Inside facts of stage and screen (May 3, 1930)

SATURDAY, MAY 3, 1930 INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN PAGE FIVE Film Academy Planning National Publicity In Hollywood'"J\[ow By BUD MURRAY There is really some truth to “mind over matter,” to-wit: For the past few weeks writing “IN HOLLYWOOD, NOW,” all the ■writer has had on his mind, was trying to “bump” into people known years ago, and who are “IN HOLLYWOOD, NOW,” and thereby hangs the “tail”'—of our car. While driving home .Monday evening, going no more than 30 miles an hour, we were bumped into by a very jovial gentleman, who was imbibing fluidly, and our “tail” is ended. From now on we will not try to “bump” into people, but just meet them in the usual manner. At the fites at the Hollywood Legion Stadium Friday, Harry Gribbon, who has been a funny man for years, and plays for Sen- nett and Warner Bros, accused us of staging the Kennedy-Ross fol- de-rol. All the boys started sing- inf, “Sleep, Baby, Sleep,” but still Kennedy and Ross were out of step. Grib wanted to know if they were off-rhythm or on-rhythm, and he took us back to Trenton, N. J., stock in the good old days when Harry was leading comedian of the Trent Theatre and Sterling Hotel. His pet brother Eddie, who is also “IN HOLLYWOOD, NOW” was then aspiring to base- ball honors and pugilistic arts, and we were still using all the wigs and beards “Tams” had left. Right over there is a real actor of the highest merit, Charley Winnin- ger, who has been on the stage many years. We first remember the entire Winninger family play- ing through Minnesota in 1910 and later when Charley was at the Winter Garden 1919 Passing Show with his impersonations. Will you look at those two perfect juveniles whom we were with at the Winter Garden, Charley King and Barney Granville? And how young they look. Do you remember Charley in those Cohan plays, and Barney’s singing and marvelous eccentric dancing, and they are “IN HOL- LYWOOD, NOW.” Lo and be- hold a musical director, Max Steiner, now at RKO studios, who wielded the baton with “Le Maires Affairs” in 1925, whom we had many pleasant hours with. On the boulevard — Louis Ep- stein and Rube Berstein, both for- merly of burlesque. Louis after was A1 Jolson’s personal manager, and still later head man in the “Davey Lee” Road Show. He is now the artist’s personal manager. Rube has drifted into RKO studios as an executive, and he cannot miss. We do not want to go back too far with these two boys, but they are “IN HOLLYWOOD, NOW.” Will H. Philbrick, an all- round comedian who did character comedy of any type on Broadway for many years, who just came out here to play in the picture ver- sion of “Whoopee,” told us that everything on the lot is always un- decided, and after a few days of being buffeted about, Bill decided it was a case of “You’ll have towait until Martin comes.” We talked about the Passing Show of 1916, when Bill black-faced with Charley Mack, who is “IN HOLLY- WOOD, NOW.” How we would like to get a load of our old friend and tutor Zeke Colvan, Ziegfeld’s general stage director, who is also out here, in an executive capacity, relative to “Whoopee.” In his quiet way, we would love to get Zeke’s re- action to the passing-the-buck tac- tics, and his undertone remarks. Oh! that dry wit of Zeke’s. In the barber’s chair Charley Judels, formerly a Shubert director, and now at Warners’ directing, com- plains that he has only 20 more T 15 weeks to go at Warners. Gosh, what hard times. “Doing Our Bit” is the Winter Garden show we trouped together in in 1917-8, and they are both “IN HOLLY- WOOD, NOW.” At the Brown Derby, Si Bartlett with Alice White gives us a pass- ing hello, and reminds us of Le Maires Affairs, when Si was^ a Chicagoan, and now Si is acting right out loud in the movies, and sweet Alice, one of our former dance pupils; “you must come over;” aren’t they a fine looking couple, and they are “IN HOL- LYWOOD, NOW,” and it is ru- mored they soon will be one. Lucky pair. An unexpected visit from Mr. and Mrs. Eduardo Cansino, the last word in Spanish dancing; yes, you guessed it. They have a danc- ing school, too. Eudardo takes us back to the Winter Garden in 1918; we dressed together en tour, and the aforesaid Judels was their best man, and they are both still married to each other. What a novelty “IN HOLLYWOOD, NOW.” After a late rehearsal at “The Masquers,” into Henry’s being in- vited to sit with Jack Boyle, Mrs. Boyle and Jack, Jr. We talked about the “Passing Show of 1916,” when Jack and the writer were room-mates, and an expected ar- rival in the family was the cause of Jack making three false alarm trips to N. Y. from Washington, D. C., and the night he didn’t go, the fair-haired Junior came into being; you ought to see him the red-head, “IN HOLLY- WOOD, NOW.” A visit from Buster West before leaving for' a two weeks’ flyer in vaudeville between Christie pic- tures, He objects to the mention- ing of Tom Patricola, as the only living exponent of hard-shoe danc- ing. Yes, we must admit, Buster does do hard shoe dancing, and he almost got us into the same kind of arguments we had while the three of us trouped with George White’s Scandals, “Resin or no resin, that is the question.” Sally Starr at the fites, now at Pathe studios, getting along very fast, took us back to “Scandals” and “LeMaires Affairs. ” Billy Taft, practicing at our studio for a flyer in vaudeville, now under contract to First National, who made his first appearance here with our pet show “Good News,” our first out here. Jack Lester, now playing at George Olsen’s Nite Club, and who staged some very fine rhythm dances at the same club. Lillian Tashman with Edmund Lowe be- ing annoyed by a fog-voiced fite fan. May we say We remember Miss Tashman when the “Follies” meant something. Frank Fay all het up over the Hollywood, bouts; at one time we thought he was going to reach out and hit the slowest moving referee we have ever seen. Fay is another ex- Winter-Gardenite. Honest and truly, the Shuberts could open offices here, and in one call could get more Shubert actors, dancers, writers and directors than at any one time before. Wish we had space to mention them all. But you never can tell, some fine day one of those Shuberts, whether it’s J. J., Lee or Milton or Larry, will open here, and then watch out Wait, we are overlooking the fact that one of the Shuberts is out here “IN HOLLYWOOD, NOW, not really a blood relation, but he has been with them many years, our very dear friend (we are his namesake) Jules Murray, the gen- eral booking manager of the Messrs. Shubert. He says he is just looking around. Oh, yeah! Legitimate Theatres TO 00 EXPLOITATION Decision to expand the activities of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was made Fri- day night last week at a meeting of the Academy board of direc- tors that lasted until nearly mid- night. The important development of the meeeting was the appointment to a newly created post of Secre- tary of Public Relations of Clinton Wunder, one-time minister, organ- izer and lecturer on the motion picture. Wunder, who arrived in Hollywood last week, begins his new duties immediately. A program of establishing closer contact between the creative side of the motion picture industry and colleges, universities, religious and welfare groups will be undertaken. The Academy work along these lines, at present centered in Cali- fornia, will be extended through- out the country. Wunder, who will act as spokes- man for the 500 leaders in the arts and sciences of motion pic- tures, who make up the Academy, has had fifteen years of experience ■n branches of public relations. His functions will also include repre- sentation of the art branches of the industry in relation to censor- ship matters, it is stated. He was born and educated in Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduated from the city’s university, then entering publicity and newspaper work there. He later went to New York and was on the Y. M. C. A. interna- tional committee, worked on or- ganizing ‘Y” camps during the war, later enlisting and serving in the motor transport service as a lieutenant. Wunder took a post-graduate course at the Rochester Divinity School and became a Baptist min- ister. He organized and put through a $3,000,000 church-hotel skyscraper, then resigned from the ministry to join Ward, Wells and Dreshman, financial advisors to schools, colleges, churches, etc. During the past decade Wunder became well known in the east as a lecturer on motion pictures from the educational, religious and po- litical angles, speaking to about 100,000 people a year and address- ing many clubs and organizations. Wunder is reported to have been recommended for the Academy post by George Eastman, a per- sonal friend, having worked with Eastman on films for churches, schools and non-theatrical show- ings. He was here five years _ ago, studying studio activity and is re- ported widely acquainted in the industry, particularly in the east. In line with the expansion of the Academy, the present quarters at the Roosevelt Hotel will be en- larged in the near future ,it is stated. PASADENANAS DO ‘CANDIDA’ AGAIN HARVEY KARELS VALUE SCHOOL OF DANCING 7377 Beverly Blvd. OR. 2638 ALLES SHOW PRINT MA. 1681 -224 E. 4th St., Los Angeles- MA. 1682 Helen Freeman and Morgan Farley will be the guest-stars at the Pasadena Community Play- house in a revival of “Candida” opening on Thursday evening, May 8. Miss Freeman, who recently ar- rived from the East where she has been starred by the Theatre Guild, plays the title role in this Shavian comedy concerning matrimony. Morgan Farley comes from in “The American Tragedy” and “Fata Morgana” in New York to play the part of Eugene March banks, the aristocratic young poet- lover of Candida. Gilmor Brown will direct the production but also play the hus- band. Ralph Freud, Dorothy Adams and A1 Willard complete the excellent cast. ‘UP AND AT ’EM’ FIGUEROA PLAYHOUSE LOS ANGELES (Reviewed April 23) An all-colored revue that moves with whip-snapping speed, scintil- lates with hot music and a seem- ingly inexhaustible supply of cos- tumes, plus excellent showmanship. Without even the suspicion of plot or theme, this melange of music and mirth entertains from the first gurgle of harmony in the orches- tra pit. As a sample of the showmanship used, the interest of the audience is grabbed even before curtain rise by darkening the house for the overture and using a spot to pick out the solos and novelties, all of which scored heavy in returns. The Sonny Clay Recording Band proved to be the backbone of the show, although kept in the pit. The weakness of the show lies in the quality of material used for the skits and blackouts of the com- edy team of Lasses Brown and Stompy, who worked very hard to score with well-known gags and did indeed pull many shrieks from a younger generation not as fami- liar with them as mature show- goers. A few improvements here will make the show a sure winner. They scored heavily, however, in a shoe shining episode which nitro- duced something novel in the way of a dance routine; they stopped the show, in fact. Claude Collins, straight lead, and Albertina Pick ens and Cleo Covan assisted here. A line of 16 peppy high-brown girls and six boys furnished en- semble routines, with eight changes of colorful and original costumes, led by the Four Covans, a quar- tet of steppers hard to beat, with Willie Covan, who staged all the dance numbers, showing himself to be a superb atrist. Outstanding was the “Russian Ensemble,” sce- nically as well as in costuming and routining. Song numbers were contributed by Flo Washington, Albertina Pickens and Claude Collins, those getting most attention being “What a Wonderful Time,” “When You Are Blue Think of Me,” and “How Could Anything So Good Be Bad.” Among. numbers sung by a male quartet were “Water- melon On the Vine” and “You Call That Religion.” Sonny Clay is credited for all the musical num- bers. Walter Richardson, featured in the billing, appeared in a short song recital, offering “Way Down In Egypt’s Land,” “Water Boy” and “Old Man River,” and encor- ing with “Every Time I Hear the Spirit.” He showed good sense in staying within the color field with his repertoire, and interpreted his numbers with good feeling. He is a high baritone. Bill Robinson was called up out of the audience on this opening night and in addition to a nice lit- tle speech, delivered a couple of tap routines for big rewards. The production was staged by Bob Shaw, the multifarious cos- tumes made by Houda and the scenery by Martin Studios. A dis- tinguished audience crowded the theatre to capacity. Yeates. ‘THE STUDENT PRINCE’ MAJESTIC THEATRE LOS ANGELES (Reviewed April 24) This Lillian Albertson-Louis Macloon production of the de- servedly famous Donnelly-Rom- berg musical play reflects nothing but credit upon the producers, and upon the direction of Julian Fowlkes. The vehicle itself needs no extolling for its musical and dramatic virtues, and the local re- BETTY HEALY SIGNED Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has signed Betty Healy to appear in “The March of Time,” musical revue. WANTED USED DANCING MAT Phone Long Beach 320-113 vival is a distinguished accom- plishment. The opening night’s performance was smoothly successful, slowed up only bv the number of encores demanded. Allan Prior, in the leading role of Prince Karl Franz, scored a tremendous success, not only with his tenor voice but also through his dramatic ability and his most pleasing personality. He is idea! in the role. Another outstanding performance was that of Richard Powell in the role of the pompous Lutz, valet to the Prince. Powell invested the character with a comic artistry that proved one of the highlights of the production. He achieved hilarity without becoming broad or overshadowing any of the dignity and beauty of the main theme. Elvira Tanzi showed the effects of good direction in her handling of the part of Kathie, feminine lead. Her interpretation of the moods of the little peasant girl in- fatuated with the Prince was a great improvement over her “Des- ert Song” and “New Moon” per- formances, and her singing was sufficiently good. Excellent work was done by Russell Scott as Detlef, leader of the Saxon corps. His tenor voice, although light, showed to good ad- vantage and he gave valuable sup- port to the Prince. Among the other support play- ers, the diminutive Georgie Harris made an admirable amanuensis for the lanky Powell. Hedley Hall filled the part of Dr. Engel, tutor of the Prince, revealing a declam- atory voice that was most pleas- ing in the spoken lines. Ada Sin- clair handled the character part of Grand Duchess Anastasia with considerable credit,, and Blanche Le Clair made a beautiful blonde Princess. Don McNeill filled the part of Toni, waiter, with consid- erable success, especially in the third act, and Svlvia De Frankie made a delightful Gretchen. Thirty personable young men sang the choruses lustily and marched the routines with vigor and precision, supported by a bevy of flower girls and ladies in wait- ing. A noisy ovation greeted Allan Prior’s first appearance, repeated with, interest at the third act cur- tain. Among the musical num- bers, “Deep In My Heart” and “Serenade” inspired almost frenzied demonstrations. The scenic requirements of the play were very well met, the set for the third act, a palace interior, (Continued on Page 15) Most musical com- edies born on the Pacific Coast fail because the book lacks humor. If con- sulted in time, ‘Doc’ Jim Madison can prescribe the neces- sary comedy tonic. For consultation, address 4 6 5 South Detroit Street, Los Angeles. Phone ORegon 9407. HERBERT’S Good Food With Courtesy OPEN ALL NIGHT 745-749 South Hill Street Los Angeles Bachelor Hotel & Grill 151-159 Powell Street San Francisco