The Moving picture world (November 1925-December 1925)

EUGENE O'BRIEN and Billy Piatt in "Simon the Jester," a Producers Distributing Corporation picture. Sheehan Signing Up Stars as Big Mid-Season Pictures Are Launched RENEWAL of production activities in a volume that surpasses anything the big Fox Film West Coast Studio has witnessed this season has followed the appearance there of Winfield R. Sheehan, vicepresident and general manager of the corporation. Worn out as the phrase "galaxy of stars" is, it is the only one that can do justice to the lineup of stars and featured players the Fox executive has "OK'd" for the important group of mid-season releases he has launched in work. Betty Compson, Matt Moore, Clara Bow, Bert Lytell, Vivian Oakland, Earle Williams, Nigel De Brullier, Frank Keenan, Huntley Gordon, Herbert Rawlinson, Vera Lewis, Grant Withers, Stanton Heck, Reed House, Will Walling, Walter Pidgeon, Rose Blossom, Charles Lane, Roy Atwill, Francis MacDonald, Kathleen Myers, Nina Romona, Gladys Brockwell, Warner Oland, John Patrick, Oliver Hardy, Jacques Rollens, Gustave Van Seyferitz, Carolynne Snowden, Frank Currier and Virginia Madison are some of the real box-office names Mr. Sheehan has had Casting Director James Ryan sign up to supplement the Fox stock company's own group of contract stars and players. These players will be distributed in leading and supporting roles in "The First Year," which Frank Borzage is directing: "The Peacemaker." a Buck Jones starring vehicle over which W. S. Van Dyke is wielding the megaphone ; "The Golden Butterfly," being directed by John Griffith Wray ; "Daybreak," a Rowland V. Lee production ; "Palace of Pleasure," which Emmett Flynn will direct, and the modern sequence of "The Ancient Mariner," which Chester Bennett was lured back from other business to supervise in his own brilliant way. Since the original announcement two important changes have been made in the cast of "The First Year." Frank Currier has been cast in the role of Dr. Myron Livingston instead of J. Farrell MacDonald and Virginia Madison will be Mrs. Livingston instead of Emily Fitzroy. Thqse changes were made necessary by the fact that both the supplanted players were tied up with other directors who could not spare them. J. Farrell, for instance, is out on location, hundreds of miles from Hollywood with John Ford making "Three Bad Men." He is one of the bad fellows aijd as might be expected is seldom "out of the picture." Tile rest of "The First Year" cast remains as originally announced. Matt Moore is Tom Tucker, Kathryn Perry will cease being Helen in the Fox Married Life Series long enough to be Grace Livingston in the Borzage production, John Patrick is Dick Loring, Frank Cooley is Pa Livingston, Margaret Livingston is Mrs. Barstown and Carolynne Snowden is Hattie. The little girl whose name describes her so well, Rose Blossom, was secured to be Buck Jones' leading lady in "The Peacemaker." This is the sixth starring vehicle of the ace of western stars for the 1925-26 season. The others who will support Buck in this production are Will Walling, Reed House, Stanton Heck, Grant Withers, Kathleen Myers, Marion Harlan, Oliver Hardy and Jay Hunt. For "The Golden Butterfly," a story which points out the folly of following the crowd in the Game of Life, there has been assigned Director Wray the following al-star aggregation : Alma Rubens, Bert Lytell, Herbert Rawlinson, Frank Keenan, Vera Lewis, Carolynne Snowden and Huntley Gordon. This cast speaks for itself. Every name in it has box-office drawing power. Verily, this will be a production for which to hold out some playdates. As a starter for "Daybreak," Rowland V. Lee's production, the following incomparable players have been cast : Jacqueline Logan, Lou Tellegen, Roy Atwill, Walter Pidgeon, Gustave von Seyferitz and Charles Lanel The others will be announced later. "Daybreak" is an adaption of the sensational New York and London stage success, "The Outsider." Although by this time a reader might think there were no more players left for Emmett Flynn's production "Palace of Pleasure" such is not the case. Emmett must have a pull with Mr. Ryan, the casting director, for here are the cinema brilliants he had assigned to his latest : Betty Compson, Edmund Lowe, Francis McDonald, Nina Romano, Warner Oland, Harvey Clark, Samniie Blum and George Seigman. And there are more to come. "Palace of Pleasure" is based on "Lola," a play by Adolf Paul. Lola Montez (played by Betty Compson) was one of the most colorful figures in Europe in the Nineteenth Century. She was an Irish girl who posed as a Spanish dancer and left% trail of hearts and political intrigue behind her that puts DuBarry to shame. For the modern sequence of "The Ancient Mariner" the splendid cast of the Henry Otto fantasy sequence has been supplemented by the addition of Leslie Fenton, Margaret Livingston, Clara Bow, Nigel De Brullier, Earle Williams and Hallam Cooley. .'\dd Paul Panzer, who plays the title role, Vivian Oakland and Gladys Brockwell to these and you have a cast pretentious enough in itself to carry any production. And the Fox production activities do not cease with the foregoing. Tom Mix, having finished "The Best Bad Man" on the day Mr. Sheehan arrived, is now lining up his forces preparatory to starting on another of his starring vehicles titled "My Own Pal." This will be a typical Mix production with a strong cast of box-office favorites. On the comedy lot George Marshall, supervisor of all Fox two-reelors. has every one of his unexcelled laugh directors going at top speed. And in addition to that George will have a surprise announcement about -something big for the trade in a day or so. Bader Gets New Post With "U" Dave Bader has been selected to fill the post of manager of advertising accessories for the Universal Pictures Corporation, to replace Maurice Pivar, who has been transferred to Universal City.