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

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Paee Six INSIDE FACTS OF STAGE AND SCREEN Saturday, January 31, 1931 S<S!P®<3SQ> One Year - Published Every Saturday - $4.00 Foreign - $5.00 Advertising Rates on Application Established 1924 .As a weekly publication : Entered as Second Class Matter, April 29, 1927, at the" Post Office at Los Angeles, California, under the Act of March 3, 1,879. Published by INSIDE FACTS PUBLISHING CO. 230 Bank of Hollywood Building, Hollywood, Calif. Telephone HEmpstead 8797 Downtown Office: 809 Warner Bros. Downtown Theatre Building JACK JOSEPHS - ALAN EDWARDS VoL XIII - President and Editor Secretary and Business Manager “No. 4 Saturday, January 31, 1931 Cyrus H. K. Curtis, president of the Curtis Publishing- Company, is a man to whom one listens with respect. Such is the power of success. Therefore, we herein reprint sentiments he expressed this week at a businessmen’s meeting in Philadelphia. ‘ The moral of Curtis’ talk is' that advertising will make fortunes. "Everything that is done is built on advertising and in- telligent advertising will make your fortunes,” he told the gathering. Curtis concluded by declaring that the policy of some advertisers to save expenses by cutting down on their ad- vertising is “foolish.” 1L PLAY TO Donald Gallaher and Frankie Guy are. planning production of a legit show, “Empty Bottles,” au- thored by the latter, it was re- I ported this week. Plans for rtie production are still in an extremely early stage, with neither date nor place set. The play was written by Guy a year ago, but at that time he could not find a backer for it. It deals with racketeers and bootlegging, the locale being backstage. Now with the ever-increasing interest in racketeering, both Guy and Galla- her consider the time fully ripe for giving the show a break. Sol Magnus is working with Guy on rewriting the show to give it the latest racketeer twists. Gallaher is stage director of Harry Green’s “The Ambulance Chaser.” Frankie Guy was form- erly a writer for Fox Pictures. I THINGS TO WHICH Art That Is Not Good Boxoffice By TED PRICE [ The saddest commentary made on Hollywood for some time was the notation by certain local daily paper critics that the picture magnates and higher execs seemed to enjoy “Once iti a Lifetime” and were not angry at its satirical thrusts. « What then did they expect? Newspapermen certainly en- joyed “The Front Page,” and no one expected them to be angry; gangsters are said to be -enthusiastic patrons of gangster plays, both dramatic and comic, and show people are not expected to exhibit wrath at “The Royal Family” and other backstage material. But pur reviewers seem to think that the picture pro- ducers are above these other classes of humanity—that they are of such Olympian proportions that thunderbolts shall dart from their eyes if one dares analyze them; that any word of criticism of them should be considered sired by lese ma- jesty and foaled by disrespect for the first commandment. And" the worst of it is the producers generally seem to share this opinion. Upon what meat has Caesar fed that he is grown so great? The answer is easy: upon the fodder of adulation, vessing, and that inherent ego that has driven them to business success. But the soil has been the verdant soil of Hollywood—and like unto it there is nothing else in the world. A Lilliput Crew Vet why carp, split hairs and cavil at the peculiarities of the Cinema Capital? The little critics, both professional and amateur, who come with pea-shooters in one hand and “fundamental reconstruction” schemes in the other, are so many LiUiputs hurling daffodils at a Juggernaut. Hollywood is what it is because evolution lias demanded it. It is not Louis B. Mayer, nor Adolph Zukor, nor voung Carl Laemmle, nor any director, writer or cameraman who has brought-the picture game to its present definition. They put out the kind of pictures they do because they cannot do otherwise. It is an economic action and reaction: when people are oppressed and sad, they want to laugh; when they are happy they lend a more willing ear to the tragedies of others. For years the American demand has been for com- ed.Y with the arrival of the depression, comedy has gained even more ground. The mushiness of films represents vi- cariously the disappoined love lives of the picture audiences; the two-gun caperings of some Tom Mix or Floot Gibson represent by flex and reflex the timidity of hundreds of thousands of petty clerks whose sole achievement is holding- on to some meager, ratted job, and whose biggest thrills— deleterious or otherwise—are losing or finding a job. ho the producers should -neither be blamed nor praised for the fundamentals of their pictures. They can no more change the course of picture events than George IV or Louis XVI could prevent the coming of democracy, or the Czar the advent of bolshevism. Evolution moves on—and so, we repeat, the carping little critics of Hollywood are shooting their spitballs at a juggernaut which neither Heaven nor earth can halt. So why waste so much ink? Picture Receipts Paramount and “Blue Angel” took the lead for the week with the sur- prise figure of $31,000 for the Jan- nings-Dietricb combination. The top take for Specials went to Grauman’s Chinese with “Trader Horn.” The check-up was $37,344, which is con- sidered excellent business for this house. Ttie second gross under the wire was “Passion Flower,” featur- ing Kay Francis and Charles Bick- ford under the Loew's State banner for $24,809, which is not considered good business for this house. “Mother’s Cry” and “Man to Man,” two Warner Brothers’ productions that were touted for big money failed to deliver; “Mother's Cry” took $9,600 for the Downtown and “Man to Man” did only $10,100 for the Hollywood house. Last week the Hollywood house did $17,000 and the Downtown $16,000, which reveals a decided drop for the closing bills, “Bat” Held Over “The Bat Whispers,” a mystery thriller featuring Chester Morris, holds for another week; $17,000 was the total collected, an increase of $3,000 over the preceding week. Ron- ald Colman follows in on Feb. 6th with “The Devil to Pay.” Another surprise on the week’s check-up was the Egyptian dome $7.- 909 with “Reducing,” the M-G-M comedy with Marie Dressier. This gross is an increase of $4,665 over the preceding week, which collected $3,244 with tlie Paramount-Ed Wynn comedy, “Follow the Leader.” $7909 For Carthay Carthay Circle collected $7,909 for the final week of “Lightnin’,” which lias enjoyed a long run. Anne Hard- ing and “East Lytle” move in. RKO with the “Royal Bed,” featuring Low- ell Sherman, and Vaudeville did $10, 848 for the week. Pantages and Ruth Chatterton in “The Right to Love” grossed $14,490. The Criterion did $6,752 for the last week of Gaynor- Farrell reunion in “The Man Who Came Back.” “Beau Ideal," the sequel to “Beau Gest,” at the RKO Orpheum did $8,912. Although not considered a holdover it will carry on at the Or- pheum until the premiere of “Cimar- ron.” M-G-M LINES UP BIG BREAK VIA IN WITH U. S. NAVY Mingling with the learned people of the non-professional world, the powerful minority who shape the thoughts of those who make pic- ture production profitable, I ant constantly reminded that the audi- ble motion picture is not consid- ered art, just boxoffice. Usually I am the lone showman in the midst of the august non-pros, and their argument, carrying weight of num- bers and vast scientific knowledge, leaves my idea of art badly bruised and my defense of cinema art un- convincing. Just the same, I in- tend to carry on in the belief that the talking motion picture is today the finest and most flexible medium through which the art of the drama has so far been presented. Any thought pro or con on the subject will be welcome. My argument is that a picture must he art to be good boxoffice. To strengthen my position I sought the definition of art as it applies to the stage and screen. Immediately a broad, basic definition of “Art” was requested from these fine peo- ple an impenetrable intellectual fog descended. Brows went up. Scalp lines twitched profoundly. Brows pushed higher, but the fog did not lift. Many Opinions “Art is a symposium of the beau- tiful and the damned,” said one. “No,” protested another, “Art .is the essence of human conflict dra- matized.” “No,” objected a third, “dramatic art is a great thought in the brain of a great, gay, sad man.” “No. Art is emotion given mean- ing.” “No. Art is truth.” “No, art is illusion given reality.” “No, Ibsen is art.” “No, the talking picture lias not raised the drama to the level of an art.” “Nuts!” some- one said, and left for a movie, fol- lowed by lofty frowns.,,; There need be no confusion over the definition of art. There is noth- ing vague or illusive about it. The word has a tangible, basic and practical application. The key to its application lies in the word "Skill.” Art is knowledge skill- fully applied for a desired result. The result desired in any form of entertainment is to secure a maxi- mum audience sympathy, interest and appeal. If the medium of ex- pression, whether it be painting, sculpture, spoken or silent drama, fails in this desire to the degree then it falls short of being art. How About These? It was said that “Pantomime was raised' to the level of an art in ‘The Birth of a Nation.’” “What about Charles Chaplin’s stage pan- tomime of a night in an English music hall? That tid-bit preceded the D. W. Griffith spectacle by many years, as did many other screen pantomimes considered ar- tistic.”. “But Chaplin is a clown,” is the reply. Then skillful clown- ing is not an art because it is clowning. If this be true then only the serious is artistic and those comical Dutch paintings hanging in the.Royal Galleries are imposters. It would be silly to discuss art in this vein. Skill and skill alone determines the status of any medium of ex- pression. Shaw in print reaches a high level in the art of satire. When the satire of Shaw emerges from print to appear on the stage, no amount of bungling in the de- livery of his wit can detract from his individual rank as an artist. His art can be augmented by skillful direction, performance and mount- ing and the composite boosts Shaw to the highest level of art. To the degree that he is skillfully present- ed his is an art. Many Disagreements We do not all relish the same things: Degrees of understanding determine our likes. Ibsenites quar- rel with the disciples of Shaw. Every form of entertainment gath- ers its own protagonists. There is no accounting for tastes. An audi- ence vehemently pro-Shavian will manifest a healthy disgust for any- thing that pretends to approximate Shaw. The Little Theatre, the temple of Pure Art, has many times failed miserably to interpret Shaw. They failed to arouse a fa- vorable reaction to their portrayal of his satire. Their-intentions were lofty, yet one cannot sincerely per- mit them to assume the pose of artists merely because they have associated themselves with Shaw. ' Thus skill is the measure and the gauge of art. As for Art and Box Office, the twain meet with sur- prising regularity. The so-called commercial stupidity regretted by the Beatons of the theatrical world are but chimeras—rarely separate. Skillful art and good boxoffice pres- entation of stage and screen plays are invariably money-makers, “Hol- iday,” “The Divorcee,” “All. Quiet On the Western Front,” “The Right to Love,” “Tom Sawyer,” “Outward Bound,” are perfect ex- amples of cinema art. All were I boxoffice successes. The Stock Market Whether Louis B. Mayer, Repub- lican National Committeeman, whis- pered soft words in the car of Pres- ident Herbert Hoover, or otherwise, M-G-M is getting a break which is a break from the U. S. Navy. The technical crew of "The Plell Diver” is to go to Panama aboard the Saratoga and Lexington, carrier ships, and will photograph all man- euvers in Panaman waters to incor- porate into the Ars Gratia Artis feature film, which is to feature Wallace Beery. PURCELL WITH MARKS SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 29- Bill Wiemann. general sales man- ager of the Edw. Marks Music Co., was here this week and appointed 'Billy Purcell local representative. Purcell is headquartered at the Broder music store. From here Wiemann goes to Los Angeles and then to New York. Plerbert Brenon’s next RKO picture will be “The Next Cor- ner.” By H. F. CHRISTY Banks, Huntley & Co. The profession, vocation, or in- door sport of forecasting price movements in the stock market is, at the present time, just about the worst overworked calling known to. mankind. Amateur Babsons and Moodys have sprung up in almost untold numbers in every hamlet in the United States. The chaarcter of the advice may have deteriorated to some extent but at least a wide diversity of opinion is available. Every casual acquaintance has a very fixed opinion of the market in general, or of some specific stock or stocks, which he is glad to ex- pound at great length to the world in general, with or without provoca- tion. Whatever this article may de- velop into as time goes on, we shall endeavor to keep it from degenerat- ing into anything in the nature of a tipping service. So far as is. pos- sible it will mirror our own impres- sions of the broader trends and longer range aspects of the stock market. Suffice it to say for this time — that in our opinion we are entering a period of extreme dull- ness with price fluctuations in the next feyv.months within rather nar- row limits, with a probable moder- ate down trend. We believe, how- ever, that in the broad sense stocks are in a range which thoroughly justifies accumulation ' of well de- flated issues for the long pull. HISTORICAL SERIES Master Art Productions are pre- paring a series of two-reel, all color, subjects depicting American history. The series is to be done in 'Harriscolor. LOUIS COHEN BACK Louis Cohen, head of the realty department of the Fox West Coast Theatres, has returned from the east. Reports are circulating that a big deal is pending, but what or when, not stated. VILLAGE INN HOTEL Making Special Low Theatrical Rates Wire, Write, Phone for Reservations 5724 Sunset Blvd. Hollywood, Calif.