Variety (Sep 1928)

Wednesday, September 26, 1928 PICTURES VARIETY W E. SENDS OUT A CHILL Many Type Mobs of Extras Used, But Regidars Only Looked in Windows Lbs Aneelcs, Sfpt, 25. Durinpr the past two weeks, the lone suffering fihn extras of Holly- wood have had all the sensations of a pauper child. who gazed through the plate glass o£ a luxuri- ous cafe watching others feast in plenty. After a woeful drop in pro- duction of two months tha:t sent most of the extras digging for the last dime, film activity suddenly picked up. Several studios had exceptionally biff sets, which would demand the services of hundreds of extras for sustained periods, but when the alsoa heard and called up Central Casting Bureau for work, they dis- covered that the horn of plenty had a hole in both ends. More extras were used during the two weeks than had appeared on the various lots in .evcral months, but only a comparatively small per^ centage of them were the regulars who depend upon Central Casting. The situation was such that the biff sets wfere actually a detriment to the chances of the regulars, as most of the people used were out- Bide the regular lists. One studio, making an African Jungle picture, needed a host of col- ored people, of which there are few on Central's list. Another lot needed a mob of Chinese and Jap- anese. Another wanted a flock of . western Asiatics, another demanded an array of underworld folks, such as are supplied Infrequently by the downtown Loa Angeles office of Central and are herded by one or two specialists who can lay their hands on, any number of tough mugs when needed : for film se- quences. As a result, the regulars con- tinued to twiddle their thumbs, al- though a lot were saved by one or two companies which, fortunately f6r the extras, suddenly required several hundred of the type with which entral astlng's lists abounds. Officials at the Central bureau titate that thera is currently a slight Ifiaprovement In the number of calls for regulars t)ver the slump period, but that it Is not commensurate with the number of extras actually iised in the pictures which have been In the making. The result is that the average number of extras used has been appreciably, lower daring the past . several weeks than normal. Fox's Talkers Will Slay And Be Made on Coast "With the exception of hi.s Movie- tone newsreel and an occasional talking short. .subject, "WiiUam Fox will concentrate all talking produc- tion on the west coast. "While the studio in the east will be kept open it will not be given a definite schedule but will be used rather to facilitate the handling of all emergency work. Fox executiyes'see no reason for following other companies in split- ting their talker production, par- ticularly shorts, between the coasts. They consider the two-year jump their company has had sufficient to glv9 it the cream of Broadway. One said: "We have no occasion for our eastern studio getting any ^spe- cial consideration. We do not use people for a few hours or day.s. We keep them months and for that period of time we can use them far more economically and advantage busly on the coast.*' In the ca.ses of Broadwayites In current plays or iprohiblted by ear Her contracts from going west then, and only then with the exception of the newsreel. it was stressed, will Fox movietone in the east. DEASPIKEO Electric Research Doesn't Know Meaning of /'Inter- changeability," Charles Bunn States Among Other Things — Companies Be- fore "Interchanging*' Will Have to Go Missouri-—No Exception, Not Even Pho^ tophone UNHAPPY TIDINGS Amplifiers for Recorcls on Sets Replacing Musicians in ^xtra 3 Mos. Ago, Now Opposite Colleen Moore Los Angeles, Sept. 25. After much scrutinizing of candi- dates Colleen Moore has selected James Ford as her leading man In "Synthetic Sin." ,., Ford, until three months ago, vras an extra on the First National lot. W. E. Is Wiring Several Keith-Proctor Houses Keith and Proctor houses are now fcontracting for dual Installations of , Western Electric talker equipment, It Is gathered from the Electrical Research Products Company. Several Proctor and Keith houses are now being wired. One is Proc fdr^ geiTi Street. " ' - - RCA's Photophohe, which, de isplte the close relationship of the two electric companies, had ex- pected that the Keitli circuit, M leasts was In their baff. John Gilbert's Alternative Los Angeles, Sept. 25. John Gilbert has gone to New York to settle his future releasing affiliations. If Nick Schenck's squawk to his brother, Joseph M. Schenck, halts the proposed deal for Gilbert to join United Artists the star may sign with Joseph P. Ken nedy of Pathe-FBO. Gilbert will confer with Kennedy in New York when the banker re- turns Friday from Europe. Gilbert says he will not return to M-G-M. — —-Delf on-M-G-M-Shortsr - • Los Angeles, Sept. 25. Harry Delf, recently with Fox, has been added to the staff of the M-G-M studios to direct talking shorts. He is now working on a story which he will put into prodtictlon with a five people cast next week Need Colored Players Los Angeles, Sept. 25. "Hallelujah" will be the title of the Negro production directed for M-G-M by King Vidor. The director is to go to Chicago and New York to secure principals for the cast, having been unable to locate satisfactory colored play- ers in Los Angeles. L. A. to N. Y. Carl Laemmle. John Gilbert. Sol Lesser. Sam Saxe. Henry Henigson. Glen Tryon. Barbara Kent. King Vidor. Colvin V. Brown. Garnet Weston. Alice Day. , , _ , William' Courtenay. Sam Behrendt. • Blanche Mehaffey; Fred W. Beetson. Leo Morrison. N. Y. to L. A. Mack Sennett. Edward Montagno. HENIGSON'S MISSION ABROAD Los Angoles, Sept, 25. 'Henry Henigson, general manager of Universal until three months ago, sails for England shortly to act over there on behalf of Carl Lacmmlc, Trip Is said to b© In the nature of a confidential nature. Henigson will be gonie about 10 weeks. Interchangeability among th« SQore of devices corning into the talker field may be effected in their respective laboratories. The word has not yet been prac- tically defined so far as it con- cerns a material transfer of the rec- ords and film of ope company to the reproducing apparatus of an- other. This comes directly from the Electrical Research Products Com- pany (Western Electric) which ex- presses complete ignorance of the word "interchangeability" and which states that it will maintain this ignorance until one of the herd of talkers playing to this term at- tempts to cash in on it in a theatre; Then, before the company install- ing A''itaphone and Movietone re- producing apparatus, considers the claims of its contemporaries, it will delve minutely into each and eVery mechanism, looking carefully for any infringement on its own patents which might cause the manufactur- er to hall it as interchangeable. Western Electr.Ic's talker depart- ment, through its general sales chief. Charles Bunn, is confident that none of the outside conipanles will pass the acid test which will enable them to continue the use of the word, once their apparatus makes its first public paying bow. Tough Problem "Our patent attorneys will have to determine whether there is any in- fringement on any of our patents in these devices -which have not yet come out of their laboratories. It is a tough problem—thia defining the word 'interchangeability,*" Bunn said. "As a matter of fact, there Is no such word In our field as 'inter- changeable,' " he continued. "Even with Photophone. that matter has not yet been settled, because that company (RCA-Gerieral Electric) has not a singl6 pernianent instal- lation in any theatre." Because Photophone haa been shown some "favors" carries no slg- _nificance_. for ,the g.eneral me^ of the word 'when applied to every Tom. Dick and Harry , In the trade, Bunn declared. The parental association of the two companies with A- T. and T., whereby an exchange of certain patents has been effected, as well as an agreement on cross-licensing, should not glye confidence to every free lance talker equipment com- pany In the field, Bunn let it be known with no equivocation. ''What other companies claim we can neither refute nor substantiate,*" Mr. Bunn added. "We have no i<nowlodgc of their reproducing sys- tem. They can claim anything in a laboratory and we have no way of di.sputing it. Thoy can .show any- thjng in a laboratory. "When they start marketing it— that is another matter. Then we can act. Bristolphone Sounding Gotham's "Times Sq." Hartford, Conn., Sept. 25. Waterbliry's first .film production began Monday with the synchron- ization of the picture "Times Square" taken " in Hollywood by Gotham. The .sound record w'ill be made with talk .it the studios of the Bristol Company (Bristolphone) In Piatt Mills bere. : Alice Day and Arthur Lubin who co-star in "Times Square" are In Waterbury to remain until the scor- ing is completed.,rA. second Gotham picture starring Lionel Barrymore will be synchronized here. , F. R. Bristol, engineer of tl^e Bristol company, said his brg.aniza- tion is fully equipped to shoot pic- tures here. It Is the fir.st production work to be done on talkers, by the Bristolphone. Coast Hurricane Benefit Of Boxing Bouts Los Angeles, Sept. 25. Theatre Managers Association of Los Angeles will stage 'a benefit for the Florida.^West Indies Hurricane Relief.Fund Sept 29 at the Olympic Auditorium here. The tbeatre chiefs decided to of- fer an elaborate boxing show and are lining up 50 rounds of boxing Cor the cu.stomers. The feature of the program will be the appearance of screen actor fight experts as ^peferecs of the bouts. Olympic auditorium, donated by Jack Doyle, L. A. fight promoter, seats 10,400. The house will be scaled to $2 top and the association expects to net about $10,000 for the fund. I^iia Angeles, Sept, 25. Tlii-oe and four piece orchesti-as playinsf on picture .seta ■ in the studio.s around-. Hollywood are dcioniod. Hy the first of the year mrtst of the production organizations will have oliminated them and substi- tuted talking machines with Radiola 105 loud speaker attachment. Last season M-G-M spent $52,- 000 fbr musicians on sets. This season with elimirialion the ex- pense' will be around $11,500,.. The studios are'all getting ape». cLal talking machines with a turn- table built by the R. C. A. people, listed around $985.00, and sold to the studios at 50 per cent off the list price. Average salary of a set musician runs $90 a week, always with over- time, bringing the cost up consid- erably more. Studios' figure that music can be, purchased for the talking machines al|ter specially selected by the directors and stars in the picture, with the cost of records not exceeding $35 a week. 'These talking machines can also be . taken on location and are elec- tripally operated with loud speaker,. Paramount, It Is said, is getting ready to adopt the talking machines. W. B.'s Special Variety to Waxman-Lewis* Credit While Warners dented Variety's paying reader? locally last Viro.ek they nevertheless got out a good imitation of the paper for Wednes- day night a.t the Winter Garden. This, they handed out broadside on the opening of Al Jolson's "Singing Fool" winner. The panhandlers couldn't get theirs fast enough, fig- uring it meant an extra beer. Just .3,000 people saved quarters. Warren Lewis, who worked on the job all the night before, got a great kick out of following "pol- icy." He admits now that he Is a,l- most learned enough to "copy read" regularly. Lewis and A. P. Waxman, War- ners' publicity chief, are solely en- titled to the credit for the neat job. .— Every -exhibitor, who 1.^. booking the special get.a copy with Instruc lions to tear out the (ilght banner line papers and frame them, as part of their ballyhoo. Old IvOndon will get 1,000 for nothing when the picture opens there. The Warner boys, themselves and their staff men were a.<5 much .surprised as anyone else at the imposing looking throwaway. Forrest's Unexpected Elevation as Engineer Los Angelas, Sept, 25. Because In his younger days, he chose to take an electrical engi- neering course when attending Uni- versity of California, even though after graduation he did not use It, David Forrest has been ..promoted from the Christie publicity office. When Charles Christie sought Nathan Levlnson, representing Western Electric on the coast, for advice as to the composition of his sound sta.ge technical crew he waa told Levlnson already had an ap-. plication from a man In his public- ity department who seemed to be a good englneier. . For four weeks Forrest haa been in training at the Paramount stu- dio for the responsible position of "mixer," the controller of the. micro- phones, and will be there another month. Before going to U. C, Forrest wa« an organist and a theatre orchestra leader. During his college days ho took the jglee club to Europe on tour. ..u....^^. pj.^p,^^y .^Igp^^ 1^ Los Angeles, Sept. 25. Richard Arlen, Paramount player, collapsed on the set of "Four Feath- ers." It carne from - pain caused by breaking a bone in his foot when stumbling over a f^amora tripod. "At present we are in the dark, that except" one point, that^tTiMr claims do not; mean anything until they are proved," the sales head concluded. What Mr. Bunn didn't mention Is that W. B. or Vitaphone has 11-. cen.sed about all of the producers now making talking picturfoi. D. W.*s Own Test Los Angeles,. Sept. 25 D. W, Griinth has had his voice tested at the Fox studio. Since hearing as well as seeing the result the director lias gone talker—so much so it Is taken fbr granted his next subject, hot ex- pected to go into work before Jan. 1, will be an all-Lalking plf-turo. Pomeroy Directii^ Los Angeles, Sept. 25- Roy J. Pomeroy, head of Para- tnount's sound department, has been designated a picture director. ,, H«. Jtk by Austin Strong,"^ as an all-talker. Story originally slated .for William DcMlUe, Who will get another as- signment. Pomero^'s unolTlcIal apprentice- ship aa a director wa» on "Interfer- ence," made as a silent picture by Lothar Mendeis. Pomieroy re-shot all but 200 feet of. it as a dialog film. ==--Emmett-=Flynn—Back—- Los Angoles,- Sept. 23. .Kmriiett Flynn, who rutiirnod to the Fox lot as a director n.ftcr threo ' years, has been aHslgned to din-ft the "Veiled Woman." It will be a .sound piftun- f<'atMr- ing Leah Torrah and l';.iul Vlii'.-' tiii Dix's Alleged Cousin Confesses DCS Moines, Sept. 25, Lance Curryer, 19, and alleged to be a cousin of Richard DlX, who formerly lived In Dcs Moines, was picked up by authorities here arid on. questioning confessed' lo having robbed several homes In Beverly Hills and Hollywood while acting as chaufCour for his cousin- lli.s youthful accomplice in Cali- fornia has alnvuly been appre- hended. The boy, who_ formerly TiW(l'"VieW"aTii^)rrs^"o^^^ 1.0 California, acromi)anled by of- Ciirryer. wlien taken In c.'ustody, liarl fin'c'Jd coll'-'.'tiim of kodak snap sliot.'^, .sorup of whffh were stolen frcirn p<-rsfins well known iu the m')\-i'- ■ ul'iny.