Inside facts of stage and screen (October 11, 1930)

OCT. 11, 1930 INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN PAGE THREE COUNTY FAIRS’ UPHILL PULLl f n POMONA FAIR ONE OF FEW ‘OUT OF RED’ State and county fairs have had a bad year throughout the country. From all sections come reports that gate receipts are far below what the gross should be. Such conditions fit in with the general show conditions which, however, seem to be improving. At many fairs, the handlers have had a hard time collecting their re- turn. In many cases, the handlers have had to accept notes in pay- ment of the sum due. Coming nearer home, the Califor- nia State fair at Sacramento fell off 18 per cent, which is rather se- rious for a fair of that size. One rift in the clouds comes in the better conditions in the imme- diate vicinity of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles County Fair at Pomona crashes through with an increase of 50 per cent over gate receipts of last year. After checking income of this en- terprise, there comes a total of 100,000 more paid admissions than last year. n n Latest Big Step In Movies Seen Olsen, Johnson Songs Recorded Recording companies have taken the three songs running through the Warner Brothers special “Oh Sailor Behave,” and report good sales throughout the country. The songs are “Highway To Heaven,” “When Love Comes In The Moonlight,” and “Leave A Little Smile.” Publishers of the sheet music of this trio of songs, De Sylva, Brown, & Henderson, Co., Inc., also report a good movement of sales every- where. Olsen and Johnson, stars of this Vitaphone picture, are featured on the covers of the sheet music. They are now making a vaudeville tour through very section of the country, and plug the production through the songs in question. $5 Press Agent Does ‘Volume/ Offers Services Something new in cut-rate pub- licity went on the market here tnis week, when a party, announcing nmiself as a publicity director, ot- tered his services at $5 a week. Of special interest to the daily newspapers, the man's letter ot ap- plication contained the following paragraph: “At tne present time, I am doing publicity tor a large number oi places in the city, including tJy handling so many accounts, I can secure more stories because the more accounts that I have the more paid advertising 1 control.” The letter ot application makes a specific effort to wrest accounts from established press agents. A form letter was tne method used for crashing into the other publicity boys' territories. The interesting communication follows, in part: “You are no doubt satisfied with the results that your present pub- licity man is securing for you, but nevertheless I would like very much to have this letter act as my appli- cation for the position. “There is very little that I can tell you in a letter, however I would like to give you my price which I am certain you will find most rea- sonable. I will write all of your stories, place them, write your ads and take care of your outside ex- ploitation for the total sum of $5.00 per week. Please don’t let the amount I charge lead you to believe that my work will be inferior—I can do this because I operate on volume! “If you are interested, please drop me a line and I will call on you. I do not want to bother you unless you are interested because with the fall opening up soon I know you are busy enough.” “SUNNY” GIRL FUNNY Nita Martan, whose perform- ances in half a dozen Tiffany pic- tures have placed her on the pre- ferred list as a comedienne, will play opposite Paul Hurst in his latest two-reel fight pictures on the Tiffany program, “De Woild Cham- peen.” LAFE PAGE WELL; YES, INDEED, JUST ASK BUD MURRAY Bud Murray’s School has lost Lafe Page, and Bud has gone into mourning because it is a real loss. Lafe Page was a promi- nent member of Bud’s School of Dancing. Lafe was financially interested in an oil well that his brother, John, has been drilling for two years. The well came in with a flow of about 1500 barrels a day, mak- ing it advsiable for Lafe to quit the school to attend to his in- terest. Bud says it sounds as though he was going from one oil field to another. SID ‘THINKS’ TWO HOUSES Sid Grauman has just returned to Hollywood after producing the pro- grams for both presentations of Howard Hughes’ “Hell’s Angels.” When questioned about his plans Sid replied he was figuring on two theatres of 5000 seating capacity, one for San Francisco and one for Los Angeles. These plans of course have not been presented >as matured facts, but anything that Sid Grauman is thinking about is worth considera- tion. It is uncertain whether the houses would present reular bills or would carry special productions, but Sid has probably returned with some excellent ideas. FILM SETS INNOVATION BUSHMAN, JR., ON RKO VAUDE TOUR Francis X. Bushman, Jr., will open for RKO in Jersey City on October 20 in an act written by Paul Gerard Smith entitled “Fran- cis X. Bushman and Double.” In the act with Bushman will be William Langan and Renee Danti, who have recently completed re- hearsals on the coast with the for- mer, preparatory to opening in the eastern city. “FIGURE IT OUT,” ADVISES CHRISTIE AI Christie, now directing an all-talking version of “Charley’s Aunt” for Colum- bia release, smiles at various rumors with regard to motion picture conditions. “It might be the weather— the stock market slump—va- cation time—or any other plausible alibi or excuse, to some folks,” said Christie, i “but it is just a matter of good stories to me. “If one starts to make a comparison between the num- ber of motion pictures made every year, and the number of stage plays produced, and will averac" the number of stage successes as compared to screen successes, he will readily understand that mo- tion pictures have a far greater average as far as good entertainment is concerned, than have the stage plays that survive.” SINGS THEME SONG; DIES Activities are humming full blast at the Mack Sennett Studios, ac- cording to Walter Klinger. One picture just finished is a burlesque on the Hollywood theme song that has the hero singing the theme song just before he dies on the battle-field. It was directed by Bill Beaudine and features Harry Gribbon, Patsy O’Neill and Yola O’Avril. Another one, just cut, is called “Rack-a-teers,” with Andy Clyde taking the lead. Billy Hornbecker, for 17 years the editor on the Sen- nett lot, is the author of the state- ment that “Rack-a-teers” is the greatest comedy ever made by that organization. _ His statement should be authen- tic, since he has cut something like 760 comedies and about 12 features for Mack Sennett. Jed Buell, publicity director, states that the studio is getting away from the policy of grinding out a two reeler in ten days or two weeks, and is now spending from eight to 12 weeks to the completion of each picture. ACORD WITH SHARPLES Luke Acord, formerly with John McGroarty’s Mission Players, has been appointed personal publicity representative for Bill Sharpies and his gang, KTM radio artists.. GUARD, GUNMAN Kit Guard has been selected to play a gunman in “Big Money,” Pathe production featuring Eddie Quillan, Robert Armstrong and James Gleason. OLD CHUG CHUGS Seventeen early model automo- biles are used in RKO Radio Pic tures’ “Cimarron.” Among the an cient cars are a one-cylinder Cadil- lac, and first model Ford. Holiday System Is Even Break Charlie Murray and George Sid- ney each rate an extra holiday, over and above the regularly rec- ognized holidays of the year. Seldom is one in a motion pic- ture scene without the other. When Yom Kippur, Jewish holiday, ar- rived, Sidney observed the occasion by resting at home and Murray had a vacation. Murray gives his com- edy partner a similar break by don- ning his green tie on St. Patrick’s Day and celebrating the occasion with the Kellys, Murphys and the O’Briens. Murray took a vacation from work on “The Cohens and Kellys in Africa” at Universal, Thursday, while Sidney welcomed the new year. Last big step in motion picture production was ushered in with the opening of ‘The Big Trail,” Raoul Walsh’s picturization of the Fox- Grandeur super special. Since the showing of “Happy Days,” there has been much specu- lation about the future of wider film products. Big production com- panies experimented with the idea, but could not be sure to take a definite stand on the subject. “The Big: Trail,” however, settles all uncertainty. Wider film gives the screen possibilities it has never had before and could have in no other way. Heretofore the main objection to the 70 mm work was that theatres had to have two machines, if they were going to show both the regu- lar and the larger films. By the new process of “optical prints,” the picture may be recorded on the larger film and then printed on the 35 mm. or standard width, which is projected on a regular machine. This process is the defi- nite technical step which makes the use of wide film practical. “Billy the Kid” has just been completed at M-G-M on this new process of optical prints.' The decision to put out a big production from that studio with this type of projection proves that wider film is the coming thing in pictures. Advantage of 70 mm. film is the same that the screen has over the stage in pictorial effect. “The Big Trail’s” elaborate scenes are far superior to what they would have been in standard film. Now that the new process per- mits exhibitors to use standard equipment, there will be rapid strides toward shooting everything in wider film, say the wise ones of the industry. ‘Qal Qallery/ ‘Daily Scrape/ Plugger’s Life Noon-day shaves are fast becoming a daily routine for the song plugging fraternity. The boys have their “follow- ings,” like their movie breth- ren, at the Kress’ music coun- ter. Here is the lowdown. The boys have their working shifts in regular batting order according to umpire Isabel Gillis. The kick comes while watching the various crowds of flappers eyeing their fa- vorite plugger. There are a few seats in an adjoining vestibule, facing the counter, that are held down and fought over, where the fans can view their fa- vorites from all angles. Com- petition is rife among the boys, who are more or less gifted with the “it” stuff. There is talk of taking a canvas of the fans for their best five, among whom the nominees would be Al Bur- gess, Gene Stone, Harry Coe, Sammy Epstein, and the dark horse, Frank Snodgrass. It‘s getting tough for the boys, this primping up every day, but when a blonde sighed, ‘Oh, isn’t he simply gorgeous,” a male onlooker remarked: “How much does it cost to be a plugger?” SEVENTEEN COMICS FOR RKO PICTURE One of the largest comedy casts in the history of the talkies has been signed by RKO Radio Pic- tures for featured roles in “Hook, Line and Sinker,” in which Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey will be co-featured. Seventeen players, including Dor- othy Lee, Jobyna Howland, Ralf Harolde, Gustav von Sejdfertitz, Natalie Moorehead, George Marion, Hugh Herbert, Stanley Fields and other well-known artists, will take part. DOUG DRESSES UP Douglas Fairbanks’ new United Artists film, “Reaching For the Moon,” an Irving Berlin production, which Edmund Goulding is direct- ing, will feature Fairbanks’ first ap- pearance in modern tailored clothes in years. FINISHES “KISS” WALTZ Tom Satterfield, "formerly Paul Whiteman’s arranger and known as one of the most famous music ar- rangers in the country has com- pleted a symphonic orchestration of “Kiss Waltz,” which appears in Warner Bros, special, “Dancing Sweeties.” CRAFT GETS 5 YEARS William James Craft, director of “The _ Little Accident” and “See America Thirst,” has a new five year contract with Universal. NEW CHRIS COLUMBUS Wesley Ruggles, who directed RKO Radio Pictures’ “Cimarron,” is reputed discoverer of Jack Oakie, Sally Blane, Leila Hyams, Nance Dover and Loyayne Duval. Taylor’s Way Hollywood’s one hundred most serious faces may be seen these days at United Artists studios, making a comedy. It’s Sam Taylor’s method. He gets his company that way. Taylor is producer-di- rector of Mary Pickford’s new picture, “Kiki,” combination of laughter and heart interest. BOBBY CALLAHAN WARREN JACKSON Featured in Fanchon and Marco’s “New Yorker Idea"