Moving Picture World (Nov-Dec 1923)

L0S. The Pep of The Program News and reviews of Short subjects and serials Pathe Closes 1923 with Large and Very Diversified Program Pathe will conclude its 1923 schedule by releasing on December 30 one of the largest programs of the year, with a total of eleven subjects covering sixteen reels of diversified entertainment. Heading the list is “Daniel Boone,” the fourth of the “Chronicles of America” series. It is in three reels and deals with an outstanding character of history. It is said to be strong in drama, action and suspense and covers particularly Boone’s Transylvania expedition and the settlement of Boonesboro and the prominent part Daniel Boone played in the fight of the U. S. for independence. Prominent also in this list is “Girls and Records,” the second of the new Grantland Rice series single reel “Sportlights.” It compares in an interesting manner the athletic girl of today with her less agile sister of yesterday and introduces several women champions including Helen Wills on the tennis court, Miss Collett on the links, Adeline Gehrig at basketball, a polo team, and Aileen Riggin, the Olympic diving champion. “The Darkest Hour” is another of Hal Roach’s “Spat Family” series in which the discordant trio engage in “brewing their own.” Each has his own ideas, and disgusted servants and inquisitive police add to the merriment. “Inbad the Sailor” is a Mack Sennett tworeel comedy with Billy Bevan and Harry Gribbon in the leading roles, with Madeline Hurlock as a vamp who causes all the trouble. The featured players become assistants to a lighthouse keeper who is subject to hallucinations and imagines they are trying to abuse his sweetheart. This leads to fast action and amusing situations. In “It’s a Boy” Snub Pollard appears as a daddy on the occasion of the arrival of his first-born, which gives him fine opportunities for amusing situations. The current Aesop’s Fable is “The Best Man Wins,” which shows what usually happens to a man who looks for a fight and finds it. The beginning of the new year finds Educational with plans perfected for a very comprehensive program of short subjects. During the first half of the 1923-24 season, which is nearing completion, this company introduced several new series, including Juvenile Comedies, Tuxedo Comedies, “The Sing Them Again” series and “The Secrets of Life” series of Tolhurst microscopic comedies. In addition to these new series, which are now well under way, early in the new year Educational will release two special Clyde Cook comedies, produced by Joseph M. Schenck. Each is in two reels and the first will probably be released in February. The second week in January will see Lloyd Hamilton’s new comedy, “My Friend,” the second of a series of six. It has created unusual enthusiasm at previews in Los Angeles, and Educational officials believe it will be even better than “The Optimist,” the first of the series, which is winning favor all over the country, receiving exceptional praise from newspaper critics. January will also see “Jean of Heceta Special in “Snapshots” In addition to the usual sections showing a number of prominent motion picture stars, C. B. C. announces that No. 8 of the new issue of Screen Snapshots contains a special feature. This shows a big horse race at Tia Juana which was attended by many well known players, including Dorothy Dalton, Eileen Percy, Agnes Ayres, Richard Dix, Earle Williams, Wallace Beery, Wanda Hawley, Bessie Love, Mae Murray, Frank Mayo, Irving Cummings, Herbert Rawlinson, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. Head,” the first release of the third series of Robert C. Bruce Wilderness Tales, also “Ride ’Em Cowboy,” the first of twelve tworeelers on Christie’s schedule for the 1923-24 season. It stars Bobby Vernon and is one of the broadest and most amusing comedies ever produced by Christie. The remainder of the series will see the starring honors divided between Bobby Vernon, Jimmie Harrison, Dorothy Devore and NeG Burns. The mid-season finds Jack White’s schedule of Mermaid Comedies in full force with the January release of “Flying Finance,” in which an entire village is wiped out by a funny cyclone. There will also be additional Juvenile Comedies with Bennie Alexander, Ernest Butterworth, Joe Butte worth, Roger Keene, Jack McHugh, Per Cartwright and the other lovable y sters, together with regular releases Cameo single reel comedies. The/Lym^ Howe Hodge-Podge will also -^continue throughout the season. The new Cameo comedies are notable for thq addition of Sid Smith, who joins Cliff Bowes and Virginia Vance in this series. Two Clyde Cook Specials on Educational’s List for 1924 Riesenfeld Books Universal’s “The Fourth Leather Pushers’’ Third Sennett Unit in New Pathe Series Pathe has acquired distribution rights to a third series of comedies to be made under the supervision of Mack Sennett. These comedies will be two-reelers and Harry Langdon, vaudeville favorite recently signed by Sennett, will be starred. Contract calls for one of these comedies every four weeks. The first, “Picking Peaches,” will be released February 3; the second, “Smile, Please,” is scheduled for a month later. “Picking Peaches” marks the return of the famous Mack Sennett Girls, and the supporting cast includes Alberta Vaughan, Jack Cooper, Dot Farley, Irene Lentz and Vernon Dent. This series is in addition to, and will not supplant, the current Mack Sennett comedies or the Ben Turpin productions which are released by Pathe. Universal announces that “The Fourth Leather Pushers” series of six two-reel pictures has been booked by Hugo Riesenfeld to be shown in either the Rivoli or Rialto theatres in New York. While occasional subjects from the first three series have been presented in these houses, this is the first time that either has booked a complete series. This booking was arranged by Dr. Riesenfeld and Harold B. Franklin, head of the Famous Players theatre department, as the result of the favorable impression made by screening the first two of the series, “That Kid from Madrid — Michigan” and “He Loops to Conquer.” “The Fourth Leather Pushers” series stars Billy Sullivan, a kinsman of the famous John L. Sullivan. He was selected for this role in the well-known stories of the prize ring written by H. C. Witwer, when Reginald Denny was made a star in Universal Jewel features. Many of the players in the series appeared in the previous series. The cast includes Esther Ralston, Fay Tincher, Josephine Hill, Ruth Dwyer, Eddie Gribbon, Edgar Kennedy, Clarke Comstock, W. T. McCulley and several ring favorites, including Harry Tenbrook. The first of the series is scheduled for release December 31 and the second the middle of January. In addition, “Girls Will Be Girls” and “The Rough Tenderfoot” have been completed and “Hail to the Chief” is under way. Following their showings at one of the Riesenfeld houses, this series will be shown in the Fox houses in and around New York fi'ty.