Picture-Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1926)

96 Hollywood High Lights Continued from page 94 Graduates as Stunt Performer. It had to happen to Bebe, too ! Miss Daniels was visited by the Goddess Bad Luck during the filming of "Miss Brewster's Millions," her final production before returning East. And the worst of it is that the goddess' infliction took the form of a bad bump resulting from a fall from a bicycle. Bebe was doing a stunt for the picture, and was supposed to ride up close to a motor truck while the truck was in motion, and grab what was presumably a rope, but in reality a lion's tail — this all while attempting to escape from motor cops who had been pursuing her for miles. While Bebe was being photographed from the truck, this vehicle gave a sudden swerve, and in trying to keep out of danger, Miss Daniels swung around too suddenly and upset the bicycle. She hit her head on the pavement as she fell, and she suffered a slight concussion that laid her up for a few days. "They may talk jokingly about being knocked off a bicycle, if they want to," said Miss Daniels after she had recovered, "but I know from experience that it's no joking matter." Theodore Roberts Improving. Theodore Roberts has been getting around very well lately with the aid of a crutch and a cane, after having been confined to a wheel chair for many months. Following his appearance in a picture for Famous PlayersLasky, he has gone into vaudeville for a time. Your chance to see him again on the screen will be in a production starring Betty Bronson, and called by the very highbrow name, "The Cat's Pajamas." The funny part of this title is that the story to which it is attached was written by Ernest Vadja, the Hungarian dramatist, who is considered quite ultra and literary. Change of Address. Not all the big money goes into stars' salaries and big productions. One or two of the companies on the West Coast have been looking for new homes for their activities, because they have outgrown the old ones, and one of the companies recently to make a purchase is Para mount. It has taken over the United studios, at which the First National units have heretofore worked, and it is generally understood that the buy cost Paramount more than a million dollars. Very soon, when they move into their new quarters, therefore, you'll have to change the street addresses on the Christmas and Easter post cards that you send to your favorite stars with that company, while First National will also probably soon have another abode. Charlie Stands Pat. From reports at this writing, Charlie Chaplin seems just about to justify his faith in Josef von Sternberg, the director of "The Salvation Hunters," for which he acted as sponsor about a year ago. For, when Edna Purviance's new starring picture appears on the screen, Von Sternberg's name will probably flash on the title sheet as director. This would seem to dispose of the assertion made in some quarters that Chaplin was playing a practical joke when he sponsored the five-thousanddollar Von Sternberg film. The Screen in Review Continued from page 65 City contest last fall, was dragged into the picture. She is a passably comely young lad}-, who photographs badly. Esther Ralston is the unfortunate Miss Centervillc. Hearts and Flowers. In a little village, two men and a girl grow up together. As one boy seems to be in a fair way to eclipse the other in the young lady's affections, the defeated one packs his bags and sets out to seek his fortune. The other boy marries the girl, and they settle down to domesticity, with a baby to keep them home at night. During the long evenings, the pretty wife gets to worrying about the man she might have chosen and didn't. In the meantime, the rejected one also has his moments of reminiscence, but being a martyr, he returns to his home town disguised as a swaggering, vulgar boor, in order that his ladylove may stay with her husband and turn from all thoughts of him in the future. This is the plot of "Memory Lane." Conrad Nagel is the young husband, Eleanor Boardman is the wife with the good memory, and William Haines is the boy with the big heart. The Gentleman Cowboy. "The Yankee Sehor" is one of the best pictures Tom Mix has had for a long time. The story, centering, of course, on the star, who is splendid in amazing versions of a cowboy suit, is a complicated and breezy one. There are all sorts of misunderstandings, but they aren't annoying ones. There is a beautiful, dark-haired young lady called Olive Borden in it. Society's Problems It seems odd that a modern young woman like Natacha Rambova, or as the parentheses have it, Mrs. Rudolph Valentino, should have chosen a Laura Jean Libby plot for her debut on the screen. The story is aged. It is about a young wife who helps her husband to succeed, only to find that he has grown away from her. And then, of course, she wins him back. Called "When Love Grows Cold," this is the poorest picture of the month, or of almost any month, for that matter. The interiors are bad, the costumes atrocious. Miss Rambova is not well dressed, nor does she film well, in the slightest degree. Clive Brook appears discouraged in his role of the husband. Mrs. Wallace Reid supervised "The Red Kimono." It is the story of an abandoned woman, and is supposed to make a great big lump come in vour throat, but it doesn't. There is something said to the effect that "a home is where a mother smiles on her children, any other place is just a house" — which knocks into a cocked hat the older theory that "a house is a house, but a home with children is a madhouse." "What Happened to Jones" is another bit of good luck for Reginald Denny. Lately, this good-looking young man has run into a whole string of amusing plots, and this, after years of bad ones, should make the dawn of a new day for him. The film was adapted from the stage play by George Broadhurst, and it deals with the many complications of Tom Jones. Zasu Pitts is very good as Hilda, a maid. The picture was directed by William S'eiter, with Marian Nixon as Mr. Denny's leading lady. "Dancing Mothers," adapted from the stage play by Edmund Goulding and Edgar Selwyn, has found its way to the screen, with Alice Joyce, Conway Tearle, and Clara Bow in the cast. This is a conventional story of the younger generation, and Herbert Brenon has stepped from the fairy tale of "A Kiss for Cinderella" to handle it in a conventional way. Alice Joyce is extremely beautiful in a very thankless part. Norman Trevor is good — call it adequate — too.