Motion Picture Herald (Apr-Jun 1931)

JUN 13 1931 ©CIB 117889 MOTION PICTURE HERALD Vol. 103, No. I I llllll'llA m!iuili;ihiMj;liylll June 13, 1931 Romance From Rochester OUT of far away Stockholm comes a tale that should carry a thrill for Mr. George Eastman and his coworkers of Kodak Park. In the year of 1897, one year after the screen was born, the Andree Expedition floated away into the Arctic skies, equipped with roll films from Rochester, the same raw stock that founded the motion picture industry. When the bones and shards and relics of the Andree party were found among them were several of these rolls of film, exposed and stowed in metal tubes. For thirty-three years they had laid among the icy stones of that fated scene of adventure and tragedy. Now Dr. J. Hertzberg in Sweden has succeeded in saving and developing the pictures recorded there so long ago. An undeveloped image in photographic emulsion has been described as only a state of stress. There is strange magic in that flashing impress of light, acting for mayhap but a hundredth part of a second, which can so survive within a few thousands of an inch of silver salts and gelatine for a third of a century. AAA From the Scrapbook! A HOLLYWOOD critic digs up the interesting fact that foreign settings in a recent picture — very artistic and credited altogether to the creative genius of the director — are exact duplicates of illustrations in a back number of Travel Magazine. There is nohing alarming about this. For years the research departments of all the studios have supplied just such photographic material to directors, art directors, construction, wardrobe and property department. Writers — the best of them — make it their business to take what they want from the records and work of the past. That is one thing, however. It is another matter when an individual sits back and silently acknowledges credit for artistry that someone else created. There is too much false credit in Hollywood. It breeds magalomania, downright dishonesty, and certainly it must dispirit those creaators who are so outrageously robbed of the praise due sincere and successful effort. Some one individual generally gets the credit for a good picture: and there are many instances where another's hand did the trick. AAA A Broadway Example IT IS pleasant to record that the hit of the Broadway stage now is "The Band Wagon" by George S. Kaufman and Howard Dietz, of M-G-M fame, and that, with this coloration of motion picture contact, it is seen by the critics as a conspicuously clean production. "No devastating wise cracks, no smutty jokes, no heavy handed gags and no laboriously assembled jests," observes J. Brooks Atkinson in the New York Times. The success of this piece is somewhat of an answer to the more recent insistence that Broadway and New York audiences demand strong meat and spice beyond decency. A triumph of the sort may well have a staying influence on ill-advised trends and yearnings among the seekers of picture material. Mr. Sherwood's Forecast WE HAVE said it before, and Mr. Robert E. Sherwood has said it before, but it seems it cannot be said too often, and so, quoting from his article in the forthcoming issue of McCall's Magazine, he can say again: "It is the fixed and iinruoi'iible rule in tJie movie business that the unique successes of one season will become the monotonous repetitions of the next. Whenever some random prospector in Hollyii'ood digs up a 'theme' that finds favor ivith the public, the entire industry indulges in a frantic, helter-skelter gold rush, and multitudes are soon surging over the new field, where the lucky strike was made. "'Next season we may look forward to a superabundance of films of two distinct types: tales of illicit love and its bitter consequences, an imitation of 'The Easiest Way,' 'Strangers May Kiss' and 'Millie'; and a vast number of sentimental comedies about children, designed to cash in on tJye prestige attained by 'Tom Saivyer^ and 'Skippy'." And so it is likely to be forever and ever — for that is the way of the world and of all businesses serving the mass public. AAA Spending vs. Giving THESE rainy days we are beset with a terrible uprising of amateur economists and a vast deal of advice about business from persons who never did any. A curious but typical line of thought is presented at last Sunday's sermon at St. Andrew's in New York by the Reverend Dr. Frederick B. Newell, executive secretary of the New York Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who remarked: "New York City justly prides itself on raising $8,000,000 to succor the jobless last Winter, but at the same time two men spent $4,000,000 in constructing racing yachts for their amusement." Now may not one observe that the four millions spent on building the yachts went mostly to payrolls, spread through many industries. If the millionaires concerned had denied themselves the yachts there would have been a lot more unemployment and no fun at all. Money spent on amusement created by labor and talent is probably about as ultimately constructive as contributions to dole funds. A dollar spent at a motion picture box-office must not be considered an economic waste — if the show is worth the dollar. AAA A Success of Sincerity THE passing of Mr. George Kleine brings one to the abrupt realization that the motion picture has come to the span of a full generation. And in the whole of the story of the industry there has been no more clean cut and consistently successful career than his. As one of the founders of the industry from its obscure beginnings in 1895-6, he was, through all the formative years, one of the more substantial and businesslike influences, and with a cultural attitude which early exerted important influence on production. Probably his most significant single venture was with "Quo Vadis," roadshowed to an astonishing and trail blazing success at the dawn of the feature era. His reward for long and earnest endeavor has been a substantial fortune, a life happy beyond the average, a good library, and the general esteem of all who associated or contacted with him. MOTION PICTURE HERALD MARTIN QUIGLEY, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher Incorporating Exhibitor's Herald, founded 1915; Motion Picture News, founded 1913; Moving Picture World, founded 1907; Motography, founded 1909; The Film Index, founded 1906. Published every Friday by Quigley Publishing Company, 1790 Broadway, New York City. Telephone Circle 7-3100. Martin QuigUy, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher; Colvin W. Brown, Vice-President and General Manager; Terry Ramsaye, Editor; Chicago office, 710 South Dearborn street, Edwin S. Clifford, manager; Hollywood office. Pacific States Life Building, William A. Johnston, manager; London office, Faraday House, 8-10 Charing Cross Road, London, W.C.2, W. H. Mooring, representative. Member Audit Bureau of Circulations. All contents 'copyrighted 1931 by Quigley Publishing Company. /All editorial and business correspondence should.be addressed to the New York office. Better Theatres (with which The Showman is incorporated), Hevoted to the construction, equipment and operation of theatres is published every fourth week as section 2 of Motion Picture Herald. Other Ouiglev Publications Motion Picture Daily, The Hollywood Herald, The Motion Fictvre Almanac, published annually, and The Chicagoan.