Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1929)

I lO Photoplay Magazine — Advertising Section Milton Sills, First National star, presenting Helbros Watch to MacDonald Smith, Winner. 54461 "Milion Sills" 17 jewels, 14 k. whitegold-^ filled 3-piece case JackMulhall First National star, presenting Helbros Watch to Tommy Armour, runner up. ~ -«S^g— .^ 49391 "Jack Mulhall" 15 jewels, 14 k. white gold-filled, two-tone, i-tXn^n piece case »4^(J.ou Strange how the galloping ghosts, now and then, emerge to haunt us. LILY D.\MITA, the French beauty, gave New York photographers plenty of workout when she bounded into the metropolis to make personal appearance with "The Rescue," in which she appears opposite Ronald Colman. The papers were full of shots of the marvelous Damita legs, the Damita reading in bed, the Damita curled up on the floor, the Damita in pajamas, the Damita in ball dresses, the Damita doing practically everything but playing the xylophone. Interviewed, the Damita said, "I hate the milhonaires. And I hate the poor men, because they talk so much of love." She didn't say why she hated the millionaires or what they talked about. And her idea of Gallic sparkle was to come leaping out on the stage shouting "Whoopee!" The audience nearly swooned dead away. 'T'HE Tower of Babel was a deaf and dumb -*• asylum compared to the modern Hollywood, according to Harry Carr, Los Angeles newspaperman. "The other night," writes Carr, "I went to a dinner party given by a belle who is half French, half Spanish. "An Irish girl and a German baroness began discussing the merits of a scenario writer born in Persia who was preparing a play in which a Cherokee Indian director would make still more famous a Mexican star." Carr neglects to mention that they were eating American lettuce smothered in Russian dressing, prepared by a colored cook and served by a Japanese house-boy, ' I HE Stork-by-Proxy notion has a firm grip ■* on Hollywood. Walter Long, the heax-y, and his wife have just adopted a five year old boy, and I understand that Mr. and Mrs. Harold Lloyd are about to step-up their family by adopting a little girl about Gloria's age. How Talkies Are Made [ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31 ] tubby or rain-barrel effects; that walls made of wood caused the voice to "bounce," hence the adoption of composition material for the building of sets. Much surprise has been expressed at the quality of the voice reproduction in Fox's "In Old Arizona," yet it is a well-known fact that the finest sound reproduction is that obtained out-of-doors, where there is nothing to interfere with the capture of the voice or sound effect in its natural state. WHILE making our first Christie-Paramount talking short, "When Caesar Ran a Newspaper," we learned something about firearms in talkies. The picture is a film version of a famous vaudeville travesty in which Raymond Hatton plays Julius Caesar to the Marc Antony of Sam Hardy, Marc being press agent for one Cleopatra, a dancer from Egypt. In the last few feet Marc commits suicide by shooting himself. We knew that an actual revolver-shot would ruin the sensitive microphone, so used a toy cap pistol. When the cap exploded it sounded in the monitor room like a sixteen-inch gun and in retaking the scene the mere chck of the hammer provided the desired effect. Perhaps the most interesting e.xperiment, in our studio at least, has been the making of the first two Octavus Roy Cohen "Bummin'ham" stories, with all-negro casts. We discovered very early that the usual colored screen actor was practically useless because it was next to impossible for him — or her — to memorize long speeches. Of course there are exceptions, but very few of them. We went to the legitimate stage for most of our principals — the colored legitimate stage. One of our principals in the first colored talkie, "The Melancholy Dame," is Evelyn Preer, of the LaFayette players, a splendid actress who was Lenore Ulric's understudy in "Lulu Belle." The colored stage players are remarkably quick "studies" and seldom "go up" in their lines. The second colored talkie, "Music Hath Harms," just completed, we are convinced, will prove a sensation. WE are all trying to find out what sort of talkie entertainment the public wants in abbreviated forms. The Christies belie\e that the public will tire of the ordinary \'audeville act and so we lean more to the one-act play form, telling a complete story usually in about eighteen minutes. Lois Wilson has appeared in one of these for us, and she is to do another, with Edward Everett Horton. By that time we expect to know something of the public taste — to obtain some hint of the pubUc's verdict. For after all, the public will decide the ultimate fate of the talking picture, both long and short. In the meantime, don't worry about the fate of your favorite stars — you will find that most of them mil do well in the talkies. Jannings? Garbo? Myself, I'd go anytime and pay good money to see Jannings act in silence; and for my dough, Greta never has to talk! A Dictionary of New Talkie Terms {Continued from page 31) Play-back — the "rushes" in sound recording. The immediate playing of the sound record after the taking of a scene in order that actors and director may hear how it all sounds and see if anything needs to be changed. The play-back is possible only from disc recording, like a phonograph record, as in film recording the film must be developed before the sound can be heard. Disc — the wax record, like a phonograph record, on which sound is recorded. Photo-electric cell — the small sensitive vacuum tube which is used in the projection machine of a film record of sound in order to translate the black and white lines of the sound track back into sound, so they may be perceived by the ear instead of by the eye. Frequency — a term in physics denoting the sound-wave characteristics and range of the electrical sound impulse. Sounds have a "wave length" just as radio impulses, short wave lengths corresponding to high frequency vibrations. Sound-proof — the quality of preventing the passage of sounds, insulating an enclosed space against outside noises. Every advertisement In PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE Is euarantced.