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

SATURDAY, AUGUST 9, 1930 INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN PAGE FIVE TALKIES NOT FLOP---FRANKLIN SAYS PUBLIC IS NOT LOSING ITS FILMS INTEREST Harold B. Franklin, presi- dent and general manager of Fox West Coast Theatres, this week stepped into the pro and anti talkie argument with a load of his personal opinion on the matter. Franklin declares himself of the opinion that the talkies are not flopping. His arguments, as presented in the Fox West Coast official organ, "Now,” and as re- leased in a statement to the press are as follows: “There has been much loose talk on the part of many who are just on the -fringe of the motion picture industry, in which the opinion is voiced that the public is losing interest in the talking mo- tion picture. “Such opinions are without foundation of fact. As a matter of truth never before has the pub- lic responded so enthusiastically as they now do for worth-while talking pictures. This fact is un- disputed in virtually every com- munity I have visited. “The great box-office success of such talking motion pictures 'The Big House,’ ‘Divorcee,’ Will Rog- ers in ‘So This Is London,’ 'Let Us Be Gay/ ‘Romance/ ‘Helll's Angels/ and many others which have hung up box-office records wherever they are exhibited, is most eloquent proof of my con- tentions. “These productions are but a hint of the new type of pictures that are now waiting to be pre- sented during Greater Talkie Sea- son, which will be inaugurated in Fox West Coast Theatres every- where beginning Auguts 15. “Amongst them are the Fox production of ‘Common Clay/ Metro's ‘Singer of Seville/ ‘Blush- ing Brides/ with Joan Crawford; Pathe’s ‘Holiday/ the Fox epic, ‘The Big Trail/ Cecil B. DeMille’s ‘Madame Satan.' These are but a few of the fine talking motion pictures that will usher in the new season. “As additional proof that the- atre attendance is at a high peak, Fox West Coast Theatres are now erecting new theatres throughout the West. Thirteen houses, many of them De Luxe are now nearing completion or in the process of construction in various commun- ities. “While in the East, I conferred with Mr. Harley L. Clarke, presi- dent of the Fox Film Corpora- tion, and plans were approved for the building of eight theatres in Kansas, Illinois, and Missouri. All of which will be completed within the next eight months. “The Fox West Coast Theatres will also continue its expansion in regard to the miniature golf courses, which, we believe, may prove an auxiliary of theatre oper- ation. It is our puprose when thoroughly organized, that Fox West Coa$t patrons may have ac- cess to such courses at greatly re- duced prices of admission. Land- scape gardeners and architects are being employed to perfect this diversion up to the highest stand- ard.” In Hollywood"-Now By BUD MURRAY NEW POWELL YARN “New Morals,” by Frederick Lonsdale, wlil serve as William Powell’s next starring film ve- hicle, and is to be directed by Ludwig Berger. The supporting cast has not yet been selected. Powell returned to New York on Monday of this week from a Euro- pean trip, and will leave the East for Hollywood in a week or ten days. HAROLDE ASSIGNED Ralf Harolde has been assigned the heavy role in Amos 'n' Andy's all-talking special, as yet untitled. Geo. T. Hood THEATRICAL MANAGER Address: Inside Facts, 801 Warner Bros. Downtown Bldg., Los An&eles “There is no discharge in the war”—and in the face of this heat, with not an opening IN HOLLYWOOD NOW, or dur- ing the past week, we must pound the Corona on this sultry Saturday afternoon, when most white folk are at the beaches and your humble col- umnist must wait for his usual portion of California sunshine until Sunday with the family. Then Tuesday night to the Olympic for the third time in a month, and we can truthfully say the Wolgast-Dado scrap was a “wiz.” If Dado is speedy, then Wolgast is a “Blue Meteor”—and we heard the most vociferous reception ever given anyone in a fight club when Announcer Dan Toby called out “Amos 'n' Andy.’* Three times these two mysterious persons, who seem to capitalize on the fact that they have never been seen, were forced to get up and bow, and finally were forced to step up on the platform to. get a laugh—and they didn’t miss with the old favorite “kick in the pants”—in fact, it’s the first time the writer ever got a look at these two most popular comedians of the radio and pictures—and they are right IN HOLLYWOOD NOW. The same night at the fights we noticed a real old-timer, of those famous Rathskeller acts, Artie Mehlinger, who was also in “Passing Show of 1914”—just around the corner at the ringside noticed two of the most prominent firms of song-writers, Bud De Sylva and Ray Henderson — Bryan Foy and Chuck Reisner, a couple of old stand-bys and regular friends— Mr. and Mrs. Joe E. Brown are regulars at the fights—and another pair of fight fans, Mr. and Mrs. A1 Herman —A1 looks very Hollywoodish in his polo shirt, and we hope he wears a blue one the next time we bump into him in HOLLYWOOD any time. , Had a surprise visit from Mrs. Catherine Coghlan down at our beach shack, and she brought our “Boy Scout” pal and protege, Jun- ior Coghlan, who just returned from a three weeks’ location trip making “River’s End,” a Warner Brothers feature, with Charles Bick- ford—also see that our Chicago friend, Murray Bloom, is still in Hollywood, and another real song-writer, at the beach, Wolfe Gil- bert, and still another “themie” now at Warner Brothers, Lew Pol- lack, whom we worked with on “The Passing Show of 1921”—all IN HOLLYWOOD NOW. Ran into Joe McCloskey on the Boulevard, all excited, having packed and unpacked our old boss’s suitcase for the 'nth time—all the dailies had him on the train last week—still Sid Grauman was in Hollywood—Sid “nearly” takes as many trips as another old boss of ours does we mean A1 Jolson, who is N. Y.’s and Hollywood’s perpetual commuter. Redmond Wells tells us “bye-bye’’ and at this moment he is on a boat bound for Europe, with the Mrs. and Sam Kramer —right smack into a couple of live-wire agents, Johnny Col- lins and Artie Pearce, who paid us some nice compliments on our California Sunbeams Unit at Pantages Theatre IN HOLLYWOOD NOW. A very funny incident and a grand surprise awaited us while hav- ing a quick snack ’■—opposite us sat a most bewitching animated doll (in every^ sense of the word)—and we remarked to our co-snacker that she acted like a very dramatic person, and might be temper- amental then in walked the head test man at Fox— Herman Paley, and Mrs. Paley, and you know we know Herman in the Tin Pan Al- ley Days, when we were plugging Kendis and Paley songs—and to make a short story longer, Herman introduced us to Miss Frances McCoy, a mental telepathy sort of an affair, and Farnces confided that she just finished two pictures for Fox, the latest, “Soup to Nuts,” J^ u ^ e Goldberg. This is our story, and we are stuck with it—IN HOLLYWOOD NOW. Jack Boyle, formerly of Kramer and Boyle, told us that Kramer, before leaving for N. Y., was worrying about Jack’s welfare, and what he was going to do—and so it happens that Boyle breaks in a new act, with a real blackface comedian (secret) even before Kramer ar- rives by auto in Noo Yawk. That’s show business for you. The writer received two very fine fan mail letters regarding this column and we wish to thank Dr. W W. Tryon, from San Francisco, who praises us for the good work, and to keep it up—also a sweet, flattering letter from Billy Joy, who says he enjoys this column as much as he does O. O. McIntyre —and that wouldn’t affect our head because we know we “Do run a darn good Dancing School”—and everyone to his own racket—but thanks; anyway, Billy ond Doc— And now to the best card of fast and furious- fights at Tom Gal- lery’s Legion battleground—incinding the main event, which was our pet—we liked Jeffries and we like his pupil, win or lose. If Tom gives cards like these he cannot miss a repeat sell-out—and next week wtih Midget Wolgast,—well, we have our tickets—how about you? We talked a few minutes with Tom, who sat with Mr. Pappa Eman- uel, who had to leave before it was over—Armand’s eye looked like an “artichoke”—his stomach like a piece of raw meat—and his general appearance was like last week’s leather, “blah.” What a fight, and what a crowd! And we noticed in back of us Andy Rice, Jr., our boy friend from Chicago, son of our dear friend, Andy Rice, a most prolific writer, who doen't seem to hit, and we want to know “Why?” # Right in front of us that quiet, unassuming boy friend, B. B. B., with a regular fighter taking a vacation—none other than “King Tut” (not bad)— B. B. B. clowning with Joe “Frisco” —both wielding nasty “rugs”—our old friend. Macklin Megley, now at RKO studios— and formerly our boss at the RKO theatre, when we were staging prologues with Mack —How we long for those days to return, Mack, a real friend— We see one of our old Winter Garden stand-bys, now very well established in pictures, El Brendel, formerly of Brendel and Burt— S. a !T y . ^jL? eem , s . t° fights too —Harry takes us back to “Dream wh,ch we 'Y ere with—Dave Bennett still in HOLLY- WOOD at Paramount studios, and whv not, if he is good enough for Noo Yark?—Dave reminds us of our “Dream Girl,” too—We noticed Charley and^ Bryan Foy, but sitting far apart—and got a big «kick out . of the “Dummy Newsboy” from Henry's in a picture of white, having just finished a picture part—he is dressing actorish already— please sell papers—show business tough, I warned you before—A couple of regular Masquers, Walter Weems, and our old boy friend, Harry Gribbon — who just finished “The Gorilla’’— Robert Woolsey without his playmate, and Ben Bard looking very tan And they are all IN HOLLYWOOD NOW. And if you don t mind, we will take Mrs. Murray to Henry’s, and then she will go on her journey to the beach whilst we go to our own lodgings (no foolin’) — and we immediately spy in the corner, always alone, Charley Chaplin, looking in the pink, chinning with Joe, ^ our playmate and head man at Henry’s—dressed very Hollv- woodish Ed Kane in a booth—and our pal, Jackie Fields, walking in with a mysterious paper bag—Joe wheels in a large exhaust fan from the kitchen to show the diners he is looking out for them— Benny Berman, manager of De Sylva, Brown and Henderson, and not a bad warbler Mr. and Mrs. Joe E. Brown and Jack Boyle, evidently talk- ing about their sons (our pupils). Our Winter Garden friend, Frank Fay. now her until—and many other notables right in PTenry’s, but we have to stick to the theme of this column—and write about those whom we worked for or with, and when—or vice versa, and it hap- pened IN HOLLYWOOD NOW. CANTOR TO PLAY WARNER HOUSES Eddie Cantor has been signed to make personal appearances at three eastern Warner houses. These are the Earle hi Washing- ton, where the comedian has been booked beginning August 1st; the Mastbaum in Philadelphia, begin- ning August 8th; and the Stanley in Pittsburgh on August 15th. A tentative booking into the Fox West Coast Loew’s State here is reported off. MAN QUITS AT PARAMOUNT B. F. Zeidman, for three years an associate producer on the staff of B. P. Schulberg, general man- ager of West Coast production at the Paramount Studios, has re- signed his position on the expira- tion of his contract. The resigna- tion, which was accepted this week and will take effect on the comple- tion of the current Jack Oakie picture, and the Leon Errol com- edy, “Social Errors,” on both of which Zeidman is acting as asso- ciate producer. Zeidman went into the picture business in 1912. He accompanied Romaine Fielding on a world tour as press agent and soon after his return was made publicity director for Reliance-Majestic, which be- came Triangle-Fine Arts. When Douglas Fairbanks left Triangle, Zeidman went with him. After six years as Fairbanks’ pub- licity man, he became Mary Pick- ford’s production manager, after which he produced a t series of In- dependent pictures arid was subse- quently the executive assistant to the general manager of Universal, later filling the same role at the Warner Brothers Studios. MISS SWEET SIGNED U. S. OFFICERS INVESTIGATING ‘DOPE’ CHARGES Blanche Sweet will play a fea- tured role in “The Silver Horde” at RKO. (Continued from Page 1) officers stated that “no informa- tion was being given out.” The case was dropped from the daily news column immediately follow- ing the complete exoneration of the actress of any dope charges by the authorities. Miss Nalan has been with- drawn from the cast of “The Boudoir Diplomat” by Carl Laemmle, Jr., general manager of Universal studios and loaned to Warner Brothers for the starring role in “Ex-Mistress.” She had returned from a two weeks’ vacation at Arrowhead Au- gust 1 with her back so sun- burned that treatment at St. Vin- cent’s hospital, Los Angeles, was necessary. Due to skin infection caused by the sunburn, Miss No- lan’s entrance into the “Ex-Mis- tress” cast has been delayed. The narcotic charges were brought by the nurses and a search warrant issued when pur- ported evidence that a Hollywood physician had prescribed a nar- cotic for the actress were allegedly uncovered. However, the initial probe dis- closed to -the satisfaction of the authorities that Miss Nolan was not an addict and that the pre- scription had been to relieve her from the serious sunburn effects. The blackmail investigation started after check on the sources of the faked charges, it was reported. SIGN CLAUDIA DELL Claudia Dell has been assigned to the leading role in Warners' “Bad Women.” In addition to Miss Dell, the members of the cast selected so far include Martha Mattox, Vera Gordon, Blanche Friderici and May Boley. No di- rector has been assigned yet. VILLAGE INN HOTEL MODERN THROUGHOUT Special rates to the profession—Acts playing 1 Pantages, Hollywood—and the Egyptian—will appreciate the comfortable atmosphere. 5724 SUNSET BOULEVARD WRITE, WIRE, PHONE for Reservations — HO. 4735 EARLE WALLACE Always Busy Developing Dancing Stars but Never Too Busy to Create and Produce Original DANCE ROUTINES and REVUES That Sell Belmont Theatre Bldg., First and Vermont Phone Exposition 1196 Los Angeles, Calif. GREGORY GOLUBEFF Directing THE RUSSIAN GYPSY CONCERT ORCHESTRA At the CLINTON CAFETERIA 11 Powell Street San Francisco, Cal. Engagement Indefinite Available for- Theatres, Hotels, Etc. Appearing in Russian Gypsy Costumes CHAS. and DAWN SCHULER Dance Producers of original and new routines, announce that they are now organizing variety and girl revue units for stage production in small houses and theatres in cities that do not sup- port larger units. We will be interested in hearing from local and nearby managers in regards to booking of these new and popular units that the public demand. A complete unit of ten or more people at less cost than average short subject. CHAS. and DAWN 1141 Market Underhill 2608