Inside facts of stage and screen (May 24, 1930)

SATURDAY, MAY 24, 1930 INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN PAGE FIVE TO BOOK 500 HOUSES FROM L. A. STORY MARKET TO I0E Horton May Produce Stock Season at Holly w’d Playhouse F- E IS WRITERS’ HOPE When the picture producers ex- haust their supply of available re- makes, the Hollywood story mar- ket is going to “crack wide open.” At least that’s the belief which is making for a bigger (and maybe better) turnout of originals in the cinema city at the present time, and which has all the story agents keeping the office doors open de- spite a not-so-good condition, in their line of business for the past year or two. Wandering among the story agents disclosed an activity far be- yond that which is warranted by the actual sale of originals to the studios. Except for the big name writers of pictureland, the freelance writing field went floppo when the indes got submerged in the sea of sound. The story agents, who for- merly managed to pay the rent and then some by fairly frequent sales to the independent field, with al- ways a chance for a comparative clean-up by disposal of a novel to one or the other of the big studios, found a tough situation confront- ing them when almost overnight their market became limited to the major production plants. The man who had to make the story was available in the inde studios, and if there was a good one to market he could be sold. But the routine of the big studios was a hard hill to climb. There are as many “no-men” in the reading departments as there are yes-men in the asst, dir, div., and salesmanship didn’t mean a thing because the man who would be interested in getting a good story—the director or the producer —could not be reached through the barrier- of the readers. Changing Demand The result was a big bear market for writers and agents. But changing public reaction to pictures was a rift in the clouds. The pictures rushed to New York for everything that town had to offer, and what they got was a lot of ultra-sophistichted stuff that Graf-zepped miles over the heads of the juvenile mentalities of the picture audiences. Th'e writing is on the wall for this class of stuff, with occasional boxoffice knockouts in the field excepted. They want ’em “movie.” There was another supply, how- ever, and that was the remake field. The old silent scripts were dup up, given conversation, and foisted out on the public as some- thing new. A very questionable policy, and one which, so the opin- ion goes, is due to skid fast and hard. How They See It So, reasons the writing field, with the New York plays barred by their too sophisticated trend, with the remakes due to fade as twice- sold goods, and with the public wanting ’em movie, where else are, the producers going to turn except to the movie writers? Glimpses Seen By the Office Pick-Up Man The Sisters G. going into the Knickerbocker . . . masculine necks craned for half a block each way . . . Frank Leigh getting the glad hand around the Tiffany lot . . . Wesley Barry also giving this spot the o. o. . . . Arthur Q. Hager- man in his new office admitting that “Journey’s End” is knocking ’em dead . . . Joseph Swikard out for a Sunday morning airing bright and early (11:30 a. m.) . . . Joan Crawford obliging with a score of autographs at the “John Ganton” first night . . . Boris Kar- loff of “The Criminal Code” tak- ing his Scotch Terrier for a prom- enade along the Boulevard . . . and being stopped pretty often by dog admirers . . . Lionel Belmore greeting friends from Highland Avenue to Vine Street . . . They all know Lionel, and he’s some greeter . . . Fred Sullivan rushing around at a lot of miles per despite Tuesday’s heat . . .v He’s a busy man, Fred . . . Jimmy Bush en route to N. Y. on 24 hours’ notice to take part on Broadway . . . and he made it all right . . . Miss Soo Young, mistress-of- ceremonies of the Mei Lan-Fang organization, inquiring around Hol- lywood about the picture situation ... all in her Oriental garb, too . . . Abe Levine explaining for the steenth time that printed reports that he ’s Tiffany’s new casting director were erroneous . . . Wil- son B. Heller telling the_ world that there are plenty of miniature golf courses around So. Cal . . . Norman Sper trying for a hole- in -one on one of them . _. . Lar- ry Darmour glad - handing the RKO convention delegates . . . A1 Herman doing likewise while thinking out new gags for his Darmour kid series . . . Mark Larkin from a trip up the coast and facing a mountain of mail . . . Hal Reid, thinking about a jour- ney to the effete East . . . them there New Yawk lights is beckon- ing . . . Maurice Chevalier buy- ing a new straw hat ... in person . . . Patrick Shanley bid- ding fond adieu to the Continental Hotel ... a song plugger (don’t all look guilty), mailing “fan” postcards to radio stations . . . Bernard Prager and Sig Bosley fighting over a luncheon check. Ira La Motte greeting the cus- tomers . . . Eddie Peabody saying Hello . . . Paul Fix in a fix . . . had to make a speech . . . Irving Hallman punching holes in a pair of tickets . . . Rube Wolf back in town . . . vacationing in the sun- shine after his Eastern servitude. Johnny Mack Brown at the Vine Street . . . giving his new leonine crop of hair an airing . . . looks like a Garbo bob even now . . . Edmund Breese moving over to a vacant aisle seat . . . EARLE WALLACE Always Busy Developing Dancing Stars but Never Too Busy to Create and Produce Original DANCE ROUTINES and REVUES That Sell Belmont Theatre Bldg., First and Vermont Phone Exposition 1196 Los Angeles, Calif. BU& MURRAY SCHOOLy^STAfrE (Associates) Gladys Murray Lafe Page 3636 BEVERLY BLVD. — Los Angeles — Tel. DTJ. 6721 PRACTICAL STAGE TRAINING STAGE TAP DANCING (In All Its Branches) t} j t t 17 v (Cecclietti 1 —Technique) By SIGNOR G. V. ROS1 GEORGE and FLORENCE BALLET MASTER AND MISTRESS Formerly 68 Successful Weeks Producing Weekly Changes in Australia’s Largest Theatre THE STATE, SYDNEY Producers Desiring Originality WRITE or WIRE Permanent Address: INSIDE FACTS, Los Angeles PLANS SAID ID BE FOR OPENING EARLY IN FALL SEASON Edward Everett Horton is un- derstood to be planning another Hollywood stock run this fall. He had a long run at the Vine Street Theatre previously, leaving the house to move to the down- town Majestic when. Franklyn Pangborn opened a series at the Vine. The Horton run played to consistently good houses. The house Horton is understood to have his eye on for the reported fall run is the Hollywood Play House, which has been playing to a fairly good season under the Henry Duffy banner, and which was relin- quished by him last week when bankruptcy proceedings were filed. spanishTompany The Producciones Latinas, Ltda., picture concern which recently es- tablished headquarters in Gower street, plans to enter production next month. All pictures will be in one ver- sion, the Spanish, for release to the 122,000,000 prospective fans of the Spanish-speaking countries. The product will be of the “quickie” variety, dramas and with action and music. Recording is not yet definitely set, but negotiations are said to be near the closing point. Leon De LaMothe and Richard C. Kahn, who were formerly asso- ciated in Cardinal Productions, are carrying on the preliminary execu- tive work, without titles, pending selection of permanent officers. MURRflYTffSTAGE DANCES IN OPERA Lon Murray, New York and L. A. dance director, has made definite arrangements to sail for London this fall for an eight weeks’ stay. He is to stage the dances for a comic opera written by himself in collaboration with a former ballet director of the Alhambra in London. The opera is of the late ’70’s pe- riod and is called “The King of Mayo.” Murray has worked on his libretto for the past six months. Sir Oswald Stoll, managing di- rector of the Stoll circuit of thea- tres in England, wrote for the li- bretto. U. TO START NEXT IN WEEK TO TEN DAYS Universal will start production on “Outside the Law” within the next week to ten days. Mary No- lan has been given the feminine lead, and Tod Browning will direct. Apart from these two, no one has been signed. Next U picture to start after “Outside the Law” will be a John Boles vehicle, due to go into pro- duction in three or four weeks. Neither director nor supporting cast have been named as yet. “The Little Accident” and the serialized “The Indians Are Com- ing” are the only two now shoot- ing Out at U City. DENHAM MAY CLOSE George Barnes and Hazel Whit- more have left for Denver to play leads at the Denham Theatre, which is being run co-operatively by union labor. They are replac- ing Selmer Jackson and Diane Es- monde. Two weeks notices have been posted at the house, and it is reported that the new leads are being brought in to prevent the necessity of closilig. George Barnes is a big favorite in Denver. Readers’ Views Long Beach, Cal., May 17, 1930. Editor, Inside Facts, Los Angeles. Dear Sir: Look out! When the Show of Shows played the Palace in Long Beach, Beatrice Lille’s quartet act was “cut,” and put back in when it played the Belmont Theatre. You have a good paper. Please get some old regular vaudeville back in L. A. Open with Van and Schenck. Yours truly, “Zeke.” (Editor’s Note: This was in ref- erence to an article in a recent is- sue commenting on the claim of a radio “columnist” that pictures were cut after playing class house runs.) Loi Angeles, Cal., May 18, 1930. Editor, Inside Facts, Los Angeles. Dear Sir: I noticed your Mr. Tenney’s an- swer to my letter about paint- brush orchestra leaders, and while I said I meant well, I might have known how it would be received. Musicians are so smart you can’t tell them anything, and maybe that is why so many of them are out of jobs right now. Showmanship is only another name for salesman- ship, and musicians need to sell themselves to the public right now, as ever. They spend thousands to get the public to holler for orches- tras in theatres and then when any of the public try to pass out a friendly tip they get flippant. When we pay to go to a theatre we want to see an artist, not a me- chanic. When we want to see a wrench and bolt man we go to a garage. A leader can be graceful without standing on his head, but there I go again, expecting intelli- gence from a musician. Musicians can stand on their heads better than they can lead or- chestras, no doubt. I’ll bet even your music writer was standing on his head when he answered my let- ter. He certainly could not have been right side up. Answer that, Mr. Tenney. Yours truly, G. Lloydwell. Monrovia, Calif., May 18, 1930. Editor, Inside Facts, Los Angeles. I seen in youre paper a artical that says radyo will soon brordcast smell, and that them fellers will plant a mike in the country and let the city fellers sniff the flours. Any time they want local coller they is Wellcome to put there mike in my barnyard and theyll get lots of sound and lots of smell too. But watt I am afraid of, Will that system mean that we will have FOR STAGE SHOWS Fanchon and M^arco have been placed in complete charge of all stage offerings for the national cir- cuit of Fox Theatres, according 'to announcement this week. The famous producing team are to take over all of the Fox Book- ing offices and amalgamate them with their own organization. Headquarters are not to be moved to New York, as claimed in some sources, but will be main- tained in Los Angeles, where the bookings will be directed for more than five hundred theatres through- out the country. Marco will make frequent trips by airplane over the territory until the new scheme is thoroughly or- ganized and functioning smoothly, with Fanchon remaining in charge of production here. patheIaIswill 8E AT PREMIERE A big roster of names is due to go north for the coast premiere of Pathe’s “Swing High” at the Or- pheum, San Francisco, Saturday night. Fred Scott was due to leave Tues- day, being the first to take the trip. His early start was for the purpose of doing some radio work prior to the opening. Heading the list of some fifteen to twenty others planning to go up to the opening were Helen Twelve- trees, Dorothy Burgess, Ben Tur- pin, Nick Stuart, Sally Starr, Rob- ert Edeson and Daphne Pollard, all members of the cast. -The L. A. showing of “Swing High” is set to follow Universal’s “Captain of the Guard” (formerly “La Marseillaise”) at the Orpheum. The U. picture follows the present run of “The Cuckoos” (Radio). “Swing High” is the first picture to be released on the new Pathe program, and it is also the first Pathe picture to play either the L. A. or the S. F. Orpheums. Claude King has been signed for a part in Paramount’s “Palm Beach,’ ’which Frank Tuttle is di- recting. to smell the announcers, and will it mean one more add reccomend- ing somebodys de-ode-a-runt for something youre best frends wont tell you about? Bye the way, wear do they get that idea that youre best frends wont tell you? My bitter half (haha, thats my wife) is always balling me out and wants me to quit chewing. Yours &c. (Signed) True le Rooral. HARVEY SCHOOL OF DANCING 7377 Beverly Blvd. VALLIE OR. 2688 JU.LES print MA. 1681 -224 E. 4th St., Los Angeles- MA. 1682 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