Inside facts of stage and screen (June 7, 1930)

SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 1930 INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN PAGB FIVE EXPERIMENTS IN UBS HERE SENSATIONAL European Journalist Group To Be Banqueted by Celebs AFFAIR TO BE JUNE lOTH AT THE BLTMORE Following the revelation that Warner Brothers have quietly se- cured a short-wave radio trans- mission license, and that one re- sult of using their recently ac- quired Nakken patents will be sweeping economies in sound re- cording on location, and in the development of Television, comes an inkling of other stupendous ad- vances in the technical end of show business. While most of the curious at- tention of the world has been di- verted to the eastern laboratories of the research scientists, and al- lowed to pick up discreetly fed crumbs of information, a great deal of revolutionary experimental work has been going on in Los Angeles and Hollywood practic- ally unnoticed. The first of the new innovations will be put to use shortly by War- ners. Instead of taking expensive recording equipment out on loca- tion work, all that will be taken along will be a portable short- wave transmission set and micro- phones. Dialogue and sound ef- fects, in synchronization with the cameras, will be radiocast from lo- cation to the Hollywood recording laboratories and there recorded as perfectly as if shot on the lot. This is made possible by a per- fected control that eliminates all interference and keeps the trans- mission precisely on an extremely narrow waveband. A short while later, television cameras will transmit the images coincidentally with the sound, transferring the whole operation by radio across space from the distant location to the central stu- dios. Playbacks can be received by radio almost immediately, and tele- vised rushes viewed on location, so that any necessary retakes can be shot at once without expensive delays. Production supervisors may sit in the central studio and keep a finger on remote work as it progresses, without the necessity of leaving executive duties on the lot. At the same time there is now practically perfected a compact television-sound truck which can be rushed directly to the scene of any news event, and not only pick up all sound and scene for trans- mission to the central studio for recording and filming, but also be capable of transferring it directly to a distant screen, or to a central disseminating station which can then distribute it instantaneously to^ an unlimited number of screens within a given power radius either by radio or by wire. These are not visions for the future, but accomplished present facts. (Continued on Page 15) PATIENCE NOT A VIRTUE HERE SAN FRANCISCO, June 5__Dan McLean swears that this is true. He hired a man, at five bucks a day, to don a diving suit and play soli- taire in a tank of water in the lobby of the Fox El Capitan as a bally for "Mys- terious Island." The guy held the job for two shows and then quit because he couldn't win the darn game. MENDELSOHN WILL DIRECT SHOW CHANGE After being revamped and over- hauled for necessary changes, "Hi There," which had its first show- ing in San Francisco la>st month, is slated for an August opening at the Erlanger Theatre in New York. Edward Mendelsohn has been engaged by Paul Bissinger, the producer, as production direc- tor to succeed Alexander Leftwich who staged the showing in the Bay City. Mendelsohn has been associated with many New York successes, having been stage director at the Music Box for seven years. He is a master hand at the revue type of show and will rebuild the "Hi There" production along the lines of his other successes. Mendelsohn is a present in Los Angeles arranging plans for the eastern opening. He has engaged Lon Murray to stage the dance numbers and will complete all other details before leaving for the east. Ken Murray, it is definitely un- derstood, will be retained as star of the production with many of the other pricipals also being en- gaged for the eastern showing. 45 STATES TO GO "A Man From Wyoming" is the title which has been given Gary Cooper's current Paramount star- ring picture in which Cooper ap- pears as a captain of engineers overseas, with June Collyer as his leading woman. Rowland V. Lee will direct from a story by Joseph Moncure March and Lew Lipton. Screen play is by Albert S. LeVine and John V. A. Weaver. In the cast are Regis Toomey, Morgan Farley, E. H. Calvert, Mary Foy, Ed Deering, William B. Davidson and Ben Hall. Lloyd Hamilton's new talking comedy for Educational release, "Honk Your Horn," has Lige Con- ley, for years a featured comedian in Educational's silents, in one of the principal supporting roles. Good Luck to the Pantages Theatre LEE CHARLINE HALL and ESSLEY DANCERS COMIQUE Featured in and M. "Rose Garden" Idea Many thanks to Harry Wallin "Now, Gentlemen, Just a Moment'' CLYDE HAGER Is the originator, author, copyright owner and player of the show world's greatest street faker act, "Potato Peeler," high pitch — Now Headlining — Paramount San Francisco "Get away from me, boys, you bother me" With the entire picture profes- sion invited, plans are rapidly tak- ing form for the banquet to be tendered the delegations of Eu- ropean journalists, now visiting this country on a good-will tour as guests of the Carnegie Foundation, b'' the Academy of Motion Pic- ture Arts and Sciences, the Los Angeles Publishers* Association and the L. A. Chamber of Commerce on June 10 in the ballroom of the Biltmore Hotel. The affair will be in the form of a dinner dance, with no formal speakers* tables and a heavy damp- er on anyone with a tendency to make lengthy speeches. Felix Sal- ten of the "Neue Freipresse" of Vienna, will make a brief talk rep- resenting the visiting newsmen. Native sons and daughters of the countries represented by the visiting jounralists are already ac- tively organizing tables and groups for the occasion. Members of the Academy and of the motion pic- ture industry will be represented at the dinner by leading stars, pro- ducers, directors, writers, techni- cal experts and others of all na- tionalities engaged in motion pic- ture production in this district. The diner is the principal func- tion of the program being carried out by the Los Angeles publishers and the Chamber of Commerce, who are entertaining the foreign journialists during their three-day visit to Los Angeles. The guests of honor are: S. Backlund, "Ny Tid," Goteborg, Sweden; Taeke Cnossen, "De Standard," Rotterdam. Holland; Felix Salten, "Neue Freie Presse," Vienna; Dr. K. F. Baberadt, "Frankfurter Zeitung," Frankfort; Jaroslav Koudelka, "Pravo Lidu," Prague; Dr. Ernst Feder, "Berliner Tageblatt," Berlin; Urho Tiovola, "Turun Sanomat," Abo, Finland; Georges Ottlick, representing Hun- gary; Dr. Alfred Hermann, "Ham- burger Fremdenblatt," Hamburg; Erik Moller, "Berlingske Tidende." Copenhagen; Dr. A. Oeri, "Basler Nachrichten," Basle, Switzerland; Georges KirkofT, "La Bulgarie," Sofia; Sigurd Ronstadt, "Morgen- bladet," Oslo, Norway; George Neri, Estonian Press Bureau, Tal- linn. ^ James B. Wharton, representa- tive of the Open Road, Inc., of New York, and George A. Finch, assistant secretary of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, are accompanying the foreign pub- lishers to Los Angeles. » On committee of arrangements for the Academv dinner are Harry Rapf, Jack L. Warner, Sam Hardy, Reginald Barker, Arthur Edeson and Al Cohn. A special reception committee is also being appointed, composed of leading members of the Academy, together with mem- bers of the Hollywood foreign colonies. FOUR START AT M-G-M Four major productions got un- der way in the past week at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, when Grace Moore, Metropolitan Opera star, started her first talking picture, John Gilbert began re- hearsals for his new sea story, Jacques Feyder started direction of "Olympia" in both French and German, and William Haines start- ed work in his new play, "Remote Control." Other pictures now in produc- tion at the studios include Buster Keaton's "Forward March," "Billy the Kid," which King Vidor is di- recting; "The March of Time" and "Like Kelly Can," Charles F. Reis- ner's production of golf and ro- mance. TITLE IS CHANGED With the exception of a dancing sequence to be filmed within a few days, Roy William Neill has com- pleted direction of Tiffany's "Just Like Heaven." The title will be changed to "Mimi.' 'which is the character name of Anita Louise, recent Tiffany's "discovery," in the picture. In Hollywoo&''-J^ow By BUD MURRAY What an opening at the Chinese for Howard Hughes, "Hell's Angels" and Sid Grauman's return to show biz! Like a Lindy recep- tion. Nothing quite like it's been seen before. Among those who struggled through the throngs to get to the theatre, we noticed (but they didn't notice us) Mr. and Mrs. Buster Keaton, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Tibbett, Mr. and Mrs. William Seiter (Laura LaPlante, our pupil), Mrs. Harold Lloyd, Will Hays, Charley Chaplin, Charles Far- rell, Dolores Del Rio, Mack Sennett, James Hall, Ben Lyon, Jack Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, H. B. Franklin, Harry Rapf, and now a few we really knew WHEN? There is Ben Bard, our boy friend. Yes, he was with the Win-1 bills at the old Palace, New York, ter Garden "Dancing Girl" in 1923 m We were stage directoring. Ben was at the opening with his charm- ing better half, Ruth Roland. Uku- lele Ike Edwards takes us back to a season with Jimmy Hussey's "Tattle Tales" in 1917. What a merry-go-round that was. Leo Morrison, booking agent, makes us think of LeMaires Affairs, in 1925, and in our same row that funny boy friend and his pretty young wife, Mr. and Mrs. Bert Wheeler. Bert always reminds us of the time we were both doing imitations of Charley Chaplin, in 1915. Mr. and Mrs. George Olsen (Ethel Shutta), formerly at Winter Gar- den, in our day. Taylor Holmes on many a Winter Garden Sunday nite concerts and his "Boots" lin- gers on. Al Christie, our first regular acquaintance on our ar- rival here, two years ago. There are a couple of old boy friends, Charley Chase and Georgie Stone. Georgie is one of the Win- ter Garden Gang, too, and Charley and Georgie are a pair of real on the level dancers. There are Mr. and Mrs. Joe Brown, a regular home couple and happily married (one of the novelties) IN HOLLY- WOOD NOW, and two of our friends of many years' standing, those clever Eaton sisters, Mary and Pearl, both doing great in pictures, one directing and the other acting. Oh, yes, Mary is happily married too, and imagine all the above-mentioned are IN HOLLYWOOD NOW (shades of Broadway). After the premiere, over to the Roosevelt Hotel, in the Blossom Room, for a little "snack" with the "Mrs." (oh, yeah). At a table to our rite, Sid Grauman and his lovable mother, and Bill Perlberg, Sid's shadow. At another table Charley Mosconi, who takes us back to "World of Pleasure," Winter Garden show in 1914. We were hoofing then with the broth ers. Bud DeSylva and Lew Brown, naturally, take us back to George White's Scandals, which we stage directed in 1927. Our old boy friend Louis Greenspan (from Chi- cago) sitting with a pretty slick guy from New York, Arthur Ceasar, who writes many a gag for the daily columnists, and does not know it. There's a little girl who worked for us in the "Dream Girl," the last show Victor Herbert wrote, and which we had the pleasure of being the stage director for. It's dark-eyed Barbara Bennett, and we wonder if she ever remembers the opening of the show in Al- bany. Barbara is happily married, and doing fine in pictures. And now have a little lunch and look in at the Brown Derby. In one corner is Alice White (our pupil) with her regular steady and only one boy friend. Si Bartlett, our boy friend from Chicago, and peppy Arthur Lake (our pupil), giving us the big grin, and Mrs. Irving Aaronson with Miss Hoff- man (a couple of our new pupils). Over there with Barney Granville, the singing, acting and dancing juvenile, who takes us away back to the year of 1914 at the Winter Garden, and he still is the same young Barney, and with him is that grand old man an^l character comedian, Charley Grapewin, whom we used to see many years ago on Charley is out IN HOLLYWOOD NOW, and if you haven't read his book "Squawk Bridge," get it by all means. The Friday nite fites were held on Thursday this Friday, because there were no fites Friday. They mite have ben held some other place at some other time, maybe Wednesday or Tuesday, so that we wouldn't have been able to at- tend. However, having our regu- lar reserved seats, we had to go or else. The main attraction was the introduction of Col. Turner, who just made a record New York to Los Angeles plane flight, and his cub lion, Gilmore, Jr., who goes to sleep any time the Colonel stops moving. Although he did get up for a bow when Announcer Tobey mentioned his name. The dryest of comedians, Joe Cook, rite in back of us, and very quiet. We think it was the sight of the lion seated near him. At that, it's nothing to laugh at, having a cub lion sitting in your lap. For no reason at all, B.B.B. was rite in front of us rooting in his usual quiet voice, for his protege, Sammy Rothstein. Sammy has the largest "schnozzle" in cap- tivity, even B.B.B.'s proboscus is as a Greek god's compared to Sammy's beak, and he took many a smack on it, too. It looked like a football guard after the fite.. B.B.B. was yelling to his boy giv- ing instructions, but it seems to us the other boy did what B.B.B. said, and thereby hangs a NOSE. And all this IN HOLLYWOOD NOW. And once again we will relate our weekly surprise, and this week a very youthful comedian, and a Broadway comedian at that, now under contract to M-G-M, dropped into our studio saying it's the first chance he has had to say heljo. The original New York star comedian of "Good News," "Fol- low Thru," "New Moon" and many others. Yep, you guessed it, our dear old pal, Gus Shy, was in and gabbed for two hours. Gus just finished "Good News" for M-G-M and was immediately signed for a few years. And he is IN HOLLYWOOD, TOO, NOW. MEYER JOINS CRUZE Art Meyer has been appointed general sales manager of the James Cruze Productions. Previ- ous^ to joining the Cruze organ- ization about one year ago, Meyer was editor and publisher of the Motion Picture Bulletin, a region- al trade paper of the west coast. In addition to press experience, Art has operated a group of inde- pendent exchanges in the east and at one time was in charge of the feature sales dpartment for Pathe. Versatility^ is the watchword at KJBS. Besides being announcers all staff men have operators' li- censes and are frequently called upon to do parts. For instance, there's Charlie Parker, announcer of the Alarm Kloc Klub, who finds time to write the Tales of the Sea programs. Jack Gray, who announces, does parts in two skits. Ted Berlin announces, does two parts and heralds the Brunton station qualities to the world through the medium of the press. THE Three SteP' Sons DON — JACK — LEON "SIX FEET OF RHYTHM" HELD OVER CASINO SAN FRANCISCO