Picture Play Magazine (Sep 1928 - Feb 1929)

30 f/he 3 A location trip to Honolulu is one of the delights o£ Dorothy Mackaill's new picture. THERE really ought to be a closed season on newcomers in films," Fanny the Fan announced, with that air of importance that always characterizes her most idiotic suggestions. "They're coming so fast that if you try to keep up with all of them you quite ignore the old favorites. And you just have a chance to make a one-picture acquaintance with some personality that looks interesting enough to make you a regular attendant at her films, when along come a lot of tales about some newcomer who wouldn't be missed. "Here we are just getting used to the idea that Lupe Velez is the great discovery of the age, when along comes Raquel Torres. And coming soon are Mary Duncan, Lily Damita, Ruth Chatterton, and Eva von Berne." 1 Oh, well, luckily for us, and unluckily for the theater owners, we aren't all endowed with the avid curiosity that makes Fanny feel that she must see everything in pictures. We can just stand by and take her word for it when something really good hits the screen. Though I wouldn't wait for any one to recommend "White Shadows" and Raquel Torres. "Isn't it amazing to find out how great an influence a girl can become, just by a one-picture success?" If Raquel Torres and her unassuming, sensitive charm had a sweeping effect on all the pert young things in America, as well as those on the screen, it would be all right with me, but Fanny probably wasn't thinking of anything so drastic. She wasn't. "Sid Grauman ought to thank her. She's ennobled the job of usherette, and sent a lot of film-struck girls over to his theater with the idea that ushering there is getting one step across the threshold to fame. Just a year ago she was saying 'This way, please,' to the customers at his Chinese Theater here in Hollywood, and now her name is across the theater in lights, and audiences are raving about her. "Furthermore she is responsible for a new fashion in beach clothes. There was a crying need for something new to put on after shedding a wet bathing suit. Deauville pajamas may be all right in Deauville, but not out here where every one is trying to get tanned a deep mahogany shade." "Do you suppose you'll ever get around to tell us what the new fashion is?" "Seems as though any one could guess. It's tapa cloths. You just take one of those wide scarfs and start winding it around your chest, wind it down around your hips and when you come to the end, tuck it under the last fold and you have a perfectly good South Sea Island dress. Of course, it requires a skilled acrobat to sit down and get up in one of those things, without shedding it. Patsy Ruth Miller wears one with great success. She looks stunning in it. "Maybe she got the idea from the picture she is making, and not from Raquel Torres at all. It's a South Sea Island story, with pearl divers, beach combers, and all the rest of the expected props. Elmer Clifton made some of the scenes for it a couple of years ago, on his trip around the world." "I suppose we're in for a lot of South 1 Sea Island pictures, now that 'White Shadows' is such a success," I suggested. "Haven't heard of many," Fanny admitted, "but that may mean just a slight delay. Most of the companies are busy catching up with the parade of pictures laid in Singapore. Since 'Across to Singapore,' 'Singapore Sal' and 'Singapore Mutiny' have been started. However, there is one big South Sea Island picture promised. George Fitzmaurice is going to Honolulu to film 'The Changelings,' with Dorothy Mackaill in the leading role. "And what do you suppose the story of 'The Changelings' is? None other than an old friend of the Triangle days, the title of which I don't recall, but I do remember Seena Owen's wonderful acting as the star. And that reminds me, we're in for a big season of revivals. I'd rather see an old story that I love than a new one that is not so good. _ "Vilma Banky is going to star in a revival of 'Romance.' Doris Keane made it years ago, but she wasn't as good on the screen as she was on the stage. Vilma ought to be exquisite — and she has the great advantage of having Al Santell direct her. Another revival that is coming is 'The Admirable Crichton.' De ^"£iche? .„ . , Mille made it with Ruth Taylor will play „, , . , , a chorus girl in "The Thomas Meighan and Canary Murder Case." Gloria Swanson and called