Motion Picture Magazine (Aug 1924-Jan 1925)

QMOTIQN PICTURE ne)l I MAGAZINE • Advertising Section m. Xifo ie a Jain} does she regard Gift 0 fP04La 1 \ sinqle application \and the pallor of herloveltl skin is transformed to a radiance that is marvelously natural « Pum-Kin Rouge is doinq. as mucli for thousands of discriminatma women each day •' « * • SanFrancisco,6i! Mhssion£r. Chicago, Clark&Madison.St:. LosAngeles,6t<i Broadway New York. 230W i7«» Street. By Nail 75? Postpaid All Owl Dru£ Stores ana Authorized Owl Agencies Norma Talmadge directs the music on her set with the utmost care A Tune f une Tor a T ear {Continued from page 62) Langdon starts up some of his famous jazz, when Teddy frisks about like a pup. Langdon, in his long vaudeville career, learned to play every musical instrument in existence. In fact, his hobby is collecting freak instruments, and his dressingroom is a pot pourri of every kind of music-box, from musical saws to banjos made from cigar-boxes, and ukuleles manufactured from tin cans. Even the lions respond to Harry Langdon's irresistible music. A group of lions which were so surly and stubborn that they did nothing but growl and snarl, under spell of a violin and piano became as playful as kittens and as docile as lambs. "Moral : always carry a violin with you when hunting wild beasts in the jungle,'" declared the irrepressible Harry. Tn filming big mob scenes which employ a great number of foreigners, people of all nations who do not speak a common language, music is often the best interpreter. Certain scenes in The Ten Commandments were made by thousands of Hebrews who did not understand a word of English. But the director swayed them perfectly to his desires by the use of a twelve-piece orchestra which played their own Hebrew music — music which instilled in them the mood he wished them to interpret. Cecil B. De Mille had the same experience in his Feet of Clay. The scene in which the great boat-load of people, supposedly dead, crossed the River Styx into the Great Beyond, included vast numbers of big blacks, Japanese, Russians, Italians — men and women of every race and every grade of intelligence, as well as many highly intelligent extras and stars, none . of whom spoke a common tongue. But Ruth Dickey and her seven-piece orchestra played the Song of the Volga Boatman, weird, low, penetrating chords, whose meaning spoke to all and swayed them unconsciously into the mood. "I felt as tho I had really died," one of the extras later said. "There was a mysterious throbbing in the air which I could not explain but which sent the chills running up and down my back." Babe Egan's music really saved the day during the filming of The Covered Wagon, and averted a tragedy with the Indians. "Every evening Chief Standing Bear and his tribe came over to the white man's headquarters to sit around our camp-fire and smoke the pipe of peace," said Mr. Egan. "Indians are full of ceremony and easily offended. Once, thru an imaginary offense, they went on the war-path. Even Colonel McCoy, in charge of them, feared a massacre. Wakened from a sound sleep by their blood curdling war cries, we rushed out of our tents into the freezing cold, to see them working themselves into a frenzy by a war-dance around the embers of the fire. We felt sure that the next step in the ceremony would be adorning themselves with our scalps. "At length Colonel McCoy came rushing over to us. 'They've got beyond me !' he cried. 'I cant stop them ; they are killing mad over some imaginary offense. What shall we do?' "Suddenly I remembered how they loved American jazz. So we hastily organized the orchestra, and with fingers so cold we could scarcely pluck the strings, made such gay and lively music as we had never made before. "And within fifteen minutes, old Chief Standing Bear was appeased and all his tribe were standing around crying for more music." T5ut the life of the movie musician is ■ not all beer and skittles. It brings its own difficulties. The stars are temperamental and the tunes which satisfy one do not appeal to another. Miss Douglas, leader of the Fairbanks orchestra, said that while making The Thief of Bagdad, she simply could not please both Doug and his director, Raoul Walsh, with the same tune at all. "After I had thoroly familiarized myself with the script of The Thief of Bagdad," said Miss Douglas, "I bought seventy-five dollars' worth of Oriental music — tunes full of the poetry and romance of the mystic East, yet with plenty of vigor and vim to appeal to Doug. But no sooner would my orchestra swing into this music than Raoul Walsh would come sauntering over and say, 'Now play My Wild Irish Rose' or, 'Let's have Mother Machree or Macushla.' "It was perfectly remarkable how his face would light up and how dreamy his look would become at sound of some beloved Irish melody, such as When Irish Eyes Are Smiling. So if there is a bit of Every advertisement in MOTION PICTURE MAGAZINE is guaranteed.