Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1940)

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DEPT. 232, 358 Fifth Ave., New York. N. Y. A "ROARING" MISTAKE? I HIS is a big "boo" for Priscilla Lane; in fact, it is a blast of icy contempt, because she was too much of a cream puff to dress the part for "The Roaring Twenties." Everyone else in the cast was willing to wear the clothes and hairdress of the era the picture tried to recreate, but she wore a 1939 coiffure all through the play, in her part as a nightclub singer. What singer in those days failed to have a shingle or boyish bob? None. I suppose the cream puff was afraid to "sacrifice" six inches of her precious tresses for verisimilitude! Priscilla Lane is not the first (witness Ginger Rogers in "The Castles") , but she is the worst so far. If they won't cooperate, let them retire. There are dozens of competent actresses who would have their ears shingled, if necessary, for a part like this! Rosemary Allen, San Francisco, Calif. Irish colleen in California: Maureen O'Hara — who plays the gypsy girl in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" COMPLETE WITH SOUND! IN a recent broadcast, I heard a certain individual who had appeared in "The Great Train Robbery," and other early thrillers. Hearing this gentleman talk about the old days in pictures caused me to reminisce just a little. Along in 1898 or 1899, at a street fair in Keokuk, Iowa, in a black tent, operated by Lester and Kent, I witnessed my first motion picture. Later, probably 1904, I was perhaps the first person in the country to introduce sound effects in motion pictures. This was done in connection with that epic of the screen, "The Great Train Robbery," at a firemen's tournament in Council Bluffs, Iowa. At this time, I worked for a gentleman by the name of Peterson, who, in a large storeroom, operated a penny arcade and ice-cream cone counter at the front end and a motion -picture show at the back. After operating "The Great Train Robbery" a short time as a silent picture, I conceived the idea of making the shooting episodes a little more realistic. Accordingly, we moved the curtain out about three feet from the wall and, with five .22 revolvers, two .32's and one .38 — sitting in a convenient window back of the curtain so that the guns could be pointed out the window in order not to fill the room with smoke — we let 'em have it. After we had the new sound effects, we certainly packed them in. During the scene where the bandits blew up the safe in the middle of the express car, I would stand right behind the curtain with the .38 and, as the safe blew up, I would pull the trigger. The loud effect of the .38, coupled with the fact that the flash could be seen by the audience through the screen, went over big. One night, during this particular part, I stood a little bit too close to the screen, and the discharge of the gun set the curtain on fire, but it was put out without doing any material damage. From that period up until now, one cannot help but marvel at the progress made in the industry, and from my early observation and slight connection with the industry during that period, this progress is of never-ending interest to the writer. J. W. Beckwith, Aberdeen, S. Dak. PHOTOPLAY TAKES A BOO I HE trite old adage, "There's always first time for everything," must be true. At least, this is the first time I've ever written to a magazine, either in commendation or condemnation. Up until now, Photoplay has always managed to give a fairly accurate and unbiased criticism of the current pictures. Therefore, I felt — after reading the review of Mr. Bromfield's "The Rains Came"— that somehow everyone in your reviewing department missed reading the book. Surely, if one had read it, one could never in his wildest imagination have thought that Myrna Loy gave the slightest semblance of an interpretation of Lady Esketh's character. Even in the picture, Lady Esketh was obviously not a nice person and apparently Miss Loy was in a tough spot — -trying to be Lady Esketh and Myrna Loy at one and the same time, with the unfortunate result that she was neither one nor the other very convincingly. George Brent did a swell job of carrying the entire picture with the very adequate help of Maria Ouspenskaya. They and they alone almost — I repeat, almost — saved what might have been one of the outstanding pictures of ths year from being a complete bore. In short, "The Rains Came," if honestly analyzed, let a powerful book down with a horrible thud. Do please continue with your honest opinions of pictures and do not let even the charming Miss Loy lead you astray, as we, the good old public, must have at least one reliable source of information. Dorothy S. Page, Trenton, N. J. GOOD TASTE W HY, oh, why, when all our newspapers and radios are screaming of war, oppression and broken faith, have the movies chosen to drench themselves in (Continued on page 70) PHOTOPLAY