Moving Picture World (Nov-Dec 1927)

26 MOVING PICTURE WORLD December 17, 1927 Want some New Ford Comedy Cars? Here's An Easy Way To Get Some. Arthur Swanke, Down in the Ozarks, Finds a Red Hot Star to Promote Sid Olcott Will Help British Films Here's Luck to the Veteran Director Lots of Colored Troupes Are Formed, But None Seem To Make Problem Prod IN his December 10 issue Pete Harrison spells “God” with a small “g,” but he uses a capital “P” for Pete. That’s one of the reasons the Kaiser is living in Doom. Remember the “Me und Gott.” • HUGO RIESENFIELD advertises in the Colony ad “the whole show on the screen.” An ad like that will be a museum piece pretty soon. The doctor might have added “The whole show on the screen — but a real show.” Enough people still like pictures. • ONE of the projected “economy” moves is the stressing of title and brand above the star names. Try and do it! • THE real economy move would be to persuade the stars not to believe all the stuff their press agents write. • GEORGE C. WILLIAMS, of the Daily Review, remarks that the Movietone Newsreel “looks like a sound plan,” and never even cracks a smile. That’s precisely what it is. ELMER PEARSON is to be made a heap big chief of the Navajos. There are a lot of “Indians” who have not yet been formally adopted, and some of them should be crowned. • IT’S no disgrace to be made a chief. They wished the same thing on President Coolidge and the Prince of Wales. INSTEAD of block booking, perhaps Pearson will go in for blanket contracts. • HOT STUFF! Arthur Swanke, of the Majestic theatre, Stuttgart, Ark., advertises “Don’t go to Florida. Our new furnace running full blast. Theatre now cozy, warm and comfortable.” • MOVIETONE has filmed Congress, which suggests a newsreel edition of the Congressional Record. Instead of giving a member “leave to print,” they’ll send him over to Fox-Case to talk it out of his system. IT will be a liberal education to the British public. How about forming an English chapter of the “We Bit and We Bought” association. We have a large membership over here. • IF they give Sid Olcott a free hand in England, it will do more toward putting British pictures on the map than any other move yet made. • C ID dates away back to behind the Baby Days of the films, and ^ his fine work for Kalem did much for that company. And he’s been getting better ever since. Here’s luck, Sid. • \ /f ACK SENNETT is making “The Goodbye Kiss” in ten reels. iVl \ye don’t care howT pretty the girl is, that’s too darned long. And think of the states where a kiss is limited to ten feet. IT OLLYWOOD story announces the arrival of forty airplanes in which Greta Nissen, James Hall, Ben Lyons, Louis Wolheim and others will fly in “Hell’s Angels.” • T T T E think the man who wrote that is an optimist. “Are sup’ ' posed to fly” would come much closer to the facts. They may be stars, but their place is not in the heavens — yet. • SOME day it would not be strange if the silent picture were to be as much of a novelty as the talkie is at present. W HAT happens to all the all-negro troupes that are announced but never seem to get to production? T’S not an experiment. A1 Bartlett made some money in Atlanta, and would have made more with better stories. LUBIN made a number of black and whites with John and Mattie Edwards and some local players, down in Jacksonville, some years ago. • '1’17'E wrote most of the stories for the comedy section of the ' Lubin players in those days, and used to visit Jax every few months to talk things over with Arthur D. Hotaling, the director. THE first time we hit the lot after the Edwards came a lanky darkey paused in his work of policing the yard with a rake to beckon us over. \ H’M cornin’ to see you-all soon as you ain’t so busy,” he an^ nounced. “Us authors ought to get acquainted.” H E had supplied Hotalink with a single idea, but ever after that he was an author to his own circle. T EFT in charge during one Summer, he conducted a prosperous 1 ' school of acting for colored folks. 'T'HOSE critics who called “Spotlight” unreal are invited to consider the case of Jean Williams, who duplicated the idea right on the Hollvwood lots. • HENRY FORD says he doesn’t want the new cars guyed, and he won’t supply advance copies to the two-reel producers. • ' | ' HAT’S EASY. Play up the Chevrolet for a time and Henry will insist on donating a couple of carloads to each lot. • ENGLAND is in the throes of a picture stock selling boom. Even at that there is only $50,000,000 worth of issues in the market yet. 9 HE gave them all fake contracts, but by the time Hotaling got back he was in jail for getting too gay with one of his fair but dusk}’ pupils, and that was the last of “Raspberry” in the picture business.