Motion Picture Herald (Apr-Jun 1931)

48 MOTION PICTURE HERALD June 6 , 19 3 1 DEAR HERALD: The time has come when yon should go Out where all Nature is agtoiv With radiant beauty, rare and suret. That lures you from the busy street; Where yon can sen^se the joy of life And be immune from the city's strife. AH Nature beckons yon to come Where clover blossoms are ahum With music by the busy bees; Where birds are warblitig in the trees. And ivood and dale along rippling rills Are all decked out it'ilh daffodils. If yon could sense this joy so rare You'd break aivay from all life's care And come on out where Nature smiles; Where ivood and dale for miles an<i nules Are ringing zmth the hum of bees And a million songsters in the trees. If you'd come away from the busy street And the constant tramp of a million feet Upon the side^t'alks everywhere, And breathe a ivhile this fresh, pure air, And enjoy yourself, as ive know you can. You'd go back home a better man. There, if that won't bring you, then it's you and the undertaker for it. AAA Is Something Wrong? What's the matter with Cahfornia? We are in receipt of a letter from one of the "FOUR HORSEMEN" who is soaking up some of Cahfornia's sunshine in Los Angeles for a time, and he says that theatres out there are running double features and in some instances three features, trying to stimulate business. If you can imagine anything that will kill the business any quicker than by that method, then you have a greater imagination than "JUST IMAGINE" and you should go out to Hollywood and cash in on it. He tells us that the Chinese theatre has been closed and that the Carthay Circle is playing to the ushers mainly at $1.50 and $2 prices, and it is also about ready to take the count. These producer-owned theatres seem to be skating on thin ice as well as the common herd. Motion pictures have been, and always will be, a popular priced entertainment. By popular prices we mean from 10 to 35 cents, and when they build theatres costing two and a half million dollars and try to run popular-priced entertainment in them at a dollar and a half and two-dollar prices, it's the last word in damphoolishness, if you care to know what we think about it, which you probably don't. The heads of these producer-owned theatres have had their sights set on Mars, and EI Brendel and a couple of other guys are the only ones who have been up there, and they didn't bring anything back that was worth pickling in brine, and they have gone hogwild on building theatre palaces and will continue to go hogwild as long as a fool public are suckers enough to buy stock in two and a half million dollar theatres in which to show 25-cent entertainment. We would like to own a theatre that didn't cost to exceed $40,000 and with a capacity of 1,500 located alongside of some of those palaces and we'd shoot 'er at 10 and 20-cent prices and see which one went into the hands of a receiver first. Wouldn't it be fun to watch results, Gertie? AAA JusI Jealous Don't it beat all how soft some people have it, while us common folks have to dig our toenails into the sod to keep ahead of the wolves ? For instance, you take George W. Huebner of Oconomowoc. He is not only a swell guy, but he has a swell theatre and a swell home with a back lawn sloping right down to the shore of a beautiful lake. Just think of going out there on the shore with a rod and reel of a morning and yanking out a four-pound black bass while your wife was getting the fryirg pan all het up for business and breakfast. Ach du lieber, Louie, bring on the chloroform ; we'll take anything. "THE MAN WHO CAME BACK," with Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor. We are a little hesitant about saying anything about this picture for fear we will slop over, but the facts are that we were so thoroughly disgusted to think that they would take two such capable stars as those two, who had made "SUNNYSIDE UP" and "HIGH SOCIETY BLUES" and who had become the idols of the fans, and put them in such trash as this, that we felt like kicking the varnish off the seats and using language for which we could be arrested. Farrell plays the part of the millionaire's wayward son, who goes down the line from one drunken whoopee party to another until he finally winds up in a Chink opium dive in San Francisco and he drags Janet Gaynor down with him until you see them in all the degradation of derelicts drifting with the scum of humanity. What is there about that kind of stuff to make entertainment, can any one tell? Miss Gaynor has always impressed us as being a delightful lady, and we still want to regard her as such, but pictures such as this one will eventually cast a haze over our vision and we may become prejudiced. We dislike to have idols shattered in this way. You remember what "SPARROWS" did for Mary Pickford after she played in that grime and filth, and we shudder to think what this one might do for these two delightful stars. Raoul Walsh should have known better. AAA Talent in the "Hicks" It may surprise you to know that the little town of Viroqua, Wis., has a high school band of 80 pieces, and that this band takes first prize at all the band concerts in this country. B. C. Brown of the Temple theatre and his brother are sponsors for this band, and his brother is the director and instructor. This proves that you don't have to go into the cities to find talent any more. No you don't. We know some hammerheaded goofs in the cities who go around with stiff necks from trying to see the tops of the buildings and who think that Erie, Pa., is "away out West." AAA We like this town of La Crosse. They claim a population of 40,000 and we are not going to dispute it. It probably has more wealth per capita than any town of like size in Wisconsin, Iowa or Minnesota, and if it will please La Crosse any better, we will include Nebraska, although we are making a pretty big concession when we do it. This is the town that was made famous by the John Gund Brewing company, but now they have to fall back on near-beer and disappointments, which makes it tough for La Crosse. Perhaps one reason why we like this town is because we were invited to dinner tonight at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Friese, and that dinner was one of those dinners you occasionally read about but seldom come face to face with. They may get 'em up better, but we don't know who does, and we can see no reason why any one should. Mr. Friese is the assistant manager for the five theatres here in La Crosse and we judge he has his time pretty well occupied. And tomorrow we are to have dinner with Guy Beach, who used to play our house some years back. Then Carl Dalton just called us up and wants us to come see him tomorrow, which looks like a pretty strenuous day for us. Carl played our house years ago with "Tillie Olson" and other attractions, but that was back in the days of the old "Opera House Reporter," and as El Brendel says, "Them was the good old days." J. C. JENKINS The HERALD man THE HERALD covers the FIELD LIKE an APRIL SHOWER