The Moving picture world (July 1924-August 1924)

434 MOVING PICTURE WORLD August 9, 1924 Stern Brothers Ready with September Films JULIUS and Abe Stern, president and vice-president of the Century Film Corporation, producers of Century Comedies, which are released through Universal, are enjoying a well-earned vacation period in Europe. Before leaving they had their product for next season all lined up and most of it completed or in production, all of which insures them a vacation free from cares or business worries. With the pictures scheduled for release 'way into the winter months completed, an advance announcement lor September releases was decided on and Julius Stern wired his New York office to issue it. There will be four pictures, one for each week, with Harry McCoy, Buddy Messinger, Al Alt, "Pal," the wonder dog of the screen, and others as the stars. The famous Century Follies Girls will also be seen in the September releases. The titles arc "Traffic Jams," "Mind the Baby," "Low Bridges" and "Sahara Blues." They will be released one each week beginning September 3, in the order named. "Traffic Jams" is a humorous picturization of the perils encountered with the heavy traffic in large cities, and suggests several ways in which they can be overcome. Harry Mc Coy, Hilliard Karr and Bessie Welsh are the featured players. In "Mind the Baby" "Pal" takes starring honors, supported by an unusually strong cast, including Cecil Marsh, Eddie Bonner and Ernie Shields. It tells of an animal that shows considerably more intelligence in the care of a baby than many humans do. "Low Bridges" is one of the Century Kid pictures, with Buddy Messinger at the head of the cast. Others are "Bubbles," the 5year-old colored comedian ; "Spec" O'Donnell, the freckle-faced youngster; Martha Sleeper, Buddy's leading lady, and Eddie Hughes. "Sahara Blues," the last of the September releases, features Al Alt, Jack Earle, the giant comedian; Hilliard Karr, Elizabeth Kavane and the famous Century Follies Girls. Because of the rise to popularity of Wanda Wiley, the newest of the Century stars, it is possible that a production in which she is starred will be substituted for one of the others on the September program. Wanda Wiley has shown so much unusual ability as a comedienne that the Sterns are seriously considering the making of a special series of two-reelers starring her, the stories to be written by a well known humorist. Bachmann Now Arranging Distribution for "Scandal" JG BACHMANN. treasurer of B. P. Schulberg Productions, Inc., left • New York this week for an extended tour of the company's exchanges which will handle the distribution of "The Breath of Scandal" and the subsequent releases in the group of nine Preferred Pictures scheduled for the new season. Mr. Bachmann's trip will be made in the interest of instituting a special sales and advertising drive on "The Breath of Scandal," which advance reports say is the most pre Scene from the Fox production, "The Painted Lady." tentious picture ever offered by the Schulberg organization. This production has been in the making for seven weeks under the direction of Gasnier, with a cast including Betty Blythe, Lou Tellegen, Patsy Ruth Miller, Forrest Stanley. Jack Mulhall, Myrtle Steadman and Phyllis Haver. Camera work has been completed and cutting and editing is now under way. A number of picture men, including production experts and several West Coast exhibitors, previewed the film after the first cutting and the praise for the story, cast and production values was unanimous. The completed picture will be in the Schulberg exchanges ready for screening by the middle of August. Mr. Bachmann will visit each distribution centre to give the first sales campaign his personal supervision. Throughout the country, B. P. Schulberg's new series of Preferred Pictures will be handled by substantially the same franchise holders who operated for Preferred Pictures Corporation. Reaches New York Director Millard Webb's first photoplay has arrived in New York. The Warner Bros, say that Mr. Webb has landed up in the ranks of American motion picture directors with this, his initial effort. The photoplay is entitled "Her Marriage Vow," being an adaptation from the wellknown stage play by Owen Davis. Monte Blue, Beverly Bayne, Margaret Livingston and Willard Louis are in the cast. Metro-Goldwyn present* Jackie Coogan in "Little Robinson Crusoe." "Jackie" Crusading Young Coogan to Cover 31 Cities in Drive for "Mercy Bonds" With the appearance of this issue, Jackie Coogan will have left Los Angeles on the greatest crusade the modern world has known, the Children's Crusade across the country to raise funds for the Near East Relief. When Jackie arrives in New York on August 14 it is expected that hundreds of thousands of dollars will have been raised to buy foodstuffs, medical supplies and other necessities of life for 60,000 destitute orphan children in the Holy Lands. The revised itinerary has Jackie in Pasadena, August 2; Albuquerque, August 4, where his initiation into the Navajo Indian tribe will take place. On August S Hutchinson, Newton, Emporia, Topeka, Lawrence and Kansas City will be visited by the young star. On August 6 and 7 Jackie will be in Chicago, and also on the seventh will arrive in Indianapolis, leaving there for Louisville on Friday, August 8. The balance of the itinerary will be: Cincinnati, August 9; Detroit, August 10 and 11; Cleveland, August 12; Pittsburgh, August 13. This will bring Jackie into New York on Thursday, August 14. As previously announced, Jackie will devote the fourteenth to August 23 finishing his Metro-Goldwyn picture, "The Rag Man." N'ew York is the locale of this Willard Mack story, which Coogan, Sr., is supervising, with Eddie Cline as director, and many exteriors will be shot on the East Side of the city. Monday, August 25, Jackie will resume his crusade, visiting New Haven, Providence, Boston, Newark, Baltimore and possibly a trip to the Toronto fair. On September 6 Jackie will sail for the Near East will the cargo of supplies. The "Mercy Bond," sold for one dollar, certifies that the purchaser "is enrolled in the Children's Crusade of Mercy." The "Life Saving Bond" is valued at $5. Books "Fools in Dark" Sid Grauman has booked F. B. O.'s big fall special, "Fools in the Dark," for his Metropolitan Theatre, Los Angeles. The engagement started July 26. This is an unusually fine booking, as very few "outside" pictures get into the Metropolitan Theatre.