FOOTLIGHT FLASHES

Evening Star, Issue 22514, 5 December 1936, Page 5

FOOTLIGHT FLASHES

SGfIEEMJWO JOTTINGS When Leo Carillo stepped before the camera and microphone in ‘ Moonlight Murder,’ owning on Friday to the Grand, he presented a lifelike picture of the late Enrico Caruso, greatest of operatic tenors. The actor was a pal oi the great tenor during the Carillo §y» of stage stardom in New York, asking Italian, ho became one of ruso’s closest friends. And being one the most gifted mimics in the world #9 learned to copy Canto’s every gesibßro and mannerism while singing. “ I •never dreamed it would be useful,” he, •elates. “ I used to do it at parties, and Caruso -would draw caricatures of me doing an imitation of himself. And ifliat is why I tried to portray my new character as a replica of one of the finest friends I ever had.” Cast as d’Acosta, the tenor, in ‘ Moonlight Murder,’ Carillo had a chance to use his art. He sang, top. While he possesses an excellent voice-, as his musical comedy starring appearances demonstrated, he could not pretend to Bing like his friend. He took coaching under William von Wymetal, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s operatic expert, and former Metropolitan director. But the mechanics of the role were Caruso’s. The mw picture is a detective mystery dealing with the murder of a tenor, Before a large audience, during a performance at the Hollywood Bowl. Chesjfcer Morris and Madge Evans play the principal roles as the detective and the girl reporter in the case, and Edwin E 7 Marin, who directed ‘ The Canary Murder Case,’ directed. It is an original story by Albert Cohen and Robert T: Shannon, scenarised by Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf—the latter, incidentally, also a friend of Caruso’s during his New York days. Robert M'Wade, Duncan Renaldo, Benita Hume, Frank M'Hugh, H. B. Warner, J. Carrol .-Naish, and Grant Mitchell are in the cast.

“ The bigger the star, and the more he or she monopolises the screen in a picture, the greater the need for supporting players of major importance.” Stephen Roberts, film director, was explaining R.K-O. Radio’s action in surrounding William Powell and Jean Arthur, co-stars, with an astonishing array of stellar talent in the new picture, ‘ The Ex-Mrs Bradford,’ a comedy detective murder mystery, coming on Friday to the State. “ This particular story centres so completely about Powell that he appears in almost every scene,” Roberts continued. “ Except for Jean Arthur, none of the other players get much film footage, yet I nave such noteworthy performers as James Gleason, Eric BJore, Robert Armstrong, Lucille Gleason, and Ralph Morgan in tho cast to mention but a few. At first glance it might appear that some of the supporting roles could have been filled by lesser players, because Powell’s part is so dominant. Actually, it was more vital that they he placed in the hands of outstanding talent than it would have bean had the star’s role' been less important. Only performers of the top flight, who will be immediately recognised by the public and who are able to make their scenes register effectively can take ■ome of the load off Powell’s shoulders. Aside from the inadvisability of expecting any star to _ carry the entire Durden of a feature picture’s entertainment, there is the important problem of maintaining quality. To'shift from the polished performance of Powell to mediocre work of minor players would give the production a spotty character. This phase is up in the old expression about a chain being only as strong aa its weakest link.”- * * * * The British version of Rider Haggard’s ‘ King Solomon’s Mines ’ is to be directed by young Robert Stevenson, whose Lady Jane Grey picture, ‘Tudor Rose,’ has had such a notable success. Sir Cedric Hardwicke is to play Allan Quartermain. Roland Young will be, Captain Good, Paul Robeson Umbopa _ (ex Umslopogaas), John Loder Curtis, and Anna Lee (Stevenson’s wife) Cathie. Much of the film will be “ shot ” in Africa, .where Geoffrey Barker, who made the !< exteriors ” for * Rhodes of Africa,’ baa already selected the sites, ft a * • William Gargan has been added to the cast of ‘ You Only Live Once.’ He plays the part of a fighting priest, similar to that of Spencer Tracy in ‘ San Francisco.’ Sylvia Sidney and Henry Fonda have the leading roles, i

hy Loiterer”

Breaking off the limb of a tree laden with wild fruit is a trick that has served Frank Buck well on many occasions when on his annual pilgrimages to trap wild animals in the jungle. The stunt is slightly varied in ‘ Fang and Claw,’ Buck’p latest pictorial log of his exploits, coming on Wednesday to the Grand. In the film, he shoots a limb, from a tree that has a, fullgrown python wrapped around it. Buck and native helpers are shown prowling through the jungles, looking for a particularly rare species of monkey. While gazing up at the branches of a tree one of toe party spies the largest python that Buck _ has ever seen. Realising- that here is indeed a great prize, and not wishing to* subject any of his men to the danger of climbing the tree, Buck shoots off the limb as the natives stand underneath with a strong net. The thrills and suspense that go with Buck’s dangerous profession and the quiet lure and majesty of the jungle are bound up with the story of Buck’s most recent expedition to Malay and Northern India. The Van Beuren Corporation, producers of Buck’s ‘ Bring ’Em Back Alive ’ and ‘ Wild Cargo,’ also sponsored 'Fang and Claw,’ released by R.K.0.-Radio. • * * * At last someone has got the better of Shirley Temple. Recently the milliondollar actress, while playing with a boy friend, grabbed his toy, and, despite the pleading of her mother, refused to give it hack. Whereupon the lad pushed Miss Temple_ to the floor and took possession of his property. Star or no star, he reasoned, she wasn t going to have his toy ; And_ Shirley was so surprised she said nothing, and still doesn’t know what happened.

The only star in Hollywood who has a cable address is Francis Lederer. It is “ Fralederer,” and he acquired it because ho has numerous interests throughout the world, he revealed at Paramount Studio, where he has just completed I My American Wife,’ with Ann Sothern and Fred Stone.

Mary Aster’s increased popularity, since her child-custody fight was showq when she had to be protected from admiring mobs by a police _ escort at her first public appearance since her court battle; Under heavy guard, the actress attended the preview of ‘ Dodsworth,’ the Samuel Goldwyn film, in which she is featured as_ “ the other woman ” in a marital triangle. Several hundred persons, who had followed with intense interest the daily revelations of Miss Aster’s diary, assembled in front of the Hollywood theatre where ‘ Dodsworth ’ had its first showing. Members of the police ascorthad difficulty in restraining these admirers when the actress appeared. • * • * The Mayfair is currently Host to one of the brightest, happiest, and most delightful photoplay the screen has presented in months, ‘ Captain January,’ in which Shirley Temple returns as a tiny sea waif who steers straight into your heart. Surrounding Laura E. Richards’s pungently dramatic story with a flock of tinkling tunes and adorable dances, ‘ Captain January ’ is the story of a little girl and a grizzled old lighthouse keeper who fight for happiness and who find it after many harrowing adventures. Most adorable of the tinkling new tunes, all with music by Lew Pollack, is ‘ The Right Somebody to Love.’ Shirley’s dancing partner in ‘ Captain January ’ is lim-ber-legged Buddy Ebsen, who performs a flock of fascinating new steps with the starlet when he isn’t busy falling in love with June Lang. Slim Summerville and Jane Dar.well are outstanding in comedy characterisations in this picture, ably and humorously directed by David Butler. * * * * No doubt one of the most promising young players in Hollywood just now is Marsha Hunt, who in the short space of a year has made four prominent appearances before the cameras. Now conies her fifth important casting, that of the leading role _in Paramount’s forthcoming ‘ Right in Your Lap,’ in which she appears with John Howard and Eugene Pallette. The cameras have just concluded operation on ‘ The Accusing Finger,’ in which Miss Hunt appears with Kent Taylor and Paul Kelly, and prior to that she made ‘ Hollywood Boulevard,’ which has yet to be released in New Zealand. Her first two pictures were ‘ Desert Gold ’ and ‘ The Arizona Raiders.’ • • • • The title of George Arliss’s latest film, ‘ The Nelson Touch,’ has been changed to ‘ His Lordship.’

A novel method of construction never before attempted in motion pictures was employed in assembling one of the principal settings for Marion Davies’s latest Cosmopolitan production, ‘ Hearts Divided,’ coming on Friday to the St. James. The setting, a colonial mansion supposedly the home of Miss Davies, who plays the role of a Baltimore belle, was built complete on one of the largest sound stages at the First National studios. Spreading: the entire length and breadth of the mig© concrete structure, the setting includes beautifully landscaped front and side lawns. Contrary to the general rule of set building "followed in the past, however, the two-story mansion, instead of being empty, hollow shell, contains 14 rooms. These rooms, “ practical ” in the parlance of the film studios, are the ones actually used for the action of the picture. In the past, because of lighting and camera problems, largo sets of this type were used simply for exterior scenes. _ Interiors were filmed elsewhere, living room scenes perhaps on one stage, ballroom scenes on another, mnsic room sequences on still another. Ingenious planning of the Southern Colonial mansion hy Art Director' Robert M. Haas permitted all interior scenes, as well as exteriors, to he taken- on the one stag© ip.this instance. The set, incidentally, is patterned from timeyellowed sketches of the home of the Pattersons. ‘ Hearts Divided ’ is rollicking romance combined with thrilling drama. Miss Davies has the stellar role, while others in the cast include Dick Powell, Charlie Ruggles, Claude Rains, Edward Everett Horton, ’Arthur Treacher, Henry Stephenson, and Clara Blandick. Prank Borzag© directed. • * * * Buddy Ebsen has been added to the cast of ‘ Banjo On My Knee.’ Barbara Stanwyck and Joel M'Crae are the stars.

David Selznick, still looking for child actors to play in ‘ Tom Sawyer,’ is now conducting a talent search through American orphanages.

Jean Arthur is more in demand by the major studios in Hollywood than any other screen actress—and that includes Garbo, Dietrich, Hepburn, and the rest. The reason is simple. Every picture in which Jean has appeared within the last IB months— ‘ The Whole Town’s Talking,’ ‘Mr Deeds Goes to Town,’ etc.—has been a financial success, and money, not glamour, is what makes the studio wheels go round.

Helen Vinson has been added to the cast of 20th Century-Fpx’s second Quintuplet picture, ‘ Reunion.’

Joan Blondell has been married to Dick Powell. She was formerly married to cameraman George Barnes, and has one son.

George Washington was first in the hearts of his countrymen, but Ken Maynard, Western star, who has just completed ‘ Heir to Trouble/ corning on Friday to the Strand, is first in a lot of other things. Maynard was the first Western star to make a talking picture; the first cowboy to introduce music into Westerns; the first motion picture actor to make phonograph recordings of Western melodies._ “I establish a couple of other firsts in ‘ Heir to Trouble/ says Maynard. “ X become the first star to originate a senes of inventions which enable a horse to take care of a baby! X claim that such inventiveness is something of a distinction. In the same picture, I become the first rider to rid© a wooden horse. It happens when a posse is chasing me over the rooftops for shooting np a town. I jump down on the wooden horse, which is displayed In front of a harness shop—lasso the tyre rack of a passing automobile —and have one of the most spectacular rides in the hectic history of Westerns !” • ■» 9 *

Sir Guy Standing is probably Hollywood’s leading authority on the history of the stage. Himself an actor since the age of 15, the British star has made an intensive study of theatrical history.

Introducing Fred Stone as a film headliner and presenting an intensely human, though paradoxical, romance of Hollywood life, Phil* Stong’s widelyread novel, ‘ The Farmer in the Dell,’ comes to the Grand on Wednesday as an ItKO Radio picture, glorifying down-to-the-soil naivete and honesty. The story, written hy the man who authorised ‘ State Fair,’ concerns an lowa farmer who is drafted into the movies through odd chance. It combines comedy with heart interest, and carries an undercurrent of youthful love supplied by Jean Parker, co-featured with Stone, and Frank Albertson. Stone’s screen starring dehut culminates 60 years of theatrical experience ranging from bits in medicine shows to stardom on Broadway. The veteran actor recently made his first screen appearance as Katherine Hepburn’s father-in ‘ Alice Adams,’ and registered so decisively that he was made a star. Stone was the closest personal friend of the late Will Rogers, and the two are said to have had many characteristics in common. It is considered particularly fitting _ that he should make Ms screen starring debut in a story by Stong, who authorised Rogers’s greatest picture, ‘ State Fair.’In the down-to-earth humanity of its farm family characters. Pa, Ma, and Adie Boyer, ' The Farmer in the Dell ’ is played against the background of Hollywood and its motion picture studios. Both are presented sincerely and authentically in the photoplay. The real folks, as well as the “ phonies ” of the Hollywood scene—chisellers and pretenders—are pictured with realism. The Hollywood baqkground, intriguing as it is in its true colours, serves merely as a setting, for strange, ludicrous, and sometime poignant experiences of a kindly and simple-hearted man, who finds that human nature is pretty much the same on the film stage as it is on the farm. • • • * Have you ever had a tractor rear up and fall over backward on you? Figuratively, Joe E. Brown did. That Joe is still alive to tell the story is due to his friend and director, Raymond Enright. It was, for a scene of the comedian’s current First National film, ‘Earthworm Tractors,’ coming shortly to the Empire. The scene was made on the site of a motor cycle hillclimb course. Brown, as the demon sales man. Alexander Bptts, of the William Hazlett Upson stories, was to demonstrate the climbing ability of a tracBy moving the course up the hillside to the left of the regular hillclimb track, increasing degrees of steepness could be secured right up to the top, a sheer cliff." We’ll have it as steep as the tractor will climb without falling over backward, and test it first by setting the empty tractor going up the hill with an automatic ignition cut-off on it,” Enright declared. "That way_ we won’t risk anyone’s neck determining the greatest {grade we can safely use.” The plan worked, and Joe got in the driver’s seat, and sent

the web-driven machine churning np the slope. But it was decided to make another scene in which the tractor would trahel faster. “Hold on!” cried Enright, as Joe was about to shove off. “ Try it empty again first. I think if you go faster up there it’ll fall over backward! ” They tried it empty and sure enough, over it went. ‘ Earthworm Tractors ’ is Joe E. Brown’s latest comedy. Others jn the cast include June Travis, Guy Kibbee, Hick Fpran, Carol Hughes, Gene Lockhart, and Olin Howland. The screen play is by Richard Macauley, Joe Traub. and Hugh Cummings.

Mary Boland, currently appearing in Paramount’s ‘ Early to Bed/ is one of the keenest students of international affairs in the screen colony. She reads avidly every book and periodical on current events.

The new musical which Rudy Yallee is to make for Warner Brothers has -been titled ‘ Mr Melody/

* Too Young to Die ’ is the title of the next Mary Boland-Charlie Ruggles comedy for Paramount.

War-time espionage is a subject of almost universal appeal, and it is little wonder that it has formed the theme of many films, for few can so readily combine the essential ingredients of good entertainment. ‘ Til We Meet Again,’ the Paramount production which will open at the Regent Theatre on Friday next, is yet another example of sustained drama with a background of romance. Fast-moving action is provided by the battle of wits between the British and German intelligence services, and) as the scene rapidly changes some fresh problem is presented. Opening in Loudon, where Herbert Marshall as a matinee idol and Gertrude Michael as a Viennese actress are separated on their wedding eve, the story moves to Germany, where the two find themselves on opposing sides. Herbert Marshall is given another chance to prove his acting ability, for he is called upon to portray a quick succession of types. First the Londton actor, then an enlisted officer, and then, as He is forced to assume a variety of disguises, a shell-shocked German infantryman, 'a civilian, a blinded' soldier, and a fugitive from death. After each hairbreadth escape he finds yet another danger confronting him, hut as the film moves to a dramatic conclusion he becomes _ even more convincing. Gertrude Michael, who: will be remembered for her performance in ‘ The Notorious Sophie Lang,’ gives an admirable portrait of emotions of love and duty, and finally has to make the choice at the risk of her life. She is at all times convincing, but perhaps her best performance is in the scene in which she meets her lover unexpectedly in a German war office. The supporting cast has_ been well chosen. Lionel Atwill again appears as a domineering Prussian who finally relents, while Rod! La Roque makes a splendid German officer. The director is Robert Florey.

Virginia Weidler, child star of Paramount’s ‘ Girl of the Ozarks,’ has a new red outfit of slacks, jumper, and jockey cap, but clings to her pigtails so she won’t look like a boy in it.”

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer are preparing ‘ Exposure,’ a film intended to reveal the racketeering methods of quack doctors in America.

Louis Borelf, Dutch actor, who has recently been" playing with Jessie Matthews in ‘ Head Over Heels,’ has been given a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. • • * *

Paramount have bought a hoqk called ‘lrish Lover’ from humorist Frank Scully. It is intended for Bing Crosby, and will give Mm a chance to sing old Irish ballads.

Fred Stone is to be starred by Radio in ‘Once Over Lightly,’ based on an unpublished play.

John Van Druten’s play, ‘ The Distaff Side/ has been bought by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, No cast has yet been announced

Twenty-two cars were destroyed in crash scenes of ‘Toll of the Road,’ featuring Randolph Scott, Frances Drake, and Tom Brown, and a dozen stunt people risked their lives in the film.

Richard Dix is considering making a Broadway appearance in ‘ Birth of the Navy,’ the play written by W. P. Lipscomb about Samuel Pepys,

Adolphe Menjou is being approached by both 20 Century-Fox and universal to play in ‘ One in a Million - (with Sonja Henie) or ‘Three Smart Girls.’

■Ruth Chatterton is being persuaded by Sam Goldwyn to play in a re-made version of ‘ Stella Maris.’ Miss Chatterton is more in favour of returning to Broadway for a play.

Mary Carlisle, Bob Burns, Mariba Raye, and George Barbier have been added to the cast of ‘ Waikiki Wedding,’ Bing Crosby’s next. Eddie Sutherland wilf direct the picture in technicolour.

When screen writers on the Warner Bros, lot want to find out the number of topsails used on a three masted schooner or the type of hand mirror used by Queen Elizabeth, they consult the Research Department. When they want the title or lyrics to old time songs, they consult Pat O’Brien, star of ‘ Public Enemy’s Wife,’ the Warner Bros. picture _ now at the St. James. O’Brien, who has an uncanny gift of being able to memorise such things, is one of Hollywood’s foremost authorities on songs sung in vaudeville and musical comedy of several decades ago. Without a second’s hesitation, the actor can recite the verse and all the known choruses of almost any of the old-time popular songs. Writers and other people interested in searching for the correct lyrics to an old time tune would ordinarily go to Warren and Dubbin, Warner Bros, song writers. As it happens, Warren and Dubbin come to Pat O’Brien when their memory fails them in such a case. Hardly a day passes that someone doesn’t step up to the actor and say: “Pat, what’s the name of that old song that was sung by so and so, the vaudeville team, at Hammerstem’s back in. 1907?’ "WHy, that was such and such a song, Pat will reply, giving the title. ‘‘lt bad 18 verses. Want to hear ’em? Pat has the role of a G-man in * Public Enemy’s Wife,’ a dynamic drama of a beautiful girl’s struggle to escape the toils of the law and also her maniacal husband. Besides 0 ’Brien, the cast includes Margaret Lindsay, Robert Armstrong, Cesar Romero, Dick Foran, Joseph. King, Richard Purcell, and Addison Richards,