Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Jul 1929)

51 T T 1 1 -#< ■ at t a ■ • ■ J^dtfhi^iElza Sckallert next door to the Pathe studio, and one night in the quiet hours, a company set out to make a few sound sequences on a shipboard set. They were using very large and powerful lights. The first time the director ordered these turned on, there was a vociferous flapping of wings in the vicinity, followed by a stentorian "Cock-a-doodle-doo !" The lights were turned off and after waiting a few minutes, the director had them turned on again. The performance from the barnyard was repeated, and it kept on being repeated every time the set was illuminated. After a time the director gave up the projected scene and dismissed the company. In the morning he sent over a man to negotiate the purchase of the rooster. The deal was made for $3, but the lost time ran into $5,000. Bonanza is being kept as a souvenir, but on a part of the lot far removed from sound-film operations. Also his cage is covered with dark cloth at night. There is also thought of stuffing him and putting him in Hollywood's film museum. India Uninviting. Hollywood stars will never be drawn to pursue their careers in India. A visitor recently brought the news that the leading light among the ladies of the film world over there receives $400 a month, while the most prominent man gets $100. And the industry isn't controlled by Scotchmen either ! Shed sort of travesty presented on the Barrymore family. Barrymore was vastly amused at the impersonation of himself in this by Frederick March, who is shortly to make his debut in Paramount pictures. The character is a temperamental actor, an engaging egomaniac. This sketch of John is by far the most realistic in the play. It is a rip-roaring swashbuckling affair, more to be associated with the somewhat flaming days of his youth, than with his. present reserve, unction, and highly cultivated distinction. Barrymore informed us, even before he had seen the play, that from a reading of it he had been vastly amused by this particular character, though the others did not appeal to him as so effectively drawn. Marriages of players who appear together in lover roles are not absolutely unheard of nowadays. Adolphe Menjou and Kathryn Carver have formed a team in several productions, and Barrymore and Miss Costello will probably play in "The Tavern Knight." We can't imagine that if John Gilbert and Greta Garbo ever decided to wed, their professional association, which is fairly frequent, will be broken off. Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford have virtually promised some time to film a picture together, and it would undoubtedly be a happy combination. Enlightenment on Moosic. Sally O'Neil has been having her fling at the stage. Every star who isn't terribly busy on the studio lots seems to try the footlights. Sally danced a little, sang' a little, and wore her "Mike" overalls, as well as several more feminine and fluffy costumes. Her tour of the theaters was taken on the prologue circuit of a chain of movie theaters, and very nearly all the "Sally" songs in repertoire were rendered by various male jazz chanters as part of the act. We didn't realize there were so many until we heard them — from just plain "Sally," to "Sally of My Dreams," "Sally in Our Alley," "What's Happened to Our Sally," et cetera, indefinitely. tear for talented Dita Parlo! Brought over from Germany, she went back without a role, because she couldn't satisfy the microphone. Barrymore Sees Double. If the amount of publicity be any criterion, then the John Barrymore-Dolores Costello wedding was unquestionably the biggest event of its kind in several years. The newspapers kept stories popping for a week or more — from the time the couple took out their license, until the ceremony was duly performed, and even after. Considerable of the excess attention devoted to the matter was due to the secrecy shrouding Barrymore's divorce from his second wife, Blanche Oelrichs, known also by the pen and stage name of Michael Strange. This knot was severed at Kingston, New York, and the suit was filed by Mrs. Barrymore under hers and the actor's real name of Blythe, which everybody seemed to forget about in the excitement attending the questioning of the circumstances of their legal separation. Shortly after their wedding, Barrymore and Miss Costello were seen together at a performance of the stage play, "The Royal Family," in which there is a Coats of Silence. Wonders never cease ! Somebody has perfected a "noiseless paint," with which the interior of sound stages can be decorated, and close out all intruding clamor. Next in line will be the invention of a lip rouge that will make screen kisses sweet as well as silent. So says Jimmie Hall, the gentle studio cynic, at all events. Who's Who in Best Seller. "The Bridge of San Luis Rey!" And its cast! Here they are — The Marquesa, Emily Fitzroy ; Dona Clara, her daughter, Jane Winton ; the girl, Pepita, who with the Marquesa, is killed in the collapse of the bridge, Raquel Torres ; Manuel and Esteban, the two brothers, Don Alvarado and Duncan Rinaldo ; Camila, the actress, Lily Damita ; Uncle Pio, Ernest Torrence ; the Abbess, Eugenie Besserer. There are other parts taken by Paul Ellis and Gordon Thorpe. However, the others are probably the more important in the recollection of those who read Thornton Wilder's remarkable best seller.