Motion Picture News (Feb-Apr 1921)

Marc n j, jy^i 1817 Raymond E. Gallagher Joins News Staff RAYMOND E. GALLAGHER, well and popularly known to the motion picture industry upon both coasts, has been added to the staff of Motion Picture News. He will act in the capacity of special representative and devote his initial efforts to collaborating with Lillian R. Gale in the compilation of the 1921 Studio Directory and Trade Annual. Mr. Gallagher, who has been identified with the industry for a number of years, commenced his career in company with the late Sam Spedon. Together they made up the entire advertising and publicity staff of the old Vitagraph. Later, the recording of new applicants and the selecting of players for the stock company was added to their duties and they became what might be termed the first casting directors in the east. At this time J. Stuart Blackton was director-general of Vitagraph, and Gallagher was made his private secretary. After a time he was made branch manager of the Albany Office of the General Film Company, under S. R. Kent, who was then Sales Manager, and who is now geneneral manager for Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. For The past two years, Mr. Gallagher has been upon the staff of The Morning Telegraph, in the Motion Picture Department. Strange Lifefof Canton Shown >in Pictograph E. Alexander Powell, who was sent to the Far East by the Goldwyn-Bray studios, ir. represented in Pictograph, No. 477, with a full reel travel study of Canton, China, known as " The City That Never Sleeps." The pictures were taken by John L. Hawkinson, of the Powell Expedition. Ibanez Special Opens March (6 METRO PICTURES CORPORATION announces that " The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse " will be given its first public showing at the Lyric theatre, New York City, on March 6th. A premiere " unprecedented in the annals of motion-pictures " is promised by Metro in a statement just issued from the headquarters of that organization. This " colossal photodrama " made by Rex Ingram from June Mathis's adaptation of Vicente Blasco Ibanez's famous novel of the same title as that under which the screen version is to be released, will be presented under the personal supervision of Hugo Riesenfeld, managing director of the Rivoli, Rialto and Criterion theatres in New York. Metro announces that a " brilliant and distinguished audience " will witness the initial showing of the production at the Lyric on Sunday evening, March 6th. The Metro statement announcing the New York premiere follows in part : " Because of the extraordinary success of the Spanish author's novel on both sides of the Atlantic, the appearance of ' The Four Horsemen ' as a motion picture has been awaited with intense interest in "The Four Horsemen" to Be Presented at the Lyric literary and artistic circles as well as in filmdom and theatredom. Plans are being made for the reception at the premiere of Don Juan Riano and Dr. Tomas Le Breton, the Spanish and Argentina Ambassadors from Washington ; the official consular representatives in New York of Spanish speaking countries; Archer M. Huntington and other officials of the Hispanic Society of America, together with prominent authors, newspaper and magazine editors, college professors, artists, sculptors, as well as notable figures in the film and theatre world. " With its colorful, picturesque episodes in the Argentine, its throbbing romance against the gay background of Paris and its stirring, epic sweep of drama in the big Marne scenes, the screen version of ' The Four Horsemen ' offers unusual scope for musical interpretation. An elaborate music setting, to ' be rendered by a symphony orchestra, is being specially ar ranged by Dr. Riesenfeld, together with other strongly appealing interpretative features, and it is predicted that this record-breaking photodrama's metropolitan debut will set a new mark in the annals of filmdom. " Arrival of ' The Four Horsemen ' on the screen has been eagerly anticipated by thousands upon thousands of readers and admirers of Blasco Ibanez' novel, not only in New York but throughout the United States and for weeks Metro offices in various cities of the country have been deluged with inquiries as to the date of the picture's release. " Likewise, the translation of ' The Four Horsemen ' into a photodrama has broken all motion picture production records. Just a few of the statistics of the picture's production, which was made at Metro's west coast studios in Los Angeles, California, reveal the unprecedented magnitude of the undertaking. It cost more than $1,000,000 and was six months in the making. More than 12,000 persons were utilized. Fourteen camera men and twelve assistant directors were required in handling and recording the big ensemble scenes." Paramount Releases for March SEVEN features are listed on Paramount's release schedule for March as announced by S. R. Kent, General Manager of Distribution. The list includes the first production made by Famous Players-Lasky British Producers, Ltd., the London producing unit of Paramount, and also several other productions qualified to be classed as super-specials in the opinion of Paramount officials. For March 8, the release is the Cosmopolitan production, " Straight Is the Way," scenarized by Frances Marion from the story by Ethel Watts Mumford and directed by Robert G. Vignola. This is a story of crook regeneration, with Matt Moore playing the central character. Opposite him is Gladys Leslie, while the support includes among others Mabel Bert, George Parsons, Henry Sedley and Van Dyke Brooks. March 13 is the release date of the British picture, " The Call of Youth." This is a Hugh Ford production, being an adaptation of Henry Arthur Jones's play, " James, the Fogy." The cast includes Mary Glynne, Marjorie Hume, Gertrude Starroll, Ben Webster, Jack Hobbs, Malcolm Cherry, Victor Humphrey John Peachey and Ralph Foster. Thomas Meighan in " The Easy Road " also is released the 13th. This was directed by Tom Forman, from a scenario by Beulah Marie Dix. It is an adaptation of the story, " Easy Street," by Blair Hall, which was published in Snappy Stories. Mr. Meighan's leading woman is Gladys George, and Lila Lee, Grace Goodall, Arthur Carew, Lura Anson and Viora Daniel are also in the cast. " O'Malley of the Mounted," the William S. Hart production, is scheduled for the 20th. This is a storv of the Rova! Canadian North west Mounted Police and was written by Mr. Hart and adapted and directed by Lambert Hillyer. Playing opposite Mr. Hart is Eva Novak Leo Willis, Antrim Short. March 20 also marks the release of the Thomas H. Ince special, " Beau Revel," from the celebrated novel by Louis Joseph Vance. In this production Florence Vidor is featured, while the cast includes Lewis Stone, who plays opposite Miss Vidor; Lloyd Hughes, Kathleen Kirkham, Richard Ryan, Harlan Tucker, William Conklin, Lydia Yeamans Titus, William Musgrave and Joe Campbell. The Robert Z. Leonard production, " The Gilded Lily," with Mae Murray, is scheduled for the 27th. Also released the 27th is Dorothy Dalton in "The Idol of the North," which, directed by R. William Neill, was filmed under the working title of ''The Teaser."