Inside facts of stage and screen (August 30, 1930)

PAGE TWO INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 1930 LEGIT IN BIG FALL COME - BACK EQUITY' EDITOR HITS AT SLACK LEGIT METHODS The following editorial is re- printed from the July issue of “Equity,” official organ of “The Actors’ Equity Associa- tion” and “The Chorus Equity Association.” The article is reprinted because of its perti- nence to legit business.—(Ed. note.) “The legitimate theatre, as a whole, has never concentrated upon making theatregoing easy and pleasant for its patrons. From time to time it has allowed such factors as uncomfortable theatres, discourteous treatment, inaccessible tickets and unreasonable prices to erect barriers between prospective audiences and its theatres. “By reversing those conditions and establishing theatres where tickets were immediately avail- able, at fixed and reasonable prices, which when entered were luxuriously appointed and cour- teously staffed, the motion picture industry made huge inroads on these audiences. “On some counts the legitimate theatres had an excuse. Un- doubtedly there were factors in producing costs which were not in their control. But by and large the legitimate theatre operated on the plan that: ‘If it’s a hit 'charge ’em all the traffic will bear. It it’s a failure, close it up and look for something else.’ “Ordinarily it is employers, or their representatives or organiza- tions which make surveys of con- ditions in their fields and recom- mend any changes which seem to be indicated. And the Actors’ Equity Association is not such an organization or representative. It is, on the contrary, the represen- tative of employes in the theatre. “But since the producing man- agers have only begun to show the ability to cohere in an organiza- tion of their own for any plan which is for the welfare of the theatre (though individual man- agers have been far-sighted and highly cooperative), Equity has felt justified in making occasional suggestions. “It would be manifestly impos- sible to cover all sides of this question in the brief space at our disposal editorially. It is our in- tention, therefore, to discuss at this time only one phase of making it easier to go to the theatre; the time of performance. “Although the out-of-town vis- itors are the most spectacular group of theatre goers, the bulk of the audience at any perform- ance in a New York theatre is made up of residents of the city and of dwellers in nearby com- munities. Increasingly it is an audience whose home is being pushed further and further from its place of gainful occupation. “For people who live in Brook- lyn or the Bronx, to say nothing of those who live in Staten Island, New Jersey, Westchester and Connecticut, there is no time or inclination to return to their homes for dinner if a theatre party is on the program. Their schedule DRAMA CRITIC INTO DRAMA Here’s a lad who wants to take his own punishment. Harry Mines, assistant drama critic on Los Angeles Daily News, isn’t satisfied with his chance to pan the players, but is willing to take a chance of being panned himself. He grabbed a principal role in Pasadena Community Playhouse show, "Importance of Being Earn- est,” by Oscar Wilde. The Wilde show will be given on the play- house’s main stage, but Mjnes also has a lead role in the playhouse’s little theatre, the “workshop.” Mines has been assisting on the News for two years, criticising and interviewing. Reported he wants to get in on the big dough earned by the actor—when he (the actor) has a booking. Also, on the side, Mines is doing what everyone else is doing, writing a play. Warner Bros. Scent Scheme To Sock Stock DOVER, Del., Aug. 28.— Chief Justice James Pennewell dismissed the receivership ac- tion against Warner Bros, on motion of Judge Hugh Mor- ris, counsel for the defend- ants upon grounds that the complaint was not verified nor properly signed by Ira Nelson of Boston, complaining stock- holder. W arner Brothers suspect a scheme afoot to force down the value of the'ir stock. The plot, they believe is an aftermath of the old Loew deal of last year, by which they were to purchase con- trol of that enterprise from the estate of Marcus Loew at a price said to be $100 a share, when overnight, it was bought from un- der their noses for $120 a share. A galaxy of brokers then got busy and sold Loew’s short, ham- mering down hte stock and caus- ing the new purchaser a terrific loss said to exceed $12,000,000. For revenge, perhaps, believing W. B. responsible for this loss, it is believed that a raid has been started on W. B. stock. Last week papers carried an an- nouncement that an eastern stock- holder, named Nelson, asked for a receiver to be placed in charge of the Warner affairs. Nelson is said to own about 300 shares. There is a denial that there is any real _ cause for receivership, but that it was a move to affect stock valuation. There will be a strenuous fight in opposition to any move that might react against the best interests of Warner Brothers, according to all appearances. Warner Brothers are working upon a gigantic expansion pro- gram, as well as enlarged produc- tion activities, and for some time, rumors have been circulated as to their financial difficulties with each change of policy interpreted by the alleged conspirators as an act to retrench. W. B. operate and control about 836 theatres in the United States, as well as the W. B. and First Na- tional studios in Hollywood and Vitaphone. releases them from their offices around five-thirty. They must dine somewhere and wait for cur- tain time, now eighty-thirty or eighty-fifty. _ After the theatre there is a journey by train, sub- way, ferry or trolley (and some- times several of these convey- ances), to their homes which are not reached until well after mid- night. And they must be on the job again at nine the next morn- ing, or earlier. “It is Equity’s belief that many of these people who would like to go to the theatre do not do so because of the discomforts and fatigue entailed by this schedule. Nor is it quite clear to Equity that they would not be joined by Publicity Late for Baby Olga Baclanova’s long ex- pected baby has arrived. It’s a boy, nine pounder, born at Cedars of Lebanon hospital. Nicholas Sussanian, the daddy, reported dancing a gavotska in celebration. Publicity was spilled in ad- vance by the Baclanova press agents about the expected event. Not a whisper when it happened. First story broke on Wednesday. Baby was born on preceding Fri- day. BROADWAYITES IN NEW SHOW Roster of former Broadwayites, who will compose the producing staff for ‘‘The Temptations of 1930,” has been announced in de- tail by sponsors of the musical re- vue to have its premiere at the Mayan in September. LeRoy Prinz, former associate of Earl Carroll, will stage the dances. Ted Snyder is preparing the music. Frank Davis is sketch director and principal comedian. James Brockman is lyricist and Bill Woolfenden is general pro- duction manager. Snyder, who has scores of song hits to his credit, has ben credited for discovering Irving Berlin. “TOLABLE DAVID” CAST MADE UP “Tol’able David” is completely cast. The title role will be played by Richard Cromwell, a Columbia find. Joan Peers will have the leading feminine part. She is a rookie from the N. Y. stage. Supporting cast includes Henry B. Walthall, Helen Ware and Ed- mund Breese, George Duryea, Peter Richmond and Harlan E. Knight, all prominent stage and screen players, complete the im- pressive line-up. “Tol’able David” will go into production early next week with John G. Blystone di- recting. many who live just around the corner from the theatre, as well. “Equity has submitted to every theatrical producer and theatre manager of New York City the suggestion that on one night a week the curtain be raised at seven or seven-fifteen. Such a curtain time would permit the audience to dine directly after w<jrk and to go immediately to the- theatre. On such evenings the performance would be over around nine-thirty and the members of the audience could catch early trains and be in bed by eleven o’clock. “The reaction of producers and MANNING JOINS EDISON IN ACT Louise Manning, comedienne and dancer, recently of F. and M.’s “Overture” Idea, has replaced Gregory, of the team of Edison and Gregory. The new act, billed as Edison and Louise, expects to be back on the circuit soon. Gregory left the act in Washington, D. C. WORK PROSPECT NOW BRIGHTER (Continued from Page 1) TIFFANY assured that $13,- 000,000 has been appropriated as a budget for the 1931 program, about double the amount of money spent during the year closing. “The Third Alarm,” started yes- terday, will be the first of the ‘31 schedule, which includes 10 ; specials. Sixteen program pic- tures will be made as against 26 of last year. James Cruze and James Whale will do most of the directing on specials. George Sid- ney and Charles Murray are to start soon, as will a great number of unscheduled short subjects. F-N STARTS NOV. 1 FIRST NATIONAL is prepar- ing to resume production for next season in November, although making three foreign versions at the present time with 18 more con- templated. They anticipate spend- ing four or five million more than they did last year on new production. M-G-M are casting “The Great Meadow” now. Charles Brabin has been chosen to direct. It is to be a Daniel Boone frontier story and should provide employ- ment for hordes of beards and types. “The Southerner,” with Law- rence Tibbett, will start in about eight or nine weeks. This will, of course, be a musical but whether anyone other than Lawrence will sing is not known. FOX casting department states that they begin “The Princess and the Plumber,” with Charley Far- rell, next Monday, Alex Corda di- recting. “Luxury,” with a cast still having several spots to fill. W. B. McClintic is directing. Janet McDonald in “Stolen Thunder” starts Sept. 2 also. She will have one song in the opus. Hamilton McFadden at the meg. and Edmund Lowe's picture, “Stepper Newfounder,” also starts of newspapers in general to that proposition has been most grati- fying. Several managers have in- dicated their intention of inaugu- rating the practice with the new season. A Staten Island newspa- per, ‘The Advance,’ has promised to cooperate with such managers as adopt the scheme. ■ And others are expected to join the plan by the time it is put in operation. “And Equity has other plans to make theatre-going easier.” SPANISH TALKIES’ DRAW JEERS AND SHOTS (Continued from Page 1) market for American films in Span- ish was Latin America, not Spain. In the first place, there are 80,- 000,000 Latin Americans to 20,- 000,000 Spaniards. Second, all the 80,000,000 Latin Americans speak Spanish, but only a percentage of Spaniards use that language. This sounds mysterious to those who do not realize that within the Iberian peninsula there are five in- dependent languages with their own literatures and publications. A popular movement, however, led by the press, is not all that Latin Americans have set on foot to compel producers to recognize a continent of 80,000,000 popula- tion. Various governments, among them Guatemala, Mexico, Bolivia and Argentina, are reported con- sidering, through their ministries of foreign affairs, subsidies for the production of films either in Hol- lywood or a Latin American capi- tal, which will employ Latin American actors and use themes more compatible with Latin Amer- ican tastes. Mexican Audiences Riled R. Calderon, of the International Amusement Co. of El Paso, Tex., says that Mexican audiences are quite riled about the matter. In a letter to Jose Bohr, star and di- rector of Sombras de Gloria, he asserts that as far as his bookings in Norhern Mexsico are concerned, any attempt to impose the stage speech of Castille has resulted in terrific “booings,” decrease of box office and, in one case, having a screen riddled with revolver shots. From Rio Janeiro comes news that in the Pathe house, seating 6000, El Cuerpo del Delito lasted three days and Sombras de Golria three weeks. Previous record run, one week. Mjost significant of all, perhaps, is the article in Escenarios, of Valencia, Spain, in which the Hol- lywood tendency to cry down Latin America is severely con- demned. as the “firm attempt of subsidized journalists to wreck productions in Spanish by Latin Americans.” Quotations available a<ra too numerous for this article. But as a humorous incident, one may quote the episode which occurred recently in Bogota, Colombia, when Jose Vasconcelos, defeated presidential candidate of Mexico, visited that city. Vasconcelos was one of the sign- ers of the manifesto published by C'ine-Parlante, a bilingual pamphlet edited by Jose Rodriguez, in which the claims of Latin America for cultural and linguistic equality with the mother country were set forth. When he landed in Bogota, the crowds which met him greeted him, not as a prominent educator nor as a political figure, but as the champion of Latin American civil- ization. He was carried shoulder high to his hotel and feted by officialdom solely on this reason. Injured Sensibilities Latin America, when injured in its sensbiiKties, has a fine talent for united action. The group of republics, for some time to come, will regard with suspicion all American-made productions which use a stilted, unnatural and ‘snooty’ form of the Spanish language, in- stead of the speech of the people among -whom they are shown, a speech besides which authorities are agreed is a correct and uni- form Spanish, with a considerable literature of great merit. Hollywood producers can expect the same result in Latin America with so-called Castillian talkies, as they could in the United States if all films were produced in the classic Shakespearean style. Imagine a Western with Hoot Gibson speaking like an Oxford don. To Latin Amer- ica, the films now being pro- duced in the stage dialect of Castille, are as offensive as the theoretical Gibson film would be to us. Latin American can’t be wrong, especially if they have the price of admission in their jeans, and they number 80,000,000. CITY BOOSTING FIVE THEATRES PLAYING DRAMA Legit business is picking up. Five houses are open. Last week the El Capitan with “Tea for Three” in its closing week drew $5500. Elliott Nugent in “The Poor Nut,” now current, seems to have caught the fancy of the pa- trons for sell-out has been the or- der since the opening. At the Hollywood Playhouse, Grant Mitchell in “The Cham- pion” drew $5000. This is an ex- cellent show, and should have done better. The error seems to be lack of exploitation. Popularity of boxing here should have put over this satire had it been appealed to, but it seems that the wrong clien- tele was wooed for it failed to respond. This is its final week. Kolb and Dill open Labor Day. Mayan will open in September with “Temptations of 1930.” Be- lasco is now playing “It’s a Wise Child,” to fair business. Vine Street will open next Mon- day with Dorothy McKay in “Cup O’ Sugar,” and the Egan opened this week with Maude Fealy and David Graham Fisher, playing “The Missing Witness.” Biltmore opened last Monday with Eugenie Leontivitch in “Can- dlelight” for a run of two weeks. It will be followed by Katharine Cornell in “The Dishonored Lady.” Other legit houses are dark. MISS McKAYE IN COME - BACK Dorothy McKay will stage her first determined effort at a come- back, when she opens at the Vine St. Theatre next Mondav in “A Cup O’ Sugar.” Prominent in her support are Douglas Gilmore, Katherine Gib- ney, Barton Hepburn, Boyd Ir- win, Maurice Brierre and Charles Moore. on Sept. 2 with Leo McCarey di- recting. Several new pictures employing various types are listed to start later in September also. They are to be headed by Milton Sills, two by Warner Baxter and others. Dan Clark, Chandler Sprague and Berthold Viercel are the directors assigned. JANNINGS COMING While WARNER BROS, close down Sept. 20, they still have nine pictures to complete for their 1930-31 schedule. It is definitely announced that the studio will re- open Nov. 1 when the uncom- pleted part of their program will go into intensive production. There will be two musical com- edies among the list, a new one by Oscar Strauss called “Adam and Evening,” and the old favor- ite operetta, “Maytime.” John Bar- rymore will start a new comedy yet unnamed and Emil Jannings is on his way back and will make “The Idol” for Warner Bros. Then there is “Bad Women,” a story of prison life, and four other society dramas and comedies. TWO PREMIERES SET FOR SEPT. Two world premieres of new motion pictures for Los Angeles theatres during September will be the Cecil B. De Mille production of “Madame Satan” and King Vidor’s “Billy, the Kid.” It is not decided into which of the downtown and Hollywood the- atres these two attractions will be shown, although it is believed that the Criterion and the Carthay Cir- cle will be the theatres chosen. Kay Johnson, who starred in De Mille’s last picture, “Dyna- mite,” is co-star with Reginald Denny in "“Madame Satan,” with Roland Young heading the sup- porting cast. In “Billy, the Kid,” Johnny Mack Brown is the star with Wal- lace Beery heading the supporting cast. The story is taken from the Walter Noble Burns novel, “The Saga of Billy, the Kid,” with the Dialogue by Laurence Stallings.