Universal Weekly (1923-1925)

Vol. 18, No. 17 Universal Weekly 13 Universal Offers Strong ^23-^24 Holiday Releases EXHIBITORS who suffer from Christmas slumps will have an exceptionally strong list of Universal releases to bolster up the holiday season. That company is putting out six strong pictures during December, two of which are Universal-Jewel productions of proven boxoffice value. In the order of their release they are: "The Darling of New York," a Universal-Jewel action drama in which Baby Peggy is starred; "The Near Lady," another clever comedy starring Gladys Walton; "White Tiger," Priscilla Dean's latest Jewel production, a strong crook melodrama written and directed by Tod Browning; "The Red Warning," a Jack Hoxie picture; "His Mystery Girl," starring Herbert Rawlinson, and "Pure Grit," an all-star boxoffice melodrama featuring Roy Stewart. "The Darling of New York" is the first featurelength picture with Baby Peggy. It is a lively drama built around the adventures of a band of diamond smugglers with headquarters on the East Side in New York. An immigrant child, played by Baby Peggy, becomes a strange pawn in their game. The picture is filled with excellent situations, fine acting and thrills, the greatest of which is an unusually realistic tenement house fire, with spectacular life net jumping. Sheldon Lewis, Gladys Walton and Max Davidson have strong parts in the production. Baby Peggy demonstrates that she is a real little actress and not merely a precocious child. Others in the cast include Carl Stockdale, W. H. Turner, Jack Quinn, Frank Currier and Emma Steele. The picture was directed by King Baggot, who made "Human Hearts" and "The Kentucky Derby" for Universal. He also wrote the stoi-y in collaboration with R. L. Schrock. "The Near Lady" is the last Gladys Walton picture to be released for some time. Miss Walton has retired from the screen temporarily and is at the home of her husband, H. M. Herbel, Universal district sales manager with headquarters in Cleveland. "The Near Lady" was written by Frank R. Adams, popular American writer, and adapted for the screen by Hugh Hoffman. Herbert Blache directed it, with a strong supporting cast including Jerry Gendrom, Harry Mann, Kate Price, Otis Harlan, Florence Drew, Emmett King and Henrietta Floyd. The picture is said to be a worthy successor to such Walton hits as "Pink Tights," "Sawdust," "The Untameable" and similar pictures. It is a comedy-drama woven about the adventures of two young people who fake an engagement to please their parents, but finally fall in love very realistically. It is a typical Gladys Walton type and she is said to have done far better with this role than in any of her previous popular roles. "White Tiger," the new Priscilla Dean Jewel, is another one of those gripping crook melodramas such as "Outside the Law," the most widely shown Universal-Jewel ever made. The same star and director and in part the same cast is to be seen in "White Tiger." Perhaps the unusual cast is one of the strongest features of the new Dean Two Jewels and Four Features Included — Priscilla Dean, Baby Peggy, Gladys Walton, Jack Hoxie, Herbert Rawlinson and Roy Stewart Amid Stars Jewel. Matt Moore, Ray Griffith and Wallace Beery form the trilogy handling the three chief supporting roles. The story, which was written by Browning and put into screen form by him, assisted by Charles Kenyon, is the story of a group of high-class English crooks who come to America with a trick automaton chess player and insinuate themselves into the graces of New York society. The plot is built on suspense lines and becomes spirited early in the picture, rushing to a strong climax. One of the outstanding features of the picture is the introduction of a fine vein of subtle comedy that lifts the production to a new high plane for melodrama. Miss Dean, in these high comedy sequences, proves herself a great screen actress with amazing versatility. The picture has just completed a week's run on Broadway, where it met with great box-office success and with enthusiasm at the hands of reviewers. One reviewer labeled it "almost a 100 per cent, picture." The middle of December will see a new Hoxie picture ready for the screen. It is "The Red Warning," an original story written by Isadore Bernstein, veteran studio executive. It is lively western melodrama, involving a lost mine, an attempt at claimjumping, cattle rustling and a chase which presents some thrilling horsemanship. Opposite Hoxie in this picture is Elinor Field, the popular heroine of many of "The Leather Pushers" series. Others in the cast include William Welsh, Fred Kohler, Frank Rice, Jim Welsh, Ralph Fee McCullough and Ben Corbett. The picture is an ideal vehicle for Jack Hoxie and is said to measure up very favorably with "Don Quickshot of the Rio Grande," "Where Is This West?" and "Men in the Raw," his former Universal successes. The Herbert Rawlinson picture, to be released Christmas Eve, is "His Mystery Girl," from a story by Mary Orth, adapted by William Wing and directed by Robert F. Hill, a veteran Universal director. Ruth Dwyer plays the leading role opposite Rawlinson. Others in the cast include Margaret Campbell, Robert E. Homans, William Quinn, Jere Austin and Ralph McCullough. This is a new style of picture for Rawlinson. He plays the role of a studious, hard-working woman hater. His well-wishing friends frame him in an escapade in order to wean him from the midnight oil. He surprises both himself and them by "falling" for the girl in the case. The last Universal release of 1923 is "Pure Grit," an all-star western melodrama with Roy Stewart as the featured player. Esther Ralston, one' of Universal's 1923 finds, is his leading lady. Others in the cast are Jack Mower, Jere Austin and Venie Winter. Nat Ross directed it from "A Texas Kanger," a popular story by William MacLeon Raine. Isadore Bernstein adapted it. The story is a rollicking western of the southwest range country and is said to be filled with fast-riding and hard fighting. It is another of the populai' out-of-doors pictures which have made Stewart a favorite. HERE'S SOMETHING NEW IN EXHIBITORS REPORTS THE following reports were inspired by the French-Canadian character, Julie, of the picture. One is French, the other its translation as Julie might be expected to make it. The author of these reports, Mr. Francisco, spent considerable time in France during the late war as a member of a machine-gun company (suicide squad) : McGuire de la Gendarmerie, avec M. William Desmond. — Voici un bon tableau assui faires un beau conte. Satisfait la pulpart des gens. La condition des epruves est trees bon. — M. Henri Francisco, Terrace, Kendall, Wis. McGuire of the Mounted, starring William Desmond (five reels). — By dam, thees ees wan good peecture. The crowd eet ees satisfy, he draw beeg. The film she is, what you call, grand shape. — Henry Francisco, Terrace, Kendall, Wis.