Variety (Oct 1928)

58 VARIETY FOREIGN Wednesday, October 10, 1928 London as It Looks (Continued from pag<? 2) can cull on a film man without loslnff ciisto, i£ one has one^ whlch^ one hasn't, thank God. And, when an intelligent man like Herman Starr talks about the future of the industry, surely it is a f?ood story. On the day before the opening of "The Jazz Singer," there was actually a luncheon party of film critics to protest against my writing about talkers. Do not these people understand that most write a Jot of dreary technical stuff that 1« of no interest to the public what- ovcir ? They always miss the human story. Scarcely one knows the heads of the Industry personally. When they meet them,, if they do meet them, they sit cap in hand and caiinot talk to them on equal terms, fvankly and truthfully. Save Me From Film Work! Then there is so much trade politics In all; the business. The public. don't care about it. When I think of the way certain critics tried to sneer at "The Circus," which is the greatest entertainment I have seen since "The Gold Rush," ! am appalled. Mind you, I would rather be a curate than a film critic. _ After all. If I sleep at the first night of a play, people do say. My God, ;he's gone to sleep," : In a picture pnlac6, they wouldnt notice. It wouldn't be worth while. Noel Coward PrieiFerred Hayana Chatter I Father of Robot Claims Flexible Sound Dievice By RENE CANIZARES \ „ London, Oct 9. Havana, Oct 5. Albert Roberts, an Inventor here City all dressed up for the Span- connected with the Illusion business, lah-American War Veterans at 3Pth claims to have perfected a device annual camp next week. From 10,- to mako the voice travel about the 000 to 15 000 veterans and their screen In talking^ pictures. Roberts famllies>lll visit the island. The Ms the Inventor of ..the ^^echanlcal . „^ «^«,«fir.o. mJi-n now showing at Maskclyne's Ctiban Goyernmejit is co-operating I ^^^^^^^^ on the entertainment and special parades, excursions, shows, etc., will I Last Sunday's roto sections in be put on for the veterans. The New York carried photos of Mr. Rough Riders will visit San Juan | Roberts' mechanical man, which lie Hill in Santiago de Cuba, ' ' • ■ • - Egypt By EDWARD ASSWAD. Hotels and bars are doing capa- city business. California. Veterans arrived a week ago. Gene Austin here last mpnth with his wife and^ a party of friends on his private yacht. After a few. days here they sailed for. New Orleans. Boris Saphlro; Lithuanian actor, I 18, who claims he talks seven- Ian-( guages, sings and dances and im- personates,'was given the razz at I the Campoamor theatre on his I dubs . Roberts' Universal Robot, or "R. U, R." The pla,y which first dealt with the posslbnity of me- chanical men was "R. U. R." by the Capeks of Bphemlja. Paris Chatter Cairo, Sept. 20. Last program performed by Lydia Johnson's company cpnsi.sted of Marluccla, Nelson and Markoff, So- iange and Nlkltin, the Ferri's, Eight Jackson Girls, Duo Mennis, Belle- kens, and Vandolv. A new Greek company under di- rection of Marlca Cotopoull played the Kursaal theatre. Company In^ eludes. M. C. Papageorglou; Mme. Vassllladou, Pop! Hadzipanayotou, Vassili Logothoditis, Mrs. C. .Myrat,. Ej. Leandrou and F.. Yahnbpdulos. Plays performed were "Le Noceur Immaciile," ''Mile. Flute," "L'- lAmoureux de la Bergere," and "Cheri de sa .Concierge." (Continued from page 2) Gloria Swanson, denlct-^ a local re- port he is abroad to ..appear in a picture, says he is in France as Management of the Kit Kat (cab- aret) held a fashionable soireet with a ;show iricliiding Miss Bepa and Juliette, de Ritter. Charleston Imita- tors received an oyation. Other artistes playing here are the Kisrht .Tackson Girls, Mlrka Alma, Di'o Slacsipv,. Russian dancers: and Carmlna de „ _ opening performance. Hla contract mi,^ «fi,or tMne I have to say about the talkers is that if you. was concelled immediately to avoid the foreign personal representative hj(<ii;i p,ij.o Sisters, a Americahs'^ keTorseW ov^ Spanish dr ker's Hill will be wiped out. White Plfn«/lll be forgotten. The ^^^^^^ Bigel^billed as the nasalism must stop. This raucousness must end. | Banjo King, spent two weeks in I prefer No'el Coward t Bee Lillie Takes the Knock Ivor Ndvello condescended to appear at the Palladium sacrificing his great art for money only to find that the public knew it was the bunk The next week, as Beatrice Lillie. received ?1.G00 for ^^^j^eek's rest I thought, of course, that Noel Coward was writing, something specially '^No^'she did a lot of old Masle Gay stuff and got the bird. They cut but one of her numbers, and did not take up the option of a second week All sorts of explanations have , been made. The truth Is that ^ revue artists must not condescend when they go Into vaudeville. Havana and played a week in Cam- poamor .theatre. Hie also broadcast from PWX. , - , , ^, dancer, has re- Ed.mond Greville is quitting | turned. British International to produce Minuit" ^(Sild-night). for an Anglo I pii,n d'Art Egyptien company Is. German company, to he. made in preparing an all-Egyptian comedy France with Vanda K. Valiger in picture. the lead. I Ramcses. Films Is doing "Zelnab," A season of t\y'o months of Rus- by .Hussein Bey Helical, ^^e Dan Vila, manager of Montmartre l siam opera Is listed to begin at the Assiassa, important Arabic paper., cabaret, arrived yesterday with Theatre des Champs Elysees in Condor Films, directed by Ibrahim eight girls from New Tork for thel January, ends the rumo'r of vaude- Laina, has produced a film named. ' •" —— ' Catastrophe in the Pyramids." Egyptian actress, Fatma Rushdy.. is in the lead role. Sbsan Film Co., under direction of Ijady Ih.san Sabry. hag prepared a film entitled "The Victim:" , show of his cabaret. Among the ville again this winter there_ girls 13 ah acrobatic dancer from I Chicago, billed as Lornei. Chatter in Nice By Frank Scully Harold E. Tillotson, youthful im- presario, formerly directing Noble Sissle syncopators at the Ambas- sadeurs here, has quit the orches- tra and Is returning to New York this' week. The Sissle band has dispersed and the colored conduc- tor Is back in London; Herb Williams Teaches Sultan ^^ Herb Williams passed the test, though. The Sultan of Muscat and Oman went along, the other night, to see his show. . Aa he^ does not speak English the foreign oftlce had to sort out the plays that he could . Nice, Sept. 27. understand. ,■, i. Maurice Chevalier, due in Holly- ,, . . Williams did not know he was in the house and no one could have L^^Q^^ ^^^^^^ month, and Sacha Gui- °' this city but did not^ tempt the told. The Sultan looked Just like one of_those black law s^^^^^^^ ^. J try,.down for a trans-Atlantl. fllghtl J^tnn?^^^^^^^^ Amin Atalla Fllni Co. turned out a comedy called "The Sea Laughing." The fa,ll opening of Longchamp, Paris' most beloved race track, drew out the leading personalities Naguib Eff Rihani •\v.ill rejoin his wife's, Mme. Badia Massabny, com- pany. Play in project is entitled "Yasmina." An agreement has been entered Still, I watched his face while Herb_ Williams tried to live up to liis I ^ ^^^^^ November, have been '"Always "in . the "past/ Longchamp I i"to between Yus.sef Bey Wahby, di- title, "The Funniest Man in the World. , ^ , taking a long breath here before the was not considered Longchamp. r<?ctor of Ramases theatre, and The Sultan first laughed out loud when Wllllama .sat doj(rn on the . particularly at a seasonal. opening George Ablad, through the interven which may account for it; screw of the piano stool. He grinned, though, ''^^'V;' ^^"^ I ilj! I Chevalier's home is in Cannes, l un^ess the gorgeous models were hanged the conductor, and he showed satisfaction when Herb hit t^e ^^^^ Cannes really, but La Bocca, Sli"^^"?^" '^"^ aboiit the crowd. conductor over the heaed with a cricket bat. I ,^ ^ ^tA^ ^^ *l.,.r^ a i^„.> I The sky was slightly . overcast 'In fact, he and his Grand Vizier, who. was present, are thinking of learning cricket specially, so they can do It to the local band. I wrote down the Sultan's name, for Herb afterwards. I told him where Muscat was, and I said I would write you about it Then, after supper, I met Herbert Williams playing bridge with" Archie de Baer, his manager; ' . \. .^i. "Ah," I said, "the funniest man In the world playing bridge, with the lunhlest manager in the world." The Grand Old Men Henry Arthur Jones was 77 a week ago. Gordon Selfrldge went up to tea. So did the Jones' grandchildren. And . so did I. There was a charming lietter from Barrle pinned on the mantelpiece and all sorts of telegrams. A hlrthday cake wfis cut, and after we had gone the family shut themselves in while two of the grand-daughters acted a scene from one of Jones' ""Tv.n,ii«<i t« fhA At^ar nifl man. "No critics allowed," was the order. . . Henry.Arthur was full of memories. He sent you all greetings. He ia an old friend of America's, and, in spite of^his illness, aa happy as a boy. Then, at supper, I learned that Plnero, who is 73, Is writing a new play with a sort of Jekyll and Hyde plot.. He is 73! I don't know who will follow these old men. There is ho one like them today. Jones, Plnero, Shaw. Even Barrle is 68. Galsworthy, the youngest of the great ones. Is only 61. Then come a lot of mutts. the wrong side of town. After loaf ing for a month to clear his ii'ead I of 300 consecutive performances in I Another sign of the times indl- the same act at the Caslfio de Paris, I eating that Montmartre's popularl- he warmed up his pipes at a galalty la slowly but surely waning is at Cannes the other night; .. Drew the closing of the Rat Mort, mean- 50,000 francs for the night, about ing the dead rat. 'This establish- $2,000. Boxes went aa high aa $40. ment, tvhich formerly occupiied the This, with Paramount's two-year Coveted spot—rue Plgalle, and the contract in his pocket,, niade him Place—-very heart of the hill sec- feel mighty cocky. Harry D'Arrast tion,. has closed for the first time will direct his first picture, which, in its existence, which dates back according to Lasky, who. sighed this long before the War. prlncel of Parisian sOiig and gag- A small sign says that the place sters, will be with sound to give I will reopen in September after be- Chevalier a chance to sing some [ ing newly decorated. But the of his song hits. If he sings what pessimists point out that the month he sings over here you couldn't mail I la mostly , gone and. aa the pro- the trahslatlona from Hollywood to New York on asbestos paper. tion of His Excellency Mohamed Mahmud' Pasha, the Prime Minis- ter, who offered a subsidy of 4,000 Egyptian pounds. Season of dramiitic plays will reach its apex due to the association of these two artists. London Chatter (Continued from page 2). turned Into a tiatlonal memorial by her daughter,. Edith Craig, to whom it was willed. prietors haven't started work on the place it would hot be a sur- prise if it remained shut. L.illian Sees it Through It was announced that Co'nstance' Collier had left the cast of "Taken By Storm," the new Ivor Novello play in which Ivor will star, because Jed Harris wanted her for New York. Managements make pronouncements like that Then, it turned out that, really, she was going Into "The Mollusc" with joe Coyne, who played the part in New York exactly. 20 years ago with Alexandra Carlisle. Then they said that Ellis Jeffreys was taking Constance Collier's place I pjg declarative sentence, with Ivor. Then it seemed that Ellis Jeffreys . had . left. Braithwaite. Is to have a go. It Is strange how these leading ladies walk in and out. is like a bargain basement. Movie matters in Nice, with pro- duction Ideaa, however, still back I in the Middle Ages, are brightening up. Ingram's "Three Passions" is| in the cutting and titling stage, Per- ret's "Possession" la nearing the end | of its shooting schedule and Con- stance Talmadge ia due to start on I "Venys" In a few days. All this I at Franco Film studios. Other places are not doing much, | though Machin Is trying an . origi- nal picture titled "Beasts Like Men." ' This title Isn't to be read as a sim- The story I Now, Lillian I haa -for Ita cast. dogs,. monkeys„| chimps and hens, and Machlh is South Africa By H. HANSON Cape Town, Sept 7, Opera House is dark, Cape Town is not. to have a gala season this coming summer according to the decision arrived at by the Publicity Association. Two big weeks at the Tivoll with an excellent bill headed by Will li^ffe. .Fyffe sailed today for. England. Jane Dillon, American male im- The net profit, for the year for the Theatre Royal Theatre, Drury Lane, amounted to $220,000, Dlrec^ tors recommended a dividend of 60 per cent, and a bonus of 2 per cent, leas income tax. The current atr traction, "The Show Boat," broke the house record the week ending Sept 22, $32,000. . Finding time, hang heavily be- [ twcen the two shows at the Palla- dium Sept. 27, two members of the I Fong Ling Chinese team of acro- bats started to beat each other up« with the result one was taken off in Ian ambulance and the other to the police station. The drama a rave at making them imitate any personator, opens in Johannesburg. $1,500 a week movie actor ever born. Delicious Comedy Acting I Karl Kitchen, Broadway chatterer. We had three fli'st nights last week, three new London managements, has been sipping cocktails at Cap I In.fact Leslie Faber and Ronald Squire; with the Wyndham family as. partners, appeared with . YVonne Arnaud .in "By Candle Light." an adaptation from the German, which Gilbert Miller has bought for New York and for which he wants Leslie Howard in the Ronald Squire part, of a valet who takes his master's place. It is not a good play, but It is very amusing. Herr Graham's lines are better than the plot. All three stars acted in a perfect comedy vein. A Star Comes Back Then,, the next night, Matheson Lang openied his management with "Such Men Are Dangerous," which, when called "The Patriot," cost Gilbert Miller $175,000 in five nights in New York. Frankly, I am nervous about Lang now. He had a fine presence and a fine voice, but how slow! I wonder If you get provincial when you go on tour for three long years. Besides, Charles Laughton played the same part in "Paul I," another version of the same story, la.st year. These actors must not have them- selves compared with Laughton. No, not one of them. Besides, the -play^was-clumslly-producedT Zena Dare Co., due/next week. All suburban cinemas report business Batisfactory. Johannesi9urg English actress Sybil Thorndikc and her company at His Majesty's with "Saint Joan." Revue "Hit the Deck," Empire. Orpheum, bio-vaudp. Bijou, pictures. Local and suburban cinemas do- ing well. Morris Davis, more familiarly known as "Brother Fio" to hundreds of artists who have. visited this country, died Aug. 7. His associa- tion with the profession dates back Promoting Plane Travel : I f? 1^90. Hia well-known figure at . Exploitation gag new to those 'he railway station, meeting artists eyes is being pulled by an airplane aPPeur^nff ^^t the F.mpire wa.s a wcl- D'Antlbes, which seems to be the] paradise of every playwright, critic, hoofer and show girl;. Shaw lefti after six weeks there. Said he| hated the place as there was noth- ing to do but sWinu And there] Isn't. For a non-drinking vegeta- rian, especially If you bring your I own wife. It waa Shaw's first visit and maybe he hated It so much he'll oome back. There were cheers, of course. We were all delighted that Lang was back. But it was more a case of "Auld Lang Syne" than anything. I hope it will be a success. "Frank Celller'? in the Lights Then, the night after that, Norman Lorlng who is Marie Tempest's Ljj^^ ^ station .ry bathtub. Since m, tried to make Frank Cellier a star. When he saw him in The Kj^^ passengers can afllord to tra [an with a Load of Mischief" In New York two years ago he promised ,-)](ine if educated to its sp son, Man . , „ him the chance. So, Cellier had his name out in lights at the Apollo and they staged "The Lord of the Manor," by John Hastings Turner. No; I do not think so. 1 hopo so. I liko those people to try. It Is easily a fine play. outfit down here. Each tinie> a crack train pulls out a plant picks It up, races past it so low that all the passengers can read every letter on ^tha^\ving3.=,J?hen^the^pilol^ja.wing& skyward, circles around behind the train and shoots past again at a low level. Ho does this four or five times and then waves fare well. It ' makes the de luxe train look all travel by pi and .saroty, the racket come to Johannesburg, African Theatres have In haincl plans for a theatre to occupy n. whole block, also a super clneiria, and bio-vaurto theatre to seat 3,000. ^-"A^native=^TmTr^Plnimlr=l!T^n"i;Tolmn- ne.sbnrg. He in 42 inches high, weighs pounds, and in CO years old.. Natal Criterion, bio-vaude Theatre Royal, dark, Now municipal regulation.^ make it a punishable offense to annoy speed neighbors by playing gramophones drives the| pianos, and other musical inatiMi-: William J. Wilson ij back in Lon-. don, after several years' absence and is producing J. L. Sachs' re- vival of "The Lilac Domino." Ho staged, the origlna]^ production for Sachs some. 10 years ago. The re- vival opens In Cardiff and comes to London Oct. 22. Charles Cochran says there has not been a single, unoccupied seat for any evening performance of "This Y'ear of Grace" since the opening. The receipts do not vary $25 a performance. Ice and Heat Now that the Palladium is giving its patrons free Ice Water, the Al- hambra is prepared to rent out um- brellas during inclement weather. Who knows, perhaps this fall they may even turn on the heat in the theatres (th.at Is those theatres with heat) before a given date set by the directorate in event of a premature cold spell! The Duncan Sisters, presented by .Tack Buchanan, will stage their "Top.sy and I3va" show at the Gaiety in October. The sup lTortTftT»"^""cifsl'^i nclird Davi.*?, Sylvia Cecil, Daphne Glenno, Kate Oppel'man, Cteorge Vollfiire. Harold l>uncan, .Tohn Kelly, Percy Cahill, Burns and Johns. point home so well that many of ments, or wireless loud speakers them ditch the tinaln for faster Evert fireworks being sot off travel on their next trip. | prohibited. After running over a year at the Kingsway, "Marigold'* closes Sept. 22. A new play will be staged there Oct 3, "Thunder on the Loft," with leading roles n.sslgned to Angela Baddeley, Bramwell Fletcher, Lnw- arel rence Anderson. Harcourt William.'' will act as producer.