Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1935)

fireplace in full relief Captain Kidd directs the burying of pirate treasures while swashbuckling, colorful hearties spade the ground. Two stately arched doors leading into the Garden of Aladdin are framed in fairy-tale groups done in full relief. One is Gulliver pulling tiny boats out of the sea into the Lilliputian port. Another depicts Robinson Crusoe on the beach of his castaway island regarding the obeisant form of his Good Man Friday. Bookshelves of verdigris copper, containing masterpieces in miniature, some less than one inch square, are placed against the south wall, and reached by tortoise shell steps. Over the bookshelves is pictured the Aurora Borealis. The little fairy book forms pass through an entrance hall, with a floor of mother-of-pearl, Warren William is one busy actor these days. His "Living on Velvet," is current, he's now at work on "The Case of the Curious Bride," another's waiting to reach the chapel. The entrance hall is devoted entirely to a mural by Alice O'Neill, depicting the adventures of the voyagers of the Noah's Ark. The mural entitled "Love In Bloom," is in almost comic contrast to the remainder of the house. Old Noah sits below the mountain on which perches the ark, recovering from his libations, for which the Lord punished him. He is indeed suffering from a hang-over, but not his feathered and furry passengers. They, all in pairs, bill and coo. (~\ VER Noah's head is the strong room of the ^-^ castle, reached by a spider web rope from the entrance hall. This room, filled with copper and bronze kegs, overflowing with pirate loot, of diamonds and emeralds and other jewels, has as its central mural a scene from the cave of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, with such remarkable perspective that it is easy indeed to peer into the entrance depths where Ali Baba's scoundrels toil with jars of jewels, and labor toward the storage place. Entering the chapel from Noah's hallway, the visitor to fairyland is transported to the church where little folk of make-believe-land kneel in prayer to worship their god. Combining a mechanical marvel in the golden organ with the artistic magnificence of a carved ivory floor inlaid with gold, an ivory console, stained glass windows of incomparable beauty, the ceiling from the book of Kells, the chapel reflects such true nobility and expression of sincerity to artistic values, that it has been hailed as the epitome of beauty in miniature. The ivory floor is symbolic of events from the Old Testament, telling the story of the Lamb of God, the Dove of Peace, the Ram, the Locusts and the years of plenty. In the great center design are the Ten Commandments as hewn in the tablets. The Lights of the World shine forth in hues of purple and gold. Beneath stained glass windows, by Braborn, depicting originals and copies of famous masterpieces of David and Goliath, Moses in the Bullrushes, Daniel in the Lion's Den, and the Judgment of Solomon, quaintly is carved the Holy Grail. For this is no conventional cathedral, being orthodox only in that it is true to the spirit of love. The floor of the chapel was carved by Bayard de Vollo, while Braborn decorated the ceiling from the illuminated book of Kells, the Irish Bible, in green and gold. From a tiny frame peers the face of Alice in Wonderland and the characters of her adventures, done with great imagination by Willy Pogany. Three tiny frames enclose paintings by George McManus, telling the story of Old King Cole, Jiggs is Old King Cole, Maggie is the Queen and Dinty Moore and other Bringing-Up-Father characters the Fiddlers Three. Elizabeth Stone Barrett's miniature, on ivory, of Little Red Riding Hood hangs near a miniature by Leon Gordon of Miss Moore. James Montgomery Flagg's miniature painting is of the Old Man of the Mountain. Other paintings show ' Skippy" romping as a fairyland figure and Puss in Boots. THE enchanted realm is further appreciated ' as one travels into the living room from another door in the Great Hall. This room of startling brilliance has a rose quartz floor with a carved border by de Vollo, inlaid with silver and gold. It is this room of fantastic elegance which boasts the diamond chandelier. This gorgeous fixture hangs from a ceiling of misty clouds drifting in a sea-blue sky, done, as were the companion murals of Cinderella, by George Townsend Cole. Two ancient amber vases, just inches high, from the collection of the Dowager Empress of China, are placed on either side of the entrance to the Great Hall. Next, on the same floor, the dining room — the dining room of the Knights of the Ro Table — is reached via a tall and sta arched doorway surmounted by a golden holding in his claws the initials of the star the year 1928, the year when this room designed by Horace Jackson, the scenario The dining room, done in cast stone, ha floor of inlaid, imported LatinAmerican wo of many colors and varieties, polished t shining brilliance. THE Round Table, of carved walnut, is s rounded by the twelve chairs of the tw< Knights of King Arthur's court. Each cl contains the coat-of-arms of the occupy created by Alice O'Neill. The Round Table is set with twelve goL dishes, and golden knives and forks less tl one-eighth of an inch long, with a monogr engraved on the handles with the aid magnifying glasses. Tiny lace napkins rep beside each plate, with full table service, eluding tiny golden champagne glasses, gr water glasses, salt and pepper shakers andc diment containers of pewter. Four tapestries, which are not tapestries all, adorn the walls. Created by Braborn painting on rough poplin, these represent i of the most effective experiments in the en dream palace. One shows Sir Galahad be presented at the Court of King Arthur, other Galahad setting off in search of theH Grail, still others, the jousting matches. A doorway on the northern side of the c ing room of the Knights leads into the ma kitchen of the Little People, which conta murals of Mother Goose, and a most extra dinary copper stove, on which hums a t kettle and on which brews a kindly wit( magic stew. Notable among those who have dared the possible in bringing the movie star's dream fruition are Harry Jones, whose bas-relief ; full relief work leave the spectator breathlt Clifford Roth, whose electrical system been acclaimed a masterpiece in miniat wiring; Helga Braborn, for her etched ; stained glass windows; Harold Grieve, sponsible for much of the interior decoratio: George Townsend Cole, celebrated mi artist and portraitist, for his Cinderella mm in the living room ; Bayard de Vollo, for a car' Charles Farrell came back from "Falling in Love" for British International Pictures, and he'd fallen in love with polo. He's forsaken all other sports for it 102