Inside facts of stage and screen (Aug 09, 1930)

PAGE TWO INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 1930 LET TER WR ITE RS INVE STIGATED “Big/House” Draws Big For PanlMUSIC MEN IN TALKIE FILMS PORTABLE GAG IS TRIED HERE Portable talkie service is being exploited locally, and is bitting with big house parties, providing acceptable enter- tainment for hosts and host- esses who have been put to it for original ideas. An edge is given to it by the ability to secure pre-releitse pic- tures and the idea is catching on. Cost is small and the portable equipment easily handled. Robert L. Lippert is specializing in this service from a new office on Film Row, where his organ- ization functions under the name of Motion Picture Service Corpo- ration. He is also furnishing clubs, lodges, churches and mili- tary camps with the service, and is preparing to open branches in San Francisco, Portland and Seat- tle, expecting eventually to cover the entire country. He has this week equipped an expedition for Peru with com- plete portable talkie equipment, and by this means Peru will have the experience of its first talking pictures. The expedition is being financed and headed by Airs. John Rounan, well known in vaude. She is taking a chimpanzee with her and will do some picture shooting while down there. SEVEN PICTURES START AT PARA. Two; Other People Ginger Rogers, of vaude and presentations, now a Paramount contract player, this week denied that she was the Ginger Rogers whose engagement to John Keat- ing, Jr., of Cumberland, Maryland, was announced in a news dispatch. Afiss Rogers explained the confusion by pointing out that there was another Gin- ger Rogers. The second Ginger Rogers, of the sister-team of Ginger and Jane Rogers, is the bride-to-be. The sisters orig- inally spelled their name Rodgers but later dropped the identifying “d” in their billing. NEW PLAY SEED OF PASADENANS Seven pictures went into pro- duction this week at the Para- mount studios in Hollywood. At the present time, eleven pictures are being filmed; five others are in the cutting and editing rooms, being made ready for release and two are in the final stages of preparation and awaiting camera calls. The eleven productions being filmed, as announced by Lasky, are Maurice Chevalier’s “Playboy of Paris;” “Social Errors,” with Leon Errol, Richard Arlen, Mary Brian and Stuart Erwin; the filmization of “Spanish Acres;” the Josef von Sternberg feature, ‘‘Morocco,” with Gary Cooper, Alarlene Dietrich and Adolphe Menjou; George Ban- croft’s new sea story; Jack Oakie’s sailor vehicle; the new Clara Bow production, “Her Wedding Night;” “Tom Sawyer,” with Jackie Coo- gan, Alitzi Green and Junior Dur- kin; “The General,” with Kay Francis, Walter Huston and Ken- neth AfacKenna, and the final scenes for “The Sea God” and “The Spoilers.” Five Being Edited In the editing rooms are “Any- body’s W o m a n,” starring Ruth Chatterton and Clive Brook; the Spanish and English productions of “Grumpy;” “Follow Thru,” the all- technicolor comedy, and Ernst Lubitsch’s comic “Alonte Carlo.” Preparing for immediate starting dates are the French picture, “La Petit Cafe,’* starring Alaurice Chev- alier, and Charles Rogers’ next stellar vehicle. MURRAY SIGNS FOR U DANCES The bill of coming attractions for the Pasadena Community Play- house has just been made public. Currently, “The Alan, Saul,” a new play by Sidney Robert Buch- man, starring Paul Muni, is get- ting its first stage production preparatory to bein goffered New York audiences. Closes August 9. “Dracula,” the mystery play made by Hamilton Deanne and John Lv Balderston from the Bram Stoker book, will be pre- sented August 14 to 23, featuring Victor Jory. Oscar Wilde’s “Importance of Being Earnest” is scheduled for August 28 to September 6, fol- io we dby Austin Strong’s “Three Wise Fools,” September 11 to 20. James Barrie’s “What Every Woman Knows” is to be presented October 2 to 11; “Richelieu,” Oc- tober 16 to 25; “Poor Little Rich Girl,” October 30 to November 8; “School for Scandal,” November 13 to 22, and “Shore Acres” or “Sag Harbor,” November 27 to December 6. SULLIVAN TO BE THALBERG AIDE C. Gardner Sullivan has joined the AI-G-AI * executive staff as as- sistant to Irving Yhalberg. Sullivan has much experience in films, dating from 1914, when he came to California as a writer for the late Thomas H. Ince. Previ- ous to that time he had been a New York newspaper man. On the death of the producer he be- came an executive for the DeMille Pictures Corporation; then was at United Artists and, more recently, was scenario editor at Universal City. ‘HELL’S ANGELS’ STILL DRAWING AT NINTH WEE Hollywood Pantages grosses took a big leap with a week of “The Big Blouse,” follow- ing four weeks downtown in the Criterion, and took $21,- 578, one of its biggest totals since the opening week. “Hell’s Angels” at the Chi- nese grossed $27,758 for its ninth week, three hundred better than the previous week, which does not look very big for the Hunter Brothers as an added stage at- traction. Undoubtedly, however, their appearance arrested the de- cline which is normal on a long run. Everything else in the film line was off. Loew’s State was very tame with “Wild Company” and the F. & Al. unit “Wild and Woolly,” grossing $17,123, low record for this year. Sixth week of “So This Is Lon- don” at Carthay Circle dropped the gross to $12,164. “Holiday” goes in there this week. The hold-over week of Greta Garbo's “Romance” at the Cri- terion drew $11,138, fifteen hun- dred under average. The Boule- vard took $3337, below level for “On The Level.” The Egyptian, with “Border Legion” and Max Fisher’s orchestra,, was down to its low level with $5551. At the United Artists, last nine days of “Raffles” brought $15,500, nothing extra but not bad for hot weather. Second week of “Dix- iana” grossed $16,000, over sum- mer average for the Orpheum. “Manslaughter” at the Paramount drew somewhere about twenty grand, slightly nourishing but not too healthy. Film Row Cuttings By FRED YEATES NO NEWS IS GOOD HEAVY CONFERENCE ABOUT POLITICS LIPPERT MOVES IN W. C. CONTINUES WITH GOLF PLAN Fox West Coast golf circuit plans are being continued in a smaller way than first planned. De Luxe Theatre on Alvarado street, Los Angeles, has been converted into an interior miniature golf course. It is General Manager Harold B. Franklin’s plan to use this eighteen-hole course as an ex- perimental venture. In the event of its success, the same procedure will be worked with different houses over the entire circuit. The fellow who could get news out of Film Row this week would be a priceless magician as well as an imag- inative reporter. For the first time since its organization, the curb convention is without a docket, and the delegates can find nothing more exciting to talk about than the high cost of keeping flannel pants clean. Sales- men are conspicuous by their ab- sence, but some of their footprints could no doubt be traced on the sands of Santa Alonica. Heat has a bad effect on film. * * * The exchange managers were in heavy conference on our call morn- ing this week behind the closed doors of the Film Board of Trade. Down on the curb rumors were rife that the annual picnic was the sub- ject of the ponderous debate, and it was believed there was a pos sibility of calling the affair off. This would be a sad disappoint- ment to the Benson-Knotts ballet, which, according to the gossip, has been taking early morning work- outs on the roof of the Film Ex- change Building. * * * Carroll Peacock, who represents considerable of the “amount” in Paramount, paused^ in his shirt sleeved labors to inform us there was absolutely nothing new. In fact, he said, “I’m afraid to talk to you,” but, being well versed in western etiquette, he laughed when he said it. But we did notice something new on his desk: A dull copper gewgaw, that might be a fruit dish, cake dish, cocktail mug, or something like that. Alay- be it was one of those wine-bib- bers we read about in old books. ♦ * * The Row does not seem to be politically - minded. We asked several how they stood about Bud Lollier, one of their own brethren who is running for office. They in- timated, in their own peculiar individual ways, that they were for Bud, believing the industry needed a man in the assembly, senate, or whatever it was, and that Bud would do as well as anybody else. We asked, “What party is Their Dancing's Precise Lon Afurray, who is now staging the “Birth of a Nation” prologue art the Biltmore Theatre, has been commissioned by the casting de- partment of Universal to supply and train his own dancers for all musical scenes, cafe sets, etc. The first Lon Murray troupe of 16 headed by Bubbles Crowell worked all last Saturday night on the “Chicago Gunman” set. Murray was recently signed by Triangle Film Corp. as general dance and stage directors, his next assignment after “Birth of a Na- tion” being “Alickey,” the old Mabel Normand picture revised for a musical. Here’s a unit of Bud Murray’s “California Sunbeams,” fast becoming famous for their machine-like precision and unison in line routines. These girls are appearing this week at the Pantages Hollywood Theatre, in Fanchon and Marco’s “Wild and Woolly” Idea, doing Bud Murray routines, which includes the new dance, “Doing the Derby,” and the novelty trick number, “The Dummy,” which was conceived and staged by Bud Murray. PROBE OF NOTE THREATENINGS Sensational charges were expected shortly from inde- pendent music publishers, fol- lowing a quiet investigation of a series of anonymous let- ters received by a number of the inde music handlers. The letters, all typewritten, and having several outstanding peculiarities in style and address- ing, have been checked by experts, it is reported, with other samples of mail and the actual sender of the notes is expected to be discov- ered any time now. At first taken as the work of a crank, the letters continued pour- ing in, until two of the inde pub- lishers got chatting with another music man and all three discov- ered that they had been on the mailing list of the anonymous writer or writers. This started the boys thinking and they quietly began a bit of amateur sleuthing, comparing dif- ferent types of correspondence in the music business, until a sud- den stroke of luck gave a new slant on the matter. If charges are brought by the indes, it is rumored, they will be of a very sensational nature and may result in a Federal investiga- tion of the matter. At first keeping his or their notes to kidding and razzberrying the indes, the writer or writers re- cently overstepped the mark in his mail campaign and waxed threatening, it is said. Inside Facts this week obtained a transcript of one of the letters, which the amateur investigators, however, would not turn over for a photostatic copy, preferring to continue their study o* the matter on the q. t. It is reproduced here in style and content. A sample of the letters appears on page nine of this issue. NEW HAMILTON SERIES STARTS Lloyd Hamilton has started on the first of his new series of Edu- cational comedies for the 1930-31 season. William Goodrich is directing and the players include Ruth Hiatt, Ed Brady, Dan Wolheim, Peggy Doner, vaude headliner; William AIcCall and Al Thompson. Dwight Warren is cameraman, and Walter Smith, sound technician. Bud?” and not a doggone one o£ ’em knew. ♦ * * Even the Columbia news-springs were dried up this week. Mel Klein, office manager, called on that red-headed McCarthy man, just in from the road, but all he could dig up was an auto repair bill for ninety-two uckbay, which was much too sad for the cheery columns of Inside Facts. ♦ * * With the Film Board in session we could not interview Aliss Lola Gentry. Just between ourselves, we don’t know just what to think about that sweet lady being shut up in a room with all those men— this hot weather. That side of the building gets the warm morning sun, so much so that even Bill Knotts, the blonde streak of Film Row who has a big office on the same side, has moved his desk out to the main office. To keep cool, he says, but there’s a nifty piece of brunette scenery over in the corner in the person of Airs. Cop- pie—or is it K, like in Kiss? * * * Bob Lippert has moved into his new salon at 2028, opposite the Fox exchange, and he is receiving visitors, exchanging conversation between the pounding of hammers and zoozing of saws. The car- penters are still in, putting up the fir partitions which will soon be looking like oak or mahogany. He has a preview room, beautifully dark and cool, where he will dem- onstrate his portable sound equip- ment. The sign on the window says, “Alotion Picture Service Cor- poration.” See news sfory else- where.