Corsair (United Artists) (1931)

MORE CURRENT COPY FOR YOUR NEWSPAPER Latest Fashion Creations as Worn by Alison Loyd in “Corsair’ Another wild Hollywood orgy is in the discard. The “Mrs. Astor's pet horse” way of dressing screen stars has gone the way of De Mille’s bathtubs. And it is none other than Sophie Wachner, originator of the vogue for the fantastic in screen styles, who sounds its death knell in “Cor¬ sair,” the Chester Morris film which comes to the . theatre on. In her epitaph to the good old days when clothes were to a film play what the calliope is to Ring- ling Brothers circus, Sophie has this to say: “They served a glorious purpose, for they made stars who felt like shop girls look like queens. But now that talkies are here, clothes should be seen and not heard.” Sophie Wachner speaks with the conviction of authority, for she has dressed more screen stars than any designer in Hollywood. She has created both screen and per¬ sonal wardrobes for such stars as the Talmadges, Mary Pickford, Norma Shearer, Janet Gaynor, Vilma Banky, Claire Windsor, Irene Rich, Mary Astor, Billie Dove, Lois Moran, Alice Joyce, Laura La Plante, Dorothy Mack- aill and Colleen Moore—to mention a few more than a few. Discovered in New York where she was designing gowns for thea¬ trical productions, Miss Wachner was brought to Hollywood by Sam¬ uel Goldwyn 12 years ago when he was starting the studio organiza¬ tion which later became Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer. One of her first achievements was to revolutionize screen costum¬ ing. Under her bedizening touch the cinema began to blaze in silks, satins and Woolworth jewelry like an opening night at Grauman’s Theatre. But now, says Sophie, Hollywood is going Rue de la Paix. Paris and New York fashion authorities can no longer tear their hair with scorn, envy, anguish or whatever the real emotion screen styles have evoked in the past. A screen ac¬ tress will look the part sartorially when she plays a society girl, shop girl or fireside Cinderella. But whatever the picture, she will be able to wear the same clothes off the screen as on. As the first gun in her campaign Miss Wachner cites the gowns she has designed for Alison Loyd, who plays opposite Chester Morris in Roland West’s United Artists adaptation of the Walton Green novel. “Corsair.” Miss Loyd’s role is that of the daughter of a Wall Street financial magnate. She wears ten complete outfits in this pic¬ ture, consisting of evening gowns, Sport ensembles, traveling, yacht¬ ing and bathing costumes. Miss Wachner is willing to nom¬ inate any of them as suitable for the wardrobe of a New York society girl who uses Paris and Har¬ per’s Bazaar, as her criterion. Fol¬ lowing is a description of some of the costumes. Light beige wool tailleur, with close-fitting coat with buttons to the waistline and belt, trimmed in black galyac. The skirt is in four sections with inverted pleats, stitched below the knee. A black felt hat with beige ribbon, light beige gloves, black patent leather pumps and handbag, complete the outfit. Pink souffle de soie afternoon dress, made over pink satin Eclan- tante with elaborate applique of Alencon lace. The small cap sleeves have Alencon applique, finished with a full circle of souffle. A flounce from the knee down is bor¬ dered with the same lace. Light green and silver brocaded evening gown, close fitting to be¬ low the knees, from where it is inset with six godets. The wide V-neck front is caught with a jeweled clip and the narrow belt, , which comes part way around the bodice, is finished with jeweled clips to match. With this is worn green satin pumps. Green close-meshed lace evening gown, delicately sprinkled with tiny jewels, is made with a cowl neck over a jeweled souffle under-bodice. The skirt is close fitting to the knees, where its circular fullness extends to the floor. The back has four slender straps made of cir¬ cular mirrors finishing at the waistline into a jeweled belt with a long buckle of emeralds and rhinestones. Over this Miss Loyd wears a long silver evening wrap with large collar of the same ma¬ terial, bordered with flying squir¬ rel. Light beige gloves and green slippers finish the ensemble. Yachting outfit of eggshell crepe Colibri. The skirt has clusters of box pleats set in below the knee. The neck of the dress is finished with a knotted kerchief of crepe Elizabeth in eggshell, Yale blue and bright red. With this dress is worn a blue flannel yachting coat with brass buttons. A large pana¬ ma hat with ribbon to match the coat. With this go sport sandals and stitched sport gloves of the same color as the dress. Bathing suit with short blue flan¬ nel trunks and orange colored jer¬ sey top, with orange belt, and hav¬ ing a low V-neck in front. Over this goes a dark blue brocaded bathrobe lined with blue satin and made mannish with notched collar and large pockets. Green net afternoon dress with a close-fitting bodice, short sleeves finished in a short circular flounce. The low broad heart-shaped neck has a tiny circular collar picoted in silver. Skirt close-fitting to hips, where circular flounces are put on perpendicularly and circle around hip. These flounces are also picoted in silver. A corsage of artificial wild roses is worn at the waistline. With this Miss Loyd wears a large horse-hair and meline hat, the same color as the corsage. A large ker¬ chief and the shoes she wears also match the flowers. Long suede eggshell gloves. CHESTER MORRIS GETS FILM START THROUGH OLD SCREEN TESTS D. W. Griffith Had Expected to Use Star of “Corsair” for Role in “Lincoln” Screen Acting More Difficult Than Stage Says Star of West’s “Corsair’ Chester Morris, whose “Corsair” comes to the.Theatre on . narrowly escaped three years ago from being the most celebrated case in history of “the face on the cutting room floor,” it now develops. At that time Roland West, Un¬ ited Artists producer, who has just completed “Corsair,” was looking for players for “Alibi,” and, rum¬ maging through the film library at the United Artists Studios, he came upon a film test which had been taken some time before by David Wark Griffith for “Abraham Lincoln.” Having been upon the New York stage as actor, writer and pro¬ ducer, West recognized Morris at once. He knew of his stage repu¬ tation, and he also knew that the young actor was at that time ap¬ pearing in the New York produc¬ tion of “Crime.” He inquired around and learned that Mr. Grif¬ fith had tested Morris in the hope of giving him a role in “Abraham Lincoln,” but that he could find no place for him. West Makes Negotiations Through Joseph M. Schenck. President of United Artists, West prevailed upon A1 Woods, New York producer, to send Morris Co Hollywood, and in “Alibi” he be¬ came a star almost overnight. West is content to make one picture a year, but the Chester Morris boom took on such proportions after “Alibi” was released that he was loaned to other companies and fre¬ quently worked upon two pictures at once. With each new picture his price skyrocketed. No matter how tempt¬ ing the offer, though, West insis¬ ted upon approving scenarios be¬ fore loaning his star. That, more than anything else, has been re¬ sponsible for Morris’s phenomenal success. “The Big House,” “The Di¬ vorcee,” “Woman Trap,” “Second Choice,” “The Case of Sergeant Grischa,” “Fast Life,”—all these pictures helped to build up his popularity. After “Alibi,” Chester’s second picture for West was “The Bat Whispers,” which was seen here several months ago. Then came a series of roles in other studios, followed by a lengthy vacation in Europe. Now, in his third picture for West, he will be seen in “Cor¬ sair,” a tale of hi-jacking on the high seas, by Walton Green. Prefers He-Man Roles Chester Morris prefers the he- man type of role, whether it is a society rebel, as in “Corsair,” or a jail breaker as in “The Big House.” But his first desire, —- that is, a boyhood one,—was to be a magi¬ cian, and even now he retains his interest in legerdemain as a hobby. Safest Style (Creations as worn by CL lisonjCogd leading Lady to Chester morris m " Corsair" 8—Three Col. Fashion Layout (Mat 20c; Cut 75c) Screen Success Attributed To Luck Rather Than His Artistry, Says Star By Chester Morris Ignorance is bliss even in Holly¬ wood in some instances, as is evi¬ denced by the career of Chester Morris, star of the United Artists picture, “Corsair,” whicji comes to the .theatre on. For Chester admits that if, before his entry into Hollywood, he wasn’t blissfully ignorant of the very meaning of film acting he wouldn’t have had the temerity to break into pictures as rashly as he did. “If I had been been utterly ignor¬ ant of everything pertaining to mo¬ tion pictures,” the star explained, “I might well never have gone to Hollywood, for nothing less than contempt based upon ignorance would have led me to accept the leading role in ‘Alibi’ for my cam¬ era debut.” A Celebrity Overnight It happened, as history records, that Chester became a celebrity overnight as the result of his work in this debut, but he puts that down to luck rather than to his own artistry. “A rank amateur,” he added modestly, “would have done better than I did in that picture. Through the making of the film I began to appreciate what the fundamentals of acting really are. But it was not until we were half way through the story that I discovered that every bit of my stage experience was counting against me, rather than being a help. It was only dur¬ ing the latter half of the filming that I threw away everything I had ever learned in the theatre, and took the art of the cinema seriously. “There was some excuse for me, even if I do say it myself. In my stage background was the fact that I was a full-fledged leading man at the tender age of seventeen! At twenty-eight, then, it is perhaps not difficult to understand that I should have tackled, as my first film experience, the lead in ‘Alibi.’ But now, as I look back upon it, I realize that probably I should have been frightened to death. It was nothing less than downright temer¬ ity! “Of course, nobody to-day is so ignorant as I was before I made the trip across the continent. But three years ago the attitude of Broadway towards Hollywood was more or less on all fours with mine —a mingling of contempt and pa¬ tronizing tolerance. We considered film actors as grown-up Farinas, and chuckled as we told and re-told the time-honored tale anent the his¬ trionic ability of horses and dogs —on the films! Offered Role by West “When Roland West, the film di¬ rector, offered me the lead in ‘Alibi’ I was as near the point of ordering hats of a larger size as I ever was before in my life. For my perform¬ ance in ‘Fast Life,’ the last stage play in which I appeared on Broad¬ way, had enthused the New York critics to declare that I was ‘one of the five greatest actors.’ In those far-off days I wondered vaguely who the other four were! I make this confession now, be¬ cause I realize how ridiculous my smug self-satisfaction was! Even if the critics’ estimate of my ability as a stage actor were anywhere near accurate, three years in Holly¬ wood have taken every bit of head¬ swelling out of me. As I see it now, if the critics were right, then the legitimate theatre was in a bad way for actors! “In England, as I understand it. there are those who hold that Soccer is distinctly declasse; that Rugger is the really proper form of football. Inasmuch as we have neither Rugger nor Soccer in the United States, I am not in a posi¬ tion to declare myself on the propo¬ sition, but it strikes me as being an apt comparison as illustrating the attitude of stage folk toward the films—up to 1928. “To-day we of the theatre know how wrong we were!” Born to the Stage “Again I suggest that there was some excuse for me. To be¬ gin with, I was born to the stage. I came into the world within a stone’s-throw of the heart of New York’s theatre-land. My mother still loves to relate a tale about my infantile yelling dis¬ turbing three different rehearsals going on in theatres within sound of my lusty voice! True or not, the story makes it plain that my earliest environment was stagey. Chester morris star of Corsair' 2—One Col. Star Head (Mat 05c; Cut 30c) “My mother’s stage name was Etta Hawkins, and it was a well- known name to New York theatre¬ goers of the ’eighties and the nineties. “My father, William Morris, was for years one of America’s best- known and most popular comedi¬ ans. “But my parents were not in favor of my following in their footsteps. To keep me away from the lure of the theatre they sent me away to school in Mount Ver¬ non, just far enough outside of New York for them to visit me at frequent intervals without wasting time on a long train journey and to keep me in ignorance of the white lights of Broadway. But their plans didn’t work. “During the school holidays — without my parents’ knowledge—I haunted managers’ offices, besieged the casting agents. This began al¬ most as soon as I entered my teens. Of course, it got me nowhere. For a long time my life was just one succession of disappointment, end¬ less waiting, broken promises. Started in “Copperhead” “Then, finally an old friend of my father’s — Augustus Thomas, the playwright — got me a small part wth Lionel Barrymore in ‘The Copperhead.’ During the Broadway run of that successful play, John Golden saw my performance, liked it, and offered me a part in a tour¬ ing company that was about to set forth for the provinces, playing ‘Turn to the Right.’ While I was with this company I understudied the leading role, and before long I was actually playing it. I was then seventeen years old—the youngest leading man on the American stage. “Eventually I argued a New York management into letting me play a leading part on Broadway. The play called ‘Thunder.’ It turned out to be barely a whisper. It’s run ended almost as soon as it began. “The best I could get to do dur¬ ing the next two years was stock work. “But with those two seasons be¬ hind me, the Selwyns again gave me a chance, this time in the lead¬ ing role in ‘The Exciters,’ which en¬ joyed a run in New York. “George M. Cohan now took me under his managerial wing, and sent me out into the provinces with the ‘So This is London’ company. “Followed an entire year with my father and mother in a one act playlet, ‘All the Horrors of Home,’ written by my father. It was the best proof that they had become reconciled to their son’s being an actor! “Again Mr. Cohan took me un¬ der his management, this time giv¬ ing me the lead in ‘The Home Towners,’ a very big Broadway hit. The following season my perform¬ ance in the lead in ‘Yellow’ caused critics to declare that I was in the forefront of American actors. Then came ‘Crime,’ ‘Whispering Friends’ and ‘Fast Life.’ “After three years in Hollywood, I am prepared to say that the art of acting before the camera is, if anything, more difficult than stage acting. Had I known one-hundredth part of what I know to-day about the camera’s merciless demands, I should never have dared begun my film career in anything except a minor role.”