Picture Play Magazine (Sep 1927 - Feb 1928)

The Stroller 45 acted as a sort of cinematic parent, inasmuch as the bridegroom was under contract to him. The importance of having box-office names in tlie supporting cast is obvious. At the Banky-La Rocque ceremony, Ronald Colman, Mr. DeMille, George Fitzmaurice, and others were present as drawing cards. The scarcity of churches large enough for the pomp and majesty necessary for these weddings presents something of a problem. The use of Aimee Semple McPherson's Temple might be a solution. This is equipped with radio broadcasting apparatus, which would open up an avenue of publicity heretofore overlooked in film weddings. A running chronicle of the event, like that broadcast at a heavyweightchampionship prize fight, might be interesting. The installation of press boxes, with typewriters, telephones, and telegraph instruments, would be only a natural courtesy to the journalists assigned to cover the event. Another innovation might be a special section reserved for the former wives and husbands of the combatants. The size of the church might be improved, so far as photographic needs are concerned, by the use of a miniature or glass shot, a favorite artifice of movie directors for building up the size of their sets at little expense. Two gag men were discussing a comedy star. "You know," said one, "that guy actually hires a lot of people to go to the theater and applaud his pictures when they open." "Oh, well," said the other, "that sort of evens things up. He keeps a lot of people away, too." Hollywood intellectual note, from the columns of a widely read film publication : "The other day, Al Jolson and George Jessel was ^ walking arm in arm on the Warner Brothers' lot, ihink that Al was given 'The Jazz Singer' to do, which George was supposed to do, and still find 'em regular good fellows that they are is something worth commenting upon." Parse that sentence ! And here is another intellectual note from the film colony. A bookstore on ers may interview the stars, the implication being that the Thespians in such a surrounding will not weave romantic fiction around their past lives. This is a laudable idea, but hardly the best of business judgment if the actors take it too seriously. However, now that the thing has been started, I don't see why it should be limited solely to interviews. Why not use it for actors when they talk about their salaries, and for gag men when the}' tell where they got their gags ? Or a conversation wherein one of Mr. DeMille's assistant directors would tell his boss what he really thinks of "The King of Kings" might be th hearing. When I first began to annoy readers of Picture Play with my contributions, I wrote an item concerning Glenn Tryon, who happens to be one of my favorite actors. I quoted him as saying, in regard to his fan mail, that he didn't bother to V' answer it, but made personal calls on the fans instead. I am n o w informed by Mr. Tryon that he has received fifteen or twenty letters from fans asking that they be included on the calling list. This is flattering to me in a way, but in another way it is not. It demonstrates to my satisfaction that a few people do read these articles, after all. But on the other hand, it shows that I am not so funny — though I am intended to be — or the point of m} first paragraph would not have been so obscure. So I suppose I should explain here — possibly I should supply an explanatory index with each article — that Glenn doesn't really drop in on every one who writes him a fan letter. That was just my way of indicating that he didn't get very many ! He receives, however, a great d'eal more now than he did then, having advanced somewhat in the movie world. The hard-hearted Stroller was moved only to laughter when the heroine of a current film hung wildly onto a bell clapper to prevent its ringing out the signal to execute her lover. It doesn't take long for Hollywood to get into one's Cahuenga Avenue, half a block from the heart of the city, is advertising a bankruptcy sale. The automobile agencies and clothing stores are still doing a big business. The William Fox studio now has a . "Garden of Truth" within its walls. According to Winfield Sheehan, official of the company, it was built as a place in which newspaper and magazine writ Now that weddings in Hollywood are being staged on such a grand scale, it is suggested that a special section in the church should be reserved for the ex-husbands and ex-wives of the participants. blood. Of the ten college men brought by First National from various universities to Hollywood for try-outs in the movies, only two have been picked to stay. Four of the other eight, however, have decided to have a try at the picture business on their own. John Westwood, dapper sheik from Princeton, and John Stambaugh, handsome Harold Teen from the University of Chicago, have both been given five-year contracts by First National. Westwood is adContinued on page 104