Variety (July 1923)

-w «,. • U VARIETY ■■■■ ff- -»- • ■■ ., Thursday. July 10, 1928 INSIDE STUFF ON PICTURES (Continued from page 2C) licatlon of the present tax law that wl'l bo of general bcneflt to tne in- dustry At large Is what they actually hope for. From Los Angeles comes tho news to the effect that the general opinion tn that section of the country is that both Louis J. Gasnier and Gaston Glass are through, as far as the screen is concerned, because of their arrest on a charge of disorderly conduct and lewdness, which was pre- ferred by the vice squad of the Hollywood station. The request of the two defendants that they be given a jury trial was complied witli. Glass was tried flist before a Jury, at which much unprintable tehtimony was presented as evidence for their consideration. The Jury disagreed. Oasnler is to be tried next week. The undesirable publicity that the two have received because of their nrrost and the trial is believed will make it Impossible for them to return to screen activity. The picture industry is now taking It upon Itself to claim the responsi- bility for the art of pantomime. Harold Vosburgh, who has just returned to New York after a season with Walker Whiteside In "The Hindoo." played a role vrhlch called for a rathef lengthy panton-lmic performance In the second act While playing Los Angeles a few weeks ago he was approached by a picture director who Informed him that he had seen the performance and liked It, concluding with. "That pantomimic bit of j^ura in the second act was really a marvelous piece of work, and It only goes to show what picture training will do for a man." Voabur8:h haa not appeared on the screen since the old General Film Cc. days, and then only for a brief time. ', The Plasa, now a picture house seating about 1.300 on throe floors on Madison avenue, near 69th street, is said to show a belter weekly profit than any picture house of its size in New York. In addition to that It has th« most excluslva patronage, bar none, of any New York theatre. At the Plasa may be seen scores of persons in evening dress, who go Ihers from tha near-by fashionable hotels or the Park avenue and Fifth svenue sections. The theatra Is being operated by an attorney. It first was played by William Morris for hia vaudeville, and later taken over by the Loew circuit for plcturss. The current policy is straight pictures. ^/ , The departure of Amelia Bingham from the cast of "Yolonde" that the (Cosmopolitan la making for the next Marion Davies starring picture, was lather unceremonious. Miss Bingham is said to have started her cam- paign of complaints to Robert Vignola, the Cosmopolitan's director, by impugnlnr motives In assigning her a minor role. Later Miss Bing- ham rather heatedily Inquired why the studio did not tend a car to her Itlverslde home In the morning to convey her to the studio. Later Miss Bingham protested against going downstairs In the sludio and left In a huff. She was immediately replaced by an actress of less renown.. First National Is on the trail of a comedian for the rcrcen. The organisation at this time has no one to handle character comedy stuff and feels It should have at least one comedian to offer on their program of releases. Tb*lr scouts hare been out on the field trying to line up material for them, but up to ths prosent they have been unable to connect. Julius St«v«r has not changed status at the Fox Aim studios. New York, where he Is manacor of productions. Steger is listed In 'Who's Who in America." Hs has directed pictures starring some of the best known recruits from the spoken drama. take you and break you before It can make you. That Is the philos- ophy uttered by an old Bright Lights cab driver who has turned private chauflfeur for a popular Broadway star and her husband, whose trials and tribulations he relates to a down and out playwright who is about to throw up the sponge. With the beglnntoff of the real tale a country clri, burning with ambition to become a great actress, invades Now York and goes to a boarding house, where she occupies a «oom with a gay little gold dige:er, and the room above is tenanted by a struggling song writer who Is try- ing to get a hit over the plate. It Is the romance of the latter and the little country girl that hold the fore- Rrround of the story. They have hardships and trials and have to steal their breakfasts from the front stoop before they finally hit upon an idea that carries the girl to star- dom and makes the boy the writer of a successful play on Broadway. Before all this arrives there Is a period where the girl is working in the chorus of a show and is fired because she turns down the ad- vances of the angel John, while her room mate seeks the easiest way. only to become the central figure in a murder trial when her affianced lover appears on the scene nnd knocks off her protector. .The boy likewise plays piano In a dump to get his cakes and has a fight with the Chink owner because he would no£ permit one of the guests to in- sult one of the girl performers and is fired. It is all there, all the regular hoak that the small towners believe of Broadway, and it Is fed to them in liberal doses. It is what they ex- pect of Broadway, and this picture won't disappoint them In any of their expectations. Colleen Moore plays the role of the little heroine from the country, and does it effectively, while Alice Lake la the "gold digger." that jumps from the chorus to a star, dressing room by being "nice" to the friend of the angel. Johnnie Walker is the hero of the Ivories, and TuUy Mar- .ihnll is the philosophical old c:ibby, with Creighton Hale as the down and outer. The action Is well directed and for the greater part of the story Is advanced with fJtir speed. There are one or two spots that are slight- ly draggy, but these can easily be remedied. It should be a money maker for all concerned in It. Fred. SPORTS -. /I ' T • ' "ji.' Picture makers la quest for stories are leaning toward books rather than plays. Plays appear to have been found unreliable for either pic- ture reproduction or In tUle« since the latter has not held the value given FILM REVIEWS (Continued from pa^e 2C) as the uncle and aunt, handled them- selves nicely, but Casson Ferguson seemed badly cast for the young Englishman. Frank Nelson in a crook low-comedy character got a couple of real laughs. The direction carries the story along rather well. Fred, STORMY SEAS Ce-atarrins production for Hslen Ho'.mea and J. P. MeOowan, rel^aed throush A'so- clatod Xxhibltor*. Directed by J. P. Mc- Uowan. Shown at Loew's New York. N. Y., on double tratur* bill July 17, 192S. Run- ning time, 06 mlnut**. "Storm" Wftpina Prancla Srymour Marjr Weema Helen Holmei <?apt. Morgan J. P. McOowan Stdwar>l Uordon Kn:ipp Oapt. 0«M»rse Tracjr L,o»lle O.-iaey ▲nrua McBrlde Harry Dalroy This Is a story of the sea and a souse. A sort of a real blood-and- thunder meller that will go in the popular-priced houses, and while the picture is somewhat dragKy In spots, due to direction, there is sulllcient suspense toward the end of the tale to make it stand up with the aver- ag gL, . audience that frequents the smaller houses. The regular run of exhibitor playing a daily chanpe can run the picture and get away with it In good shape. It Is the tale of ah old ship owner in San Francisco, a sort of a Cappy Ricks type, whose only daughter Is his pride and Joy. He has two men in his employ, both of whom he showers his affections upon as though they were sons. One is the son of his former partner, who died because of heavy drinking, an^ the other is Just In the picture without any explanation other than the old man thinks as much of him as he does of the other. The son of the drunkard is about to become the son-in-law of the ship owner, and his last cruise before the marriage is to take the newly launched pride of the fleet on a trip. He does, and runs into a storm, starts drinking despite he has made a promise not to do so, and Anally wrecks the mag- nificent ship. All trace of him is lost then, and several years after, in a small Central American port, he Is picked Up and brought aboard the ship that was his command before he wreckoil the new boat, to be re- turned to his native country upder pain of sentence of 15 years In the quarries. His old friends aboard conspire to make a man of him through hard labor, and they Anally succeed in bringing out some of his former manhood. In the Anlsh he does the self-sncriAcing thing and permits the other man to take the girl, who has awakened to a new love Ihrough the weakness of the man who was pledged to become her husband. Thos^ that love sea stories will like this one, for the picturesque touches that are given the wreck stuff are great. Undoubtedly some weekly news pictures of a real wreck were secured, and thesi* are so well Atted to the picture that it stands out as a remarkable piece of work. A burning pleasure yacht is also an effective touch, nnd it brings the suspense at the minute when the picture was beginning to die. There are also a couple of fairly good deck flghts. Helen Holmes, while not overbur- dened with the role assigned her. manages to give a good account of herself, and McGowan as the souse was all that could be expected. Forceful at times and weak at others, it Is a good touch his sacrl- Ace at the end of the .story, for where Is the Rlrl that would want him in preference to the handsome chap that was his rival. It would have just been another of those "Bill" Hart things if it had turned out the other way. Leslie Cnsey as the rival gave an exceedingly good account of him.s«*If *nd should shine In the future as a sort of genteel semi- heavy. • Fred. McOUntE OF THE nouinrED Unlveraal northwest mounted picture, etarrlna William Dasmend. Story by Ray- mond L. Schrock, scrlDt by Q^o. HI\'ely. directed by Richard Btanton. Shown at I^oew'a New Tork. K. T., July 0. 1023, on double feature MIL Rniuiins time, 33 min- utes. Bob McOuir* William Desmond Julie Montr«att Loulae Lorraine mil I.usk Winard L.oula Katie Peck Vera Jamea Andre Montreaa....* P. J. Lockney Major Cordweil Wm. A. Liowery Mrs. Cordw«ll Pessy Brown Henri .....Frank Jnbnnon Sergeant Mttrphjr Jack Walters One of the usual type of northwest mounted pictures that has as a principal redeeming feature no snow. It Is cut to the usual pattern of this type of story. As a feature it will At only in the cheaper houses where the most ordinary calibre of program feature Is acceptable to the audiences. The story is a badly hashed up affair. The entire action starts with a smuggling plot lost sight of long before the story Anishes. In place of this a couple of murders and a dru(i;Ked marriage take up the thread of the tale. At the Anlsh the entire affair Is unravelled through the death confession of the heavy's woman assistant. William Desmond plays the Xorthwest mounted cop detailed to break up the smuggling band. Just a regular formula hoak Northwestern. Fred. BROKEN HEARTS OF B'WAY Irvlnflr CumminKa production rclease<l via i'tate rlifhta. Supifpsted hy J.-xmes Kyrle iMc('ur<1y"8 play, written for the screen by llopo lioring and I#ouln Duryea Lisrhton. DIrocfM by Irving CumnilnjTJi. Rovltwod in projection roonr. Running time, 74 mln- utca Mary Ellla Colleen Mooro George Colton Johnnie Walker Bubbles Revere Alice Lake llarney Ryan , Tully Marnhnll I>vdl.i Ryan Kate I'rlc- \n Outcast Creighton Hale Tony Ctudto...^ Anthony Mrrlo n.irry Teale...^ Arthur Stuart ITuH Frank Huntloigh Freeman V^■ood NEW HAVEN ORDER 17 Theatres Must Make Cfianges— OeWitt Street House Unsafe A corking picture for the state rights market. It will At the smaller towns and the nelRnborhood houses where the title and the cast which has a half dozen names of good screen value, and should prove to be business pullers. The picture Is being sold on a JIOO.OOO quota basis for the entire country, so that won't place any too great a burden on the various terri- tories. Prom the general appear- ance of the picture it appears to be one of those productions that If given the proper amount of hurrah publicity It should clean up for the small exhibitor. The box oAlce value is there, It only remains for the man that Is playing the picture to get it out of the public, and that shouldn't be a hard task with the "Brondway" tiUe and the cast that he has to work on. The stery Is really in the form of a prolog and the tale Itself. It Is to the effeot that Broadway has to New Haven, Conn., July 18. Owners of 17 theatres here have been ordered last week to make changes In their buildings to con- form to the laws making all theatres safe. With the DeWltt Street house, the board of building examiners, which has ordered the changes, ruled in Its present condition* the theatre building Is unsafe and must be reconstructed. 'A sprinkler system must be In- stalled In the Shubert, while the Dijou has been ordered to remove one row of seats and to widen the distance between the seats in the gallery. Mirrors In the Palace wore ordered removed, while an extra outlet from the gallery Is ordered at the Olympla. Minor changes wore oidcred al other houses. , • Jud)?e Grant BL Mouser ap- pointed li. B. Nebergall as re- ceiver for the Marlon (Irand The- atre Company, Marion, O.. and fixed the bond of the receiver at $6,000. The theatre will not be opened un- til after the affairs of the company are adjusted and the receiver is dis- charged. A fighter le as old as his legs, an 0I4 rlnir exlom, but never more clearly Illustrated than at Boyle's Thirty Acres, Thursday night, when Jess Willard'a 44 years de- scended to his pedals and prevented him from arising after he had been floored by Luis Angel Flrpo in the eighth round. Up to the knockout the flght had been fairly even with Flrpo on the aggressive and Wlllard seemingly content t<> flght on the defensive. Wiliard's plan of battle evidently was to conserve his sti*ength and nail the Argentinian with on« punch. In this he erred for.'while waiting for the big opening, nature was slowly but surely taking her toll from tfre aged underpinning of Wlllard. ■''■'' - -,;.■..--•■^.-■->.;■• •->;■; After one flurry with Flrpo rain- ing punches on Wiliard's jaw, btg Jess turned his head with each punch and smiled because they didn't hurt him. but his legs quiv- ered like jelly when the rally was over and he walked to his corner at the end of the round :»erceptlbly weary underfoot. Wlllard picked oflC Firpo's leads in the early'rounds and tied him up In the clinches as though Luis were a baby. Wlllard, however, might Just as well have left his right hand in the dressing room. He didn't use it six times in the entire flght and only once did he use his right uppercut. Flrpo, if anything, lost prestige In this flght. He was awkward and almost as slow as his aged opponent. Unless Dempsey has gone back a mile he should take Luis without trouble. Flrpo appeared ready to quit at the end of the first Ave rounds, which were Wiliard's. In the flfth Wlllard reached Firpo's Jaw with one of the few right-hand punches he tried. Luis' knees sagged and he looked ready for a finishing punch, but Wlllard made no effort to follow up hie advantage. While Wlllard made Firpo do aH the leading, as Is his custom, the latter was never overly aggressive. Any time Wlllard reached him with a left Jab Luis was ready to go on the defensive and dove into a clinch. As the flght progressed Wlllard was not successful In hold- I Ing Flrpo In the clinches and the latter belted Jess on the side of the head with his "rabbit" punches. While these blows didn't apparently hurt Wlllard. they helped to tire him. ''■;•■"■■■••'. Wiliard's Bad Eighth Round In the eighth round F4rpo caught Wlllard In the latter's corner and hooked a right hand to Wiliard's Jaw. Flrpo then piled In and let fly punches from all angles, several of them landing on Wiliard's chin. Wlllard went down slowly to one knee. It was obvious that he was not unconscious. His head was clear as he waited for the count. At eight Wlllard reacKed out to grab the rope to pull himself erect but missed it by a foot., At the completion of the count the big fel- low was still resting on one knee unable to move hia le^s. He was assisted to his corner and a moment later had entirely recovered. Preliminary Best Fight The best flght of the night was the eight-round preliminary be- tween Cllf Kramer of Salt Lake City and Tiny Herman of Omaha. Kramer will be heard from in heavyw^eight circles. After weather- ing a tenrible beating in the early rounds, Kramer came through and dropped Herman for two long counts, having Mm on the verge of a knockout. Kramer is 23 years old and weighs IdS pounds. He has a good left hand, a nice right cross in.side and the courage of a lion. Johnson's Questionable K. O. The semi-final, which was put on after the main bout In accordance with Jersey law,' which requires main bouts to be on by 10 p. m., came to a quick finished. Floyd Johnson and Jack McAullffe, 2d, were the principals. John.^on dropped Mc\uliffe in about a min- ute with a right cross to the jaw. Jack took a nine-count and aro^e to,dive^nto a clinch. Johnson then threw him to the floor wftHout hit- ling him. McAulllTo. thinking to take ad- vantage of another nine-count, stayed down. Jimmy De Forrest threw two .sponKcfuls of water over McAuliffe and Johnson began to protest. When M<'Aulirfe arose the referee waived iiim to his corner, althoiifjli no one thought he had counted ten. The crowd jumped *to the conclu- sion McAuliffe had been disqualified fo» DePorrest's violation of boxln» rules. After the flght the refsrea Joe Jeanette, said he had counteA 10 and McAullffe had been knocked x)ut It was a poor decision. John-, son had been Just as liable to du, qualiflcatlon when he wreiitled Me« Aull|fe to the floor. McAullffe came here heralded as a world beater. He was knocket out by Flrpo and now Floyd John- son, a notoriously light puncher. This washes up McAullffe around New Tork. He Is another Jim Cof- fey, one of the glass jawed boys. In the opening bout Tom Roper, of Chicago, outpointed Al Bright, o( England, in an 8-round setter Roper was the cleverer of the two. They are heavyweights.' Englieh Boxer Outclassed In a sjxt-round special, Charley Nashert stopped George West is the flfth round. The referee stopped the bout when it was seen that Nashert had West outclassed. Ths latter is an English middleweight. He had nothing but his fighting togs and willingness. . "^ : The greatest crowd that ever as- sembled for a sporting event in this country was on hand. Estimate* ran from 100.000 up. Willard re- ceived $180,000. and Flrpo fl 10.000, with Rlckard. the promoter, said te be $125,000 to the good on the pro- motion. Firpo's Poor Showing A Firpo-Dempsey bout If held ihl.'? week wouldn't draw a $100,000 gate nfter Firpo's showing, but leave it to the "boys" to smoke it up if the match is made. The pub- lic forgets quickly and the power of the printed word which was re- sponsible for the big Carpentler- Dempsey gate will as.sure a \>tg turn out for Dempsey and Firpo. Tom Gibbons would cut the Italian to ribbons. , '" ,' r ' = The sale of the Red Sox, Boston's American League boll club, which has been hanging flre since early la the season, is virtually assured. H. H. Fraeee, however, stated the passing of the club to new hanis will not occur until August 1 or II. Payment of the agreed sums Is all that remains to complete the traae- fer. Frazee owns 8* p?r cent. «f the Sox stocft. vand Sport Herman ef Chicago is In for a 1& {^r ceot Interest. _ ,•'■.•":■.''" ' The purchase price ts consider- ably over $1,000,000, Frazee statlaf Fenway Park grounds and plant are valued at that flgure alone. It is understood that Frazee will hold • small block of the stock but Robert Qulnn and the group of Columbine O., capitalists, who are named as the new owners, will have full authorllf. Frazee's control of the Boston a(« gregation has been a stormy perlo4i His sale of Babe Ruth and oth« Beantown stars made him the targsl of bitter criticism, but he later ex- plained It was a matter of buslnessi and about proved his case. Baa Johnson and Frazee have been at odds almoet since the day Frasee bought the Boston outflt and It Is believed the American League head greatly aided In promoting the sale of the club. It is believed that Jacob Rupperti owner of the Yankee team, per- suaded Frazee to relinquish his holdings in Boston. The men ars close friends and that led to reports Frazee might become hooked up with Ruppert, who recently pur- chased Col. Houston's share of Yankee stock. Frazee. however, has stated he does not believe Ruppert will prrt with any of his holdings. "Pettifogger," a 30 to 1 shot, romped homo "dinner at Empire last Saturday after trailing the field until the stretch. Several Broad- way Ites were on the outsider and when lie poked his nose In front at the finish they got the thrill of their "plunging" careers. Leon Fried- man bet $10 straight and place Mose Gumblc wagered the sam« amount, but • neither thought the hor^e had a chance, so they placed bigger bets on the favorite in the race, and that cut Into the winning! they would have made had they l;ik«Mi Die owner's tip atvl disrS- i;artl<-j tin* \vi ■■ tiio ney.;'- / ' :■_ - _; Eddie Eayrs. the old Bostoit Hr.ivc i)it<her, re.«!lgned as manage*" of the Worroster E.istern I'Jgu^ club last week and was ImmeJiatelf .slijned by Toronto in tlte Interna- tional IcuTue. ^ Je.«se LJurkctt, • famous player *lrt his day and of more recent yt-ars a coach f'»r ''• New York CJlant*, succeeded him. Hurkett managed Worcester severw years ago.