Motion Picture Magazine (Aug 1924-Jan 1925)

HMOTION PICTURP 1)01 I MAGAZINE L Miotograph Ij\ international Ncwsrecl Marion Davies made the first transatlantic voice test on the . radio from Station W J Z. Cables report that Miss Davies was heard by radio fans in London, Paris and Belgium, as well as by a number of ocean liners. On the right is Arthur Hammerstein, father of Elaine Hammerstein, and his bride, Dorothy Dalton. Mr. and Mrs. Hammerstein are now on their weddingtrip abroad extra, fifty cents a day is the rate for him. with the raise of a lira or two every time he shouts "Bravo" or anything equally important. Mr. Griffith is thinking things over, and meanwhile it is possible that he will make the second, and perhaps, the third film of the series "America." The first of the series, "The Sacrifice," is being shown and is hailed as another Griffith masterpiece. Another obstacle to making films in sunny Italy is the lack of that much press-agented Old World sunshine. It is reported by film stars already returned to this country that June Mathis and' Charles Brabin. who are filming "BenHur" over there, are suffering all kinds of hard luck because of bad weather. Time and time again they've engaged mobs and arena crowds and have not been able to take a single shot. It is whispered, too, that the reason the Gish sisters have returned to do their film work on this side is, again, the weather. A fair exchange — so Mack Sennett and Flo Ziegfeld seem to think — Mack is continually getting the Follies' beauties into bathing suits and putting them into pictures, and Flo, on the other hand, is everlastingly rescuing Mack's mermaids from the surf and putting them behind the footlights. Alice Day has been promoted to a feminine lead in a two-reel Sennett comedy, and her sister, Marceline, has been honored equally, and will play the feminine lead opposite Harry Langdon in "Watch Out." Madeline Hurlock and Frank Coleman will play the heavy roles. Both Alice and Marceline are ex-Follies' girls. Meanwhile, in the last six months, five Sennett girls have gone over to the Ziegffeld Follies. A questionnaire for /7\ invented the first film ?" f 74 . Edison— "Who Answer yes or Andre L. Daven was a reporter on a French newspaper and Rodolph Valentino met him recently during his sojourn in Paris. Believing that Mr. Daven is a particularly gifted writer, he brought him back with him to America. Mr. Daven has played a minor role in "Beaucaire" and, at the same time, written a series of impressions of America, our studios and, of course, Valentino no. The Fox Company has a film and motion picture camera created by one Max Skladanowski, a GermanPole, which they claim they can prove antedates Edison's invention. American statistics give the Edison date as 1893. The date of the German's invention is said to be 1890. The film itself is about three times as wide as present-day films are, and the projection machine extremely crude. The subject shown is short, as only a few feet of film could be shot at a time. It depicts a parade of soldiers in Berlin, the grand mount, Herr von Bismarck, the German Chancellor, in uniform with the famous spiked helmet, and Herr Bebel, one of the pioneer socialists of the Empire. The film will be run as a Fox newsreel feature. It will probably start something of a controversy. The hunt for locations for filming "Wanderer of the Wasteland" was almost as thrilling a tale as the story you will see on the screen. For days Billy Dove, the feminine lead, with her husband, Irvin Willat. director, his assistant and a guide motored thru Death Valley, said to be the most weirdly beautiful place in the world. On the edge of the valley itself they found a grasscovered oasis, the accomplishment of an Indian, who is not only resourceful enough to provide water for his cattle, but who has built a swimming-pool for his squaws and himself! The Book of Knowledge on the screen — the Independent Pictures Corporation has announced this contribution as an early release. It will be issued in fiftytwo single-reel films. Each film will contain eight questions such as children ask of distracted parents, viz. : "What is fire?" "What makes a ball bounce?" "How do fish breathe?" "What is (Continued on page 80)