Corsair (United Artists) (1931)

SURE-FIRE FEATURE AND BIOGRAPHY MATERIAL Chester TDorris inlbiandlast's Corsair" 3—Two Col. Scene (Mat 10c; Cut 50c) PITHY PARAGRAPHS FOR YOUR NEWSPAPERS Make use of these pithy paragraphs about Chester Morris’ lat¬ est Roland West production, “Corsair."’ Start building your newspaper campaign well in advance with these interesting items. Start now and have every newspaper reader a logical patron for “Corsair.” A thrilling sea battle between a rum running ship and a pirate vessel commanded by Chester Mor¬ ris is one of the stirring episodes of Roland West’s latest drama, “Corsair,” which comes to the . theatre on. changed both her character and her name in appearing as leading woman for Chester Morris in Roland West’s exciting drama, “Corsair,” which opens at the . ..theatre on . Alison Loyd is the new name adopted by the actress in HE-MAN ROLE ONLY LURE IN CAST OF “CORSAIR” FOR FRED KOHLER Roland West Had Difficulty in Getting Screen Villain for Chester Morris Film When a life of screen villainy palls on Fred Kohler he loads a pack mule with provisions and treks off into the California moun¬ tains to fish and hunt for six months at a time. All the gold in the Hollywood banks could not lure him back until he has his fill of roughing it. Then, as abruptly as he departed, this 220 pounds of iron topped by the great, leonine head, reappears to end the anxiety of producers who have been searching for him. Always Seeks Adventure One thing alone can throttle this urge which periodically drives him off to the solitude of the wilds— a film role which holds promise of equal excitement and adventure. Which accounts for the fact that Fred Kohler appears in the cast of Roland West’s new film, “Cor¬ sair,” starring Chester Morris, which comes to the . Theatre on . Kohler was all set for another disappear¬ ance when producer West ap¬ proached him with a contract. Arg¬ ument was useless, West discov¬ ered, but he persuaded the actor to take along a copy of the Wal¬ ton Green novel from which the film play was adapted. Sought ‘Big John’ Role The next day Kohler was at the studio. “Do I play Big John?” he in¬ quired. “That’s the role I had in mind for you,” replied West. So, when Chester Morris and his crew set sail out of Los Angeles harbor to photograph this United Artists story of hi-jacking on the high seas, Kohler was on board ship. Adventure has burned in Koh¬ ler’s blood since boyhood. It led to his running away from home when he was 14. Brought back by his parents to the family hearth in Kansas City, Mo., it was only a year before he struck out again. Hollywood was his destination the second time, and there he has remained except for occasional wanderings. Those were the days when feature pictures were two reels in length, and he joined the old Selig Polyscope Company. Un¬ til 1913 he played juvenile roles. Was With D. W. Griffith From there he joined D. W. Griffith’s troupe. In that master’s “Intolerance” he played something like thirty character parts. After three years with Griffith he switched to the Fox lot, where he started as assistant to the assis¬ tant director of Theda Bara’s unit. But acting again claimed him, and he has never since strayed from the fold. He scored successes with George Bancroft in such stir¬ ring dramas as “Underworld,” “Dragnet,” and “Thunderbolt.” More recently he has been seen in “Woman Hungry,” “The Lash,” “Soldiers’ Plaything” and “Fight¬ ing Caravans.” RADIO TELEPHONE PLAYS BIG PART IN “CORSAIR” Producer Roland West Aided By Radio in Filming Green’s Novel for Chester Morris What is said to be the first use of radio telephone in picture pro¬ duction occurred during the film¬ ing of “Corsair,” the Chester Mor¬ ris story of society hi-jacking which comes to the . theatre on. Made upon a massive scale, “Corsair” is enacted principally on an extensive rum fleet outside the 12-mile limit, and in order to keep in touch with his fleet, Roland West, United Artists producer, did most of his direction over the radio telephone. He also kept in constant touch with his studios in Holly¬ wood and with his production base on Catalina Island, as well as with coastal authorities in San Pedro harbor. The proceedings resembled the handling of a war fleet. Complete talkie equipment was installed on the ships, so that dia¬ logue seqences were filmed at sea instead of being recorded later on sham sets in the studios. Working in these sequences were Chester Morris, Fred Kohler, Alison Loyd, Gay Seabrook, Mayo Methot, Em¬ mett Corrigan, Ned Sparks and William Austin. Ray June was chief cameraman, and Rollo Lloyd and Robert Ross assisted in the direction. Adapted from the story by Walton Green, former secret service head of Prohibition Enforcement, it is the tale of an All-American foot¬ ball hero who sets out to beat Wall Street at the game of high finance. In addition to Chester Morris as star the cast includes Alison Loyd, Ned Sparks, Emmett Corrigan, Mayo Methot, Frank McHugh, Fred Kohler, William Austin, Frank Rice, Addie McPhail and Gay Seabrook. It is a United Art¬ ists picture. * * * Chester Morris wanted realism when he portrayed an All-American football star in the opening sequence of his latest starring production for Roland W esfs “Corsair,” which comes to the . theatre on . He got it, for the members of the opposing football team were well known Pacific Coast grid stars, and in taking Chester at his word they tackled him so hard he had “Charley-horses” in both legs and for two weeks he walked with a limp. * * * All-American football idol — Wall Street bond salesman—Pirate in white flannels! Those are the experiences which befall Chester Morris as star of Roland West’s new film, “Corsair,” which comes to the.theatre on. This sitory of a society athlete who turns sea pirate is an adapta¬ tion of the sensational novel of the same name by Walton Green, for¬ mer secret service head of Pro¬ hibition Enforcement. Supporting Chester Morris are Alison Loyd, Mayo Methot, Emmett Corrigan, Fred Kohler, William Austin, Gay Seabrook, Frank Rice and Addie McPhail. * * * Thelma Todd, who has been called the screen’s greatest beauty, has Somewhere along the line of his career Frank McHugh decided to take a vacation from the New York stage and go out to Hollywood and play around. For almost two years now he has been playing around, but not m the sense of the vacation he orig¬ inally planned. The film producers put him to work, and there have been no intermissions. His latest “playing” is in support of Chester Morris in Roland West’s United Artists production, “Cor¬ sair,” which comes to the. theatre on . Anyone who has read Walton Green’s exciting novel of an All- American football player who turns hi-jacker will acknowledge that as the roly poly Chub, Mc¬ Hugh has a playful role. And those who saw this same Frank as one of the reporters in “The Front Page” will further acknowledge him to be especially fitted for his whimsical role in “Corsair.” Parents Were Troupers McHugh is one of those strange beings, a child of the stage. His parents were troupers, and he ac- changing from comedy to dramatic roles, and it is by that name that she hereafter will be known on the screen. “Corsair,” a United Artists picture, presents Chester Morris as a modern sea pirate, and was adapted from the recent magazine serial and novel by Walton Green. Roland West read more than 100 novels, plays and original scenar¬ ios before happening across “Cor¬ sair,” his latest starring vehicle for Chester Morris, which opens at the..theatre on. “Corsair” appeared first as a mag¬ azine serial and then in book form, and is from the pen of Walton Green, former head of the secret service for Prohibition Enforce¬ ment. Rollo Lloyd and Robert Ross directed in association with Roland West. The cast support¬ ing Chester Morris includes Ali¬ son Loyd, William Austin, Frank McHugh, Emmett Corrigan, Fred Kohler, Ned Sparks, Mayo Methot and Gay Seabrook. The problem that awaits the thou¬ sands of ambitious youths turned loose on the world each year by col¬ lege graduation forms the motive of “Corsair,” Roland Wests’s United Artists production of the Walton Green novel starring Chester Morris which will be seen at the . theatre on . It is the story of an All-American football hero who enters Wall Street and, learning that Big Business does not care how you play the game so long as you win, turns sea pirate a?id preys on rum runners. Roland West has surrounded Chester Morris with an impressive cast including Alison Loyd, William Austin, Emmett Cor¬ rigan, Fred Kohler, Ned Sparks, Frank McHugh, Mayo Methot, Frank Rice, Gay Seabrook and Addie Mc¬ Phail. companied them on their wander¬ ings with repertoire shows and in vaudeville around the country. He was born while they were playing in Pittsburgh, and got part of his schooling there. His first stage entrance was in “For Her Children’s Sake,” and he was the child for whose sake it was. Later he struck out for him¬ self in repertoire and vaudeville, serving both as actor and stage manager. New York saw him first in “The Fall Guy,” following which engage¬ ment he went to London for the presentation of “Is Zat So.” Other New York productions to his credit are “Fog,” “Tenth Avenue,” “Ex¬ cess Baggage” and “Show Girl.” Following the last-named he came out to Hollywood to visit James Gleason and Bob Arm¬ strong, his playmates in “Is Zat So,” and shortly after his arrival Frank Fay dug up a job in “Bright Lights,” his first screen play. Since then he has appeared in “Kiss Me Again,” “Top Speed,” “Going Wild,” “The Dawn Patrol,” “Millie.” “The Front Page” and “Traveling Husbands.” Stage Vacation Lands McHugh Into Pictures Emmet Corrigan of “Corsair” Cast Now Boasts of Theatrical Ancestry Emmet Corrigan’s pride need no longer suffer when other actors start boasting of their theatrical ancestry. Let them preen them¬ selves on relationship to the Booths, Barretts and Barrymores, the Corrigans can hold their own. Even Chester Morris, scion of a line of actors, whom Corrigan is supporting in the Roland West United Artists production, “Cor¬ sair,” which comes to the. theatre on ., has nothing on him in point of thes- pianic antiquity. A distinguished figure on the American stage since creating the original name role of “Ben Hur” in New York some thirty years ago, the question of ancestry has long been a thorn in the actor’s side. So, for self defense, he has had a genealogist trace his family tree. Had No Stage Connection It seemed a hopeless search when the records of generation on gener¬ ation failed to reveal a stage con¬ nection. When the hunt got back into the early summers of France, however, Corrigan was vindicated. His great, great grandfather was a street fakir—a man, indeed, of respected prowess among the necromancers of early France. “This great ancestor was the first magician in his country to eat fire,” says Corrigan. “The records show that he awed the good people of the towns by not only swallow¬ ing fire, but walking through it unscathed. I am proud of him.” It was a fire, incidentally, which started the present Emmett Corri¬ gan on his acting career. When he was 16 the family was housed above a small store in Baltimore which his father, a veteran of the Franco-Prussian war. was running. Fire one night razed the building, leaving the family destitute. Played on Stage The next day a neighbor, Dan Kelly, who ran a stock theatre on Front Street took him for his first visit to a theatre and put him to work playing a judge in “The Cigar Girl of Cuba,” a blood-and-thunder melodrama. The piping notes of a voice just changing and a few streaks of white powder in his hair and the 16-year-old boy was ready to face his Baltimore audience. He has been facing audiences for forty years since, with the excep¬ tion of a year spent as an actor’s agent in Hollywood. From Kelly’s Front Street Corrigan, by devious ways, found himself on Third Avenue of New York’s East Side, where Charles Frohman discovered him and gave him his first Broad¬ way chance, the juvenile role in “Shenandoah.” Then followed such Frohman productions as “The Girl I Left Behind Me,” “Lost Para¬ dise,” and “The Bauble Shop,” with John Drew. No Matinee Idol But Corrigan never seemed to fancy matinee idol roles, and after playing the name role in “Ben Hur” —his first engagement after leav¬ ing the Frohman management—- for a solid year, completed the sec¬ ond year of the Broadway run in the role of Simonides, a crippled old man. When General Lew Wallace tried to follow the success of his chariot race play with “The Prince of India,” Corrigan created the title role, but that play fizzled out. In his twenty-five years on Broadway, however, he created leading roles in many notable successes, includ¬ ing “The Deep Purple,” “The Yel¬ low Ticket” and Alias Jimmy Val¬ entine.” His Film Debut Corrigan’s first picture engage¬ ment was for Popular Plays and Players in an opus called “Greater Love Hath No Man.” His more re¬ cent films have been “Reaching for the Moon,” “Dirigible” and “The American Tragedy.” He plays the role of a Wall Street financial “wolf” in Roland West’s adapta¬ tion of the Walton Green Novel “Corsair,” a tale of hi-jacking on the high seas. Producer Roland West Discredits Use of Screen Tests; Plays Hunches Producer of Chester Morris’ “Corsair” Picks His Players by the Hunch System; Claims Screen Tests Don’t Prove a Thing There are producers who send their scouts to scour the country in a search for new screen faces. Usually these “talent Pinkertons” return empty-handed. But Roland West, United Artists producer, reaches right under the noses of other film makers and captures the prizes. West, who is not superstitious, believes in playing “hunches.” He had a hunch about Chester Morris in producing “Alibi” three years ago, with the result that Morris became a star with that one picture. In picking a cast to appear with Morris in his latest production, “Corsair,” which comes to the .theatre on . Roland West had several more hunches and he followed them. Picks Three Women First of all he picked Alison Loyd. And Alison Loyd has turned out to be none other than Thelma Todd, often called the prettiest girl in Hollywood, but lately relegated to appearing in comedies. By chang¬ ing her name and personality and providing her with a new type of role, West is confident that she will emerge as one of the most unusual dramatic actresses on the screen. She has never had another role similar to the one she plays in “Corsair.” West had another hunch about Mayo Methot, Broadway stage star. She was brought out to re-enact her New York role in the Los An¬ geles stage production of “Torch Song.” The producer visualized her as a screen possibility and cast her in “Corsair,” without even bother¬ ing about a screen test. Many a producer would have wasted a week in a futile round of screen tests, only to find later that another producer had been luckier with his tests and had uncovered a new star. That has happened time and time again in Hollywood. Gay Seabrook came into the cast of “Corsair” in the same way. It was two years ago that West saw her on the stage and went back to her dressing room to tell her he expected to use her some day. After making many ineffectual attempts to crash studio gates Seabrook nearly fainted when the Roland West office notified her to report for work. Roland West spent many years as an actor before he started writ¬ ing and producing stage and screen plays. That, doubtlessly, is why he can appraise actors at a glance. From Experience Walton Green, former chief investigator of Prohibition Enforcement in Washington, is one of the New Govern¬ ment officials who have suc¬ cessfully turned author and made a living at it. Green, who was also a newspaper publisher and a lawyer going to the front lines in France, has sold scores of short stor¬ ies, magazine articles and other pieces in the past two years. He also has one best¬ seller novel to his credit— “Corsair,” which comes as a screen feature to the. theatre on. Chester Morris is the star of this United Artists picture. He never bothers with screen tests. Discredits Use of Screen Tests “They don’t prove a thing,” he says, “except that the player was scared by the camera just as ora¬ tors and statesmen who have made speeches all their lives are terri¬ fied the first time they face a radio microphone.” Chester Morris was not the only star made by West through his productoin of “Alibi.” Regis Toomey was another West discov¬ ery. Similarly he unearthed Una Merkel for “The Bat Whispers.” And he is willing to stake his repu¬ tation that “Corsair” will serve the same end for Alison Loyd, Mayo Methot and Gay Seabrook. Chester FDorris m "Corsair with COisonibyd 5 —One Col. Scene (Mat 05c; Cut 30c)