Inside facts of stage and screen (February 8, 1930)

SATURDAY, FEB. 8, 1930 INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN PAGE THREE NEW CONTRACT NEAR ADOPTION A Matter of Career The controversy which caused Stepin Fetchit to leave Co- lumbia, where he had been engaged for work in a picture, is a matter which is highly debatable, pro and con. Stepin, it seems, was to play the part of a Southern darkey, and all seemed well, the colored lad having himself been born in Florida and fully conversant with the requirements of his role. But in the script was a line which Stepin felt would misrepre- sent him as being a fresh and impertinent negro such as South- ern people will not stand for. As a consequence, the colored lad reasoned, if he spoke it he would make himself offensive to many of his current fans among the Southerners. And so he suggested to the director, Erie C. Kenton, that the line be changed and explained his reasons therefor. But Kenton, and other of the Columbia Studio membership failed to see any- thing objectionable in the line, and when Stepin continued to persist that the speaking of it would cause him great profes- sional injury, the film was halted and recast, with Clarence Muse in the colored role. Now, it is argued on the one hand, a performer engaged to play a part has pledged himself to play it, and that’s all there is to it. And if the production of the picture brings about shots which the actor does not like he nonetheless is ethically bound to go through with it. Otherwise, this opinion says, producers are subject to a financial hazard and a time hazard which is vastly unjust, and it is not until a picture is finished that they may be sure it will be done. Certainly if it becomes a practice for people to object to scenes and lines after casting is done and the picture started or ready to start, it would be a serious injury to tbe_ industry. And yet even a reading of the script prior to signing is not adequate protection for a player, as inflections and manner of delivery may be so changed after production has started as to make what appeared an innocent line in print become quite the opposite in the film. But on the other hand none will gainsay that the individual player must think of his career and cannot toss off lightly things which will antagonize his public. The studios certainly would not do so with someone they had made a star. No one for a moment expected to see Janet Gaynor in an unsympa- thetic role after “Seventh Heaven” had won her a big public for_ a certain type portrayal. Nor did First National permit their big silent day star Corinne Griffith to become aught but a Divine Lady.’ And John Gilbert’s vehicles were selected carefully to keep him as the screen’s foremost lover, etc., etc., etc. Had one of these players been borrowed by another stu- dio we may be sure that the home studio' would have seen most carefully that nothing was required of him or her which would jeopardize the star’s public appeal in that attribute which had won them to stardom. Then why should this not be so in the case of an individual player as well? Certainly, if it were a fact that the lines would antagonize the Southland—and there is no section of the country more easily offended, particularly m the matter of colored people—anything Step might have got out of the Columbia engagement, including omission of being branded in the public prints as “temperamental,” would have been far offset by the antagonism he would have aroused in this section. It is certainly a question with two distinct and highly argu- mentive sides to it and one which for the good of the industry is to be hoped will seldom arise. RUMOR MARKET HAS A BULLISH TREND After a prolonged and exceed- ingly dull period in the rumor market,' the mart again is busy with whisperings of one of the biggest mergers yet to be specu- lated upon. Nothing authentic, nothing authoritative but its spon- sors are more positive in declar- ing it so than was the case of many of the stories which later came to pass. This time, so the rumor brigade declares, Paramount will arise from the recent stock market panic with vastly increased holdings, in- cluding two of the biggest of the other studios. One phase of the declaration states that the Paramount finan- ciers already, some seven weeks ago, got hold of a big interest in Warners, close to if not actually the controlling interest. They say that this is to be followed by a merger with RKO, or some other dealings with that studio, which will see Paramount the command- ing figure in the new merger. If any such matters are com- ing to pass, it has not been re- flected in the stock quotations, and thus it becomes a matter of ex- treme doubt, as the wiliest of them don’t generally manage to keep such matters from the street for such a period as this. So be- lieve it or hot, just as you please; it’s passed on for what it may be worth. Snow Is Forty Feet Deep in L. A.—’tis Said Get this one from Florida. A picture actor, whose mother lives in Florida, got a letter from her this week hoping that he was all right. The why—well, here is the quotation: “I’ve been worried since reading about the terrible weather condi- tions out there. Last night’s paper said the snow was forty feet deep in Los Angeles.’’ NEW SERIES OF TIFFANY SHORTS TO START SOON A series of short features will enter production soon at Tiffany, with dancing and songs, featured. Norma Gould Production, re- cently organized, will be the pro- ducers, under the supervision of Tiffany executives. In natural colors, each story will portray a dramatic situation in which the dance is used sym- bolically. They will be two reels in length. A Spanish talking ver- sion will be made of each one. Oriel Lester Adams will direct the first. TO DO COSTUMES ZOILA IN ‘FLAME’ Zoila Conan has been signed for her first picture by Pathe. She is playing the role of the Gypsy sweetheart of Fred Warren in “The Flame of the West,” speak- ing both in dialect and in the Spanish language. Miss Conan will be remembered as having played the ingenue in “The Front Page” and “The Squall” at the Belasco. She returned to L. A. from a stock engagement in Sacramento and was selected by Wallace Fox, who is directing the Pathe picture. Corinne, costume designer who has opened a studio at the Tec- Art studios, has ben doing a splen- did business with her unique crea- tions for private as well as thea- trical affairs. She was the de- signer for several big shows in Chicago and New York before she came to Los Angeles, and has re- cently been the creator of cos- tumes for Fanchon and Marco previous to opening her present studio. She has just signed a con- tract with Roger Gray to create the costumes for his “Going Holly- wood” musical comedy which is booked to open at the Biltmore late this month. PROVIDES TWELVE HOURS OF REST TO FOLLOW WORK DAY A standard contract limiting the number of hours of work per week for picture actors seemed near this week. But whether it would be a 54- hour week or in effect a 72-hour week, or either, was far from definite. But it seemed rather defi- nite that, unless there was a sud- den change of sentiment, it would be the latter rather than the for- mer. The new contract, while, from the fact that it was drafted under auspices of the Academy of Mo- tion Picture Arts and Sciences, apparently had tentative sanction of the motion picture producers of the M. M. P. D. A., had yet to be accepted by their representatives officially. The contract, in an alternative form, was proposed at a meeting of motion picture actors and act- resses at a meeting in the Roose- velt Hotel Monday night. One big point stressed at the gathering was . that the contract was the worlc of Hollywood picture people, with the New York legions now in the picture capital not taken into consideration in its drafting, though they would naturally come under its provisions. Limit On Hours Many saw this angle as a de- liberately planned move to fore- stall any further attempt of the Actors’ Equity Association to gain a foothold in the picture field. A noteworthy circumstance was that approximately 90 per cent of the more than 200 persons at the meeting were Equity members. Salient points of the proposed agreement were, first in impor- tance concerning the matters of hours of work per week. This item had been stressed in a tele- gram sent to the selected invitees, reading as follows: “Committee of actors and pro- ducers are working on new stan- dard contract for free lance play- ers contract. Complete except lim- itation of hours. Two solutions presented for actors decision next Monday night eight o’clock Acad- emy Roosevelt Hotel. You are invited. (Signed) Robert Edeson, Law- rence Grant, Sam Hardy, Conrad Nagel, Wallace Beery, Rod LaRocque and others.” Equity Leaders Of those whose names were signed Sam Hardy and Lawrence Grant were fiery orators for Equity during the A. E. A. strike in Hollywood last summer. Con- rad Nagel was generally consid- ered leader of the opposition party of the A. E. A., and foremost pro- ponent of the attitude that the re- quest for a new form of contract should be negotiated on the ac- tors’ part by Hollywood actors alone, with the New Yorkers not included in the negotiations. Wal- lace Beery and Rod LaRocque were attendants at the so-called “Nagel meetings” during the strike and never expressed themselves as for the Equity contract ad- vanced by President Frank Gill- more. The present meeting was exactly such as Nagel had advocated dur- ing the strike, and at that time his utterances were generally be- lieved “inspired” by the producers, though this, of course, was not definite one way or the other. Be that as it may, Nagel was the center of things at the meeting Monday, seemingly -understood by those present to be the pivotal point of the meeting. Not Anti-Equity The meeting opened with as- surances that the gathering had no anti-Equity complexion. But this was followed by the revelations that a big drive was to be made to swell the Academy membership, with the purpose of giving this body a local autonomy to treat with the producers in all matters concerning the acting department of pictures. Following failure of the Equity strike a strong demand among members was for local au- tonomy for the western branch, and the Equity members present Monday felt that the Academy membership drive was planned as a further assurance against any (Continued on Page 5) Charles Boyle This clever juvenile comedian is playing a featured role in Lillian Albertson’s musical operetta, “The New Moon,” which is at present playing to capacity audiences at the Majestic Theatre, Los Angeles. Before his present engagement, Boyle was appearing in pictures, most recently in Christie Comedies. He is an excellent bet for either stage productions or talkies and it’s a cinch one of these fields will secure his signature to a long-term contract before long. Boyle is under the exclusive personal management of Louis O. Macloon. Bob Hamilton Proving Ace In Orph Draw Bob Hamilton, organist, whose picture appears on page one of this issue of Inside Facts, has hit right into the heart of local popu- larity with his novelty programs on the “speaking organ.” And Bob certainly can make it talk. Hamilton first started proving himself a big and repeat drawing card on the coast when he was engaged for the Hillstreet The- atre, now the RKO Theatre, about a year ago. Right off the bat he introduced organ novelties com- bined of the kind of tunes and comedy they wanted plus either cartoon or movie illustrations on the screen. With the house then playing straight RKO vaude and non-featured pictures, Bob was rated one of the big drawing cards of the spot. When the policy changed to feature pictures and vaude support* Bob still held up his reputation of having a big bloc of weekly fans whose admis- sion price jingled into the till be- cause of him, and the management recognized him for a sure-fire puller. So it was natural -that when the RKO people transformed their Orpheum into their class local picture house, they pulled Bob over to where they wanted the steady fans to go. Bob more than met their confidence in him by putting on a novelty “Meet the Organ,” which went over like a million. The Orpheum management recognized his drawing power im- mediately and treated him to plugs as a feature at the house. Bob had another neat surprise for the customers with the open- ing of “No, No, Nanette” this week, putting on “The Organ Speaks” and making the organ do _ some talking that had them giving him a big hand at the opening shows and which can’t fail to do likewise for those that follow. And the best of it is, as his Hillstreet record proved, -that he can keep up this rate indefi- nitely, each offering being up to the high standard he has set him- self. Occasionally Bob pulls a COAST MUSICIANS JOIN Ml PROTEST SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 6.— Under the leadership of Walter Weber, president, and Albert Greenbaum, secretary, Musicians’ Union, Local No. 6, has appointed an active committee to work with the entire Federation in a na- tional campaign against canned music. Committee is composed of Wal- ter Weber, chairman; Frank Bar- nett, secretary; Karl A. Dietrich, William F. Koch, Max Nelson and Charlea Messner. Members are mailing out cou- pons, asking the recipient to sign and return to Union headquarters with a protest against the elimina^ tion of “in-person” music for the- atres. ' FOWLER IN PRODUCTION Madge Bellamy has been signed to render a group of songs for Herman Fowler’s Varieties. Ed Wills, brother of the late Nat Wills, has also been signed to do his hobo act. Norman Iver, bari- tone from the East, will also be filmed. Work at the new Fowler studios commenced last Thursdav MICROPHONE G. M. Rex Whitted, who was con- nected with the club department of the West Coast for over two years, is now general manager of the Hollywood Microphone studio. FIFI DORSAY BACK Fifi Dorsay has returned to the Fox studios after a 10-week en- gagement in Fox West Coast Theatres. Her first assignment is to sing the leading feminine role with J. Harold Murray in “Hell’s Belles,” a musical which Alex- ander Korda will direct. classic organ number, his “Rain- storm” and others at the former stand, having had the customers in an applause stampede which would have brought joy to the heart of any headliner.