Motion Picture Herald (Sep-Oct 1934)

54 MOTION PICTURE HERALD September 22, 1934 in pi'iuiim m m i ^ III!111!!!:111!"!111 gjj J. €• Jenkins—His CcLru/H |g|f Neligh, Nebraska DEAR HERALD: In reading the department "What The Picture Did For Me" in the August 25th issue of the Herald we came across a report on "Twenty Million Sweethearts" by J. E. Stocker of the Myrtle theatre at Detroit. Among other things brother Stocker had to say with reference to this picture, we noted the following: "Here is a musical without a single undraped female limb and without a double meaning wisecrack. In other words it was as clean as a whistle and proved as successful at the box-office as anything shown in weeks. By all signs of audience reaction this was generally enjoyed by all. Clean pictures may require greater mental effort by the studios but will no doubt add to the profits of the industry as a whole." There you are. When brother Stocker says anything he generally speaks right out loud so people can hear him. He is anything but a "yes man." He intimates that this picture was especially successful because of its cleanliness, or rather, they didn't object to it because it was clean. Too many of the theatre boys got panicky and went hogwild for fear that the Legion of Decency was going to ruin their business, when, as a matter of fact, they were trying to help their business by insisting on clean entertainment. The man who says that the public wants dirt and sex in its entertainment directly insults the intelligence of the American people and shows his lack of knowledge of the public mind. If "Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness," as it is claimed, why not make pictures clean ? If the screen is to educate the public, as they claim for it, it can't be done by showing sex situations and suggestive scenes. There are plenty of babies born into the world lawfully and legitimately without some girl lending herself to the portrayal of illegitimate motherhood in order to get on the screen. These objectionable scenes, together with dozens of others, are what has been driving the public away from the theatres. V If our Uncle Samuel is going to pay people for the bogs they didn't raise, as we are told he intends doing, we are going into the hog business next year and make a lot of money by not raising a whole lot of 'em. This sounds like easy money to us. V Thoughts on Pictures You can do as you please about it and it will be all right with us, if your folks like to laugh and you have a funnybone yourself, it might be well for you to get "The Merry Frinks." This picture is a portrayal of a large cross-grained family all wanting to do as they please and all doing the wrong thing except the mama, Aline MacMahon, who tries to keep the family from going bughouse but can't do it. It isn't a picture that will draw first prize at the county fair, but it is a laughable comedy. Allen Jenkins plays the part of a lawyer and he acts just like a lot of lawyers we know, some of whom ought to be shot, but not Allen ; he's a nice fellow. Uncle Guy Kibbee drops in unexpectedly and unwelcome from New Zealand (or some other village) and he proceeds to make himself at home without letting them know that he's got more money than some people have hay and he wills it all to mama, which was just what he ought to do. V Since the last election it looks like the Communists had about all moved out to California. We'll betcha that the waterfront in San Francisco all went to the polls. V A Word for McHugh If your customers like gruesome pictures and are not particular about having nightmares, you might try "The Return of the Terror," and if they can sleep after seeing this one you can try anything on 'em and they won't even dodge. Not that this is a bad picture, as murder pictures go, but sometimes murder pictures don't go. This one is built around a supposed lunatic who gets away from the bug-house during a thunderstorm and is charged with several mysterious murders at a doctor's sanitarium, presided over by Lyle Talbot. The cast also includes Mary Astor, John Holliday, Frank McHugh et al. We would like to pause right here and make an inquiry that is none of our business, and that is why in don't they star Frank McHugh and give him some prominence in the billing? He grabs the most of the grapes in every picture he is in when they give him something to do. Well anyhow, this is a murder story and, as a murder story, it is up to standard, but murder stories are not usually very entertaining, and entertainment is what Mr. William H. Public pays for. We never knew, until we saw this picture, where all the raincoats and rain hats and flashlights went to, and we never saw a rainstorm with as much rain in it, and as wet as it was, as we saw in this one, and it certainly looked good out here where we haven't had a good rain for three months, and they finally hung all the murders on Doc. Talbot, which we didn't like, because Lyle is a friend of ours who used to eat sowbelly and beans at our house, and that's the reason why our sowbelly and beans are all gone. Anyhow Lyle is an excellent performer, just as we told him he would be, and here's our best regards to him and the whole cast. V Oh Yeah? Some mathematicians have got it all figured out that the farmers are a whole lot better off now when corn is 70 cents a bushel than they were a year ago when corn was 20 cents. Oh yeah, but they didn't include the farmers who sold corn a year ago and have to buy corn now because they didn't raise any on account of the drought, and this includes more than three-fourths of the farmers of Nebraska alone. It's funny how some people can figure. They remind us of the fellow who told his wife that he made a hundred dollars by trading their brindle pot-hound, and when his wife asked how he did it, he replied, "Well, I got Bill Smith's hound-dog Bluch and ten pups at $10.00 a piece." They say that figures won't lie. Well, maybe they won't, but what about the big one that got away and took hook, line and sinker, he weighed at least twenty pounds. The best season in which to figure is just previous to an election or after you get back from fishing. The results obtained in both cases are generally about alike. One Nebraska farmer has 100 bushels of corn to sell at 70 cents a bushel. Three other Nebraska farmers have to buy 100 bushels each at 70 cents per bushel, therefore " the farmers are better off." Oh, yeah, but how above the theatreman when those three farmers have to spend their money for corn instead of theatre tickets ? Maybe Wallace can tell us. However, none of the foregoing is what we started out to tell you, and that is that after we collect for the hogs we didn't raise next year you can call on us for what monev you need. COLONEL J. C. JENKINS The HERALD's Vagabond Colyumnist Wayne Pierson Named U. S. Revenue Officer H. Wayne Pierson, formerly with Columbia Pictures, and with General Outdoor Advertising Company, has been appointed general deputy collector of internal revenue, with headquarters in New York. Mr. Pierson was vice-chairman of the stage, screen and radio division of the Democratic National Committee and chairman of the Recovery Party's campaign committee in New York.' West Leaves Paramount To Edit New Publication Wallace West, of the Paramount publicity department, and with the company for the past five years, has resigned to become managing editor of the publishing division of Engel-Van Wiseman, Inc., with offices at 232 Madison avenue, New York. Among the publications is a new weekly, Roto, of which Mr. West will be managing editor. Tom Waller, long with Variety, as a member of the New York editorial staff, has succeeded Mr. West. John Myers in New York John Myers, in charge of publicity for London Films, English producer, is due to arrive in New York this week for conferences on American exploitation methods. "The Private Life of Don Juan," London Films production starring Douglas Fairbanks and released by United Artists here, is scheduled to open at the Rivoli on Broadway, September 27. Jack Warner in New York Jack Warner, in charge of Warner production, is in New York from the Coast to confer on production. He will return to the Coast in about one week.