The Moving picture world (October 1920)

MOVING PICTURE WORLD October 16, 192( I Olive Thomas Left No Will That Olive Thomas Pickford, the popular motion picture actress, who died in Paris, on September 10, left no will, became known in the Surrogate's Court, when Surrogate James A. Foley appointed Nathan Burkan, a lawyer, as administrator of the actress' estate. The petition of Mr. Burkan states that the deceased left no real property, that is known of at this time, and that the value of her personal property is about $25,000. There was no opposition to the appointment of Mr. Burkan as administrator, same being concurred in by Jack Pickford, the husband of deceased, whose address is given as Los Angeles, Cal. Mrs. Laurene Van Kirk, her mother, of 913 South 49th street, Philadelphia, Pa., and decedent's brothers, James M. Duffy, of 200 West 86th street, and William Leroy Duffy, of 541 West 12th street. Mr. Burkan furnished a bond of $50,000 for the faithful performance of his duties as administrator. Harding Has Big Lead in Straw Ballot Managed by Associated First National Bizeul Will Photograph Marshall Neilan Features Marshall Neilan, just prior to his departure from Los Angeles for Glacier Park, Montana, to produce "Not a Drum Was Heard," announced the signing under a long term contract of Jacques Bizeul, prominent laboratory expert and for twenty years an expert photographer. Mr. Bizeul arrived in Hollywood just in time to leave with the troupe of players for Glacier Park, where he will photograph the new Neilan-First National picture in collaboration with David Kesson. Mr. Bizeul in 1915 arrived in this country from Paris with Jules Brulatour to establish the Paragon Studio in Fort Lee. After organizing that institution, Mr. Bizeul returned to motion picture photography— and for three years he was chief camera expert for Emile Chautard. Some of his most recent work is his filming of "The Mystery of the Yellow Room," "The Deep Purple" and "The New York Idea." The working title of this photoplay for the past few weeks was temporarily known as "Pards." It was decided, however, that the original title, "Not a Drum Was Heard," has had such popularity that it would not be wise to discard the name by -which Ben Ames Williams' story is known to thousands. Gaston Glass Will Remain in Canada for Second Film Gaston Glass, with a spectacular rise in the film world to his credit, has covered another lap. In the past year he has played prominent roles in two widely praised productions, "The Humoresque" and "The World and His Wife," in which kis work has been a subject of favorable comment. The first of the Ralph Connor stories to be filmed, "The Foreigner," Gaston Glass was engaged for the title role. Exteriors were all made in and near Winnipeg, Manitoba. After seven weeks on "location" the balance of the company were free to return to New York. Mr. Glass, disappointed in not being able to join them, asked Director Henry MacRae for an explanation, and learned that he was being held there, pending final negotiations, for the leading role, with a "featured" clause, in "Cameron of the Royal Mounted." Negotiations successfully carried on through Mr. Glass' manager, Arthur H. Jacobs, brought forth the following from Ernest Shipman : "No renewal of contract in my twenty years of experience has given me more pleasure than this, with you. I appreciate your splendid character as well as your splendid ability." THE straw ballot under the auspices of Associated -First National Pictures, Inc., furnishes an interesting sidelight upon the present political campaign in view of the appeal President Wilson has made to the voters making the League of Nations the dominant issue in the November election. While the returns in the straw vote show a big lead for Senator Harding over Governor Cox, opinion in regard to the League of Nations is against it by only a few more than 8,000 votes in a total of over 120,000 tabulated. The present standing of the votes gives the following line-up of states : For Harding: Connecticut, Colorado, California, North Da'ota, South Dakota, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Total tabulated vote, 75,656. For Cox: Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. Total tabulated vote, 45,054. In regard to the League of Nations, the state line-up as shown by the votes tabulated is the same as it is for the candidates, the states favoring Harding being opposed to the League. The total vote tabulated, however, stands at 50,154 for the League and 58,338 against it. Aroused Keen Interest Newspaper and political interest in the straw ballot continues unabated two weeks after the close of the balloting. Many circumstances in connection with the counting of the ballots cast in individual theatres have delayed the forwarding of returns to the home office of First National for tabulation, and although the returns are not far from complete, hundreds of newspaper throughout the country are printing th story daily and the national headquarter of both political parties are still demand i ing a telephone supplement to the list o returns which are sent them daily. The unabated interest in the event is duel probably, to the large number of theatre:! which co-operated in the taking of th<| vote. This resulted in a comparative!)! large number of returns being receivecl daily at the offices of Associated First National Pictures, Inc., in New York, with th«| result that numerous new cities were ad dec! to the total on each daily list. The keen interest felt by politicians as to the state oil affairs in Ohio and Indiana, and a question! as to whether the Republicans will be able | to cut into the "Solid South" of the Democrats, and ,the fact that the returns have) indicated that election day is the only timel at which a definite answer can be obtained! to these things, has aided in keeping thej tabulation of the theatrical vote a matter! of prime importance. Took Voting Seriously The seriousness with which the public] took the voting is attested to by any number of theatres who experienced difficulty! in getting patrons to sign their names and addresses to the ballots. Even in a straw ballot they stood for "the secrecy of the | ballot" and as a result many theatres complained that the returns which they forwarded were not representative of the interest displayed by the patrons. In every I case when the home offices of Associated I First National was notified of this difficulty, instructions were sent to accept ballots j without signature if the theatre manager was satisfied that the voter was not a "repeater" or under age. Real Children to Play in Fairy Tale Episodes of Levey's "White Bottle AN interesting departure is being made by Harry Levey in the making of the fairy-tale episodes for "The White Bottle," the second of the Harry Levey Production features which is to be announced for release in the near future. A great part of the action of this story is in the form of a "real-come-to-life fairy tale" and each role in this part of the picture is portrayed by real children. When the picture was first cast, it was intended to have these parts portrayed by grown-ups. Upon reading the script, however, Mr. Levey decided that it would be much more effective if the roles were given to real children. He declared that while grown-ups were probably much better trained and had had more experience, that the kingdom of the "once upon a time" really belonged to children, and that only children could properly understand and interpret fairy roles. "Grown-up actors and actresses are consciously interpreting, when it comes to playing these fairy-tale roles," said Mr. Levey. "No matter how much they used to love their fairy stories, nor how well they remember them, they are constantly under the necessity of thinking back how they used to think and feel when they read these stories, and it is nothing more nor less than make-believe. "To most youngsters the fairy stories are the realities of life. Kiddies live in an element of make-believe and it is more real to them than are the everyday happenings of existence. Every kiddie lives in an ele ment of fairy-land, and to play fairy-tale roles is the most natural thing in the world for them." Accordingly, real kiddies were secured for "The White Bottle," and at the studios is a happy group of youngsters who really believe, with Peter Pan, that there are still fairies in this world of ours. Some unusual effects in these fairy episodes are promised. Double and triple exposures, and new kinds of fade-outs are part of the plans so that this part of the picture will tell a real fairy story in every way. Another man thought he saw The Right Woman but she proved to be The Wrong Woman