The New York State Exhibitor (1933)

THE NEW YORK STATE EXHIBITOR Jul 2 5’ 3 3 13 Stars Headline Leo’s 1933-1934 Announcement Metro Goldwyn Mayer Lineup Has Strength in Names The largest and most distinguished group of stars ever gathered together by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer will appear in the forty-six new season’s productions of that film company, an announcement from that company says. In addition to Marie Dressier, John and Lionel Barrymore, Marion Davies, Joan Craw¬ ford, Wallace Beery, Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Helen Hayes, • Robert Montgomery, Ramon Novarro and Norma Shearer, the fol¬ lowing have been elevated to stardom: Jean Harlow, Lee Tracy, Jimmy Durante and Ed Wynn and Jack Pearl, stage and radio come¬ dians, each of whom will make at least one starring picture for MGM. Many of the players cast for supporting roles in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer productions have been stars in their own right on stage and screen. A great number of those who are now merely featured players probably will parallel the success of Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and Robert Montgomery, and under the guidance of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, be¬ come stars also. One of the features of MGM's method of making pictures has been its insistence on powerful casts to support its amazing collection of stars. This company is constantly bringing forward new faces and new talent, reaching out to stage and radio and foreign countries to import men and women who have ability. The group of former stage stars now under contract to MGM might easily form the nucleus for a blue book of the stage. Alice Brady, star of “Mourning Becomes Electra” and “Mademoiselle,” made her talk¬ ing picture debut in the screen version of “When Ladies Meet.” Charles Butterworth, famous frozen-faced comedian of “Sweet Adeline,” “Americana” and “Flying Colors” scored a sensational success in support of Lee Tracy in “The Nuisance.” Frank Morgan, stage star of “Topaze,” has achieved an imme¬ diate popularity because of the excellence of his work in “Reunion in Vienna,” “When Ladies Meet” and other films. Two new¬ comers to the screen, both of whom are stage veterans, are Russell Hardie and Otto Kruger. Another talented ex-stage actor is Franchot Tone, rapidly making a name for himself as one of the most popular and handsome young leading men after playing in “Gabriel Over the White House” and “Today We Live.” From England MGM imported Diana Wynyard, Benita Hume and Elizabeth Allan, three talented young actresses. Miss Wynyard, after “Cavalcade” and “Reunion in Vienna,” seems sure to be a star in the very near future. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s long list of “sup¬ porting stars” include Jean Parker, ranked as the greatest ingenue discovery of the year ; Lupe Velez, Johnny Weissmuller, of "Tarzan” fame; Nils Asther, Walter Huston, Lewis Stone, Colleen Moore, Karen Morley, Madge Evans, Mary Carlisle, Mae Clarke, Nelson Eddy, recruited from radio and the world of symphony music ; Stuart Erwin, Muriel Evans, C. Henry Gordon, veteran character actor ; Lawrence Grant, Louise Closser Hale, Jean Heard In A T E R $ O N Ridgewood House Clicks With Prizes _ By Jim _ HARRY ELLIS, Garden, declares that any day is a vacation day that permits him to spend a few hours on the golf course. . . . Mel Ackerman wonders how Mrs. Ellis likes to be a golf widow. . . . Charles S. Mitchelson, former manager, Butler theatre, Butler, N. J., spent an afternoon in that thriving town visit¬ ing old friends. . . . Walter R. Anderson, present manager, Butler, says fines are piling up on him for his persistent Sunday opening. . . . Edward Maltene, Fabian, insists that boils are no joke. . . . Harry Bamph says he will take Ed’s word. . . . Irving Liner, United States, and Frank Hall, Fabian, both express themselves as delighted. . . . J. Edward Helwig, Rivoli, declares that the redness of the west at eve, is not caused by the sinking sun but by Joe Lefkowitz, Regent, out in California starting to paint the town red. NEW WARNER THEATRE, Ridgewood, was packed recently when Ridgewood merchants distributed $500 in cash to hold¬ ers of lucky coupons in a profit-sharing campaign sponsored by the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce. . . . It is estimated that there were more than 350,000 coupons in the bag, which had the appearance of a half-dented blimp as it was dragged on the s'age by a committee of six men. Hersholt, one of the best beloved actors on the screen ; Phillips Holmes, another candi¬ date for stardom ; Mvrna Loy, Ben Lyon, Mar¬ garet McConnell, former model for cigarette advertisements; Una Merkel, John Miljan, May Robson, a grand old trouper ; Ruth Selwyn, Martha Sleeper and Robert Young. The coming: season at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios is of outstanding significance in its emphasis on starring names and multi-star casts. The return of Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo from abroad, and the resumption of acting by Marie Dressier — added to the current roster of MGM stars — gives this company the most impressive star line-up it has ever had. Never before have so many new pictures been assembled with two or more stars in each. With the largest list of stellar names in the history of the studio to draw from, and success of “Grand Hotel,” “Rasputin and the Empress” and other attractions as an index to the value of care¬ fully selected multi-star attractions, the MGM or¬ ganization has already outlined plans for a dozen multi-star pictures for the new season, with others certain to be added to this list later. At the present time the Culver City studios are in the midst of the biggest production drive in sev¬ eral years — in fact, the biggest since January, 1929. Eighteen films are in various stages of production, and many others are being prepared for the screen. Every star on the lot is busy, some with more than one production, and it seems likely that the summer will be the most active one of the past five years. “Eskimo,” the spectacular Arctic film, and “An¬ other Language,” based on the Broadway stage hit, are in final stages of editing, while “Night Flight,” with five starring names in its cast, is almost com¬ pleted. King Vidor is supervising editor of “Strangers Return,” with Lionel Barrymore and Miriam Hopkins, and Tod Browning is busy with “Bride of the Bayou.” Marie Dressier and Wallace Beery are co-starred in “Tugboat Annie,” and Greta Garbo is at work in her first film since her return from Sweden. Joan Crawford is doing “Dancing Lady,” and Marion Davies is completing prepara¬ tions for her new vehicle, “Paid to Laugh,” “Penthous°,” an adaptation of Arthur Somers Roche’s new serial, is under way, as are “Beauty For Sale,” bs>sed on Faith Baldwin’s best seller, “Tarzan and His Mate” and “Turn Back the Clock.” Jean Har¬ low and Lee Tracy are co-starred in “Bombshell,” while a strong cast has just been assembled for “St'-ige Mother,” a new story by Bradford Ropes, of “Forty-second Street” fame. No less than four big musicals are currently under way, which in itself sets a precedent as the coast lot. “The Hollywood Party” and “Show World” present a dozen or more starring names each, while Ed Wynn’s forthcoming picture will be in line with this star’s most successful radio continuities, and will be known as “The Fire Chief.” Jack Pearl, who has arrived at the coast, is teamed with Jimmy Durante and Charles Butterworth in a three-star comedy with music tentatively called “The Big Liar.” “Dinner at Eight,” which is David O. Selznick’s first MGM production, and which has more starring names than any other dramatic production yet at¬ tempted (not excluding “Grand Hotel”) will be given road-showings throughout the country, according to present plans of the company. In the cast of this picturization of the stage hit of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber are Marie Dressier, Wallace Beery, Jean Harlow, John and Lionel Barrymore, Edmund Lowe, Billie Burke, Madge Evans, Lee Tracy and Phillips Holmes. In addition to its emphasis on star strength, the coming program is the most diversified in the ten years since the MGM studio was organized, with pictures embracing practically every phase of life, locales ranging from the Arctic to the tropics, and periods ranging from Biblical times to the present day. Some idea of the wide diversification of screen entertainment as well as the dominance of star names may be obtained by a glance at the “Big Six,” or six most important productions slated by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its program of 46 major 1933-34 attractions. “Night Flight,” with an all-star cast, is a drama of commercial aviation with thrills of night flying and flying over mountainous country. It is based on Antoine de St. Exupery’s prize French novel of adventures in South America and directed by Clar¬ ence Brown. John and Lionel Barrymore, Helen Hayes, Clark Gable, Robert Montgomery and others are in the cast. In vivid contrast is another multistar picture, “The Hollywood Party,” with its locale modern Hollywood. This is a musical picture with a novel plot. It was written by Edmund Goulding and Howard Dietz with elaborate ballets and novel¬ ties. Marie Dressier, Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow, Jimmy Durante, Lupe Velez, Lee Tracy, Jack Pearl and other stars are to entertain musically and otherwise. Soviet Russia is to be portrayed in “Soviet,” drama of the Russia of today, with Wallace Beery, Clark Gable and Jean Harlow. “Tarzan and His Mate” will see Johnny Weissmuller, Maureen O’Sullivan and Neil Hamilton in adventures in the African jungles. Marie Dressier is to star in “Mrs. VanKleek,” a modern story, laid in the South Seas of today, while a spectacular romance comparable to the thrills of “Ben Hur” is provided in “Two Thieves,” in which Robert Montgomery and Clark Gable are to appear in a filmization of Manuel Komroff’s famous novel. Far-flung locations figure more importantly than in many months in vehicles from which MGM’s forth¬ coming season’s program will be drawn. “Eskimo,” filmed by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer polar expedition to the Arctic, with a native cast, is to take audiences to the land of the Midnight Sun. “The Good Earth,” based on Pearl S. Buck’s famous book, has its locale in the Chinese countryside; “Laughing Boy,” Oliver La Farge’s novel, a vehicle for Ramon Novarro, has the Navajo Indian country as its locale; “Viva Villa,” in which Wallace Beery is to enact the Mexi¬ can bandit chief, is to be filmed in Mexico, and “Bride of the Bayou” is being filmed in the shrimp camps of Lake Barataria, and the land of the Louisiana Cajuns, descendants of the Acadians of “Evangeline.” African desert in the vicinity of Ouled Nail, while “The Paradine Case,” also based on a Hichens’ novel, has an exotic background and a cast headed by Diana Wynyard, John and Lionel Barrymore. The settings of “The Barretts of Wimpole Street,” renowned stage hit, are the preVictorian period when Robert Browning courted Elizabeth Barrett Browning. “The Late Christopher Bean” is another Broadway stage hit, with its set¬ tings in rural New England. Stefan Zweig’s “Marie Antoinette” is a drama of the French Revo¬ lution, and Somerset Maugham’s “The Painted Veil” is a drama laid against a vivid tropical background. Application Denied Chief Justice James Pennewill, sitting as Chancellor, has filed an opinion in Chancery Court, State Court, Wilmington, Del., denying the application of Erpi for modification of a restrainmg order issued against it in the suit filed by The Vitaphone Corporation. The defendant sought to have the order modified by striking out that portion which restrains it from taking any action other than in the present case, to prevent Vitaphone from prosecuting the suit and from taking any steps toward having arb’tration proceedings re¬ ferred to in the suit reopened.