The Moving picture world (November 1923-December 1923)

November 10, 1923 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 253 A. S. Kane Goes to Los Angeles to Negotiate for New Product To look after matters affecting productions now being handled by his organization, and to negotiate with producers who have in mind the making of new product of the same high calibre, is the double purpose of Arthur S. Kane, president of Associated Exhibitors, who is leaving for Los Angeles in a few days. Mr. Kane expects to remain in California several weeks at the least. "I have long coveted the opportunity to devote more time to production affairs," said Mr. Kane yesterday. "This has been made possible since the acquisition by Associated Exhibitors of Mr. J. S. Woody as general manager. "Associated Exhibitors is immensely pleased with the reception accorded the 1923-24 attractions it has so far placed before the public. 'Going Up,' now appearing in every territory of the country, has given to theatres that have shown or are showing it their best weeks of the season so far. "With Charles Ray in 'The Courtship of Myles Standish' well launched on an indefinite run in Grauman's Million Dollar Theatre, and Mabel Normand indefi nitely at the Mission Theatre, Los Angeles, in 'The Extra Girl,' these two great features have started their careers in a wonderful way and proved themselves among the outstanding hits of the current season. "Harold Lloyd in 'Why Worry?' is enjoying the greatest success ever attained by this remarkable comedian. 'Tea — With a Kick !' meanwhile, and Leah Baird in 'The Destroying Angel' are off to a great start. These attractions illustrate the standard Associated Exhibitors has set for itself and which it is determined to maintain." "Going Up" Scores at the Big Eastman Theatre in Rochester Everyone who has seen Douglas MacLean in his super-flying comedy release for Associated Exhibitors, "Going Up," agrees that it is his outstanding success to date and one that will take a lot of trying to produce a better, says Associated Exhibitors, and bidding for first runs among exhibitors throughout the country has been extremely keen. During the run at the Eastman Theatre, Rochester, N. Y., recently, the manager arranged with the Eastman School of Music to lend him some of its pupils for the occasion, and several of the melodies from the musical comedy, "Going Up," were sung as a prologue to the picture. William P. Costello said of the picture in a review in the Rochester Journal: "Mr. MacLean is splendid, as usual. Here is a young comedian who amuses quite consistently." R. F. said in a New York letter to the Christian Science Monitor, Boston: "Played by marionettes, 'Going Up' would still be a comedy prize. Now that it has reached the screen, with the added serial adventuring that the camera makes possible and the infectious pleasantries of Douglas MacLean to boot, the film version is particularly rich in kindling humors." HAROLD LLOYD Who is working on another big comedy F. N. Phelps Praises "Tea— With a Kick" The Hennepin-Orpheum Theatre, in Minneapolis, is known throughout the country for the high quality of its offerings and the astuteness of its management. There is very little that gets by such a live-wire showman as F. N. Phelps, the manager. In a letter to Associated Exhibitors he praised "Tea — with a Kick" highly. Gives Big Praise to "David Copperfield" Under the heading, "A Model of Condensation," the Minneapolis Journal of a few days ago warmly praised the showing of Associated Exhibitors' "David Copperfield" at the Hennepin-Orpheum Theatre, and declared : "If we were Will Hays we would sentence every maker of 12-reel films to a weekly viewing of this picture." The Journal said in part : "To film David Copperfield in sufficient detail to satisfy the confirmed reader of Dickens would be to produce a photoplay of inordinate length; even a production which included in its scope all of the numerous characters in this book strikes one as impractical, even if not inconceivable. "The photoplay at the Hennepin-Orpheum this week has< condensed in seven reels the life of David Copperfield, and because there are so few sins of commission in the picture we can readily forgive those of omission — even the excluding from the film of Little Em'ly. "We regard the picture as a model of condensation ; a picture which, if memory of the book has grown rusty in years, will pleasantly recall the characters that once sprang from its pages in flesh and blood— David, Micawber, Peggoty, Dora. Agnes, Uriah Heep, the Murdstones and others. The simplicity with which the film has been produced is admirable ; big scenes and lavish sets have been entirely subordinated to the more important task of character delineation. Charles Ray Triumphs The Girl I Loved" m Darnton with Fox Charles Darnton, who has been dramatic critic on the New York Evening World for the last twentyone years, has joined the scenario Who achieves new fame in her department of Fox Film Corporafir»t production for Associated tion, and is now at the West Coast Exhibitors studios of the company. MABEL NORMAND Three weeks ago Charles Ray opened his stage tour of "The Girl I Loved" at the Spreckles Theatre in San Diego, and was hailed by the newspapers as a genius in the role he portrays as the bashful farmer boy. So great was the ovation at the premiere that it almost reached the magnitude of a Broadway opening. From San Diego Mr. Ray moved on to the Broadway Theatre, Denver. The reviewers for the papers also were flattering to Mr. Ray and the stage presentation, and the Denver audiences were more than enthusiastic. How greatly the play pleased the critics is shown by the following reviews from Denver papers: George Loons in The Denver Express : "Charles Ray is a magnificent actor. His is the art of pantomime developed to the highest degree. But besides this he has a voice that takes its color from the situation as subtly as do the muscles of his body and the expression of his face. 'The Girl I Loved,' too, is a poignant, poetic and exquisite bit of romance. It is a faithful presentation of youth and youth's love as they used to be before youth was slain by the war. Ray's style tends toward the simple, the pathetic, the unsuccessful. And he is an artist." F. E. W. in The Denver Post: "At the Broadway is 'The Girl I Loved,' in which Charles Ray gives one of the finest and most original exhibitions of acting I have ever seen. It is well worth seeing just for Ray's acting. * * * It is after he has grown to man's estate and has to convey to the audience, without the aid of words, the torment of his secret that he is masterful. Such pantomime I have never seen ! * * * His work is probably prophetic of a new and convincing style of acting that the movies may give the stage." Helen Black in The Rocky Mountain News, Denver : "There are certain interpretations of an awkward, shy youth who, even when he grows up, never quite achieves poise that will always be associated with Charles Ray, and the character of the farmer boy provides him with an opportunity to display all of these in addition to a dramatic ability which is best disclosed in the half-mad dreams of the half-crazed youth. Charles Ray is the whole show." Added to Cast Immediately after the completion of Universal's "Lady of Quality," Earl Foxe accepted the offer of the C. B. C. Film Sales Corporation to play the light-heavy in "Innocence." He will therefore appear opposite Anna Q. Nilsson, who was secured for the principal female role in this production.