Screenland (May-Oct 1930)

for October 1930 17 THE EDITOR'S PAGE DAVID BELASCO, the white-haired dean of the American dray-ma, has spoken. This time he raises his dulcet voice against — guess what? — why, talking pictures ! You see, the Dean's new play was opening and he was celebrating his seventy-seventh birthday — altogether an auspicious occasion for breaking into the public prints by squawking about the talkies. Said Belasco : "If I were younger and had plenty of money I would go into the production of silent pictures. This is the great field for the right man today. Good silent films would sweep the country. The great mistake of the motion picture producers was that of launching talking pictures. The silent film was one of the most interesting developments in the field of entertainment. It has deteriorated with the introduction of the 'squawkies.' "They cannot turn out good talking pictures on a large scale. A producer of legitimate drama has to work and struggle with raw material all year and he is exceedingly lucky if he produces one or two good plays. The talking picture companies aim at producing twenty-five or thirty or more talkies in the course of a year. No wonder the average talking picture is what it is. The picture producer can never get playwrights to turn out good work on any such scale. "As the public is turning away from the talking pictures, it is ready to turn towards the silent picture again." "If I had a talking picture of you-oo-oo," Mr. Belasco ! Now let's look into this thing. Here are some interesting items : Paramount-Publix is planning to erect the world's largest film theater on Broadway, New York — diagonally across from the Paramount Theater on the corner of Forty-fourth Street. It will be in a skyscraper more than twice as tall as the present Paramount Building, and will seat about 6,000 persons. What do you make of that, Mr. Belasco? If you are still thinking harsh thoughts about the talking picture business consider the fact that the Western Electric sound systems in use in theaters now total 6,160. And that Warner Brothers will soon present the new wide film they have been working on — pioneering again, these boys. But maybe you would rather hear what some of our film theater managers have been up to, Mr. Belasco? They are offering a combination of golfies and talkies. With miniature golf calling from one side and talkers from the other, it's smart to merge — and some theaters have miniature courses outside or next door or even in the lobby so that picture patrons may put themselves in the proper frame of mind to enjoy Ronald Colman's or Norma Shearer's latest. There's one theater in Minneapolis that has a roof garden serving free lunch — coffee and sandwiches with the compliments of the management. That's one you never thought of, Mr. Belasco. So the public is turning away from talking pictures, is it? It didn't look that way when I watched the crowds squeezing into the Paramount to see "For the Defense," or the Winter Garden to watch "The Dawn Patrol" — and these theaters don't serve sandwiches, either. Of course, it's true we are all fed up with the girl-and-music backstage screen shows. But the producers know it and they aren't making any more. They are looking in other directions. Pictures like "The Dawn Patrol," "For the Defense," and "Let Us Be Gay" will worry Mr. Belasco. They are turning people away, all right — just because they can't all get in at once to see them. No, Mr. Belasco — I'm afraid you'd lose your bank-roll! D. E.