Moving Picture World (Jan-Feb 1927)

January 29, 1927 MOVING PICTURE WORLD HOLLYWOOD OFFICE 345 How Studio Tricks Are Made H ow a trick shot was made for “Long Pants,” the new Langdon laugh epic for First National. Top scene — Elgin Lessley, chief cinematographer; Frank Capra, director; Center — Harry Langdon; Bottom — Alan Roscoe and Gladvs Rockville. Johnnie Hines Persuades Lion To Dig For Food and Cameras Lasky Lauds Short Runs As Better Policy In his first official statement since arriving on the Paramount Hollywood lot, Jesse L. Lasky, first vice-president and production chief of Famous-PlayersLasky, declares in part : “The motion picture which holds the attention of the public from two to seven days is the absolute foundation upon which the film industry is built. “That is the type of picture upon which Paramount will concentrate its production activity during the coming year. The road shows are, of course, extremely important, as we have attested by preparing eight huge productions which come into this class. “Public demand also makes it imperative that we prepare a number of long run special productions. A number of exhibitors have built and are continuing to maintain theatres adaptable to this type of motion picture presentation. “But it is the starring vehicles and feature productions which go into every theatre and change after a few days, which will command our greatest future attention.” Once An Extra, Paula Howard Now Featured An “extra” yesterday and a featured player today. Paula Howard, pretty Hollywood school girl, who made her debut in the motion picture industry a few short months ago has been signed to a contract by Nils Olaf Chrisander for an important part in his forth-coming production for Metropolitan Pictures, “The Heart Thief.” Chrisander, former director-general of the UFA organization in Germany and now under contract to Cecil B. De Mille discerned screen possibilities in Miss Howard as a type and after the formality of a screen test handed her her first contract as a featured player. Chrisander, who has the reputation of being a maker of stars, predicts a brilliant future for the former Hollywood school girl. Incidentally he is the first foreign director to discover starring material in an unknown American player. Joseph Schildkraut and Lya De Putti have the leading roles in “The Heart Thief.” Miss Howard plays the part of Miss De Putti’s rival for the love of Schildkraut in the picture. BETTING a cat to climb a tree is easy enough for a director but persuading a caged lion to effect his escape by tunneling a hole in a pile of sand is another matter. Johnnie Hines bucked up against the latter condition this week while shooting one of the final sequences of his next picture, “All Aboard.” Johnnie personally directed this scene. He ordered a big van containing the lion moved up to the cage which had been erected on a set in the Tech-Art studio. The cage will look substantial enough on the screen but as a matter of fact its bars were not only of wood but many of them were sawed off so that camera lenses could spy upon every bit of action going on inside. The sun arcs were shining their brightest on the cage when the King of Beasts stepped into his new home. Fully fifty persons, mostly members of the cast and studio employees, were gathered about the bars, each with his eye on some vantage point above the floor to be instantly utilized should the lion decide to shatter the wooden bars. The lion, however, went right over to the sand heap and commenced to dig. He took his actor job so seriously that he sprayed sand into several of the cameras practically ruining the delicate mechanism. Hines, however, in his excitement and elation for the dramatic possibilities of the lion, yelled at the top of his lungs for the surviving cameras to grind away. Finally when the lion was almost bur Hollywood Pays Its Respects to Carl Laemmle Carl Laemmle’s sixtieth birthday has just passed but some five hundred representatives of the film industry and business world out here still remember the cake with the sixty candles which greeted them when they entered the reception at the Biltmore Hotel on the night of January 17th. Rupert Hughes acted as toastmaster while Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, who made her first picture for the old Universal Company, were seated near the Universal president. One of the novel events of the evening was what was described as being a replica of a nickelodeon, said to have been Laemmle’s first theatre in Chicago. Mary Pickford’s first picture, in which she shared honors with King Baggot, was projected as an additional novelty. Among those present were Marcus Loew, Jesse Lasky, Alexander Pantages, Hal Roach, Joseph Schenck, B. P. Schulberg, Irving Thalberg, Erich Von Stroheim, Will Hays, A1 Christie, Jack Dempsey, Samuel Goldwyn, A, P. Giannini and Donald Ogden Stewart. Denney Is 111 Following a sudden attack of illness while working this week on some of the final sequences in his production “Fast and Furious” Reginald Denney was taken from Universal City to his home. There it was found he was suffering from appendicitis. Production work on the picture has been shelved pending Denny’s recovery. Kane Gets Contract Maurice Kains whose interview with Moving Picture World appeared in the “extra column” on the section devoted to “Tell It to the Marines,” which appeared in this publication several months ago, has, as we predicted, at the time, stepped out of the extra ranks. Kains is now the proud possessor of an M. G. M. contract. ied in the heap of sand and had secured the raw steak which was his remuneration for his bit of camera work, Charlie Burr, of the Burr and Hines enterprise, turned to the writer, exclaiming: “It cost me a thousand bucks to get that lion here. I could have rented many moth-eaten lions for a couple of hundred dollars. I will say, though, that this beast is one of the quickest performers I have ever ‘hired.’ ” Lasky For Short Runs — Laemmle Honored