Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Aug 1928)

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The Stroller 67 The present fad in the movie city — and perhaps elsewhere— is to scatter statuary about the highways for advertising purposes. Where were formerly screaming billboards are now sculptors' versions of cows, advertising dairies, bell boys advertising hotels, and so on. On a vacant lot near the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Cahuenga Avenue is a large, colored statue of Billy Dooley, the two-reel comedian, and beneath it a placard stating that he stars in Christie comedies. Now perhaps the Christie company paid for that, but I doubt it. In the first place, the producers would not be likely to buy just one, nor would they so honor Mr. Dooley, when they have at least six other comedians equally prominent. You should come out and take a look at it some time. The eccentricities of Howard Hughes, the youthful multimillionaire, who launched a film career by producing "Two Arabian Knights," have been the basis of much gossip in Hollywood. Hughes is said to be but twenty-three years old and the possessor of a tremendous fortune, together with an unreasonable income from royalties derived from an invention of his father. Having financed "Two Arabian Knights," and watched Lewis Milestone direct it, he decided he could make pictures himself. Consequently, he has been directing "Hell's Angels," with Ben Lyon, James Hall, and Greta Nissen, for months and months. His purpose is to make his pictures good, regardless of cost, and he has been spending money on the production as though he were a veteran director, accustomed to squandering hundreds of thousands. Retaking scenes is his chief delight. It is asserted in one of the innumerable stories about him, that he filmed one scene something over fifty times. "We'll use number seventeen," he ordered at last, calling it a day. For "Hell's Angels" Hughes has had fleets of airplanes at his disposal, for months, and has learned to fly, during the production of the picture. When Hughes first arrived in Hollywood, so the story goes, prepared to become a film magnate, he rented a palatial suite in an office building in the center of the movie colony. It was lavishly furnished and decorated, and seemingly would have suited even Cecil DeMille. But Hughes decided he wanted a private bath as well. The manager of the 'building explained that the plumbing was all on the other side of the edifice. "How much will it cost?" asked Hughes. "Perhaps five thousand dollars." "Put it in." The plumbing was rearranged over nine or ten floors, and Hughes paid the bill without protest. Then he started to produce pictures at the Metropolitan studios, and moved into offices there. He has never been in his palatial downtown office since it was remodeled to suit him. One lonely secretary inhabits it, and explains to callers that Mr. Hughes' headquarters are really elsewhere. George Melford, a director for Universal, got credit for adding a subtle touch to his production of "A Man's Past," when he was actually covering up a glaring incongruity. Ian Keith was playing the role of a blind man in the picture. After he had worked on the part for a month or so, and was thoroughly established in all the exposed film, some sharp-eyed soul observed the fact that in every scene he was wearing a wrist watch. "For what reason," asked the amateur sleuth, "would a blind man wear a watch when he couldn't tell the time by it ?" Long and profound were the conferences, possible GINSBERGS NON-^NAPPABLE GARTERS 2 • POSED bjy lOUYWC •SCREEN Ever seen these pseudo-stars who pose for lingerie advertisements? An actor accidentally removes the wrong leg, when preparing to play a one-legged man. To remake all his scenes was imTo permit such a discrepancy to thrust up its head unexplained, was out of the question. Melford solved the difficulty, at length, by shooting a close-up of Keith running his fingers over the face of the watch, indicating that he could tell the time by feeling the dial. Many a critic commented upon the subtlety of that scene, and the gosling remained hanging aloft. At this writing, three different Hollywood photographers are involved with the law in one way or another. Strangely enough, none of them are being prosecuted for the portraits they have made of film stars. Have you ever noticed in rotogravure sections, fashion pictures, and advertisements, the pictures of winsome young girls labeled "screen stars," who have never come before your scrutiny on the screen? Well, so have I. In Hollywood there is a group of girls on the outer fringe of the movies. Some of them eventually get into the game, and some of them remain on the fringe until old age or matrimony overtakes them. Consequently, having little or nothing to do, they are anxious and willing to pose for any picture which has the w remotest possibility of ever appearing in print. You may find the bewitchingly beautiful form of Pearle Passover wearing Blue Bird Corn Plasters, or Ginsberg's Nonsnappable Garters. She will be labeled "Hollywood Screen Star." But never, unless your wary eye should discover her among the crowd in a cabaret scene, will you perceive her on the screen. The reason is not difficult to explain. Every studio signs up' a numContinued on page 108