THE ANSWER CORNER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 129, 2 June 1934, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE ANSWER CORNER.

REPLIES TO INQUIRIES. RAE (Devonport)—Russ Columbo shoul": be found c/o Twentieth Century Studios 1041, North Formosa Avenue, Hollywood J.N.M. (Waverley)—l have heard nc mention whatever through either cables or overseas press that Jan Kiepura dice recently. ELF (Auckland) —I have no data abou' the personality of Franco Foresta except that he is an Ainerican-bori Italian who was discovered singing in i Venice opera house by Carmine Gallone who was filming "exteriors" for the filn "For Love of You." He went back tc Englan-J with the company, and was givei the lead. Regarding the Loy-Novarn romance, I have also seen it suggeste< in print several times, but I do no think too much credence can be given ti the story. JUNE (Hokianga)—You can find Mis Oracle Fields c/o Associated Talkinj Pictures, Ealing, London, W., and Charle Farrell c/o Fox Film Corporation, Movie tone City, Hollywood, U.S.A. Gracie' films seen here are "Sally in Our Alley (debut), "Looking on the Bright Side, and "This Week of Grace." Her nexi already completed, Is "Love, Life an Laughter." Farrell has been seen i "Wings of Youth" (debut), "Sandy, "The Rough Riders." "Seventh Heaven, , "Street Angel," "The Red Dancer o Moscow," "The River," "Lucky Star, "The Princess and the Plumber," "Hig Society Blues," "Devil With Women, . "The Man Who Came Back," "Body an Soul," "Merely Mary Ann," "Delicious, "Heartbreak," "After To-morrow, "Salomy Jane," "The First Year," "Tes of the Storm Country," and "Girl Withou a Room." His next is "Aggie Appleby, with Wynne Gibson. JACKIE (Three Kings).—Talkies so fa completed in Australia comprise "Tn Isle of Intrigue" (Harwood Films), C'< respondent's Course," "Diggers." "Th Haunted Barn," "The Sentimental Bloke, "His Royal Highness," "Harmony Row, and "A Ticket it Tatt's" (all Effte Films) ; "Two Minutes' Silence" (Mi Donagh Sisters production), "On Ot Selection," "The Squatter's Daughter • and "The Hayseeds" (Cinesound), "Dij gers in Blighty" aud "Waltzing Matilda (Pat Hanna productions), "Secret of th Skies" (Centenary Films), and "In tl Wake of the Bounty" (Charles Chauv Films). Of these, "The Isle of Intrigue, "Co-respondent's Course," "The Haunt* Barn," "Two Minutes' Silence" an "Secret of the Skies" have not bee released in New Zealand. In additio: Kfftee has made numerous short fei tures, and the series of Australian "Ma vellogues," in association witli the Ne Zealander, Noel Monkman. Efftee hi now completed "The Streets of Londor and "Clara Gibbings" (both ready f< release) and Cinesound has just coi pleted "The Silence of Dean Maitland '•The Old Bus," with Sir Charles King ford Snfith featured, has been released Sydney by Universal Films.

The Sydney girl, Betty Stockfield, •who has been over in Paris making a film there (she talks French like a native), is back in London and is playing in the new Edgar Wallace film, "The Man Who Changed His Name," in production at Twickenham.

One of the outstanding features of the recent Sydney University commemoration procession was a skit on Mr. Creswell O'Reilly's action in "cutting" the picture, "The Silence of Dean Maitland." Clad in a bath towel, one student took the part of Anna Lee, the heroine, while others were dressed as undertakers. "Sin-sound Film," "Come Up and See Our Dean Sometime," and "Silenced for. a Deaner," were among the inscriptions on placards that were carried.

Rudyard Kipling has approved the idea of his story, "Thy Servant a Dog," being made into a short film. The picture will be given glimpses of various kinds of dog, including a pack of hounds on Lord Glaneiy's Newmarket estate. The human players in the story will be nameless, although some of them are actors.

Gracie Fields, the Lancashire comedienne, who is one of the biggest boxoffice draws of the English provinces earns £2 a minute when she makes a film. She is about to start work at Ealing on "Love, Life and Laughter," a modernised version of the Nell Gwynn story, in which she has u song which she says is the best she has ever sung Elissa Landi has started divorce proceedings against her husband, John Lawrence, a London lawyer. "I still love him," she says, "but he refuses to come and live in Los Angeles, fearing that he would be called 'Mr. Elissa Landi.' This causes me to live the life of a hermit. I am known as the coldest woman in Hollywood, and it does not do my picture work any good." Margaret Sullavan is once again before the cameras. The sensational 6tar of "Only Yesterday," whose return to the screen is eagerly awaited, recently took part in her first scenes in "Little Man, What Now J" which Frank Borzage is directing. Miss Sullavan has the classic role of Bunny in this pictnrisation of Hans Fallada's best selling novel. Opposite her is Douglass Montgomery, as Pinneberg. Montgomery was last seen as Laurence in "Little Women." The secret of the marvellous accuracy of motion that characterises Walt Disney's animated cartoon drawings is found in the fact that he spends all his spare time in zoos photographing animals, recording their movements with great care. He also makes careful analytical studies of the walking motions of dogs, which are utilised in transferring the antics of Pluto to the screen. In "Playful Pluto," his latest Mickey Mouse production, this minute observation is responsible for the hilarious antics of Pluto when he gets stuck on several pieces of flypaper and tries to extricate himself without Mickey's help. Although he has not been in a picture since 1925, William S. Hart still receives as much "fan" mail as some present day favourites. A week never goes by that he 1 doesn't receive 100 letters from staunch admirers, and some weeks the number goes as high as 400. All of the letters are promptly answered, most of them by a secretary, although Hart attends to many of them himself. Some people have been writing Hart at regular intervals for years, due perhaps to the fact that from the time of his picture beginnings in 1914 he never has failed to reply to letter writers. In those early days, before he could afford a secretary, Bill wrote his own. replies in longhand. Fully 05 per cent of the writers, says a friend, urge Hart to return to the screen.

' Nancy O'Neill, who has made a "hit" [ in "Jack Ahoy!" with Jack Hulbert, is ', playing opposite Henry Kendall in "Safety First." This dark-eyed lass ' hails from Sydney, where her father is a well-known doctor. When she left ' school she 'went on a world tour with ! her parents, 'and while in London persuaded her father to leave her there to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She got her first chance when she took Peggy Ashcroft's role in "The Breadwinner" on tour, but her health broke down and she went home to Sydney just for the sea trip. On her return to London she appeared on the stage in "The Hats of Norway," .and it was while in that production that she was' selected by Walter Forde to piay opposite Jack Hulbert in "Jack Ahoy!" She is now very much in

demand. During his 10 years of stardom on the screen, Richard Dix has received a varied assortment of gifts from his "fans" all over the world. Most interesting of these are a novelty bag-pipe made of toy balloons and drinking straws, a homemade diving helmet, with explicit instructions as to its use, a sprig of heather from Scotland, a sandalwood box containing * powdered reindeer horn, guaranteed as a cure-all by the Chinese donor, and a lama's prayer wheel. Mary Ellen Dix, baby daughter of Richard Dix, is to make her screen debut with her famous father in his next picture. Being a more-than-ordinarily-proud father, Dix is not only willing, but anxious, to have his little girl appear with him on the screen. Consequently his studio promised the star that if there isn't a part for Mary Ellen in his next production, one will be written in. Little Miss Dix has passed her first birthday, and is a most remarkable young lady„ in the opinion of the proud father. And if she proves to be a picture "stealer," no one will be happier than the star from whom the scenes are pilfered.

Florence Desmond is returning from Hollywood', where she has 'been playing in several films, to appear in a British picture. Betty Stockfield, who made her film debut with Jan Kiepura in "City of Song," has developed into an actress of much charm and grace. She is greatly in demand for French films, arid will probably make another one when her Twickenham engagement ends. What most impressed Frank ("Cavalcade") Lloyd on his return to England after 25 years was: —Before he left London he had been a frequent visitor to the gallery of the King's Theatre, Hammersmith, where he saw Sir John Martin-Harvey in the old Irving melodrama, "The Bells." On this visit he slipped down to Hammersmith to look at the old sights, and at the King's he discovered Sir John Martin-Harvey still playing in "The Bells." Australia figures In Twickenham's latest film adapted from the stage success "The Lash." The story concerns a man who, after a hard life in the Australian bush, becomes a millionaire. His spn is a worthless young scamp, and lie packs him off to Australia, when he deserts his innocent young wife for a married woman. It is a powerful domestic drama in which Lyn Harding plays the father, John Mills the son, and Joan Maude the married vamp. "True Lass," the champion bloodhound of the world, is taking part in the new British comedy "Digging Deep," now in production at Beaconsfield. Valued at 1000 guineas, she is one of a pack of nine valuable bloodhounds who are playing in some important sequences in the film. Wally Patch and Hal Walters, comedians, who have to figure in several scenes with the hounds, felt somewhat nervous when they first heard what their roles demanded, "but they were relieved to hear- from the owner that, contrary to popular belief, they are quite docile creatures. Henry Kendall, Wendy Barrie and Betty Astell are taking the leading roles in "Digging Deep," which is directed by Leslie Hiscott.

Matheson Lang returns to the screen to play the leading part in a new film based on the life of Sir Edward Marshall Hall.

Margaret Bannerman, who was in "Lily Christine" and "Two White Arms," but h;id very little opportunity in either, is in the cast of a new English picture, "Over the Garden Wall." This is a starring vehicle for Marian Marsh and Bobby Howes, also Henry Wenman, who is not long back from Australia.