Variety (March 1925)

Wednesday. March 4, 1925 PICTURES M PRESENTATIONS (Extra attracHcna m picturm thmatrmt, when not pictar—, will hm earrimd and d—crihmd 01 thtn depart- ment far thm ganmrai iMttornmtion qf tha tradm.) •THE DAYS OF 18ea-18»* (120) Prolos i*r "Th* •>"•»» Hor««" 4t Mins.; On* and Full <8p«cial) > OraHinan'* Egyptian, Los Angalaa IXMB Angeles, Feb. 28. Any producer who does not con- ■r avit Bid Qrauman before h« makes « presenUtlon with a feature pic- ture going Into a run house at the I1.S0 to 13 top dlBCOunta the selling value of his picture at least SO per cent. If not more. Orauman seenas to possess that genius and fore- gight In the offering of a picture to the public that means returns at the box office. Qrauman has been the iLcans of saving a number of the so-called superffeatures offered In this house and in the Instance of William Fox's "The Iron Horse." bis Offering should carry the picture through a much longer and more ^ profitable run than any one else 'i, eonid hare gotten for it. ' r Those not familiar with the man- ''ner Qraiiman makes his presenta- tions might be led to believe only an 'uncanny" mind could conceive I- and execute them. However, such K Is qot the case, as all this local '^ showman looks to put op is some- I thing realistic and impressive, which will please both mind and eye. For this particular presentation u his high spot was to run out on j^ the stage two railroad engines, fac- laimlles of the "Jupiter" and "116." I with full steam up to stop about ^ (our feet apart while the gold spike i> Is driven, completing the first trans- ; aontinental railroad. ^ The scene of the tableaux or i aeries is laid at Promontory. Utah, ;^ where the interlinking of the Cen- *tral Pacific and Union Pacific roads took place. The overture by the bouse orchestra, direction of Ulder- Ico Marcelli, consisted of a medley of airs of the period of 1863-69. This placed the audience in a r«- eeptive mood for what was to fol- low. Then the screen disclosed the fact that one Colonel T. J. McCoy was a great friend of the Indians, having lived among them all his life and talked their language. After this introduction McCoy stepped forth and told the folks all about the traits and habits of the Amer- ican Indian, especially the Shoshone and Arapahoe tribes, who up to the present time had been none too friendly. It was an interesting five minute discourse, which was foHowed by the appearance In front of a forest drop of 26 Shoshone and Arapahoe Indians and their squaws and papoose. McCoy did a little lectur- ing on tho personality and an- tecedents of his subjects parading • number of them in front of the group to call attention to their ap- pearance or mannerism. It was a great flash and hit home. Then followed a series of tableaux ooncelved from the Remington paintings of pioneer days in the prairie land and Indian reservations. Th« lighting and arrangement of the various tabloids Is Ideal. Beau- tiful and effective were "A Close ^11," showing a horseman chas- ing a buffalo; "Guarding the Water Hole,'' and ten Indians smoking "The Pip© of Peace." Then came a filler showing vari- ous tribes of present day Indians doing their dally toil. This film number and fitted in well. Two old-time fiddlers and an accordion player supplied the music, while the fblks sang "Pop Goes the Weazel." and "Grandfather'8 Clock," and did an old-fauhloned square dance for good measure. As this was con- cluded, word came that the engines were on their way and everyone made for the tracks as the two en- gines made their appearance. Speech-making followed and a stray Indian was ushered on who wanted to sing a white man's song. This he did by chanting the verse of "My Country 'Tls of Thee." with the entire ensemble on the chorus and second verse. It sure was an inspiring sight. Prior to the presentation Edward Davis, as master of ceremonies. In- troduced the various members of the cast, including George O'Brien and MadoO Bellamy and Dan O'Brien, Chief of Police of San Francisco, was In the house and. of course, had to respond and all he could say was "He's My Boy." Sid Qrauman and ^ William Fox were also Introduced'. This presentation is a rather costly one and hardly one that would be staged in an average house. It la only fair to say that Sid Grauman outdid himself In fur- nishing this embellishment for the first William Fox product to get a showing In one of the bigger Los Angeles houses. "ON THE ARAPAHOE TRAIL" Prolog to "Thundering Hord" 8 Minutes Rivoli, Now York New York. March I. Two soloists, the Rlvoll ensemble and a half ^ozen real Indians com- plete the company that ts em- ployed in this prolog to the super- western at the bouse this week. The soloists are employed behind a transparant scrim, the man In Indian costume of a chief and the girl as an Indian maiden. The foreground Is entirely, blacked out for this. Then at the conclusion of their number they fade away and the lights show the double quartet of the house In Indian cos- tuhie in a camp scene with the six real Indians coming on for a native dance. The chief in full regalia leading then) and two dancers con- tributing th« war-whoop stuff. After this there Is another fade out with the front going black again and the original soloists again com- ing into the picture for a final chorus which on fading out of the wh<>le scene fadea into the leader title to the picture. Fred. was used to enable the setting tof-laughter. Prior to the running of the film several veteran slides were thrown be made for the bigger railroad acene. This opened with a score of workers doing the laying of the tracks and chanting their favorite Bong. "Drill, Te Tarrlers. DriUl" An Indian war dance was done by about a dozen, after which the cele- bration period was taken up. Some 100 or more persons, including road •fllclals. workers and camp follow- ers, were ushered on to participate In the festivities, which took place en the completion of tlie work. The young ones sang and danced; then their eldeni did likewise, with an octette of boys and girls executing * lioop aklrt" dance arranged by l^utchon. It waa » most pleasing "OLD FASHIONED MOVIES" Music. Singing and Film 8 Mina.: One (Special) Tivoli, Chicailb Chicago. Feb. 26. Bdward iEIouse. organist of the Riviera, is credited with originat- ing this Idea. Part of an old film, a ballad singer with slides, and an off-key organist comprise this com- bination. The film employed in this I instance featured King Baggott and I Mary Plckford. in "Going Straight." J It is an old melodrama release us- ing about three minutes Of the reel. The old fashioned costumes and the gestures combined with the re- tltlibg brought forth continuous B. & K. Stock Selling By Special Inducement Chicago, March I. Balaban & Kats, in an effort to bring their employees in closer affiliations with the corporation, are offering special Inducements to their employees to boost the sales of the stock recently placed on the market. A special prize Is being offered weekly to the employee disposing of the largest number of shares. To make the contest more interesting a cash bonus of 40 cents per share sold is also offered. The boys feel that the proposi- tion is a worth-while offering and are enrolling new customers dally, accumulating quite a bit of side money for their efforts. It Is esti- mated that In the five B. & K. houses here that over GOO shares are sold weekly through their em- ployees. LLOYD'S NEH-EAST Los Angeles, March S. Harold Llayd will take about four weeks to finish his last picture un- der the Pathe contract and then arrange for a European trip from June to September. Upon the completion of the pic- ture here Lloyd with several execu- tive heads of his corporation will leave for New York to take up the matter ^f producing his first picture to be released by Paramount at the latter's eastern studios. The scene of his next story is laid In the east side of New York and Lloyd feels that he should do all of his work in that vicinity. Meantime Lloyd has made no provisions for his future produc- tion activities here aa hla lease on the Hollywood studios where he is now working expires upon the com- pletion of his present picture. Several studios have been offered for sale to Lloyd but William R. Frasei*. his general manager, baa found none suitable aa yet. GOING WEST Loa Angelea. Feb. 1. Among recent arrtvals from New York were: t Joseph M. Schenck. Nicholas Schenck, Nornui Talmadge. Lola Bara. Bert Nayfack and I. Altman, traveling in Joseph M. Schenck's private car. Jaydee Williams, head of Rltz Carleton productions. W. B. Frank, vice-president Hal El. Roach studios. Jean Acker, former- wife of Ru- dolph Valentino. James Grainger, aales manager, Metro -Goldwyn- Mayer. E. B. Hatrlck, general manager International Newsreel Corp. Cantor at McVickers' Chicago. March 1. Cantor Josef Rosenblatt has been booked Into McVickers for one week opening March 23. The Cantor will appear four times dally, excluding Friday and Saturday. On Friday he will only appear for the two matinees and on Saturday will do the three evening performances. HOUSE REVIEWS CAPITOL New York, March 1. At the Capitol Uoxy has set a standard for the performanca pre- sented. In fact, he has worked 1. out to such a degree that even a weak feature film cannot hurt th( business any too mnch. But thl; week with a weak show and a wea! feature the Capitol must suffer at the box offlce, unless the public mix up the title of "Lady of the Night' with the Belasco dirty show, "Ladler of the Evening," and give the Cap- itol a play on the sivength of the similarity of title, figuring the pic- ture will be as spicy as the show. If they figure that way they'll be disappointed. Incidentally, there ts a question regarding those classical overture, that invariably start off the show in a picture house. Do the audiences applaud the rendition of the selec- tion or do they applaud because It's through. The Capitol this weeU gives a strange example of this There is about 15 minutes of muslr and the audience broke in at the end of the first movement and ap- plauded, then when the orches- tra continued they sat passive and gave but perfunctory applause at the finish. At that the leader stole a bow in the most ap- proved vaudeville manner for his men in the pit, and they took If. The entire show ran an hour and 55 minutes, with the feature running short of an hour, 58: minutes to be exact, and this made necessary the Interpolation of what proved to be the hit of the whole show, a film version of the poem, "Past and Present," by Thomas Hood, pre- sented under the title of "I Remem- ber." which ran 22 minutes and re- ceived more applause than anything else on the bill. The Capitol Magazine, which fol- lowed the overture., ran exactly 10 minutes and showed past Presiden- tial inaugurations from Internation- al, a human interest dog shot from the Fox Weekly, one shot from KInograms and four from Pathe. The Pathe shots carried the burden of the weekly. Five minutes of the bill were de- voted to the Ballet Divertissements, after which the combined showinfr of "Endless Waters" and the pre- lude to the feature absorbed an- other five minutes. The scenic was a shot of Yellow- stone Falls, a Bruce Scenic. The prelude to the feature was a song fitted to the title of the picture to a certain extent. It was done rather cleverly, with a fade In ef- fect from back lighting, but only the male voice registered, the singing of Sophia Kassmlr falling to rearh the audience with the lyric. The lighting from the front was blue and old rose, while from the side of the arch green strips were used and aYed spot hit Joseph Wet- zel, who handled the first verse and chorus. Fni. on the screen, such as. "Those hold- ing half tickets can remain for the next performance." "Ladles with large hats will kindly remove tliero." "God bless your children but keep them quiet during the t>erform- ance," etc. During the running of the film several more slides were employed pertaining to the oi>era- tor having trouble with his ma- chine, "one minute to change" reels, and other methods employed In picture theatres years ago. Following the screen attraction the singer with the old fashioned slides, the flash light to eue the THEATRE BAHDIT BILLED Norwalk, Conn.. March t. One bandit was killed and two others captured when discovered attempting to drill the safe in the Palace theatre, in South Norwalk. one night last week. The man, fa- tally wounded, was Identified as Joe Blifeskin, 82. of ISSl Fifth avenue. New York. A lone policeman discovered the trio at work on the aafe. operator, dispensed more laughter. The candy butc'aer also coming in on the scene shouting at the top of his voice. The five piece mediocre orchestra In the pit was another bit Interwoven In this novelty. It la a corking presentation. In- expensively produced and furnishes the ultimate of comedy entertain menL STRAND New York, March 1. With "The Swan" as Us film feat- ture, the main presentation end of the show Is built around that film, while the overture, "Within the Walls of China," apparently cues an oriental presentation that holds a song and an appropriate dance rou- tine. Opening, the orchestra plays the overture, a new piece which was given Its first public presentation last Sunday. The accredited com- poser Is Lively, and his work Is good but rather obvious In Its attempts to get the Chinese strains. This Went six minutes to no applause. Following was the divertisse- ments, the first being labeled "Chl- nois." That's a high-art way of pull- ing "Chinese," and, to carry that arty impression further, the song which followed was called "The Lady Picking Mulberries." This was sung by Emily Day, garbed in the tradi- tional kimona and seated inset a drop, which revealed her through a circular opening. Two dancers, Kle- mova and M. Daks, were seated lis- tening, and they probably heard the words. Its soprano range precluded the possibility of real enunciation, and so the recurrent phrase, "the lady picking mulberries," was the only tip-off that It was a horticul- tural song. A grilled round door was the backing for the song, which was further set off by a large dragon painted over the front drop. A Chi- nese dance followed by Klemova and Daks, and such was such. The second part of the divertisse- ment held the Strand Male Quartet In one of those comedy curtains which leaves spaces for the head and hands and has the rest of the atmosphere daubed on. This week the quartet plays the role of four men getting their shoes shined and singing at the same time. "I See by the Papers" was a tawdry topical ditty which showed off their voices to advantage, while several other numbers were used as encores. Their part of the turn went over well. Next to the news reel, running 11 minutes and holding seven cuts—not the usual number because of the length of the past Inaugural scenes Included In International's contribu- tion. Once more Pathe was not rep- resented, which Is getting to be a common thing, and Fox led with four items. International had the rest. Then the prolog for "The Swan." The theme of the play is the love of a layman for a princess—so the theme of the presentation la stolen love—the kind stolen In the moon- light. The set was massive, expen- slire and gorgeous. Set deep, it was the outside of a palace, with a ball going on Inside. Through the long windows the whirling uniforms and gowns could be seen nicely, while on the lawn In front Judson House, tenor, sang some new lyrics to the Saint-Baens' "The Swan." Then the princess stole out to see her lover, while the crowd gathered In the win- dows and ga«ped. That Is pretty much the theme of the picture, which bears the same relationship to the play as a Swede to an Irishman. Then the picture ran for 66 min- utes and was followed by a Lloyd Hamilton comedy that filled out a two-hour show. The usual organ business exited half a house Sunday afternoon—and It exited that mob into a sweet little rainstorm. Sitfc. RIVOLI New York, March 1. The Rlvoll this week is offering a rather pretentious prolog to He fea- ture. "The Thundering Herd"; In fact, It Is one of the most elaborate presentations that the hoxise has undertaken In a long while and one that Is certain to cause talk. Pos- sibly the lack of Just this sort of thing is what has caused the Rlvoll business to be so unstable and that of the Capitol to hold up so steadily. A James Fitzpatrick "Music Mas- ter" film, showing the life of Fred- erick Chopin, is shown In conjunc- tion with the overture, making a very effective opening number. This is followed by the Rivoli Pic- torial, which contained bits from the Fox, KInograms, Patlie and Interna- tional weeklies. Fox and Pathe split the honors with two shots each. The prolog to the feature was en- titled "On the Arapahoe Trail" and In addition to the Rlvoll ensemble NOW BOOKING POP MACK WE,LLS and WINTHROP ■''••■■ ' ■ . . ■, •■ , , • ■ . . ■ - ■ • Playing Balaban and Katz Wonder Theatres of Chicago EDDIE tv^ WEEK MARCH 2 CHICAGO ■ 1-)m -yt WEEK MARCH 9 WEEK MARCH 16 _ -j^^J RIVIERA ■ ■ ..■.'.- I ■-■ '•/'»*I ni ft