Movie Age (1927)

PAGE 10 MOVIE AGE Ralph Kohn has been appointed treas¬ urer of Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. Korn has been assistant secre¬ tary-treasurer since the organization of the company. * * * Will Rogers has been named ‘“Congressman-at-Large” by the National Press Club. Rogers is now in Washing¬ ton making the exteriors for First Nat¬ ional’s coming attraction, “A Texas Steer.” Jfc l{t sfe Columbia is publishing a house organ known as “Columbia Chats.” Its pur¬ pose is to keep the sales organization in constant coutact with production in¬ formation. Alex Moss, publicity dir¬ ector, is editor. * * * Lillian Gish will not appear in any of the three pictures that D. W. Griffith will make for United Artists, it was learned this week. Paramount has signed a new contract with Emil Jannings for his services in four pictures a year. David Bershon has been named spec¬ ial representative for United Artists. Bershon has been in the film business 16 years. While enroute to Washington, D. C. on his return to the White House, Pres¬ ident Coolidge and his party will see two of Warner Bros.’s latest and best pictures, “Slightly Used” and “The Bush Leaguer.” A miniature theatre will be arranged on the train under the super¬ vision of H. D. Johnson, chief electri¬ cian for the President. * # * Jesse Lasky predicts that within a few years Los Angeles will supplant New York as the distributing center of the industry. He said that airplane service would make this possible. ♦ * * Ten new stories have been purchased by F B O for next season’s product. William Le Baron, vice-president of F B O in charge of production, declares that his company recognizes the value of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that stories be thoroughly groomed before production starts. F B O scenarists will start to work immedi¬ ately to have the stories ready for film¬ ing before January 1. George B. Seitz, director of Columbias’ “The Blood Ship,” has signed a new Columbia contract to directo anoth¬ er of the company’s productions for the new season. It is reported that J. R. Bray, famous for his cartoons and short subjects, will enter the feature field. Bray will make feature length pictures with prominent stars, the rumor declares. When “The Big Parade” closes its 96-week engagement at the Astor, in New York, the picture to follow will be “The Student Prince.” Movie stars are not going to miss the Dempsey-Tunney fight. There will be a minimum of from eight to ten special trains carrying picture people to Chi¬ cago to see the big quarrel. Another woman manager appears on Broadway. Grace Niles, formerly treas¬ urer of the Astor, has been appointed manager of the Embassy Theatre. It was harvest time for legitimate and burlesque houses in Chicago during the recent lockout. With 500,000 picture fans deprived of their favorite diver¬ sion, the other types of theatres were packed to capacity. Moving pictures were used for a pur¬ pose other than entertainment in Los Angeles recently when a real estate man rented a theatre on a years’ lease for the sole purpose of showing pictures of land subdivisions to prospective buyers. A film company composed entirely of Negro players is being organized in Philadelphia. The company intends to build a studio just outside of Washing¬ ton. The pictures will be for colored houses, exclusively. It is rumored that Mary Pickford will play the role of “Joan of Arc” under the direction of Max Reinhardt. For the first time in history a mov¬ ing picture company has been given permission to use the White House and government buildings in Washington without restrictions. Sam Rork of First National got this break during the film¬ ing of “A Texas Steer”, the Will Rog¬ ers comedy. Not so long ago James Dugan was a carpenter in the F B 0 studios in Los Angeles. A couple of weeks ago he was signed as a first-string director and will produce Tom Tyler’s next western. Eric Von Stroheim and P. A. Powers have severed their relations. Powers is the backer of Von Stroheim’s product¬ ion, “The Wedding March.” This pic¬ ture has been 15 month in the making at a cost of $2,000,000. In its present state the picture is more than 50 reels in length, but will be cut down to about twelve. Paramount is the distributor. * * * With all wrinkles ironed out and ev¬ erything “sitting pretty” Colleen Moore, and her husband, John McCormick, have returned to Hollywood from the East ready to begin work. McCormick will start production on his wife’s next for First National on August 29. The tem¬ porary title is “I’ll Tell The World.” * * * Louis Mayer has signed a five-year contract with the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer organization as vice president and head of production. His present con¬ tract had another year to run, but he was signed up before anything inter¬ fered. The salary named for Mayer is said to be the largest of any paid to a production manager. Tom Mix’s young daughter will ap¬ pear in a coming Fox production now under the direction of John Ford, “Grandma Bernie Learns Her Letters”. Headed by Milton Sills, a group of film people has purchased a tract of land in Beverly Hills, Cal., which will be sub¬ divided for film people only. The colonly will be known as Sills Manor. Ned Depinet, sales manager for First National, says talk of a slump in the picture business and of apathy among exhibitors is all wrong. As proof of this he declared that First National has en¬ joyed a ten per cent increase over last year, while small town business has in¬ creased 40 per cent. Gilda Gray will make personal ap¬ pearances begininng late this year, in conjunction with “The Devil Dancer”, her first feature for United Artists re¬ lease.