Variety (Sep 1928)

Wednesday, September 26, 1928 PICTURES VARIETY 11 Chatter in New York I'mnces Goodrich. (Mrs. Hchrik Wlllom Van Loon) breaks put this season as an author of two plays, In .collaboration .with Albert Hack- ett, Broadway juvenile. Mrs. Jack LudPh, wife of the coufe'h drop star, is in town visit- ing her sister, Mrs. Hal Christy. John Marsden, of "Dane.er," is bragglne about a new baby daush ter. Joe Gnxliam is rfsported doctoring /•The Little Accident" for Crosby Galge. ■ Ed Pauley, latp of "Elmer Gan try;" went to New RochellC! last week to look over the possibility of sU'Pplng into "Jealousy," op posite Kathryn. Cornell. Helen Eby Rock is down With-the Fi'iPPe. , , Estelle Taylor l.s cntcrlainlng the picture sobbics at "The lllg Fight" this week. . . ' Alice Day knockine thcrri cold' in Waterbury, comes down to do; her "Times Square" dialog' on the air tomorrow. The time Is a free cour- tesy. Overprbducllbn of ter.dcrloin ho tels hns dovelopcd a new racket for the local t.-ixi-drivers. They get a buck from the room clerk for every resiHtrntion. The gidtiy oi<3 eii'is are playing a Rnssian cafe on 2d avenue, which spoclalizps in gorgeous waiter.^ Old-fashioned customers at the new .Winter Garden have to be Bpankod every few mhiutes by the ii.shers for attempting to smoke. Hoysvood Broun is said to have "Walked out oh the sophisticated monthly , magazine that Saks Fifth Ave. Intended to issue, .with the colpmi.st as editor. .Nat Lewis; theatrical outfitter, has named a shirt after Damon Hunyon, sports writer. Park Central Hotel. New York, has gone hl-hjit Very particular now and admits it. Not so much Bo-not long ago and admits tbat The best story Mark , Hellinger ever had he didn't print. "The Big Fight" opening drew more sports experts than dramatic critics. In most cases the . ahow got more space in the sporting, col umns than it did in the reviews. New amusement guides for out- of-tpwners continue to make their appearance almost weekly. : Union Methodist Episcopal Church on West 48th street no longer bills itself as "The Actor's Church," Friar's Club has asked its mem- bers to stop hanging around the front door. Sam.Blythe la on his annual in spection of the worst . burlesque show in New. York. Those children are again quarel- Ing. A couple of columnists, Hershfiold and WinchOU, are telling each other'.g right names in the other's paper. Harry Frazee Is coming back to New I'ork . and he's pretty sick. Toid not to go abroad. Jack c;onway (Variety) has gone to Bermuda for four weeks, to talk: back to a sick stoihaclu Ben Grimm, editor of "The Gold Mine," Universal sales organ, 111 ■with typhoid fever, is recovering.' Bessie Mack, Capitol theatre p. a., who accompanied "Our Clang" on a visit to the Crippled and Ruptured .Hospital, was so overcome with sadne^ss that she had to be taken outside for a good cry. Percy Elkelcs has opened a peachy looktr. g r estaurant on 6th 'avenue, near'59th street. iT's^called ^' Percy's. A cigar has been nained after Variety. It won't be nationally ad- vertised. Lucky If anyone smokes them and lives, say.>5 the cigar- maker. dramatic suspense right out front in the aiidlence. Begina Cannon, of the American, and Betty Colfax, of the Graphic, were assigned adjoining seat.s.. The girls dunt spik. [ While neighbors hold their 1 breaths Miss Colfax parked a friend In her spot' and went over to sit \ylth Irene Thiter, of the. News. The audienpe with difficulty re- frained from breaking out in ap- plause. Wrong .Steer ' All the local dailies have the In- dian sign, on the known pei'petratdr of an' xuiethical trick in connection with., the Al Jolson-Kuby . Keeler wedding. Tlie papers were hep and had soihe kind of. story up for the early editions. At seven, when most of the firsts were going to . bed, somebody called up all the city desks biit one and informed that'Al had married Mary Dugan, Kuby's girl friend. It was too. late tor further verification and tho . city eds, not W'lse to Broadway, had'to kill and doctor their wedding yarns, for fear of a bad blunder. After the'- story finally broke and sub- itidcd, several ot the downtown boys troubled to ferret out tl:e plione call. The lngenlou.s lad has something In' store for him the first lime his colleagues get a; chance to ciack down Chatter in Nice By Frank Scully Nice, Sept. U. We need Einily Post over heie. An embarrassing moment Is upon us. Constance Talmadge has just arrived. She la going to do a pic- ture 'for Franco Films. Tliat means she's bound to run. Into Captain Alastair Mackintosh, who' Is watch - ing Blattner's money bag on Bex Ingram's produe.tlon at the same studios. ' The Scot Is Connie's sec- ond ex-husband, What to do? Shall she invite him ln'> Shall she cut him dead? Shall she wish him all.happiness? Shall she marry the Prince of Wales just to be mean? It's; a problem, that's what it is, But tho Captain has remarried, and Connie has not, which gives the Cap the edge. Smart iShicksa This season's new musical com- edy riot is the wife of a prosperous .cloak-and-suitor. His family has snubbed the" show buslnes.s daugh- ter-ln-ldiw over since the wedding. Last week the girl was offered $1,000 a week to sing' two of her numbers in a swar.k suppcr-club. Now the. in-laws arc bragging and dragging all the buyers uptown to SCO the smart shlckssa. The Bumps in Nica : Mackintosh and Connie managed to dodge each o'tiier nicely enough in Paris. While he was being .•spliced in. one part of towOi she was entertaining scribes at the Majestic Hotel In another, non- chalantly dressed in silk pajamas and bare-legged.. But Nice isn't .as big as - Paris, so they're sure to bump into each other down liere. fihe! starts - .work in . a week or so and Mackintosh; must come hack after his honeymoon to finish \\]\ the Ingram, business. ■ "GANG" KIDS, RELATIVES, ETC., FINALLY CALL ON MAYOR Sound on 2 Films Los Angeles. Sept. 2"). One ot the large r lilm companies, unusually successful In its prellm- Ihary sound testa, is wondering how much tone value it is going to sacrifice When It re-rccOrds on wax from I'llm tiiat it already has accoinpllshed. The percentage of diminution in value is estimated as Ukely to be all the way from 12 per cent to 30. While it is conceded in the stu Clio the eventual method' will be recording on film, and on separate film so there may be' nq sacrifice of photographic value due to do velo]drig problems, the .declaration Is made it will be impossible for six to eight monins to equip pro jection machines to handle sound on separate, films. Really! The best slot money maker in the city Is the perfume machine, in the men's room of the Manger. It charges a dime for a squirt;of. lav- ender and gets a heavy play after 1 a. m. . Reporter's Scoop Warrant is out for a reporter on a New York tabloid on a charge of impersonating an officer Though getting scoop details on . an excel lent story for his sheet, the scribe Is said to have gone a bit too far. It was a hot niurder story, the kill Ing having taken place a short way up In New York state. The New York City homicide bureau was notified of the crime by the state troopers, and from that source came the reporter's primary info. Ho phoned the state police headquar ters, .saying he was so-and-so of the homicide squad and that ho would leave Immediately with a photo graphcr for the scene of the killing It was necessary to obtain pictures and data for bureau records, he ex plained. Anyway, the lad got what he wanted and the works broke iii his tab the following inorning. Burn up by the troopci-s and request for the wai-rant followed. : City Hall Gojd The gag of going downtown to be received by Mayor Walker has lost Its kick as a. publicity stunt. Ari-ani;;em('nts involve elaborate maneuvering but results ho longer materialize; "Our Gang" last week, even with the sure-fire Farina dis- guised as "tlie solid south," didn't make the papers -with a visit to City Hall.. Safety Behind Short skirts have provoked a frivolou.-* boudoir edict from the venerable board of directors of a - na.ti on al-r *>s ta u rfin t ^ch ai n; The bus girls and waltres.sea who h.ave to bend over the tables have •been ordered to -vvear bloomers to work. White, not pink or orchid. Those Sobbers The Warner Brothers opening, of ♦TChe Singing Fool" last week had The report was that Ingram, was going to direct Connie, but- that's a little rldlc, for K. l.'s knowledge of social comedies is as meager as Mull Montana's. . Louis Mercanton will direct heir. .\'rorcanton did a circus picture down here a. year ago at the Gau- mont studios -with Betty Balfour, English star. He Is French and pretty good, which is all rl{jht, since, the story isn't the usual frothy Talmadgo tld-bit. The piece as yet untitled in Engll.sh is. by Jean Vignaud, literary editor of Petit Parlsien.. Murat, who knows little English, plays opposite Con- stance, who admits her French is of the pas beaucoup variety. Still they'll get on. Some of the stuff will be shot In Africa, which is only one: <lay of seasickness from here. Rocked by Rockies Los Angeles, Sept. 26 Somewhat bruised and battered by .contact with high, rough spots In the great open spaces of the Ca- nadian. Bockies, the John Barry more-lCi nst Lubitsch company, mak ing the film titled, :"King of the MoUiitalns.'^ is back, from locatioii. A couple . of ' landslides nearly worked havoc y/Hh the company. Bari'yinore canle back walking gin- gerly as result.of a couple of ankle spr.ains; John Miehle, still phot.og r.apher,'returned with a broken nose, caused ..when he was caught in a rock slide. A camera-was demolished and several members of tho working crew were bruised In the .same slide The company has at least two months^ more of work at the studio This production seems to be car rylng out a policy announced in these columns several, weeks ago;— French pictures with American stars. United Artists will probably take this picture as they took In- gram's from Blattner—ho money down and a guarantee of distribu- tion only. Shrewdness oC this Schenck scheme is already ap- parent. Ingram picture has 'cost English backers, report has it, $540,000—$40,000 over budget. All It will co-st Schenck will be adver- tising. .If it goes big he cashes in If It skids, he's only out the bally- hoo bill. Chance as Nite Guide The local newspaper lad with .the lar^csf"Tl>Tretclde~;acq^^ can get a load oh Universal if he v\ill take Cai-1 I:.iaemmle, Jr.'s protege; Nat Goldstone; around to enough joints to pi-ovidc the company with some real stem bar stuff for "Broadr way." .Goidstone is supervising the pro- duetion.seVeral Broadway sequences oC ^vhlch. will be shot here dur- ing tho next few weeks. Tunney and Shavi/ Another pair for the book of etl qucftte are Tunney and Shaw Champ arrived. Went first to Ire- land, skipping England just like Secretary Kellogg. Shaw at same time, on French Riviera. Both pug licly declare themselves anxious to meet. Yet Shaw quit here foi Switzerland the day Tunney left British Isles for Paris. Looks like a r\m around; Tunney's desire to 1ftenR>ft'!ito^^^ well. Saw Bill McGeehan and him In .Paris. They were at tho Hotel George—a huge sepulchral slab near the Charnps Elysees. Swank, no doubt, but awful cold. Wait till Greenwich yilla.gc hears that.-. Tunney staying • at v hotels narnc<d George, answering com- mands to see the Prince of Wales Throv/away for Biz Eddie Miller is after the r)th ave- nue advertising, hence the ch,'inge in name of his Official Metropolitan Guide to Gotham Life, with the old title retained as a sub-caption. For a throwaway. Miller is also going in for purchased m.'iterial un- der Vera Caspcry's editorship.. Pop Bow's 3rd Time Los Angeles, Sept. 25 Robert Bow, father of Clara Bow, married Tui Lorrain, aald to be for mer screen actress from New Zea land, Sept. 2. Miss Lorraine has been living In Clara's home for tho past year as sort . of secretary to star. It Avas reported she was in dlfltl cultles with Immigration author! ties. The Bow marriage eliminates this hazard. It's No. 3 for Pop Bow. SMALL AS PEODUCER Lo8 _Angeles, Sept. 25 Edward Small, now in New York, Is reported dickering with First National to become one of the pro ducers at Burbank., Eph Asher, of the former produc ing firm of Asher, Small and Bog ers, is. a First Nations;! supftrvlsor Charlie Rogers, th-lrd member, Is an Inrlependcnt producer for First Na tional. Brown in "Burlesque Queen" Los Angeles, Sept. 25. Joe E. Brown, the comedian, will be opposite Belle Bennett In Tif- fany's "Queen of Burlesque." Tho picture Is now making, due for an early release. With the aid of niothers, fathers, graadmothers, aimts, their general managcrj sehool teacher, Hubert v Viilght, - ('ontact. nKin. ; Bay .■ troffin, m.c., Edille Senz, mako-Up expert, Bessie Mack, p.a., and n-iost of tho Capitol, New York, performers, tho "Our (lang" kinds, m.'iking ii per- .sonal appcai'iuu'e at the Capitol, were gotten into political garb to meet: Mayor Walker -at .City Hall, Friday afternoon, "Oiir Gi-ing'"^ are Jiianageabic -chil-: drcn, but.the parents seem, tempera- mental. It takes some time to. make' them agree to anything. Finally Harry, the freckled kid. was iU-rayod as Al Smith, Fatty-as Herbert Hoover,. Jean Darling as Tex Ouinan, Mary Ann as Mabel- Willebrandt .and "Pete," the dog, as the democratic donkey. . One awful moment followed when Farina flatly declined to meet the Mayor. Farina and the baby Wheezer would not enter politics. Farina voiced resentment . by "Everybody's dressed up and I look lousy. I ain't going.". . "But Farina, honey, you look very nice in your stage costume," the school twicher. said. "I won't go In this dirty shirt," Farina In-siHted. . Farina's -mother was a little sore, too. It seems that not only had .. Farina been excluded from politics but the make-up man .couldn't find anything to do to FarlhaJs face. When Farina had gotten d clean shirt and some confidential advice from hl.s personal, manager (Farina Is the only member of the "Gang" owning a personal manager) he Was prevailed upon to meet the Mayor. The bus waiting outside to take the "Gang" to City Hall was filled with the rest. pf the "Gang"" rela- tives who had not been in the dress- ing room. Cousins and uncles, more aunts and grandmothers, but no lit- tle brothers or sl.sters, probably to prevent professional Jealousy^ "Pete" As Meal Ticket A Variety reporter sat between Mrs. Carter, the school teacher,, and Mr. Liicinay "Pete's" owners who had accompanied "Pete" from the Coast, "Pete" is six yoans old and has been in pictures slnCe . three months of age. It happened this way. Mr. Lucl- nay worked a.s an extra In the movies. One day! he brought his pup on the lot and that day the pup was used In the fllm.s. That night "Pete's" owner received two checks; $7 for his own services and $16 for "Pete." Since then. "Pete" has been the actor of the family.. rWte "Gang"'and Its retinue finally arrl^d at City Hall after keeping" Mayor. "Walker, waiting. The "Gang" In general were very blase about It all. Farina was more than that. When Mr. Walker did not instantly appear. Farina .said In a tone of dLsgust, "Oh, where'a the Mayor?" After the Mayor had talked to the .school teacher, been i)hot(>graphed with the "Gang" and refused to wear a brown derby In the picture, tho hectic proceedings were over and the "Gang" and Its tribe of relatives fought their way through tho admiring crowd, back to the family bus.. i- Really! EffuMr-ncy plus as a .service, con- ve^tenco" i)H\n1id "ttii^dWhT^nr of "a' too homey bu.'ilnc-ss office in a Times Square office building. O.stenslbly a collection agency, the office was a well-furnlshed flat with an overly busy phone particularly after busi- ness hours. Oops stepped in on the layout, taking a quartet of femmes Into official custody. Babe White Babe White has just thundered in here from Africa with . about :j0,00n feet of film, .result of a year's exploring In Abyssinia. White has been i-oaming the unknown for the I'Mcld Museum, and after taking out all scientific stuff, he has about 20 cans of rich travel film left.: This big boy—he's 6 feel 7 inches tall and weighs 250—^did the lion- taming corral-bulldlng and other technical stuff on "Chang." 11" ■says-he-saw=Goopen=-.in:=IndDjLChixui= this .summer and Paraniount's new wild animal film, now in the mak- ing, will make a trained monkey out of "Chang." He goes back Into Aby.-^sinia after a trip to' London and New York In October, A synchronized lecturo of this Abys.slnian stuff of hia ought --^—e- Miss "togan "in—indie- Juoa Angeles, S.opt. 25. Jacqueline Logan has been signed by Trcm Carr for star's part in "Ships of tho Night." by Arthur Hoerl. Duke Worne will direct. to be grabbed up by somebody l)e fore he dives into the wilderness ag.'ilri,' not to emerge, for another year. How Come? Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey Olcott are duf; back in Monte Carlo after .Impending August at Saratoga. Over 70 How, the Irish tenor still likes to make a trip to America to clean up at tho races. In his absence his place Is being occupied by his fos- ter son, Edouard Le Favre, attorney In L(jS Ansoles to film folks. Lo J-:,-Lvre- - Js- -a- -d U'cc t - descend an t L . of Madame Sans Ciene, Napoleon's laundry woman V>efore Gloria Swan- son glorified her on the screi-n. Napoleon liked her, but walk>'d, turning her over to General Lc Favro to. marry. Le Favro, being a Kdod soldier, did. Thafa how come. - FoxV4 NewfacBS Fox has four new faces.; Don Perry, one time Harvard football player, will be seen, in "Me, Gangster" directed )y Raoul Walsh, ■M.arla Alva will pl,ay leading lady to Edmund Lowe and Raoul Wal.sh In "Old Arizona". She iypn a beauty prize In Galveston. Helen Tweltrees from legit and Sylvia Fields, ditto, will debut in films In "Badger" and "Behind That Curt.'tin" respectively. Lat- ter will be a talker. GOLDBECK DIRECTING Los Angeles, Sept. 25. Willis Guldbeck, writing "The G.i'ta'way". for Pathe, lias been as- signed to dlri-et it. Robert Arm- strong will ill' featun-il. It will Ik; the lirst (Hrfctorial Ji^b Van Buron Directs Talkers A. H. Van Burfn will leiive for the coast on 0<;t. 15, after complet- ing tho .staging of "I'^ast Life." ■ Ho Is tmder contnujt to Fox as a talking director.