Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1932)

38 MOTION PICTURE HERALD December 24, 1932 JENKINS* CCLyUM Fort Isabel, Texas DEAR HERALD: This is where everything stops and nothing commences. A few more turns of April Shower's wheels and we will be in the salt water of the Gulf of Mexico. This town may some day become quite a city should the Government deepen the channel from the bay out in the Gulf so that deep water vessels can come into the harbor, which, it is said, the Government is going to do. This will be a wonderful thing for the Rio Grande valley, as it will give this country direct transportation by water to the eastern markets for their produce, a thing this valley has sadly needed. In Alamo we called on Mrs. Lula Blow Ross, who at one time was on the New York stage. She has a granddaughter, Betsy Ross, who is in Fox's "Canyon Walls," a Zane Grey story which is now in production. Shine Mason operates both theatres in McAllen for the Paschall circuit out of Dallas. This circuit was formerly Publix but recently has been taken over by Mr. Paschall. About all of the theatres in this valley belong to this circuit. We found Mr. Mason a delightful gentleman who took every pains to give us such information as he could regarding conditions in the valley. He was opening with "Bring 'Em Back Alive" when we called and he had two large lions in a cage in front of his theatre and these cats had the streets blocked all ways. It was a real ballyhoo that certainly attracted attention to his theatre. W. S. Wade is the manager of the Rialto and Arcada at Harlingen, two other theatres belonging to the Paschall circuit. We had but a few minutes to visit Mr. Wade but those few minutes were very pleasant ones. He knew us as soon as we stepped in the office door and he called us by name, notwithstanding he had not seen us since we called on him some five years ago in Oklahoma City, and then only for a few minutes. A man with that kind of a memory will not forget any details necessary to make his theatre a success. We'll place our dough on Mr. Wade and Mr. Mason for winning the penants in theatre operation any time. y Yesterday we drove down to Boca Chica. They call this place a town but we don't know how they get that way. It has but a few shacks built on the shore of the Gulf close to where the Rio Grande runs into the Gulf. We went down there to do a little surf fishing but the Gulf was so rough we couldn't do it. By the side of the road that runs down to Boca Chica from Brownsville we saw a marble tablet on which was this inscription: "On this site was fought the last battle of the war between the states on May 12th, 1865, 33 days after the close of the war. Erected by Texas Division, United Daughters of the Confederacy, 1931." This proved to us just how little we knew of the history of the Civil War. This is the first time we ever knew that there was a battle fought on Texas soil during the Civil War. There may have been a lot of 'em but we never read of 'em. What anybody would want to go clear down in the southeast corner of Texas among the cactus and mesquite to fight a battle for is more than we can understand. There was no darn sense in fighting anyhow, especially away down there where there was nobody around to watch the scrap, for at that time there probably wasn't a white man closer than San Antonio. V At Alamo we met an old friend of "Fishy" Phil Rand of Salmon, Idaho. Mr. W. T. Wittenburg, who not long ago lived at Salmon, was able to give us the lowdown on Phil, and what he gave us was pretty low-down too. He didn't say that Phil was a hossthief or anything like that, but he did say that he was mayor of the town at one time and a member of the school board and that was a plenty, for we've been both of 'em. What Phil ought to do is to sit down and write Mr. Wittenburg a letter and address it to Alamo, Texas, for he is one of the leading citizens of this Rio Grande valley and stands ace high in the community, but Phil is not likely to do it, he won't even write the Herald half as often as he should. That shows you how lazy he is. V Here's a sign we read in a garage: "Fabor De No Molestar Durante Horas De Tabajo Este Es Para Todos." Read it and win a premium, but do so at your own risk, we guarantee nothing. No, that isn't a translation. Here it is : "Don't Bother Mechanics During Working Hours. No Exception." When we read that Mex sign we wondered why they didn't say so in the first place and not mess around with a lingo like that. V Yesterday we drove across the Rio Grande at Brownsville to Matomoros, Mexico, and we want to advise you that if you ever get within a thousand miles of Matomoros turn around and go back. It's the squalliest looking town for a city we ever saw. If there is a street with more than twenty feet of pavement we failed to see it, and we drove over about all the town. The streets in this town are narrow and none of them is paved and they haven't been worked or maintained since 1492. You can hit any sized rut you want to and you are no sooner out of one rut than you are in another. The residences look like cowsheds and in the business district about every other building is a bar, and you can get stuff there that will lift your hat off or put you to sleep in two minutes. The restaurants serve wild game the year round. We went into one and ordered a dinner of fried chicken and we ordered a glass of beer to see how it tasted and then we ordered another to see it we were still alive. We were but we were surprised. We met a Pawhuska Indian in there from Pawhuska, Oklahoma, and he was putting on a party, and what he told those Mexicans was worth listening to. He was a wealthy oil buck from up in Oklahoma and he made those Mexicans talk United States. He wouldn't stand for their lingo. He said to one fellow, "The hell you no savvy, you talk United States when you talk to me." Well, that's Matomoros, and we don't want any more of it. The old U. S. looks plenty good for us. J. C. JENKINS, The HERALD Man THE NEW DEAL SPECIAL FEATURES of the new SILENT AUTOMATIC TICKET REGISTER Absolutely N0ISELE8S In operation. GREATER SPEED In telling tickets. SELF-SHARPENING KNIVES. DOUBLE TICKET CAPACITY. TICKETS e linnet JAM, TEAR or CUT SHORT. NO REPAIRS to worry about. BONDED GUARANTEE of RESPONSIBILITY. A QUALITY BARGAIN— DISTINCTIVE and DIFFERENT L/T^ TICKET REGISTER CORP. CN THE DOTTED LINE... Columbia Walter Brennan and Jo Gerard are engaged for "Ranger Man." . . . Evalyn Knapp and Regis Toomey sign for "State Trooper" (temporary title). . . . Mary Jordan and Barbara Weeks in "Child of Manhattan." . . . Mike Donlin and Arthur West sign for "Air Hostess." . . . Bob Steele and Chris Martin engaged for "The California Trail." . . . Henry Clive. and Gino Corrado added to "East of Fifth Avenue." . . . Jerome Storm and Charles O'Malley join "That's Africa." . . . V Educational Harry Langdon and Ruth Clifford in untitled picture. . . . Ray Cook and Marian Shockley in "Torchy's Kitty Coup." . . . V Fox Ricardo Cortez and Francis MacDonald engaged for "Broadway Bad." . . . Mischa Auer and J. Carrol added to "Infernal Machine." . . . Elissa Landi in "Dressmaker from Luneville." . . . Ernest Truex signed for "The Warrior's Husband." . . . Loretta Young engaged for "Zoo in Budapest." . . . Guy Usher and Lila Lee sign for "Face in the Sky." . . . V MGM Edward Arnold and Una Merkel added to "Whistling in the Dark." . . . Joan Crawford and Franchot Tone in untitled picture. . . . Lewis Stone assigned to "The White Sister." . . . Jean Parker and Jean Hersholt sign new long-term contracts. . . . Ramon Novarro in "The Man on the Nile." . . . V Monogram Anita Page and Charles Starrett engaged for "Jungle Bride." . . . V Paramount Wynne Gibson given new contract. . . . Clarence Wilson and Sherwood Bailey added to "The Mysterious Rider." . . . Chuck West, copy editor, named assistant to George Arthur. . . . Richard Bennett assigned to "The Crime of the Century." . . . Wade Boteler and Lon Poff added to "Hello Everybody." . . . Rudy Vallee signed for "International House." ... V Universal Frank McHugh and Walter Catlett added to "Private Jones." . . . James Gleason in "Alias the Professor." . . . George Stevens to direct "Salt Air." . . . Leo Turtledove, talent scout, named assistant to Henry McRae. . . . Tom Mix assigned to "Rustler's Roundup." . . . V Warner-First National Ferdinand Gottschalk and Helen Ware added to "The Blue Moon Murder Case." . . . Regis Toomey and Susanne Kilborn sign for "She Had to Say Yes." . . . Natalie Moorehead given contract. . . . James Murray and Claire McDowell join "Grand Central Airport." . . . James Cagney and Patricia Ellis in "Picture Snatcher." . . . Frank McHugh and Claire Dodd added to "Ex-Lady." . . . Allen Jenkins succeeds Frank McHugh in "The Keyhole." 1600 BROADWAY NEW YORK, N. Y. Wells Cleared in Action Carveth Wells, explorer, has been released from responsibility in connection with alleged plagiarism of sections of the African jungle picture, "The Jungle Killer." The film had been seized as the result of court action by Frederick Beck Patterson, president of the National Cash Register Company.