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28
THE MOTION PICTURE DIRECTOR
A u g u s t
WHY
Producer, stars and director discuss details of the picture. A1 Christie, Phyllis Haver, Harrison Ford and Scott Sidney.
JUST THE other day one .of my friends in the business said “Al, will you tell me why you step out and pay big money for stage successes to make feature comedies when you could build ’em to order just like the two-reelers?”
There’s a lot of argument pro and con which could be involved in the answer, plenty of people who will say there are a hundred scenario writers in Hollywood who could write plots as funny as “The Nervous Wreck.” Maybe they could. But I am not that much of a gambling man.
The real answer is Attractions. Why are fabulous sums asked for “Abie’s Irish Rose?” And why are the authors of big stage successes literally besieged with offers for the movie rights? Because the authors have caught something which struck the public fancy. They have registered a success. The fact that they had a success on the stage doesn’t guarantee a movie success, but it is a darn good start.
It is no secret that we are negotiating with the Duncan Sisters and the author of “Topsy and Eva.” Why? Because it is an attraction to the public. It is something that multitudes would want to see, and it is real material just like “Up in Mabel’s Room” which we have already done and just as “The Nervous Wreck” is material of a high and unusual calibre.
An interesting story by the way is the manner in which “Up in Mabel’s Room” got to the screen. We were committed in advance many months ago to the making of a certain feature. It had been sold to several thousand exhibitors under two different titles, both of which were rejected while production plans for
the year were being made. We were faced with two alternatives, either make something in a hurry, probably built to order in our scenario department, and fulfil contracts for the “third Christie feature” or step out and get an attraction with box office drawing power, star, cast, etc. We chose the latter
Harrison Ford as the Nervous Wreck attempts to analyze his symptoms.