Motion Picture News (Nov-Dec 1923)

December I , 1923 2545 to repress their noble rage or freeze the genial current of their souls. In the teeth of the wolf, now camping hopefully on the running boards of their limousines, they have calmly elected to be heroes. " It is announced by a leading producer that the threatened shut-down of the film business has been averted through the willingness of the stars to accept $750 a week instead of $2,000 for their services. To a motion picture actor $750 a week is practically a starvation wage. When the chauffeur and the valet and the personal press agent and the divorce lawyer have been paid less than nothing will be left at the end of the year. " Yet, rather than deny their public the enjoyment of their performances, they have decided to carry on, no matter at what sacrifice. Nothing that the scenario writers have thought up can be more sublime than this. But noblesse oblige. " It is to be hoped that the depression in business which has called forth this exhibition of devotion to ideals will soon pass. Surely such magnificent behavior should not be its own and only reward." * * * THERE was something of a happy reception at the Rivoli theatre. New York, last Sunday night, the occasion being the personal appearance of Douglas Fairbanks. Jr. He made his screen debut that afternoon in " Stephen Steps Out," a picture that gives him an opportunity to show that he is a " chip of the old block." It is seldom that personal appearances mark an afternoon or evening at the regulation picture houses — and a precedent was more or less established when he was dragged from his hotel suite to shake hands with hundreds of patrons on the mezzanine of the Rivoli. Young Doug went through the ceremony like a born diplomat While the other side of sixteen, he possesses perfect poise. And this quality punctuates his work in his picture. Just prior to the second performance the Fairbanks party took their seats in the balcony loge, and the youthful star was recognized and applauded as he passed down the aisle. Which accounted for the insistent desire of the patrons to meet him. * ■ ■ LORIA 8WAN8ON registered happiriess last Tuesday " when her recently adopted little son, Joseph, arrived from the West. The youngster has come to be playmate and brother to little Gloria, two-year-old daughter of the actress and her former husband, Herbert E. Somborn, whom she divorced in September. * # * OTHERS are able to recognize talent too. We, who know Lillian Gale through her association with us on the editorial staff of the NEWS, sensed the fact that she would succeed on the screen. She had the talent to begin with — and put it over because of her spirit and determination. And now comes Danny. Of the Film Daily. With one of his brief eulogies. A eulogy well merited in this instance. About our former associate. Here it is. We give it to you straight. Is entitled MAKING THE GRADE. But listen to Danny. He has the right " dope." " Lillian Gale. Well known in trade paper circles. Said she was going to get on in pictures. And did. Appears in 4 The Way of a Man,' Pathe. As a hardened woman of the plains. Carrying a gun big enough to choke a horse. And Index to Departments Editorial 2543 Pictures and People 2544-45 General News and Special Features 2546-55 Lens and Pencil 2556 First-Run Theatres 2557-59 Exhibitors' Box-Office Reports 2560 Exhibitors' Service Bureau 2561-66 Studio Briefs 2567-68 Picture Paragraphs 2573 Newspaper Opinions on New Pictures 2574 Comedies Short Subjects and Serials 2575-78 Around Town With Independents 2579 Current Opinion on Short Subjects 2580 Special Independent Section 2581-88 Pre-Release Reviews of Features 2589-94 Regional News from Correspondents 2595-2602 Construction and Equipment 2603-10 Feature Release Chart 2611-12 smoking a pipe. Fine character stuff. Should have no trouble in keeping on. And in." H UGO RIESEXFELD, the impresario of the Rivoli, Rialto and Criterion theatres, is having the acoustics at the Rivoli adjusted so as to be suitable for grand opera. His novel experiment in presenting operas to picture audiences will begin the latter part of this month. ' ' Faust ' ' will be presented first — to be followed bv " Aida," " Martha," " Pagliacci," " La Gioconda," "II Trovatore " and some of the lighter Gilbert and Sullivan operas. They will be condensed to fifteen minutes in order to fit in with the regular program. Riesenfeld has enlisted the services of the Zuro Opera Company for his " movie-opera " experiment — an organization that has been giving productions in New York for the past twelve years. # # * BOBBY NORTH proposes a brand new idea, namely, giving forth an interview. His object is to increase attendance at motion picture theatres. It is a very brief interview and is addressed to motion picture people themselves. It is: " Stop giving out interviews." JT/ E do, however, like the interview with Sam E. Eork, which appeared in the New York World last Saturday. Besides being a practical talk from a man who, himself, makes pictures, it points to the fact that the laborers — carpenters, electricians, plasterers, property men — receive most of the production dollars. A very important fact, it would seem, for the legislators and politicians of the country to digest thoroughly. WE have all been thrilled and enlightened by pictures that have taken us to the far corners of the earth — pictures that have shown us glimpses of far-off horizons and strange, fascinating places that lie off the beaten track. But we are promised something entirely new in Captain Frank Hurley's Papuan picture, " Hunting Headhunters with a Movie Camera." Captain Hurley, the British polar explorer, who accompanied Shackleton to the South Pole, has arrived in New York from a two years' expedition in the jungle fastnesses of New Guinea and brings a story — a story backed up by the film — of an unknown primitive people with Hebraic features and bearing a striking resemblance to historians' description of the Lost Tribe of Israel. The captain financed his expedition with the assistance of wealthy Australians — and after charting the undiscovered isle by means of an aeroplane, he set out for the land of mystery— where he experienced many amazing adventures. The making of the film was a romantic and arduous business. It was accomplished in the face of almost unsurmountable obstacles. The explorer takes us through miles of trackless bush into a land of lurking dangers and half-hidden wonders. It's a picture of realities — not a cruise into the land of Make-Believe — which is one reason why Hurley's venturesome journey will fascinate every spectator. The explorer was saved from being an entree at a cannibal feast because he was regarded as a spirit from an unknown world. We eagerly await " Hunting Headhunters With a Movie Camera."