Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1926)

Hollywood High Lights 71 touched with both pathos and comedy, so that Anna really believes she is going to like it even better. Originally, Colleen Moore was to have made the picturization of "Shebo," but she has so many important stories lined up that she decided to relinquish the part to .Miss Nilsson. W hich shows that the bright little First National star is more than kind-hearted, as things go in the colony. Anna, by the way, is going to start an "anti" club to offset the one that seems necessary to bring together all those girls who declare they will not marry actors. Anna asserts that her experience in her recent marriages has taught her that it is very unwise to wed any one outside of the profession. ".And," she says, "I love actors." Honors for Corinne's Husband. Monta Bell, Mai St. Clair, and other newly arrived directors, had better look to their honors quickly ! For, on the horizon of very promising arrivals is Walter Morosco, Corinne Griffith's husband. Walter decided that he didn't want to hide the light of his professional talents any longer, since he had once before been in pictures. So, some time ago, he gave up selling water heaters (this is no joke) and began to lay his plans for a return to film making. "Silver Shackles" is the name of his first picture, and it is a glorious beginning for him, since the star that he is directing is no less a popular idol and capable actress than Irene Rich. There seems to be every legitimate reason in the world why he should make a success of pictures, for besides the fact that he is the husband of a very famous screen star, he was brought up in the atmosphere of the theater, as his father, Oliver. Morosco, has long been a producer of stage plays. A little later on, he will probably direct Corinne in a picture. At present, she is working on a Russian romance called "Unto Her Kingdom," which will be one of the most luxuriantly embellished features that she has recently made. High hopes are entertained for her success in "Mile. Modiste," which is of light-comedy character, like "Classified." The Foreign Fever. The speed with which motion-picture producers are signing up all foreign talent that is available is evidenced in the case of Irma Kornelia, a Hungarian charmer, who was given a long-term contract with Paramount only a few hours after ber arrival in Los Angeles. Each month seems to bring over an increasing quota of European actresses, and they come from virtually every country. The names of Arlette Marchal, whom everybody saw in Gloria Swanson's "Madame SansGene" as the Queen of Naples, Lya de Putti, a noted German star, and Nathalie Kovanko, a Russian actress from Paris, have all been recently added to the list of foreign stars in this country. One reason why so many foreigners are being engaged Marion Davies had just presented "Red" Grange with a leather helmet when this picture ivas snapped of herself and the gridiron hero on the Metro-Goldwyn lot. is the demand for American pictures in Europe, and the competition, as well as jealousy, that is felt from the countries abroad. The competition isn't serious but the jealousy is, and there is a definite move on the part of American producers to bring about a better feeling between the two continents. We don't exactly see, though, how bringing all the foreign talent over here is going to help matters so much, unless the American producers give up a number of our players in return. Which is what will probably be done — to a certain extent, anyway — in the case of some of the less-favored of our players, who will thus be able to enjoy pleasant sojourns in distant capitals, with all expenses paid. A Real Film Romance. For once, a mere reel romance turned into a real romance. The hero and heroine thereof are William Boyd and Elinor Fair, the leads in Cecil B. De Mille's "The Volga Boatman." They eloped just after the completion of the production. Boyd has already gained prominence through his work ■ in De Mille's "The Road to Yesterday," while Miss Fair is the most recent of the De Mille "discoveries." As a matter of fact, she first came to the fore as the little crippled girl in "The Miracle Man.'" She was also the feminine lead in "Kismet," the Otis Skinner Oriental fantasy. Boyd was wed once before, his wife having been Diana Miller, now married to George Melford, the director. Neither Boyd nor Miss Fair had met before working in "The Volga Boatman." [Editor's Note. — Interviews with Miss Fair and Mr. Boyd appear elsewhere in this issue.] Battle Goes Blithely On. It has begun to look lately as if the squabble between Jetta Goudal and Famous Players-Lasky, the organization with which she was under contract before joining Cecil B. De Mille, would never be settled. Jetta, as you may recall, sued the Paramount company for $23,250, alleging a breach of contract, and then Paramount came back and asked $25,000 damages, asserting that the star had displayed too much temperament and that her temperamental conduct had halted the making of a picture, causing them great loss. We thought that peace would eventually be established and that the two contestants might call it a draw, in view of the amounts asked. However, the case is now scheduled to come up this summer, if it is not disposed of in some way before that time. Miss Goudal has lately been playing in the Metropolitan picture "Paris at Midnight." During the course of a recent court hearing, she testified that her salary from Famous had been seven hundred and fifty dollars a week, with an option on her services for one thousand two hundred and fifty a week at the end of a certain period. Continued on page 94