Universal Weekly (1932-1936)

qa' ■■■ • ' -= UNIVERSAL WEEKLY^:: :■ April II. 1936 "SHOW BOAT' Has The Busiest Extra Sarah Schirartz, ichn has been in every I'nirersal picture as an extra for nineteen years. ^'Shotc Boat" is the latest picture in tchich she appeared. You tcon'i see her. She is the scream tchich apparently comes from the throat of Irene Dunne in the old-fashioned melodrama. played on the shotc boat. She also is the blood-curdling scream in "Dracula’s Daughter." C CREEN "doubles,” as everyone ^ knows, are employed from time to time on all movie lots, but it remained for Universal Pictures to be the first and only studio to engage "scream" extras. Although her name has never decorated a theatre marquee or lured a single patron to the box office. Miss Sarah Schwartz has been earning her I iving in the film industry for nineteen years and has taken part in every Universal production turned out during that period. Without ever having a screen test, she won a contest by a simple act of heroism. Back in 1917 a fire broke out in one of Universal City cutting rooms. The men of the crew fled their posts in panic. Miss Schwartz, happening to be on the lot in search of extra work, heard there were some precious reels of celluloid drama housed in the blazing cubicle. She cooly went in and rescued them and was severely burned. Instead of decorating her with a medal for valor, Mr. Laemmie with his characteristic practical sense promised she would always have a job as long as he had a studio. That vow has been kept. At first Sarah was given all sorts of acting chores: — extra duty, bits, atmospheric roles, dialect parts, and character oddments. Sometimes she only supplied a hand or a foot for a closeup scene. Whether or not a picture needed her type, directors were instructed to find something for her to do in each production. Gradually, it was discovered that Sarah was best at screaming. This is no mean talent at a studio which specializes in horror and mystery films. Miss Schwartz's six cylinder yells, ranging from straight spine chilling shrieks to weird ululatlons with tremolo stops have rung around the world in "The Phantom of the Opera," "Murders in the Rue Morgue," "Dracula," "Frankenstein," "The Bride of Frankenstein" and "The Invisible Ray." She has doubled in screams for eleven famous stars and some twentyodd other players. Every time she hollers for her salary she gets It. When "Show Boat" in its 1936 version comes to the Music Hail, early next month, Sarah will be heard pinchshrieking for Irene Dunne, starring as Magnolia and for Queenie Smith in the role of Ellle. One of the important sequences In Edna Ferber's celebrated story calls for a presentation b y Cap'n Andy's Cotton Blossom troupe of an oldfashioned melodrama of the eatthe-scenery variety, entitled, "The P a r s o n's Bride." This bur lesque show within a show Is plentifully punctuated with opportunities for the talented lady of the lusty lungs to wail her wildest. She was supposed to do a bit of yelling for Helen Westley, as well, but the deep-voiced Theatre Guild actress, true to her characterization of the irate Parthy, put up a considerable holler on her own account. Another forthcoming May release in which Miss Schwartz reverses the rule for well-behaved children, by being heard but not seen, is "Dracula's Daughter." This shudder-shocker featuring Gloria Holden as a weird Hungarian Countess, who Is both an alluring vamp and a blood-thirsty vampire, permits Sarah many neat variation of an old scream theme. ANOTHER FAMOUS EXTRA Barney Baruch's nephew spurned an offer to start in his father's brokerage firm in It all Street. He icanted to start without assistance from the family name, and he got a job as an extra in pictures. Here he is shown tcith Carole Litmbard, in tchose picture, '"Love Before Breakfast," he played a bit part. His name is Marion ft olfe. He is twentyfour years old. He insists on beginning at the bottom and expects to win his way to fame and fortune, in the movies.