Careful Attention Is Now Paid To The Casting Of All Parts

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19128, 24 September 1936, Page 13

Careful Attention Is Now Paid To The Casting Of All Parts

rJNTIL ft few years ago the minor parts in a fijm play were not regarded very seriously by the producers. So long as the principal roles were taken by artists who had reached the stars, they were satisfied —and so were their audiences.

Even' to-day, some producing companies have not realised that the public mind has become more critical of films'" :ind still cast, those "bit" parts casually, but the majority (and these are making the most successful films of .ID."!!), are now paying careful attention to the casting throughout the entire range of characters.

"San Francisco," "The King Steps Out," "Captain January," "Tudor Rose," and "Little Lord Fauntlcroy" are examples illustrating this policy.

■ Spencer Tracy and Jack Holt fill 'secondary roles in '' San Francisco''; Walter Connolly, Herman Bing, and 'Victor: .Tory, are not actually starred in "The King, Steps Out"; Guy Kibbec and. Slim Summervillo support Shirley Temple in "Captain January"; C. Aubrey Smith, Henry Stephenson, and D.olores Costello Barryinoro are east after Freddie Bartholomew in "Little Lord Fauntleroy"; Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Dame Sybil Thorndike play second fiddles to Nova I'ilb'cam in "Tudor Rose." That; is why there is less talk about; screen "teams" in these days of improved casting. : When acting honours went only to the female and male leads, picturegoers had their favourite "teams" —upon whom they were dependent for their entertainment. Famous Combinations. Do you remember that; famous combination—Ronald Column and Vilma Ban ley? Colman, who is still one of the most popular screen stars, way introduced to picture patrons by Samuel Goldwyn in "The Dark Angel." With him, in that, memorable silent film, which has recently been re-made with, sound, was Yilam Banky, whom Mr. Goldwyn had "discovered" from a. photograph in a Budapest shop window. When she first arrived in America, Banky Vilma was her name, and three Words comprised her entire English vocabulary. "The Dark Angel, howover, payed the way for both Miss Vilma —who was re-named Vilma Banky—and Colman, and they subse- 1 qucntly became the favourite pair on 'the screen of those days. Many sue-; jesses followed, among the best remembered being "The Winning of Barbara Worth," "The Night of Love," "Two Lovers," and "The Magic Flame."

Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, too, have enjoyed wide popularity as

a screen "team." '.'ln fact, Miss Gaynor and Farrell can well claim t,o be the only worthy rivals to the successful Banky-Coluian coalition. "Seventh Heaven" first brought success to the Gaynor-Farrell pair, and their long list of subsequent productions in double harness included "Toss of the Storm-'Country," "Sunny Side Up," and "The First Year." Another couple who were, successful as a screen "team" in the silent era were Dorothy MackaiU and Jack Mulhall. iScreen patrons will recall them for their outstanding performances in "The Butter and Egg Man." Digging further back into the archives of screen history, we find that Alma Taylor and Henry Edwards were "the rage of 1.913." Incidentally, these artists were English, and appeared in British company's pictures.

Present-Day Pairs, Habit dies hard, and, although audiences no longer look to a clover pair to pull a mediocre picture through, they still appreciate the coupling of two stai;s whom they think make ideal screen partners. When it was rumoured that "Follow the Fleet" would be the last film in which Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire would dance together, Hollywood's mailbags were heavy.with the weight of the letters sent in by disappointed "fans." New contracts were signed, and what enthusiastic, admirers of the pair regarded as a calamity was averted.

Miss Rogers and Astaire are easily the favourite screen "team" of today, but who will bo the favourites of to-iu,orrow? Already Jeanett'o MaoDonald and Nelson Eddy have boon bailed as "the perfect pair.": Since their appearance together in." Naughty Marietta," audiences have asked to see them cast together again, and in "Rose Marie" their wish has been 'gratified. Another example of successful:■ casting is that of l.oretta Young and Robert Taylor, who appear together in "Private Number," and now, picture enthusiasts, ever ready to aid and abet a good screen romance, are asking "Is it not possible that these two are. destined to bocomo »s well beloved a screen "team" « lS WO re Vilma Banky and Ronald Oolman, or Janet, Gaynor and Charles Farrell?" " ,