UNDERWORLD TYPES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21130, 12 March 1932, Page 10 (Supplement)

UNDERWORLD TYPES.

POWERFUL MEN REQUIRED.

BONUS FOR REALISTIC FIGHTS. The business of being a " gangster on the screen is a dangerous and a poorlypaid one, says the New York Herald-Tri-bune. A prize-fighter, while his luck is with him, can fight ten rounds, and in one night earn money running from three to six figures. But a " movie mug" mixes in a free-for-all and gets out of it 25s to 30s a day, with perhaps a week in a studio hospital with broken ribs and a nose pushed awry. Still they come back for more—rough, tough, scarred men with cauliflower ears and barrel chests —men who can fight with fists, clubs or pistols, or play a rhapsody on a machine gun. They put realism into " The Public Enemy," " Little Caesar," " The Big House," " The Secret Six" and more. Several times it has been announced from Hollywood that the public no longer liked gangster pictures. But there is still work for the shock troops to do, although the " talkies" reduced their number. " In the silent-picture days we had no end of rough types in our files," said Dave Allen, executive in charge of the casting bureau. " They were * hardboiled fellows who would scare a man half to death. But some of them had tenor voices, and high tenors at that. The ' talkies' dealt them a blow. " They come up here, these gorillas, and pipe out in a shrill treble, ' Any work for me to-day ?' Sometimes it's hard to keep from laughing." An interesting personality who played the role of Monk Manilla, a gangster, was Robert Wilber. Studio records show he was a member of the old car-barn gang which disturbed New York in 1910. In the same film were Frank Goddard, 2101b., a European fighter with some 40 knockouts to his credit; Jack Perry, who once put away Jack Britton; Charles Sullivan, former light-weight champion of the A.E.F., and " Sailor" Vincent, a Navy champion for 12 years. Sometimes when the men who do the hand-to-hand combat begin to wonder if 25s to 30s a day makes it worth while an assistant director calls them together. " Now, boys," he said, " there's £1 apiece extra coming to you to day if this fight is a good one." This bonus idea puts new life into them and a few broken teeth later may be picked up on the field of battle. Sometimes the action in one screen adds zest to another. One big fellow, not in a gangster picture, but a Julius Caesar opus which required rough work, became too realistic with his spear.

A few days later he was a minor Russian officer who came upon four rufiians. These ruffians happened to be those he had prodded with the spear. The fight which followed was a masterpiece. All five were taken to the hospital.