Screenland (Nov 1928-Apr 1929)

SCREENLAND 9? ahead and have her vacation and forget all about pictures for a while. She has the reputation of being the gamest girl on the lot. She finished Ta\e Me Home with a high temperature. She never lets her com' pany down. & ❖ # Texas Guinan said "Goodbye Broadway, Hello Hollywood" the other day. "I'm going out there to make a talkie for Warners and then I'll be back to make a squawkie for the Government," said the big glad' hander of Broadway's little girls. You see, Texas' night club was — er — censored for a while. She thought it would be a good time to go to California to make a movie. She will be back doing business at the same old stand this winter, she declares. It won't be her first film venture by any means. She used to be known as the feminine Bill Hart — the 'two-gun girl' of the screen. But this time she will play herself, more or less — the Queen of the Night-Club sort of thing. At a luncheon given by Warner Brothers just before Texas left for the coast, it was announced that the good atmosphere of the night-club would be brought out in her pictures. It's about time. Also that the whoopee hostess will be depicted as the girl with a heart of gold that she is, giving little girls a big hand and obstreperous boys a foot. Mr. Henry Warner made a speech lauding Texas, and also vowing that, as long as he or his son live. Warner Brothers will never be sold down the river — to Paramount or any other movie company. You see, the Warners are sitting on top of the film world these days, kicking their heels and laughing a little at all the other short-sighted producers who didn't see any future in this talker business. The Warners had courage. They had vision. They took a chance. It is too bad that Mr. Sam Warner — the husband of Lina Basquette — who particularly saw the great possibilities in the Vitaphone, passed on before his dream really came true. John Loder was in our midst and out again. He's the young Englishman whom Jesse Lasky signed for leads in Paramount pictures. He is a very charming young man, and I think you are going to like him. I have never seen him in pictures, so I can't tell you what he is like in celluloid, but I do know he has very nice manners, a handsome smile, and a wonderful war record. And I can tell you all about that. Beginning at the beginning, which I understand is the right way to start a story: John Loder was born in London thirty years ago. His father was commanding officer of a dragoon guard regiment during the South African war and became a general at the outbreak of the Great War, being retired with that rank at present. Naturally, Johnny got his gun. Following the military tradition of the family, the youngster went from Eton to Sandhurst and when only a little past seventeen, in 1915, he was commissioned a lieutenant and put in the midst of the fighting in the Gallipoli campaign. He was then said to be the youngest officer in the British army. Loder spent nearly a year on the eastern front, guarding the Suez Canal, battling off raiding tribes along the borders of Egypt and in Asia Minor. In the summer of 1916 his regiment was brought back to the Western Front and jumped off on the great offensive along the Somme. In 1917 he was promoted, while not yet 19, to a captaincy, and was given command of a squadron of cavalry. In the heavy fighting around Cambrai in the spring of 1918 when the British line was almost broken, Loder's command was left behind as a rear guard with instructions to block the enemy advance as long as possible. The young captain saw all but six of his men killed during eight and a half hours of fighting, and with those survivors was taken prisoner. The next six months were spent behind barbed wire in Germany. After the armistice the released prisoner became aide to General Malcolm, chief of the British military mission in Berlin. When the mission's work was completed, Captain Loder remained in Germany. German people of his acquaintance had asked him to get pickles — yes, pickles for them in England, so he decided to go in business supplying that demand. He and another British ex-officer started a small factory in Potsdam and prospered until the ups and downs of the paper currency forced them to bankruptcy. It was along about this time that he met an old friend who was in the movies. Urged to try his own luck, Loder laughed. But thinking it over he decided it appealed to him more than a cut and dried business career. He took a screen test, passed, played bits and then featured leads. Now his chance has come. Lasky says he has a great future. Surely he has background, and a pleasant personality. You'll see him soon. He's Hollywood's newest leading man. Florence Vidor stole a wedding march on her friends and fans in New York in August. She was married very quietly to Jascha Heifetz, world-famous violinist, and not until after the couple were safely on a train on their way to California was the event revealed by the musician's manager. Florence has been busy denying rumors of her engagement to Heifetz ever since the two first met, two years ago, in Hollywood, while the violinist was on a concert tour. The movie star has been serenely making her pictures and the violinist has been making his music, and all the time their romance has been progressing. Miss Vidor returned from two months in Europe with her little daughter, Suzanne, and while she stopped in New York the marriage took place. Those who should know declare that the bride will be leaving the screen for domestic life, but she is supposed to have contracted with Paramount to play the feminine lead opposite Richard Dix in The Admirable Crichton, from Barrie's play; so it may be some time before she deserts the movies. Since her charming performance as the Countess in The Patriot Florence has once more taken her place as a premier lady of pictures, and I doubt if the producers will ever let her go. Two former screen favorites are about to burst into stage prominence on Broadway. Greta Nissen, who tried out a play called Double Exposure in a Rochester stock company, will soon present it to New York audiences. This is the play said to be based on the story of Greta Garbo. Whether or not this is true, it has a motion picture star for its heroine, and a background of studio life. Dorothy Gish, too, will soon be starring in a Broadway play. Hers is called Young Love, and it is by Samson Raphaelson who wrote the successful ]azz Singer, which was later coverted into the Al Jolson movie. Miss Gish, like Miss Nissen, has been misunderstood by the movie camera; but both these girls may blossom into talking stars and then some smart producer will grab them for the audible tintypes. 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