: Warner Baxter in “Romance of the Rio Grande.” Best performance, opposite sex: Beryl Mercer in “Seven Days’ Leave.” Best character performance (exclusive of Miss Mercer) : Rob- ert Edeson in “Romance of the Rio Grande.” Best heavy: Antonio Moreno in “Romance of the Rio Grande.” Best heavy,-opposite sex: Nothing outstanding. "Best comedy: Jack Oakie in “Hit the Deck.” Best comedy, opposite sex: Nothing outstanding. Best juvenile: Robert Montgomery in “Their Own Desire.” Best ingenue: June Clyde in “Tanned Legs.” Honorable mention for performances: Mona Maris, Antonio Moreno and Robert Edeson in “Romance of the Rio Grande”; J. C. Nugent in “Navy Blues”; Lila Lee, Conrad Nagel and Hugh Huntley in “Second Wife”; Ruth Chatterton and Clive Brooke in “The Laughing Lady”; Gary Cooper in “Seven Days’ Leave.” Best story: “Second Wife,” from Fulton Oursler’s stage play “All the King’s Men”; and “Seven Days’ Leave,” from J. M. Barrie’s “The Old Lady Shows Her Medals.” Candidates for ten best pictures of the year: “Romance of the Rio Grande” (Fox); “Second Wife” (Radio Pictures) ; “Seven Days’ Leave” (Paramount); “Show of Shows” (Warner Brothers). CLOSING DUE ID ‘OPEN SHOP'try Sudden closing of the Actors’ Theatre,- formerly the Orange Grove on Grand Avenue, was this week disclosed as having been due to refusal of Equity to permit its members to work with non-union stage hands. The venture was to a certain degree a co-operative proposition, the major members of the stock cast taking .stock in part pay- ment for their services. But the minor parts were filled by people who were protected by Equity bond and regulations. The house opened with regular union stage hands, but the time arose when salaries for them were not forthcoming and it was planned to continue with make-shift stage hands from among the members of the organization. Equity re- fused to permit this state of af- fairs and its members left the cast. Upon which the house closed. All salaries for the Equity people were settled, and those who agreed to go in on the stock prop- osition -made what arrangements they could in their own individual cases. DUFFY DENIES RUMORS OF GIVING UP HOUSE Rumors have been flying loose and careless anent the financial condition of Henry Duffy and his policy. They have had him in all sorts of financial difficulties, offering his houses at a sacrifice, trying to borrow money, etc., etc. In view of this, a representative of this paper asked Henry Duffy as to his financial status and he got as comprehensive an answer as could be desired. Henry Duffy has grown from a condition of almost straitened circumstances into almost mil- lionaire proportions in less than five years. Not only is he affluent but he also owns several of the theatres upon his chain in fee sim- ple. In San Francisco, he not only owns the President Theatre but a large portion of the prop- erty adjoining, being one of the most valuable properties in the downtown district. The rumor that he is trying to dispose of one of his local houses is true only in the sense that he has a price for any of his hold- ings and is willing to let go of the President or Hollywood Play- house if any of the several bid- ders will meet his demands, but none of the Duffy houses is on the bargain counter. FOX UNIT FINDS COLD GOING ON LOCATION SEATTLE, Jan. 23. —Wading through nearly three feet of snow, some of them for the first time in their lives, 55 members of a Fox Film Co. unit are “on loca- tion’’ in Mt. Rainier National park. Coming from “hothouse” stu- dios in California, where the tem- perature races near the 80 mark, to a country where the ther- mometer drops to zero at night, is somewhat of a change but the actors don’t seem to mind it. “The Girl Who Wasn’t Wanted” is the picture being filmed on the mountain, and included in the cast are George O’Brien, Helen Chandler and Antonio Moreno. PAR READYING SEVEN Paramount is preparing seven pictures for early production, “The Benson Murder Case,” to be di- rected by Frank Tuttle with an all-star cast; “The Light of West- ern Stars,” starring Richard Arlen, to be directed by Otto Brower and Edwin Knopf; “Safety in Numbers,” starring Charles “Bud- dy” Rogers, with Victor Schertz- inger directing; “The Devil’s Sun- day,” starring Nancy Carroll, di- rected by Edmond Goulding; “The Texan,” an all-star cast, under the direction of John Crom- well; “The Return of Fu Man- chu,” also with an all-star cast and Roland V. Lee directing, and one untitled, uncast and with di- rector assigned under the the su- pervision of B. P. Zeidman. ‘Head Man Dispute in M & M Team Moran and Mack, the two black crows, are now doing their act in Judge Handby’s court. Mack put one over on Moran the latter al- leges. by which Mack aspired to be head man of the act. He claims that Mack got him to sign an agreement whereby Mack was to be manager of the team. When he wanted the agreement can- celled, Mack refused and claims that he has received no money as compensation for signing the papers. The petition states that Mack’s name formerly was Charles E. Sellers and Moran’s name was George Searcy, which they changed for stage purposes. They first joined hands in 1917 and later originated the skit, “Two Black Crows,” which became a sensa- tional hit as a phonograph rec- ord a couple of years ago, and which formed the basis of the Paramount picture, “Why Bring That Up.” They separated Janu- ary 11, 1929. Moran seeks to prevent Mack from using the team name of Moran and Mack and also from using the name “Two Black Crows.” Judge Hanby has issued a temporary injunction returnable January 30. FACE NEW CHARGE MOSBY CASE OUT Curtis Mosby, owner of the Apex Night Club, got a break when his case for possession of two pints of whiskey came up be- fore Judge Curtis last week. The case had already been tried, re- sulting in a hung jury, but since then one of the police officers who raided the club is dead and another is a fugitive from justice and so the case was dismissed. Sam Landesman and Gene Lath- rop, managers of a Main street girl show, have been charged with criminal contempt of court for al- legedly advising Dixie Lee, one of their employees arrested upon an indecent show charge, to stay out of court. Seven girls refused to obey the court order. The girls are Babe Perry, Johnnie Talber, Gary Powell, Helen Martin and Myrtle Madison. THREE OTHERS ARE ' Inside Facts last week discon- tinued its “Bests of the Week in Pictures” box, a feature which it carried through the last year. The feature was inaugurated at a time when many new angles were be- ing tried in the talkies, and at that time therefore we considered it a feature which would aid in show- ing audience reaction to the vari- ous brand of films. Now, however, with ithe lines of production much more definitely formed, it is felt that the box may frequently work an injustice. It has happened frequently that a comparatively weak picture would rate the best of the week, whereas if its release had been a week later, it wouldn’t have rated any- where in the running. So we are changing the “Bests” box to a monthly feature, the first appearing in this issue. Pictures Reviewed Reviewed during the month were the following feature pictures: “Hit the Deck,” “Tanned Legs” and “Second Wife” (RKO); “Ro- mance of the Rio Grande,” “Hot for Paris” and “South Sea Rose” (Fox); “Glorifying the American Girl,” “The Laughing Lady” and “Seven Days’ Leave” (Para- mount); “Oh Yeah” and “His First 'Command” (Pathe); “Navy Blues” and “Their Own Desire” (M-G-M); “Taming of the Shrew” and “New York Nights” (United Artists); “The Lost Zeppelin” (Tiff:any), and “Show of Shows,” Warner Brothers. Of these pictures, Inside Facts gives first place to “Romance of the Rio Grande,” a Fox picture directed by Alfred Santell and having Warner Baxter back in his Mexican caballero role, thus making the picture somewhat like a sequel to “In Old Arizona.” An excellent cast helped put this one in first place, with special mention for excellent performances due Baxter, Mona Maris, Antonio Mo- reno and Robert Edeson. Director Honor Roll Directors who particularly dis- tinguished themselves during the month were: Alfred Santell for his “Romance of the Rio Grande,” Fox. Richard Wallace for his “Seven Days’ Leave,” Paramount. John Adolfi for his “Show of Shows,’’ Warner Brothers. Russell Mack for his “Second Wife,” Radio Pictures. Luther Reed also had an excel- lent musical comedy in “Hit the Deck,” Radio Pictures. Pictures which signally fell be- low standard program dimensions were “Glorifying the American Girl”—Millard Webb, Paramount; “South Sea Rose”—Alan Dwan, Fox; “Navy Blues” — Clarence Brown, M-G-M. Inside Facts’ first “Best of the month” box is printed elsewhere on this page. COONS WITH PATHE Maurice Coons, fictionist and playwright, arrived in Hollywood late last week under contract to Pathe. Popular Pair At Loew’s In ‘Trees’ Idea Ted Reicard and Christel Le Vine, whose picture appears on the front page of this issue of In- side Facts, are both well known favorites of musical comedy, hav- ing appeared in such productions as “Sally,” “Irene,” “Going Up,” “Student Prince,” “Naughty Mari- etta,” “Firefly,” “No, No, Nan- ette,” “Wildflower,” and “Merry Widow.” Ted possesses not only good looks, but also a great voice plus some real personality and show- manship, while his partner, a cute blonde, with plenty of appeal, is also very versatile. The pair are artists in their line of toe, tap and soft shoe dancing. They were featured in Fanchon and Marco’s “Beaus . and Bows Idea” and they are appearing this week at Loew’s State, Los An- geles, in the “Trees Idea.” The Young Smart Song Comedian HEADLINING ORPHEUM CIRCUIT Eddie Pardo (Assisted by Blanche Latell) In a Sophisticated Twentieth Century Vehicle Written by Himself While at the Palace, New York, N. Y. Telegram said: “Pardo had them begging for more.” Variety said: “He is sure fire.” Zit’s said: “Plenty of personality this boy.” Now at the R.K.O. Theatre, Los Angeles Week of January 23 Los Angeles JED BUELL NOW HEAD OF SENNETT PUBLICITY Jed Buell, former L. A. theatre manager, has taken office as chief of publicity at the Mack Sennett Studios. Buell was manager of the West- lake Theatre, bringing it into prominence as the ace preview house of Southern California about a year and a half ago. He left this position to go with the Laem- mle chain, and was with them until the houses were sold to Fox. He then went into the story busi- ness, his most notable sale being the story “Reno,” to Sono-Art, which organization is now making the picture with Ruth Roland doing a starring come-back in pictures, in it. The story is by Cornelius Vanderbilt. MAKING SONG SERIES The Van Beuren Corporation is making a group of six “Song Sketches” to be released by Pathe. First three are entitled “Manda- lay,” “The Trumpeter” and “Songs Our Mothers Used to Sing.” In- cidentally, “Mandalay” was booked into the George M. Cohan The- atre in New York with the long run of “Hunting Tigers in India” and proved so successful that it is now held over with the run of “Blaze o’ Glory,” a Sono Art Production. HOYT NAMED TO POST Harry O. Hoyt has been selected by George W. Stout, president of the newly formed Equitable Pic- tures Corporation, as production manager for the new concern. Hoyt is in Hollywood working on plans for Equitable’s production schedule, due to get under way within a few weeks. Equitable Pictures are for exclusive release by The Motion Picture Congress, the new distribution organization formed for a close link-up with unaffiliated exhibitors. LUCILLE LA VERNE OPENS AT VINE ST. Lucille LaVerne is opening at the Vine Street Theatre Sunday in a production of “Sun Up,” which she played at the Mason and Egan theatres here for a total of 27 weeks in 1927. Whether options on the reported lease will be re- newed for future productions de- pends upon the success of “Sun Up,” it is rumored, and also upon whether or not Miss LaVerne’s portrayal of the stellar part which is one of the best things she has done, gets her a sufficiently en- ticing bid from the talkies. _ “Sun Up” has a good record, be- sides the local runs having played three seasons in New York, and also runs in Paris and London. Grace Tryon, Miss LaVerne’s daughter, will be in the supporting cast, which also will have Don Travis, Harry Willard, James Ryan, Arthur Turner Foster, Fer- dinand Rodrigue# and Byron Shores. Miss LaVerne will stage direct. TO DIRECT HARDING Russell Mack, director of the dialogue in “Rio Rita,” and whose first picture, “Second Wife,” made for Radio Pictures, is hailed by studio officials as showing excel- lent directorial ability, is to direct Ann Harding’s next picture for Pathe. Several stories are under consideration, with tentative plans being made to start in a couple of weeks. TWO HOUSES WIRED Symphony Theatre, Compton, Calif., and Lynnwood Theatre in Lynnwood, both owned by A. Hanson of the National Theatre Supply Company, are being wired with Western Electric equipment.