Did You Know That?

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 714, 13 July 1929, Page 9

Did You Know That?

Merna Kennedy’s flaming hair and light green eyes have won her the title, "the perfect readhead,” and have moreover inspired Universal to add colour sequences to her pictures.

Universal is making a search for the ten most beautiful dancers in the motion picture industry. The aim is to find ten stage dancers so good to look at that they will be remembered henceforth qs the “Broadway chorus.”

Another British picture has been acclaimed by New York critics. The first was “ ‘Q’ Ships,” which had an extended run on Broadway, and now comes “The Somme,” which is packing the Cameo Theatre. In order to obviate cut-throat competition, American news-reel producers are planning to form an association for the purchase of shots of ordinary news events which will eliminate the necessity of each company covering the events individually.

It is reported that Paul Whiteman was requested to reduce his weight materially in order to present a sylphlike appearance on the screen, and he has given out the statement that after a month of reducing exercises he is now down to a mere 250 pounds. In order to miss no opportunities, Paramount will finance a number of New York plays. Tbe executives feel that the purchase of picture rights to a play is more costly than producing a play and receiving the rights gratis.

When Ricardo Cortez arrived at his studio one morning disguised as an old banker, a role he plays in “Life,” the director himself, the story goes, was unable to recognise him. Ricardo’s make-up was so perfect that no one suspected his identity. Operators of the recording mechanism for taking films have discovered a method of “fading” the sound to correspond with a fade-out in the photography. It means that as a picture fades gradually the sound will diminish in the same degree and create a pleasant effect. Long hair is a rarity in the picture colonies. Edwin Carewe, on location with Dolores Del Rio and the “Evangeline” company, discovered the fact when he needed 20 girls with long hair for close-up scenes. A canvass of towns failed to reveal a single longhaired aspirant for movie fame.

The death of Leta Wichart, trained parachute jumper, who was working with Ruth Elder in Hoot Gibson’s new picture, “The Winged Horseman,” cast a gloom over the company. Miss Wichart had a record of 139 parachute jumps, many of them made when doubling for film folk.