Inside facts of stage and screen (January 31, 1931)

Saturday, January 31, 1931 INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN Pag^e Three Th ird Dimension, Grandeur at Small Cost No Bond---It Rained It never rains hut ti pours, says the old saw. And there’s one disgruntled cast in town that will back it up. When Jeanne Eagels’ big success “Rain'’ was produced locally at the. Egan Theatre,, it looked like such, a good bet to the pros pec.five cast that they, signed waivers on their Equity bond. But it “Rained” only briefly, and then flop, with the final cur- tain Wednesday night. No bond, try and get it. James Kirkwood headed thei cast. 10 mis on LEGITIMATE LIST Further augmenting the sudden jump into activity in the local legit field, two new prospective shows, are in line for production - here, it. was reported this week. After a year of extreme depres- sion the legit is hitting steadily up- ward, and present plansby pro- ducers are the most glowing from the professional’s' standpoint for manv months. In addition to the prospective list of new shows set forth in last week’s' issue of Inside Facts, this week it was reported, that Margaret! Anglin-will be brought. here ,bvj Ralph Pincus.to do one. of-the New! York Theatre (jirild plans; aikl that; Arthur Grevrlle Collins Will produce; “Napoleon Had It, Too.”. AUTHOR MOSS HART STICKS ALMOST TO OPENING-THEN OUT T TO BE UNBONED SAN FRANCISCO, Jan, 29.— Fox West Coast scrip goes into the discard February 1 in spite of a successful sale on the tickets since their inception . several years .ago; under the guidance of Harold B. Franklin. Sales for 1930 reached a higher peak than in previous years. No ; reason given for the discontinu- ance. FWC laid-out a lot of dough; .about a month ago, putting out a $2.50 book containing .$3 worth of admissions. This was in addition to the regular $5 and $15 books. SHRINE ACTS SIGNED _ Jerrie Coe, The Flying Flemmings and The \\ alters Duo were signed by Fanchon and Marco this week. The latter two actsWere a feature at the Shrine Circus. LAMPKIN GOING EAST Phil Lampkin, master-of-ceremonies at the Paramount, leaves this week -for New Haven, Conn., to visit his “sweetheart, Babe Marjorie Kane, who is appearing there for Puklix. NEW F. AND M. SPOT The Avon Theatre at Utica, New York, has been added to the Fanchon and Marco list. “Doll Follies” jumps from Oklahoma City for the opening. FOX SIGNS SHERIDAN Billy Sheridan has been signed by Fox for a role in “Painted Fin- gers.” Moss Hart, co-writer with George Kaufman of “Once in a . Lifetime,” tried his best to stay with the show for its opening at the Mayan here. Hart, who played the role of the wrathy scenarist, had such a bad cold that it was almost .flu. He could, hardly stay with the. rehears- als, but managed to hold on clear up to the night of the dress rehear- sal. Oil that night it got the best of him. atu! in the second act he had to go out. Robert B. Sinclair, the stage di- rector, stepped into the part and opened with the show. A1 Singer, former lightweight champion of the world, arrived in Los Angeles Saturday on a visit, and is scheduled to leave for Miami Tuesday. A1 took a workout in a local gym, and when the fight promoters saw his condition—right in the pink—they made him several offers for fights, among other offered bat- tles being ones with Billy Petrolle and Tod Morgan. But they couldn’t come anywhere near meeting Al’s figure, their offers being between $2,000 and $3,000. For meeting fighters of the Petrolle or Morgan class A! would get $10.00 or more in New York. While in the east. Singer had several, picture offers, but at that time his fight dates wouldn’t per- mit him to accept. However, it is understood that he is consider- ing accepting, picture offers here. Singer made a round of the pic- ture studios to see the sights Fri- day, in company with Arch Woody of Inside Facts. Al’s brother Lou accompanied him on his trip here. RAFT AT FOX George Raft has been signed by Fox to play the Killer in “Skyline,” from the story by Spencer Tracy, author of “The Road to Hell.” Fay Wray is leading lady. a LEE WILMOTT WEDS Lee Wilmott, featured Fanchon and Marco actor, and Milly Dale, who has worked in a number of pictures in feature roles, will be married this week. IN SPANISH DEPARTMENT William Varquez, well known Spanish author, has arrived from South America ( to join the Spanish department at M-G-M. Erroneous Impressions Louella Parsons By STAFFORD PENCAN Louella Parsons is probably the widest read publicist in Amer- ica. today. She has won her popularity deservedly and by the sure method of exercising the utmost care not to nip the hand that conveys the food. Her.technique amounts almost to genius. Her skill in tactfully purveying personalities to the films fans of the country has put her in the front rank of press agents. She is in fact the dean and dominant figure in press agentry, for she repre- sents not one producer but the entire industry. It may be fairly said that she has given more to the favorable exploitation of pic- tures than any other newspaper man or woman today. Louella has been calumniated by all but a meager few of the trade press. journalists of the trade confine them- selves, to. sly, cautious and covert digs at the Parsons modus. It is sometimes broadly hinted that Louella’s right hand knows not what is slipped into her left, but to date none have been able to get anything on her. She has kept her face singularly clean and in no instance has anyone been able to found his insinuations in proof. This is remarkable to a degree,, for temptation in the way of tips for one so high in her profession would no doubt repre- sent a very nice income. Professional jealousy is at the bottom of most efforts to unseat Louella. She shows rare astuteness and good judgment in not picking up any of their gauntlets. The great error the trade papers have made in training their barbs on. Louella lies in their mistaking her for a critic. A third dimension process, which I eliminates any distortion or elon- gation of pictures or subjects has been perfected by Edward Frazce r former producer and director and connected with the picture industry since its beginnings. A home demonstration on a small screen, ■ made for an Inside Facts representative, substantiated all claims made by Frazee. From the so-called “impossible angles” the projected pictures maintained all their definitions, -of sharpness. and correct proportions. Further, Frazee’s demonstrator is equipped with a patented process which permits enlargement to Grandeur, size of greater, or to half the size now customarily used. Nor does the Frazee third dimen- sion process interfere, in any way with the projection of color. In Projector Frazee has been working on'his patents for three years, approach- ing the third dimension problem from an entirely different angle Than -that taken by other so-called third dimension processes in process of development since inception of the talkies. His third dimension is entirely in the projector, as differentiated from the many which have sought the missing dimension through the camera. The theory upon which he is working, and apparently he is fun- damentally correct, is that light waves on the screen should be given their same velocity to round out objects as is automatically done by the eye when looking at an ob- ject, person or scene. He now 7 has", his process up to 490,000 light pul- sations as compared - to 500,000 to the eye, the difference being so negligible as not to demand further attention. Light Speed He explains it thus; "The human eye constantly has double vision. As the vision broad- ens the light rays travel faster, and this gives the effect of roundness. The rays travel faster and have a different length at the point of bi- nocular vision, and their speed di- minishes according to their dis- tance from this point. “The screen at the present time is nothing but a reflection of shad- ows, because everything is pro- jected at the same speed. For roundness, or third dimension, we must change the light rays to their proper speed.” The demonstration given the In- side Facts representative was most convincing. Operating at a short throw 7 of about some ten feet, Fra- zec tipped his lens down to project at an angle of about 40 degrees, and the cast was perfect. A cast on a sideways machines screen w 7 as also made, and up to an angle past the 45-degree mark there w 7 as neither distortion nor elongation. Cast In Corner Then, for novelty. Frazee cast his picture into a corner, making a man and a girl on the film face each other at this 45-degree angle. Projection was perfect. At will, he enlarged and reduced the size of his picture, carrying it up on the small screen and small throw 7 to far beyond the size of grandeur, comoaratively speaking. The I. F. man was invited to step up to the screen and look for fuz- ziness. Up to a point far beyond the comparative Grandeur, there was not the least fuzzing or grain- ing; Frazee’s machine is an attach- ment which fits in front of any projector. It operates with the standard film now in use, and is so simple in operation that no extra projectionists would be required for its operation. On Rental Basis At the present time Frazee is preparing to bring in a small amount of new capital to perfect one minor defect, and then plans to place the machine on the mar- ket through his own capitalization. As his'plans are to place the ma- chine's with houses On the basis of a small installation charge and a small yearly rental, he does not feel that he needs any enormous amount of money to hit the gold mine which he believes his process is He has had several offers for Discoverer Balked Commander Byrd, discoverer of the South Pole, while here to lecture at the. Shrine Auditorium attended the Press Club on Beverly Boulevard. Leaving the jollity of the party, Byrd couldn’t find his car. A little Irish newspaperman emerged from the doorway, and he-also from the jollity of the party. Bvrd hailed him. “I can’t find my car. Do vou know? where it is?” the explorer asked. “Who; are you?” was the counter-question. "Commander Byrd.” “You found the South Pole, didn’t you?” “Yes.” “Then find your car.” EDDIE BROWDER DIES PENNILESS; FORMER VAUDE PERFORMER ■ Eddie Browder, ex-vaudeville per-, former who lias been making his home, with the team of Smith and Bernard in L. A., died suddenly of a heart at- tack-Tuesday. He had been booking, acts lately, his most recent connection being with the Katherine Burns book- ing office. Browder was featured for many ' seasons, being in Frederick Hawley’s sketch "The Bandit,” and other acts, but was penniless at the time of his death. N. V. A., West Coast Theatres and Bobby Stewart of the Bert Levy? of- fice, made collections for the funeral. Alexander Pantages, Browder’s for- mer employer, was the largest con- tributor. Gypper Is Busy Along Film Row Film Row 7 is suffering from the invasion of the racketeers. A man is going to the exchanges, getting film, giving checks on banks where he has no account, and then leaving 7 town with the- film. He goes under the name of “Smith,” but police know him under several'other aliases. He is five feet nine and has brown hair, drives: a Durant or Dodge roadster with a trailer and has a stolen 1931 license plate. There are two warrants out for his arrest, one for pass- ing bad checks and the other for theft. “Smith claims to have a the- atre in Tehachapi but no one has ever seen him up there. He got off with a full program from the All-Star Exchange, the titles being “Wild Born.” a feature, “When You’re Dry” and “Koko Backs Up.” DOING SCENERY The Scenic Construction Com- pany has just landed a couple of fat and sweet contracts. They have signed to do all sets for the Civic Repertory for a year, and also are starting work on sets for Guy Bates Post’s next play. The latter sets will be shipped to New York. The Scenic Co. also did the sets for Sid Grauman’s production of “Once in a Lifetime.” GARDNER AT BEACH Reese Gardner, well-known fea- ture in musical comedy and tab shows too numerous to mention, former leading man with Will King and ^11-around popular Coast De- fender, is concentrating his efforts in Long Beach now, filling a new? role. Gardner is manager of the Majestic Ballroom there. He is conducting; dance classes, too. outright sale or for big sums of money for large blocks of stock, but, determined to keep control himself, has turned these proposi- tions down. F’razee was one of the first Mack Sennett directors, being with the Sennett organization and directing Mabel Normand, Fatty Arbuckle, Charles Murray, Fred Mace and other of the early Sennett stars. He was an exhibitor for six years, in charge of comedy produc- tion for William Fox. and .an in- dependent producer in his . own right. His company is known as the Frazee Motion Picture Technical Laboratories, and in addition to his third dimension invention, be op- erates around the studios on trick- shots and special photography. OPEN FEBRUARY M "Waterloo Bridge,” the Robert Sherwod play which had a success- ful New York run last season with Glenn Hunter and Sue Walker heading the cast, will be presented locally by Dickson Morgan. Morgan will take the play into the Hollywood Music Box for spe- cial matinee showings February 24, 26 and 27, with a probability of a night run to follow at some other house. “Waterloo Bridge” is planned as the first of a series of special mat- inees Morgan- will produce, the sec- ond tentatively selected being Eu- gene O’Neill’s “All God’s Chillun.” In Cast’ Casting of “Waterloo Bridge” has been completed, the four prin- cipals heading the cast of 12 being Doris Lloj-d, Miriam Scegar, King Kennedy and Ethel Griffies. Mor- gan will direct. Scale will be $1, $1.50 and $2. The Music Box management and Civic Repertory group have been cooperating with Morgan in giving him access to the house, but the production is entirely under his own management. Whether “All God’s Chillun” will be produced depends upon whether or not Morgan can obtain the serv- ices of Irving Pitchell. who is now under contract to Paramount as a dialogue director and actor. Mor- gan produced the O’Neill show with Pitchell and Pitcbell’s wife, Violet Wilson, in the leading roles three years ago. The play opened for special mats at the Vine Street and did such good business that it was transferred to the El Capitan and later went into the Majestic for a night run. Another Success Morgan scored another success with Galsworthy’s “Loyalties,” which he opened at the El Capitan and later transferred to the Vine Street. Only member of his staff thus far selected by Morgan is his pub- licist, Elma Auze. Nifty Idea To Bring In The Biz Making a bid for Holly- wood's theatrical trade — and it looks like a nifty at this writ- ing — the Hollywood Gardens will produce a floor show un- der the direction of Eddie Larkin, former associate with Larry Ceballos. The twist to the idea is that Larkin will select his talent for the shows from among the patrons of the Gardens. And in these days when jobs are once-in-a-while he should have plenty of would-be floor- showers looking for a spot at the Gardens. Frankie Gould and his Sere- naders have opened at the Gardens, and business is very- much on the up-and-up. Last week saw a double break for the spot, Gould’s nicety rotmd- ed-out combination of nine > nifty syncopaters, and the fact that the Gardens was Holly- wood’s only dance hall run- ning. Gould is well known among dance patrons, having played over radio and at the beach resorts during the past seven years.