Inside facts of stage and screen (April 26, 1930)

PAGE TWO INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN SATURDAY, APRIL 26, 1930 STAR HODGE PODGE REAL PUZZLE EXmBS AND PUBLIC HIVE TOUGH TIMES WITH EICE PIWE Who are the stars? Exhibitors confess they are at a loss to know exactly who the present day stars really are. For the film firmament appears to be in a state of confusion. So many reigning favorites have been eclipsed within the last very few months; so many new faces; so many of promise have flashed briefly and vanished; so many highly ballyhood recruits have failed to deliver as promised, that the exhibitors hardly know on what basis to book. The public is in no less a state of confusion. It is now no novelty for them to hear the voices of the once inarticulate stars, and no longer will they rush to liear what Whozis's voice sounds like. They, too, are bewildered by the unend- ing parade of new faces and voices. The path of least resistance is the way followed at present, and that is to book as first choice those pictures which have played runs at dc luxe houses, such as the Chi- nese and Carthay Circle, regard- less of star, story or other value. Within a reasonable radius of such de luxe houses the general release draw is more or less automatic and there will be a profit, willy- nilly. Second choice is to book pictures which have been featured at the class downtown houses, such as Loew's State and Paramount. These also have a certain definite draw. For the rest of it, they follow as closely as possible the trade banner demand which at present supersedes that of star names, with few exceptions. (Continued from Page 1 ) tion is a former auto man, having been with the General Motors Chevrolet division for several years and also associated with a num- ber of national automobile shows as well as having been engaged in manufacturing skid chains for a number of years. Sid Grauman, who retired from the show biz last year, w'as re- ported interested in the idea, but dropped out when taking over ex- ploitation of Howard Hughes' $3,- 000,000 air super-feature, "Hell's Angels," which he will world pre- miere here soon. After the contest has been built up over a period of months with plenty of attendant publicity, the winners will be featured in an "Auto Show" production to be staged by a leading producer, yet to be selected, and featuring sev- eral nationally known name bands, according to information of the plans, obtained by INSIDE FACTS this week. The big show which will be the feature item on all national auto show programs will be staged in somewhat similar fashion to a big stage revue, but will be put on in semi-circus fashion in the atUto show auditoriums, and will run about 60 to 100 minutes. It will be transported by a special train. Negotiations are also reported under way with several leading circus organizations to tie in with some of their adaptable features for the project. Interest of the automobile com- panies and advertising agencies in the project, it is said, is based on the fact that motor car exploita- tion, both in an ad and publicity way, is decidedly in the rut, while the big yearly shows, once a na- tional sensation, have dropped con- siderably in appeal of late. Under the plan tentatively out- lined for the "Auto Show Chain" the $10,000,000 or more would be concentrated on this new idea, which would not only give the auto show visiting public a real run for their money on the enter- tainment angle, but would provide agencies, publicists and newspapers a host of new angles for live copy in more show business style, with emphasis on the hotsy-totsy angles May Do "Alice in Wonderland ON GIOOO CUTTINGS Before Cadda starts production on the talking picture version of "The Front Page," Howard Hughes plans to retrieve some of that $3,000,000 spent on sequences for Hell's Angels," many of which, of course, couldn't be used in the version now cut and ready for re- lease. Using many of these shots, the Caddo staff is now preparing the script of an air comedy, planned to have the full laugh potentialities of that other Hughes war comedy hit, "Two Arabian Knights," com- bined with the spectacular air scenes of "Hell's Angels." Under the present plans, it is learned, the film will be released as a de luxe program picture, probably by United Artists. Selection of director, cast and title, etc., are items still to be con- sidered, it was reported this week. NOVEL DEVICE INVENTION USES SYNCHRON IZED DUM MY FIGURES Out of the spare time experimentations of Ned Mann, trick camera shot expert, and William Camreon Menzies, artistic set designer at U. A., comes a new and revolutionary idea, which may result in bring- ing to the screen a synchronized color version of "Alice in Wonder- land." The idea of doing Lewis Carrol's world famous fantastic master- piece on the screen has flitted through the minds of imaginative show- men since "Peter Pan" and "The Lost World" made their sensational successes. The new invention may make Eva Thornton Eva Thornton, "America's Most Beautiful Prima Don- na," who is an outstanding feature of the Fanchon and Marco "Bells and Belles" Idea. Miss Thornton was featured with the Chicago Concert Company and is the possessor of a clear and beautiful soprano voice as well as an excellent stage personality. rather than on very familiar and conventional lines of exploitation such as the best "four-wheel brakes," "dual super-ignition," and "Our Livalongtime bodies never wear out." It has long been a familiar axiom of advertising that catch- ing public fancy doesn't depend on quality merchandise. Quality mer- chandise, so say the ad experts, will hold up under public examina- tion and trial, to bring them back for more, but the new, novel, hoity-toity thing is what brings them to make the first purchase Big business, it is evident, in re- cent sensational shiftings in ad vertising and sales methods, is eying closely the exploiteering way^s of show business for new ideas. INSPIRATION CAST Cast for "Eyes of the World," which Harry King will direct for Inspiration at Tec-Art, includes Fern Andra, German film player, who will make her American de but; Una Merkel, Fdererick Burt, Hugh Huntley, Brandon Hurst, Nance O'Neil, Florence Roberts and Eulalie Jensen. Male lead is still uncast. Production starts next week at Kernville, Calif., for ex- terior settings. new invention may this possible on a scale never dreamed of with the silent picture, and not even possible to the pres- ent sound and color films. The whole thing started as a short-subject stunt, growing out of some trick ideas conceived by Mann while working on many United Artists productions. Briefly, the basis of the Mann- Menzies idea, which has already assumed eminently practical form, is as follows: 1— A semi-plastic material, simi- lar to rubber, has been devised, capable of being molded into repli- cas of anything from an exact du- plicate of Doug Fairbanks or Mary Pickford to authentic simulations of the "Jabberwocky" and "Twee- die Brothers." 2— A complete and anatomically correct type of skeleton upon which this composition can be molded, so as to carry out any physical ac- tions of the above-mentioned ac- tual and mythical personages. 3— A de%'ice has been perfected by the pair by which it is possible to perfectly synchronize with sound, talk and music, the actions of the animated figures. (This de- vice was thoroughly protected by patent two years ago, it is learned, while Mann has additional patents on several other similar ideas, just approved at Washington this week.) A 785-foot short subjject, "Radio Robots," has already been com- pleted. The work was done at the laboratories of Carrol Dunning, who is financially interested in the idea, and was synchronized at the Disney studios. Action of the short takes place in a radio station, involving a num- ber of unique characters, including a comedy horse. In this short production the characters are about 12 inches high, but with life-size heads. Douglas Fairbanks, Joe Schenck and other United Artists officials have seen the short and are re- ported keenly interested in it. Negotiations are already report- ed under way with several studios for production of a "Radio Robot" series. One big feature of the new proc- ess is that the figures can be treat- ed with color, making possible for the first time a really impressive production of "Alice in Wonder- land" and similar fantastic tales in such a fashion as to be potential boxoffice sensations. Mary Pickford several years ag"o made quite a study of the Lewis Carroll story with the idea of do- ing it into a picture, playing the part of Alice herself, but aban- doned it because of numerous pro- duction problems encountered at the time. Now Mann, it is understood, is fully prepared to turn out such a production for full usage of all the potentialities of sound and color, and Miss Pickford is again report- ed as interested in the idea. Another possible slant is a mod- ernized version of "Alice," to be done in Gilbert and Sullivan style. with witty lyrics based on the Car- roll dialogue. The keener studio oflScials are watching developments of the idea with interest, as it presents the first feasible opportunity for cap- italizing on the vogue for the fan- tastic, brought about by cartoon sound shorts, in such a manner as to be available for a full-length super-production, while offering a number of other possibilities of considerable value. WHAT MORE CAN IMPROVE THIS DEFINITION? Holding a talkie-fest in the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel a bunch of the boys were tinkering with their think tanks as to the best definition of a ^uy who glories in call- ing himself a "mugg." George Rosener happened along and gave them the lowdown: "A mugg," saith George, and how, "is a would- be tough guy, sporting a set of china in the gob, whose amplifying horn would make a beautiful handle." HERE'S A TIP FOR THE CRITICAL FRATERNITY Two actors stood at "lib- erty" on the corner of Ca- huenga and Hollywood boule- vards the other day watching the passing parade. By drove a lad who re- cently played a Bancroft role in a special for one of the bigger directors. The chap doesn't depend on pictures for a living as he owns a big string of fisheries. Spying the well-dressed fel- low in his softly purring ex- pensive car, one of the pair said: "Look at that guy willyu. Isn't it tough the way some of these birds get the breaks? "Waddya wanna envy him for?" asked his partner in killing time devastatingly. "He can't acti" [tm SLUMP HITS E BOXOFFICE S1000 N. V. A. BOXES T By MANY With box seats for the N. V. A. Annual Benefit Show at the Shrine Auditorium Saturday night scaled at a cool $1000, film and theatrical leaders are buying heavi- ly in the annual vaudeville aid in- vestment. Among those who have pur- chased boxes so far are: J. J. Murdoch, J. L. Warner, of War- ner Brothers; Carl Laenlmle. Sr., and Carl Laemmle, Jr., of Uni- versal; Harold B. Franklin, presi- dent Fox West Coast theatres; Sid Grauman, E. B. Deer and Charles Sullivan of Pathe studios; Joseph M. Schenck of the United Artists; Harry Cohn of Columbia; Samuel Goldwyn, M. C. Levee of Paramount; William Le Baron of RKO; Louis B. Mayer of M-G- M; Abe Frank of the Ambas- sador Hotel; W. A. Clark, Jr., William Morris, Jr., Moe Marks, Adolph Ramish, Fred Beetson of the Association of Motion Picture Producers; Bruce King and Al Boasberg. A sumptuous program featuring a host of celebs from theatres and studios will have for master of ceremonies Eddie Cantor, Al Jol- son, Frank Fay, Jack Benny, and several others. Pre-Easter lethargy made its last stand on Los Angeles picture house boxoffice returns last week, and succeeded in holding down general receipts, with the notable exception of the Orpheum, where the gorilla picture "Ingagi" con- tinues to be the local boxoffice sensation. Outdoor Easter services also hit show biz here. Orpheum grosses for the first week of "Ingagi" totalled $27,000, and the second week opened stronger than ever. House record is $28,750, made during the first week of "Hit the Deck." Average is around $16,000. The R-K-0 held up well with $15,500 for Columbia's "Second Wife" and four acts of vaudeville, only five hundred below house av- erage. Carthay Circle closed out "Hap- py Days" on the wide screen with a final take of $7634. "All's Quiet On the Western Front" followed in on April 21. The Chinese Theatre was dark for the week, pending the opening of the McCormack "Song O' My Heart." The Criterion, with a fill-in week of Joan Crawford's "Montana Moon," grossed $8618, two thou- sand better than the week previous but still away below the average, which is around $12,000. Loew's State, -with Buster Kea- ton's "Free and Easy," dropped $3500 below average with a gross of $29,232. The F. & M. "Milky Way" Idea was in support. The Boulevard, with "Blaze O' Glory," and F. & M. Varieties, was still away oflF with $5083. The average for this house is drop- ping to a figure around seven thousand. The Egyptian came back up to average with Ruth Chatterton's "Sarah and Son" with a gross of $13,376. F. & M. "Gyp, Gyp, Gypsy" Idea was in support. The Warner Brothers theatres were both off. The Hollywood grossed $16,000 with "The Love Racket," and the Downtown col- lected $15,800 on "Spring Is Here." The Hollywood was a sag of $4000 below average, and the Downtown a dive of eight thou- sand. The Paramount held up very well to a gross of $27,000 with the Zane Grey opus "Light of West- ern Stars," but the United Artists faded fifty-five hundred on the second week of Fanny Brice's "Be Yourself," with a return of $11,- 500. George Bancroft followed in April 23 with "Ladies Love Brutes." SILVER NEW MANAGER SAN FRANCISCO, April 24.— Mark N. Silver is the new man- ager of Publix's St. Francis, suc- ceeding Milton Samis, who has been appointed manager of Hal Home's Hester Theatre in San Jose. Silver comes from the Brooklyn Paramount. INSTALL EARPHONES Earphone sets for deaf people will be introduced within the next thirty days in Fox West Coast Theatres in all of the theatres of the circuit from Mexico to Can- ada and east of the Mississippi River. FBii mm M Casting is now under way for George Fawcett's revival of "The Great John Ganton," the Arthur Jerome Eddy play in which the actor started in Broadway 15 years ago. It will mark Mr. Fawcett's first legit appearance in many years. The play is now definitely set for the Vine Street, scheduled to open on May 18. Al Smith, New York director, is staging the play, and is now readying the cast for rehearsals scheduled to start late this week. ILLNESS HALTS FILM Because of the protracted illness of George Bancroft, the produc- tion of "The Caveman" has been cancelled by Paramount. Gary Cooper has been selected to play the leading role in "The Spoilers" to which part Bancroft originally was assigned^ ^^^^ DOUG TO LONDON Douglas Fairbanks will sail on the Mauretania April 30 to wit- ness the Walker Cup tournament in England. George von Elm and Leo Diegel, professional golfers, are accompanying him on the trip.