Universal Weekly (1920, 1923-27)

40 Universal Weekly December 10, 1927 j^llllllllllillllllllllllllllligillligiigiigillligimigugm, minima | Ali Hartman Broadcasting From BIGU f AXE\ COHEN speaking: Good evening everybody. I told you last week that my boys of the Manhattan territory would beat the Brooklyn gang. I said then, How do they get that way? We showed them and how, and talk about that grape juice, it tasted swell with roast turkey on Thanksgiving day. Ask Van, he knows; he supplied the Juice. Keep your eyes and ears open for further news about that contest. Manhattan has it in the bag, cup, money and all that goes with it. Please stand by. * * * Aaron shusterman of New Brunswick speaking: Hello, Les Sherwood, are you listening in? If not, turn your dials. Are you ready? Well, you see I have taken over the Strand Theatre, Red Bank, and as you know I am a great believer in Universal Pictures and want to make the Strand Theatre the headquarters for them, so bring your contracts over and let me sign them at once so that you and that Jersey gang get a chance at winning that cup in the Salesmen’s Contest. Hurry along, Les. Good night. Please stand by. * * * LI HARTMAN Announcing: We are now at the Central Theatre on Broadway, where the Universal Picture, “A Hero for a Night,” with Glenn Tryon, is being shown at an invitation showing to the trade. The theatre is packed, and if I could let you listen to the roars of laughter and the applause I would gladly do so, but on such short notice we could not install the microphones so I will tell you that at times the roars of merriment were so loud that the people passing the theatre stopped and almost blocked traffic. The comments were unanimous that it is a great picture. Please stand by. * * * GEORGE ROSS has engaged the facilities of this station to tell the world what he has accomplished the past week. George speaking: Ladies and Gentlemen of this audience: I want to tell you some great news. First and foremost, this week we are represented with Stern Bros. Comedies, of which there are none better, in four Broadway Houses, The Capitol, Roxy, Cameo and Colony. I have also succeeded in selling “Snook um’s Merry Christmas” to the Capitol for December 17th to the 23rd, and Loew’s Circuit for 143 days. In addition, Roxy plays “Newlywed’s Imagination.” Cameo plays “No Blondes Allowed” for two weeks and the Colony plays “Whose Wife?” Otherwise I passed a quiet Thanksgiving week. Thank you. Please stand by. EXPERT ON ROYAL KISSING ENGAGED FOR “MAN WHO LAUGHS” ( Continued from page 10) vored few who were permitted this mark of distinction. (The “woolsack” is a piece of woolen cloth, a symbol of England’s prosperity in that commodity, which is thrown over the chair of a member. Today only the Lord Chancellor may sit on one.) And so, in addition to the exact replica of the scenes, costumes, etc., according to the period in which the Hugo opus is laid, the Universal epic will bear the scrutiny of those who care to check on the details of manners and customs as they were in that era as well. “A HERO FOR A NIGHT” RINGS THE BELL WITH THE TRADE PAPER REVIEWERS ( Continued from page 13) being injected into the scene, with a consequent rise of handclapping out of the audience. From start to finish, it is Tryon who puts the works over to a ‘fare-thee-well’ with his robust clowning. “A Real Bag of Laughs for Everybody.” “THIRTEENTH JUROR” HAS BIG PREMIERE ( Continued from page 17) parts are filled by players of star caliber. In the cast are George Seigmann, Martha Mattox and Fred Kelsey. Edward Laemmle directed ‘The Thirteenth Juror.’ It is one of the finest pictures we have seen at the Colony.” Radie Harris in the Morning Telegraph: “To Dr. Riesenfeld’s Colony at Fifty-third Street and Broadway rather than to the Pilgrim’s Colony at Plymouth, Mass., we offer our thanksgiving this week. For this cozy little playhouse, where ‘the picture is the whole show,’ is presenting as fine an entertainment this week for twenty-five and fifty cents (with Old Gold cigarettes included, besides) as any of the larger palaces and cathedrals with infinitely higher entrance “The feature offering, ‘The Thirteenth Juror,’ a film adaptation of the Henry Dodge stage play, ‘Counsel for Defense.’ As produced by Uni versal, directed by Edward Laemmle, and acted by a fine cast, it is a photodrama worthy of your attention. * * * “Credit for a climax replete with thrills should go to Edward Laemmle, who in his direction has created an air of mystery and suspense that compels a sustained interest throughout. He is ably abetted by the performances of the entire cast. Francis X. Bushman in the title role of Henry Desmond essays his part with fine understanding. He is especially good in the double exposure shots, where his transition from good to bad is done with marked effect. Anna Q. Nilsson as Helen Marsden looks as attractive as ever and gives her usual competent performance. Walter Pidgeon, as Richard, her husband, does an admirable piece of restrained and sincere acting. Ivan Simpson and Martha Mattox in atmospheric bits also acquit themselves credibly.” Irene Thirer in the Daily News: “ ‘The Thirteenth Juror’ is oldfashioned melodrama with modern settings and camera angles. Also present-day direction, which is deft and suspenseful. “The Colony’s offering is replete with action, with a courtroom murder trial as its climax. Its theme, based on a play by Henry Irving Dodge, has meaning and power. It might have made a sloppy, sentimental drama some years ago. Today, with the modern trimmings, it is as interesting fare as Broadway offers anywhere along the street this week. * * * “Edward Laemmle’s megaphoning is his best to date. And excellent photographic effects serve to make the production mysterious and thrilling. This is thoroughly proficient melodrama. Anybody in the mood for such should make a trip to the Colony this week.” Quinn Martin in The World : “For the greater part of the running time of Universal’s ‘The Thirteenth Juror’ Francis X. Bushman the elder stands before a jury and succeeds eloquently in convincing the twelve solemn-faced ones that the prisoner at the bar is innocent. “Melodrama comes tumbling in toward the completion of the tale, when the attorney, after having not only saved his clients from conviction but also taken them into his own home as servants, finds himself charged with murder and on the verge of conviction. How he brings all his cunning to bear in tricking the employees into handing over evidence which is designed to save him is, in a general way, the notion of the story. “All this is arrived at with satisfactory acting by Mr. Bushman and a surprisingly effective and repressed performance by Anna Q. Nilsson.”