Talking Screen (Sep-Oct 1930)

1ITTLE wonder that Will Hays' hair is graying rapidly. He hurried home from a diplomatic mission abroad to find three of his Hollywood children engaged in "the battle of the century." Caddo sued First National, charging that parts of Hell's Angels had been included in The Daivn Patrol. Then Tiffany filed a similar court action, alleging that First National lifted part of Journey's End in making the Richard Barthelmess air picmre. That was that until First National had four persons arrested for an attempt to steal the original script of The Dawn Patrol from the smdio files. Those taken into custody were Joseph Marsh, a Caddo scenario writer, Forrest Easley, a private detective employed by Caddo, Edith Higgins, a former First National typist, and Carmelita Sweeney, employed by First National as a stenographer. They were arrested in Miss Sweeney's home. Meanwhile, Federal court judges have under consideration the application of Caddo and Tiffany for an order restraining First National from showing The Dawn Patrol. When burglars crashed the Heach home of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, Doug threw up his hands and handed over $100 in cash when the bad men promised not to awaken Mary, who was asleep upstairs. Doug thoug'.-t he drove a worthwhile bargain, so he didn't bother reporting the incident to the police. Bebe Daniels will play opposite Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., in Reaching for the Moon after all. Bebe had signed a contraa to take the role for $60,000, when United Artists studio officials decided to settle with her and use Joan Bennett, one of their contraa stars, in the part. Doug wouldn't stand for the switch, so Bebe now is at work. Mary Nolan, hard luck girl of the stage and screen, has been exonerated on charges of using narcotics, preferred against her by two nurses formerly in her employ. An investigation made by the United States district attorney for Southern California resulted in a clean bill of health for Mary. Now Warners have borrowed her from Universal for the starring role in Ex-Mistress. M-G-M has just signed Lewis Stone for another five years. Dorothy Sebastian will have the feminine lead opposite Bert Lytell when that actor transfers his stage success Brothers, to the celluloid for Columbia. Claudia Dell will have the ingenue lead in Fifty Million Frenchmen when that successful stage play is put into production for the screen by Warner Brothers. Others already cast include Olsen and Johnson, Helen Broderick, Lester Crawford and William Gaxton. When Paramount produces Skippy, a picture built around the newspaper comic strip by Percy Crosby, Robert Coogan, three year old brother of the famous Jackie, may make his movie debut as a star. Victor Schertzinger, who will direct, is insisting on Bobbie for the principal role. Jackie, too, is staging a come-back, playing one of the leads in Paramount's production of Tom Sawyer. Buster Keaton and his wife, the former Natalie Talmadge, have departed for a vacation in Europe. They will purchase an auto in Paris and spend two months touring the out of the way places of the continent. Because of his exceptional work in Dough Boys. M-G-M has renewed Buster's contract and raised his salary. The gentleman is the beret is none other than William Powell, a recent arrival in New York aboard the S.S. Conte Grande. Most of his time abroad was spent in the vicinity of Naples, where the recent disaster occurred. Fatty Arbuckle now is a full fledged director, having been signed by Educational to make a series of comedies starring Tom Patiicola. Because his own name is tabooed by the Hays' organization, Fatty works under the cognomen of "William Goodrich." M-G-M has purchased Zane Grey's best seller. The Shepherd of Guadaloupe as a starring vehicle for Johnny Mack Brown. Three New York stage producers have made overtures to Charles Rogers, but the popular young star is remaining with Paramount. Incidentally, Alice White rejected Flo Ziegfeld's offer of stage stardom. However, Olive Borden is deserting the films to align herself with the glorifier of American girlhood. Eric von Stroheim, who began his directorial career on the old L^niversal lot, is going back home. When he returns from a European tour, he will go to work for the Laemmle family as a director, his first picmre to be a talkie version of Blind Husbands, which he wrote and directed as a silent.