SCREENLAND JOTTINGS

Evening Star, Issue 20980, 19 December 1931, Page 6

SCREENLAND JOTTINGS

Charlie Chaplin is reported to be contemplating a visit to Australia in order to produce a film with a busjirnnging setting, He has hopes of personally appearing as Starlight or Dick Marstbn. » # * • The engagement of Richard Dix, for long regarded ns a confirmed bachelor, is a surprise announcement from Hollywood-. He is tu marry Winifred Coe, daughter of a retired merchant, whom ho first met at San Francisco five years ago. * * » * John Gilbert, warned by the loss of one fortune in the stock market, has set aside for himself a trust fund of £200,000, which he cannot touch. This lias now become the thing to do in the film colony. And it is a wise thing to do. Most actors are artists—not investors. Financial wisdom for them is to save their large salaries and put them in good, safe, low-interest securities. * * » * Jeanette MacDonald, Maurice Chevalier’s queen in ‘ The Love Parade,’ has been signed by Paramount to appear opposite the favourite Frenchman in ‘ One Flour With You ’ and another yet to bo announced. Miss MacDonald has been doing concert work abroad for the past several weeks. ■ * * * * Colin Clive, English stage star, who appeared so successfully in the stage and screen versions of ‘ Journey’s End,’ sailed from England on the Aquitania to play the load in Universal’s production of ‘ Frankenstein.’ Universal Pictures carried on the negotiations with Clive by cable Other members of the cast include Boris Garloff, Mao Clarke, and Frederick Kerr. Production started last August, with James Whale directing, and the completed picture is duo in New Zealand early next year. * « * * Benita Hume, celebrated English actress, has just signed a £50,000 three years’ contract with Radio Pictures to star in a series of films, some of which will he produced in Britain and others in America. She will leave for Hollywood during December. • « * * Marie Dressier has begun work in ‘ Emma,’ her next Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer talkie. This picture is based on an original story by Frances Marion, and the supporting cast includes dean Hershqlt, Dale Fuller, Barbara Kent, and Richard Cromwell. # * * « Lawrence Tibbett sings a duet with himself in ‘ The Cuban Love Song.’ This seemingly impossible feat was accomplished by making a record of onehalf of the song and then playing it back and rerecording it, along with the other half, in the actual scene. The illusion is said to be so perfect that Tibbntt suggested he ought to be paid twice. « * » # Clara Bow lias signed a contract which will bring her back to the screen under the auspices of Sam Rorkc, who formerly produced pictures for'«First National and is now an independent.

Eddie Cantor, who is an author as well as a comedian, has written an original story for the screen called ‘ The Kid From Spain.’ This will be his second picture for United Artists in the present season. * * * * W. S. Van Dyke, famous director of ‘ Trader Horn,’ will again face the wilderness. Ho will direct ‘ Tarzan,’ romance of the jungles, at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios. The new picture, based on Edgar Rico Burroughs’s noted stories of the “ ape-man ” in primeval jungles, will be filmed on an elaborate scale in jungle locales. Extensive tests are now being made to find the hero for the story. Van Dyke won fame as a director of widerness romance in ‘ Trader Horn,’ which he filmed in Africa, and ‘ White Shadows in the South Seas ’ and ‘ The Pagan,’ filmed in the South Sea Islands. * * * ' * * The Front Page,’ originally written for the stage by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, has been brought to the screen for United Artists by Howard Hughes, of ‘ Hell’s Angels ’ fame, and Lewis Milestone, director of ‘ All Quiet on the Western Front.’ It is realistic to a degree, and reveals the fascinating human interest side of newspaper life and the dramatic exploits of reporters, who stop at nothing in their loyalties to their papers. Adolphe Menjou, Pat O’Brien, Mary Brian, Slim Sommerville, and Edward Everett Horton are among those in the cast of this brilliant Howard Hughes production. * * * * Music is to play an important part in the latest batch of Western films. Tom Keene and the other cowboys appearing in Radio pictures are to sing speciallycomposed numbers, while Ken Maynard, who sings in most of his latest films for Tiffany, declares that “ all herdsmen realise the influence of music upon cows, which will follow quietly while they are being sung to.” * ¥c * * Captain Norman Walker, who has already secured some very wonderful and picturesque scenes in Sussex for . his British International picture, ‘ Bill the Conqueror,’ recently left for Normandy, accompanied by his two leading artists, Henry Kendall and Norah Swinburne. To enhance further the pictorial value of this film Walker will take some beautiful scenes round and about the birthplace of William the Conqueror. Between the hero of the film and this warrior of 1066 there is a strong connection. * * * * Warner Bros.’ First National now have the services of the two most celebrated stars on the screen, Mr George Arliss and Miss Ruth Chatterton. Miss Chatterton has been definitely signed to a long-term contract as an exclusive Warner Bros.’ First National star. Under her contract Miss Chatterton will be allowed to choose her own stories, directors, supporting cast, etc., and to take an active part in the various executive decisions on each production. * * # * Selecting Hollywood’s eight most provocative beauties, George Cukor, Paramount director, favoured the brunettes, five to three. Of the brunettes three have brown hair and two black. The blondes are light, but not platinum. They were chosen from .all .the small-

part payers in Holywood to aid Kay Francis and Lilyan Tashmau in portraying the gold-digger title roles in ‘ Girls About Town.’ The brunettes chosen are Patricia Caron, Sandra Morgan, Katherine De Mille, Sheila Manncra, and Betty Lorraine. The bondes are Lucille Thyj'.vn, Hazel Howell, and Catherine Colly,is,.