Motion Picture News (May-Jun 1925)

3030 Motion Picture News Sam Spring, First ISational's secretary, and E. Bruce Johnson, manager of the Foreign Sales department, arrive in Los Angeles for a brief visit. May McAvoy as Esther in "Ben Hur" fMetro-Goldivyn) needs no adjectives to call attention to her beauty and charm, as proved by the photo above. T STAKING CLAIMS 1 T may be that the acting folk of the screen are so accustomed to playing westerns involving the staking of claims that buying real estate comes as "second nature" to them. We all know of the goodly dozen (it may be more) out Hollywood way who have invested their earnings in California soil — and who are sitting very, very pretty as a result. Some have gone in for home plots, others for oil. Now turning toward r lorida we discover that State undergoing a terrific boom in real estate. Hundreds have migrated to the Florida East and West Coasts and have traded their money bags for parcels of land. About every other person you meet in the Coast cities and towns has mvested in sod. The old saying — "there's gold in them thar hills," will have to be changed to read — "there's millions in them thar flats." The actor folks are not neglecting the opportunity to buy up Florida. Here is Tom Meighan who has invested $250,000 in Ocala real estate. It was while he spent several weeks there not so long ago in filming scenes that he became impressed by the fact that the community seemed to have escaped the real estate boom which had swept many other sections of the state. It occurred to him that with Silver Springs, one of the natural wonders of America nearby (it has a flow of 22,000,000 gallons an hour) and with its location on the Dixie Highway, Ocala was destmed to become a tourist center. With the aid of real estate operators the star purchased several slices of Ocala terra firma. He figures these are good for hotel sites, and industrial and residential developments. But he denies the story that he intends erecting a studio there and go into picture production on a large scale. TTHE FAREWELL STUFF HE question of what becomes of juvenile movie stars when they grow up is a subject which might occupy the statisticians for many a day. Do they go right on being movie actors and actresses or do they turn to some other profession as a welcome relief? Baby Marie Osborne dropped out of sight for a while, but we glimpsed her recently in a picture. So it is safe to say she will resume her film career. Madge Evans came back to appear opposite Richard Barthelmess in "Classmates." As for Wesley Barry he is putting over the farewell stuff. He is going to become a naval officer, having definitely decided upon such a career at an age when most boys think of joining a circus cr becoming firemen. Wesley recently reached what might be called maturity, and he is leaving the movies to enter the Naval Academy at Annapolis without, apparently, so much as a sigh of regret. His last appearance in the films will be with Ramon Novarro in "Midshipman Sterling, " a story of life among the naval cadets. Larry Kent, new F. B. O. "find", and already "supported", by p star; in this case the support being Lefty Flynn's famous football shoulders. Even with the assistance of the make-up artist, Percy Marmont's preparation for his role in "The Street of Forgotten Men" (Paramount) is a lengthy process. Marion Davies was adopted as an Indian princess by the Shoshones and Arahapoes appearing in the "Iron Horse" (Fox) prologue at Grauman's Hollywood. This, as you may see, is the final scene of "Peacock Feathers" (Universal), in which Cullen Landis and Jacqueline Logan rehearse their siLif) for Svend Gade, the director. Milton Sills made a trip to Hollywood for one day to see his wife before starting his work in "The Knockout" (First National).