SCRAPS FROM HOLLYWOOD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 23 May 1936, Page 9

SCRAPS FROM HOLLYWOOD

Warner Brothers are considering the production of an lap-to-date version of “'Tlie Jazz Singer,” with Al Jolson again starring. “ -V- ' ¥ ¥ * Paul Graetz has been signed to a long-term contract by Warner Brothers, ills first film for them being “Stage Struck.” Margaret Sullavcn’s next starring picture will Ire “Roxana.” *Y *Y* Anita Louise and Ross Alexander are teamed in “Love Begins at Twenty.” * « * ¥ Gaston Glass, star of the silent days, has been added to the east of “Brazen,” and “Princess Comes Across.” ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ Louise Rainer and Paul Muni bead the cast of “Good Earth.” ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ Buck Jones’s next picture will be “The Phantom Eider.”

John Boles and Jean Muir are to appear in “White Fang.” ¥ ¥ Bette Davis and George O’Brien head the cast of “Changeling.” ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ Stuart Erwin will play the role of a Press agent in “Absolute Quiet.” Ann Loring, Louis and Irene Hervey will also have parts. ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ Warren William's next picture will be “The Case of the Velvet Claws.” ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ George Raft is to lead in “The Duchess,” a night club story. * ¥ ¥ ¥ Title Changes: “Job” to “Turmoil”; “Bless Their Hearts’ to “And So They Were Married’; “Servant Girl” j: to “Private Number”; “U.S. Smith’ to ‘Price of the Marines.’ MEDAL FOR “LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY”

The “Parents’ Magazine” Medal, awarded annually to the screen production that most nearly represents! perfect entertainment for the entire family, has been bestowed on David 0. Selznick for bis production. of “Little Lord Fauntlemy.” Mary Piekford, who played the role of the little lord in the silent screen version of the Frances Hodgson Burnett classic, made the presentation to Freddie Bartholomew (star of the ‘alkie version), who accepted the medal on behalf of Mr Selznick. ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ Gitta Alpar, the famous Viennese operatic and musical comedy star, who

made a success in the British film “I Give My Heart,” may be seen on the London stage before long. Mr Cochran is negotiating with her.

The biggest “straight” comedy hit in London at present is the American play, “Jhree Men on a Horse,” which, by the way, is being produced in Melbourne by J. C. Williamson, Limited. ¥ w ¥ ¥ Film’s Decoding Room “A stranger would mistake this place for a madhouse —and that’s what it actually was.” Major Herbert 0. Yardlcy, founder and former head of America’s counterespionage department during the World War, was watching a scene in Mctro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s new spy drama, “Rendezvous.” The scene was the decoding room in the Black Chamber, reproduced as it existed in 1917. Several men were busy at a great blackboard, feverishly scribbling a maze of numerals and letters with every numeral or letter an authentic integral in some code. A dozen other men were bent over a large square apparatus —cipher discs. Each cipher disc was actually two discs, each containing a complete alphabet and operated independently ol the other.

The cipher discs were among the. most important silent agents used to trap spies during the war. By manipulating the discs, espionage agents were able to find the key letter or numeral in an enemy code and thus decipher secret messages. “The American Black Chamber in reality was a madhouse. Everything happened so quickly. Messages had to be decoded so rapidly that the eni tire department worked at a feverish pitch. Outside of front-line action. I’ll wager that our work in the Black Chamber was the most exciting in the World War.”