ADOLPH ZUKOR

Evening Star, Issue 23325, 22 July 1939, Page 5

ADOLPH ZUKOR

WILL PASS THROUGH AUCKLAND ON MONDAY “ Adolph Zukor Presents .” How many times have you seen that on the screen ? Many an ardent filmgoer will probably remember it as far back as 1912 when Mr Zukor founded his Famous Players Company, which we know today as Paramount Pictures Inc. This pioneer of motion pictures, who still remains a great force in the film industry as chairman of the board of directors of Paramount Pictures Inc., will arrive in Auckland on Monday aboard the Niagara on the final stages of a world tour. Mr Zukor’s itinerary permits only one day in Auckland and then he goes to Australia. A mayoral reception and a great industry banquet are planned for his visit to Auckland. He is accompanied by Mrs Zukor and Mrs John W. Hicks and their son. Mr Hicks is vice-president of Paramount in charge of all offices outside the United States. This part of the world is not new to the Hicks family, Mr Hicks-having been, managing director for Paramount in Australia for 11 years, prior to being recalled to New York seven years ago to fill his present position.

player unless he or she possessed it.” This quality, the. director was careful to point out, does not include “ temper tantrums.” Temperament, he explained, means a highly developed emotional sense and at times leads to an explosive display. Most of the time, however, it finds • outlet in a polished performance, the director has found. “I’ve seen stars pout and I’ve seen them storm—and the more they do the better I like it,” Cromwell said. “ They are entitled to their little blowups and the smart director will use these as safety valves which bring the stars back to an even emotional keel. I know this to be true because the more difficult a screen role, the more emotional, the more likely the star is to have the safety valve explosions which are one of the true signs of artistic talent.” GRACIE IS FORTY AND YOU CAN KNOW IT, TOO

Memories of that immensely popular favourite, the late -Marie Dressier, are revived by the fact that Francis Marion, who wrote ‘ Molly, Bless Her,’ the story being part of Miss Dressler’s own life, has handed the play over to Grade Fields.

“I have always wanted! to play this part,” states Miss Fields, and now Robert Kane, just hack from America, brings news that we shall begin work on this piece early in August. Gracie Fields and Miss Dressier, as she was in her later years, have the same broad warmth •of humanity, and Gracie should do splendidly as the old, tired variety star of the film, who gets so weary of waiting for work that she takes on a job as housekeeper to a curmudgeonly millionaire. “ I’m rather tired of playing young heroines of 28 or so, in pictures,” Grade says. “ I’m 40, and not ashamed, of it, and I’di like to be my age.”