Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1927)

Chips off the old block, every one of them. Left to right, there are D'Arcy McCoy, son of Colonel Tim McCoy; Mary Desmond, daughter of William Desmond; George Bosworth, child of Hobart Bosworth; Eileen O'Malley, Tim Holt, Billy Reid — Watty Reid's boy — Barbara Denny and Erich von Stroheim,Jr. They are all taking part in a movie called "Hollywood Youth," which was written especially for them Hollywood High Lights Paragraphs of the latest and most interesting news from the movie town. By Edwin and Elza Schallert T i HE ministerial profession must be a great school for the movies. The recent achievement of Fred Thomson, once a minister, now widely known as a stunt Western star, would, at any rate, indicate this. Thomson has signed to release his pictures through Paramount, and the reported compensation that will accrue to him is approximately $15,000 weekly. This places him in a class with Tom Mix. He has been hailed as a Tom Mix rival before, but has never made anything like as much money as the Fox luminary. To many people in the larger cities, the name of Fred Thomson signifies little, for he has not had an entree to the big theaters. But his contract with Famous Players will give him this regularly, so if you happen not to have seen him, it would be well to keep on the lookout for him. Fully as famous as himself is his horse, Silver King. Thomson has often said that he forsook his ministerial work because he felt that he could deliver a bigger message through pictures, and that it would reach a greater number of people. His career has undoubtedly justified this theory. His pictures have been of the cleanest type and have won the highest approval of the Boy Scouts and other organizations, which constitutes more of a recommendation than you may think. Thomson's salary from now on, if as high as reported, will surpass even that of his wife, Frances Marion, whose earnings are reputed to average about $10,000 weekly. Their home, situated on a high hilltop, is one of the most beautiful in Hollywood. Their first child, a son, named Fred, Jr., was born only recently. Richard Talmadge Climbs Higher. Paramount seems intent, at the moment, on capturing stunt stars. There is a rumor that Richard Tal madge is to release in the future through that organization. Talmadge started as a free-lance stunt man, and subsequently became a featured player and then a star with F. B. O. At present, he is working for Universal. Films in the Offing. The film stars are terrifically busy this spring, but we simply can't grow very much excited over the pictures that they have been making. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has had a dozen companies working, and Paramount for a time had fifteen busy. Similar activity is visible at the various other studios. Everybody is a little curious to know just what Douglas Fairbanks will do next as, quite according to custom, he has already changed his mind several times. Doug decided that "The Brotherhood of Man," which he had planned as a great spectacle of the coming of Christianity, would follow too closely after Cecil De Mille's "King of Kings," so he abandoned that temporarily. Then he talked of doing a swashbuckling story called "Captain Cavalier." If we know Douglas at all, we are willing to wager that he will be playing around with ideas until the middle of summer. Mary Pickford is also considering the possibilities of various stories, and will probably have a film under way at about the time this is published. It is more than a year now since either she or Doug has worked before the camera. They hold the record for long vacations. Stardom for William Haines. Stardom has been bestowed on several players recently. Among them is William Haines, whose success in "Brown of Harvard" and recent good work in "Slide, Kelly, Slide," convinced M.-G.-M. that he ought to have a little more prominence, and perhaps also a little