ACROSS THE FOOTLIGHTS

Taranaki Daily News, 31 January 1931, Page 8 (Supplement)

ACROSS THE FOOTLIGHTS

EVERYBODY’S. To-night, Monday. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.—“ Loose Ends. (Owen Nares-Edna Best), British production; and “Not So Quiet on the Western Front” (Leslie Fuller), - British production. February 5 and 6.~*The Squealer’ (all star), Columbia production. February 7 to 10.—“ Balaclava” (all star), British production. February 11 to 17.—“ Song of My Heart” ‘(John McCormack), Fox i Movietone super production. THE REGENT. /To-night, Monday and Tuesday.—"Alf’» ' Button” (Alf Goddard), British special all-talking comedy. February 4 to 6.—“ Under a Texas Moon.” (all. star), Warner Bros, and Vitaphone all technicolour. production. , t February 7to 10.—To be announced later. . .. February 11 to 13.—“ Playing Around (Alice White), First National productions and "The Painted Angel” (Billie Dove-Edmund Lowe), First National production. OPERA HOUSE. ‘‘Th© Black Watch” (Victor, (MaLagJen), Fox special production. ~ *THE BLACK WATCH.” It is impossible to praise too highly , Mia’ picture which is to be presented at fee' New Plymouth Opera House tonight. It is of a calibre particularly suited to i New Zealand and Imperial testes, a picture that is adapted from k .fine book by a British author, and treating of a theme that must make a direct appeal to all Imperially-mind-ed people. The picture, entitled 'The Black Watch,” revolves immediately around the destinies of a captain in that famous regiment, the Black Watch. It is a fine, brave, reticent story, essentially and likeably English in its quiet good form. Nearly all the actors are English, Irish' or Scotch. Miss Myrna • Loy, plays the only feminine part in the exotic role- of Yasmani, the ‘•White Goddess” of the Himalayan tribes, a goddess who is found to have feet of clay. Victor McLaglen plays the role of Captain Donald King, of the Black Watch, who is sent on a diplomatic mission to, India, in great secret, to arrest a threatened uprising in the Himalayas. With thoughts only of his duty to his country, and faith for his own Scottish integrity, King bluffs his way through the suspicious and hostile regions of the Khyber Pass until he comes face to face with the. powerful and hypnotic Yasmani. And it is here ■ that the story of Captain King begins ito be even more adventurous, colourful end daring than it had been hitherto. • The. picture is’rich in sensational incidents, both in India and in England. * ~ * ■;* * “ALF’S BUTTON.”

When Private Alf Higgins discovered he had a magic button which had /the power of producing a Djinn pledged ’ to perform the bidding of the lord, of x tthe button, his thoughts immediately to dear old Blighty and his ! Liz. But Alf's ‘-cobber,” Bill Grant, -urged Alf to try his luck at an Eastern 1 temple, some Eastern beauties—and then 'some! When Alf accidentally "wishes he had Liz by ’is side,” Bill is right in. .the middle of an Eastern bath in all its scented glory. , Liz takes exception. ,;to her beloved Alf’s intimate surrounds ings and denounces him. Many hilarious scenes depict the adventures of Bill and Alf during their stay in the harem, and later in their lavish palace in Blighty. . “Alt's Button” comes to The Regent for a season of three matinees and three nights commencing to-day at 2 and 8 p.m. *## . * “UNDER A TEXAS MOON.” ~ “Under a Texas Moon,” Warner Bros. 1 and Vitaphone’s first out- of-doors, alltalking, natural colour picture, captures the spirit of romance, as few Western pictures have done.' The pastel shades which reveal colours without wearying the, eye are one of its greatest charms, and there is the bewitching song, “Un-' der a Texas Moon,” the haunting refrain of which is heard all through the picture. Frank Fay, noted stags star, plays the leading role of a gay Don Juan, who, with his guitar-strumming, roams the cattle country on adventure bent. “Under a Texas Moon” cojnes to The Resent on Wednesday next. "## ■ * ♦ “LOOSE ENDS.”,

‘Doos© Ends,” coming to Everybody’s to-day at 2 and 8 p.m., is a brilliant alltalking British adaptation of Dion Titheridge’s play. It contains all the traditions of the stage, enhanced by th© possibilities of the talking screen. So true is this that it is at times difficult to believe ihat the actors ar© not actually on .the stage. It is a controversial and original film, full of excellent entertainment and some food for thought. London after the war, and one of the sets of “bright young people” imbued with very modern ideas about marriage and wishing to tear down the old structures of society, for the setting, into which comes a man who for 15 years has been cut off from the world. How and why he had. been cut off furnishes the main theme with its gripping interest. Famous figures of the English stage and screen such as Owen Nares, Edna Best, Adrianne Allen, Miles Mander and Donald Calthrop form tho cast. * * * ♦ “NOT SO QUIET.”

“Not So Quiet on the Western Front,” a British comedy drama, will commence at. Everybody’s to-day. It is a burlesque of war-time experiences. The characters are soldiers and French girls, but that is practically all this hilarious comedy has to do with the war. There are some bright songs and dancing. England’s fav« ourite comedian, Leslie Fuller, has the principal role, and he is supported by & superlative company. # * ♦ * “SONG OF MY HEART.”

Music lovers as well as picture fans are awaiting with, interest the debut of Join? McCormack, famed Irish tenor in his first singing-talking picture, “Song 0’ My Heart,” the Fox Movietone special coming to Everybody’s on Wednesday, February 11. “Song o’ my Heart,” as the title might indicate, is an Irish story, written by Tom Barry, an Irishman,, played by a cast largely recruited from Irish actors, and filmed to a great extent on Irish soil. It was directed by Frank Borzage, remembered as the man responsible for “7th Heaven” and other Fox features. John McCormack naturally plays a leading role and during the course of the picture sings eleven sons, old favourites as well as new airs written specially for this picture. The manner of presentation of the songs Is unusual, due to the fact that they form a part of the story and advance ijke action as they are sung. As would be

expected, special care was taken by the Fox experts in recording the golden voice of the 'world-famous tenor. Those who have heard the film are of the opinion that it is the best-recorded picture that has come out of, Hollywood. The entire cast as well as technical staff spent three months in Ireland filming the exteriors. Many of these were made on Mr. McCormack’s estate, Moore Abbey, in Monasterevan, County Kildare. Others were taken in the villages of Kush‘and Lusk and on the banks of the River Barrow, not far from Dublin. ■Returning to Hollywood, the interior shots were made as well as the scenes in the concert number which depicts a large concert hall in New York City. The love interest, which predominates throughout,, is romantically acted by Maureen O’Sullivan, “discovered” by Director Borzage in Ireland, and John Garrick, well-known locally as Reginald Dandy. Other members of the large cast include J. M. Kerrigan, formerly of the famous Abbey Players, Dublin, and Farrell Macdonald, who play a pair of Irish comedians forever in an argument. Tommy Clifford, an 11 -year-old Irish youngster with a rich Celtic brogue, will endear' himself to all audiences. Others include Alice Joyce, Effie Ellsler, Edwin Schneider, Emily Fitzroy, Andre de Segurola and Edward Martindel.

NOT understood.

SOME RUSSIAN FILMS.

Representatives of the Dominion Governments in London attending the Imperial Conference were perplexed when, ■at the invitation of the Empire Marketing Board, they attended a Wardour Street private theatre and were shown a film programme which consisted mainiv of propaganda pictures made in Russia, says the Daily Mail. Although none of the Premiers wa* present, other Ministers and about 150 members of the staffs were there. On the back of the programme it was stated: — , “The present programme has been designed to show some modern film treatments of agricultural and other productive activities. “The Russian examples are included with Empire Marketing Board films because of the very high standard Russian films have reached both in propaganda power and documentary interest. The massing of detail . . ■. combine to make their films of work as exciting as any in the world.” Seven films were shown and of these four were Russian, all of which were received in silence. 1 One of those present said to a Daily Mail reporter:—’ ■ .■» “It was not' that the films might have had a pernicious effect on the Dominion representatives. They were too ridiculous for that. When the films struck the same note of sad, sullen propaganda, everyone became restless. “‘The Finale of Earth’ was wrongly described by the Russian producers as about 'Apples, rain, and sunshine.’, There was no sunshine. It was just rain falling on apples in various positions until the end of the film. “When the third, 'Turk Sib,’ camej ■on the screen, I saw th© opening, and) then joined the procession that wasleaving the theatre.” DELIGHTFUL MISS ' A SUCCESS IN LONDON. ■ ' "Whenever I see Miss Iris Hoey on our West End stage—and unfortunately that happens comparatively • seldom I wonder why an actress of such competence, of such high technical efficiency, of such humour and charm, is not continually engaged for leading parts, wrote Alan (Parsons last month in a •London daily. Last night we saw. her at th© Prince of Wales’ Theatre in a comedy by Mr. Donald Buckley, entitled ■“The Man Who Kissed His Wife.” She plays the part of one Mrs. Lisden, the ■wife of a big-game hunter who has been hunting his big game so long that she begins, to find things rather difficult to explain, especially when her two attractive and marriageable daughters are demanding to marry their ■ young men. So she inserts an agony column notice, in reply to which Robert Woking, a pleasing middle-aged man, played by Mr. Felix Aylmer, w|th all his easy charm, arrives on the scene, and is promptly hailed by the children as their long-lb&t daddy. The next event is easily foreseen' —the real husband appeals, and, entering into the ■fun of the thing, announces himself as Mr. Woking, to tho complete discomfiture of his expectant wife. I need not unravel the subsequent farcical complications. Suffer it to say that it ■was a joy to see Miss Hoey wriggling like an eel to untangle herself from one lie, only to find herself hopelessly involved in the next. The audience laughed heartily, and accorded a special welcome to Miss Kathleen Harrison, who gave even another of her brilliant thumb-nail sketches as a country maid-of-all-work—a part which she will no doubt be destined to play forever and ever. An amusing, high-spirited trifle, made worth while by Miss Hoey’s admirable performance. It is absurd that go excellent an actress should not always be with us. I hope that her success in this comedy may bring her back to us, and this time for good. MAUGHAM AND GOLDERS GREEN. AN INDIGNANT SUBURB. The delightful suburb of Golders Green, London, is annoyed.with Somerset Maugham for choosing it as the scene of his most cynical and audacious play to date—an attack on family life, comfortable bridge-playing mothers, sons with Oxford accents, and daughters with outspoken comments on the futility of the Ten Commandments. The play is described as a 'bitter and ■brilliant study of modern suburban life in London, th© theme being that of a man tiring of his domestic environment, and, as he is merely tolerated by his wife and advanced offspring, deciding to go off on his own. The secretary of the Golders Green Chamber of Commerce defends the suburb as one in ■which one is likely to find more happy •families, proportionately, than in any other London suburb. The stage, he stated, is far too fond of picking on Golders Green and turning it. to ridicule. Indignant residents complain that •the dramatist has derided home, youth, marriage and love —"indeed, all the institutions of Golders Green,’ as one •puts it. Maugham has made the daughter an obnoxious type of young woman, •who discusses with amazing frankness ■the ethics and economics of modern morals with an elderly man; indeed, the play has. in it many lines that made ■the first night audience take refuge in hysterical, uneasy laughter. Mr. Maugham stated that he intended the yotlng people in his play to be nasty.

JANNINGS IS BACK. THE “FOREIGN” COLONY. Hollywood has had to summon Emil Jannings back. Three years ago, when talk films arrived, there was a. great ■to-do in California. For years ths silent films had been adorned chiefly by non-Americans. Those stars whoso beauty had so enchanted us had come ■from the Balkans and Austria, and (France —anywhere, in fact, save Brooklyn or St. Louis, says the Daily Mail. Then speech came to the screen, and ■the movie magnates imagined fondly for a while that English (American ■brand) would become the universal ■tongue of the screen. All those distinguished and charming people who spoke in non-American gutterals were hurriedly; handed their passports and their steimship tickets and abundant pecuniary recompense for abrupt breach of their ample contracts. It was Elstree which first exposed that fallacy. Elstree, io its eternal credit, realised so soon as talk became inevitable that here was England’s opportunity. British International Pictures commenced to plan a European bloc which should destroy the Hollywood monopoly. It set to work to make its films not only in English, but also in French and German. “Atlantic” and “The Flame of Love”—both of which were made in Elstree —have beaten records in Paris and Berlin.

So much may be counted to the credit of Elstree. "But Hollywood now has been awakened to its own danger. It is no longer possible to ‘’dub” alien sounds on io an existing film; that process has been tried, but audiences are no longer content to accept the strange spectacle of an actor clearly mouthing the words “I love you” while the loud-speaker says: “Je t’adore.” Audiences, particularly! French audiences, will not have that sort of thing. So Hollywood has had to call back its exiles. • Jannings left America with a comfortable fortune. He went to Germany, and after a while appeared in that film “The Blue -Angel,” which is ranked nowall over the world as a masterpiece. He is engaged now in preparing for a film of Falstaff which he will make in German and English, but after that the Warner Brothers hope to entice him to America to make German and English talkies for them.

The “foreign” colony in Hollywood is stronger now than it was even in the days of silent films. The most distinguished directors at present working there are Lubitsch and von Sternberg,

who are German. Greta Garbo—a Swede is still th© most enchanting of all the women of th© screen, and Maurice Chevalier —a. Frenchman —still the most attractive man. . Amprica has combed th© earth again for her stars. Adolph Menjou is 'back there playing in French and English. (Barry Norton, who has a Spanish, aocent and because of that was killed by talkies, is now one of th© highestpaid actors in America. He plays in English. Spanish and French. Lena Malena, a beautiful girl with the dreamiest eyes in the world, returned to Germany after a vain endeavour to make a screen career in Hollywood. 'She is back there now making talkies in three languages. Malena Dietrich, whom film-goers will •remember in “Th© Blue Angel, has a contract at £3OO a week. The list is endless. Lissi Arna, another German; ■Suzy Vernon, a famous French actress; Jose Crespo, a Spaniard; Jos© Bohr, a favourite with Cuban audiences; Lotti Loder, a Viennese, and a dozen others are all-working in what- the cynics call the uncelestial city at fabulous salaries. Th© moral, I think, is obvious; Klstree eet the pace, and Elstree can maintain it. England, after all, is the most convenient country in. the world in which to make multi-lingual talkiea. JOHN McCORMACK’S' ART. DISAPPOINTED CRITIC. John McCormack had a great reception in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, but a writer in the Manchester Guardian claimed that he proved disappointing in the greater part of uhat ■he did. “He has a mellifluous voice,' ■he said, “and the tone possesses a certain ‘bloom which is there because Nature evidently gave him a rare gift for song. He relies, however, too much on one vocal colour, and after the first song or two in his recitals we feel that his resources have been gauged and that what follows will bear very much the same style and timbre.” The critic praised ‘his delightful folk-songs; Ins obvious sincerity of. delivery, and his manner entirely without affectation. These notable features, perhaps, are Virtues that have endeared John Mcormack at once to listeners who might, be critical of greater though less easily approachable artists. Among McCormack’s encore numbers was Rachmaninoff’s “The Children’'—a fine, sad lyric, which he sang beautifully. TOTI DAL MONTE. VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND. Toti Dal Monte and her husband Enzo De Muro Lomanto, have been guaranteed £120,000 profit for a tour of Russia, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. In the course of the four they will give 200 concerts, and will leave ltaly°at (lie end of January. Toti Dal Monte and her husband, the tenor, made themselves very popular during the J. C. Williamson-Dame Nelli© Melba 5 season of 102'8. They were married in Svdney, the event attracting thousands of people. Although the now celebrated soprano won ■ splendid tributes during her Australian seasons, she had been but little known in th© Commonwealth before she made her dazzling success in “Lucia. ’ The large sum mentioned will probably make a. few readers open their eyes widely, but it will be admitted by all her friends that her gifts as an artist are such that she and her husband, who has high claimsJn various tenor roles,' are deserving of' their good fortune.

MAURICE MOSCOVITCH. SEASON IN A MET? TO A, In the role of Shylock, in which he made his English-speaking debut eleven years ago, Maurice Moscovitch went to the Tremont Theatre in Boston to play a part for which he admits a great affection, says the New York Times. The occasion was, of course, Charles Dillingham’s forthcoming venture into •“The Merchant of Venice,” under Andrew Leigh’s direction, which will bring ■Mr. Moscovitch back to Broadway for •his first appearance here since the not very happy “Josef Suss” of last season. (But all is forgiven, and “The Merchant” ■will, according to present portents, arrive late this month. Of the present state of the play and its performance ■H. T. Parker, of the Boston Evening ■Transcript, writes in part.— “Distinctly the purpose of the performance was to take the twentiethcentury " way with Shakespeare. The settings were borrowed from Mr. Ames’ production—a fore-stage bounded by a Venetian arcade and changeable side panels; behind, back-drops of prospects in a Renaissance Venice of a frescoed court room in the Doge's palace, of tapestried or terraced chambers in Portia’s ■house, of a stately garden vista. Such settings—by Woodman Thompson—■wear a sufficiently romantic air; can be replaced in a twinkling of two eyes. ■Not once, except in the necessary intervals between acts, need the spectator fall out of the story. To preserve it further as a narrative, the play was rearranged in three acts —the first ending •at Shy lock's return to his empty house; ■the second with the planning of Portia’s disguise; the third divided between the court at Venice and the garden at Belmont. One scene followed another coherently, cumulatively enough, usually' in the Shakespearean order, with the sealing of the bond as central in Act 1., with Bassanio’s winning of Portia in like place in Act 11. All of which procedure was to keep ‘The Merchant’ the good and still viable ‘theatre’ •that Shakespeare wrote. “Throughout Andrew Leigh's pace was swift. To that end he had stripped away merely decorative or traditional ‘business’ passed down the histrionic ages from memory, knows not where’. In his turn, Mr. Moscovitch was all for a simplified Shylock. The joint result was a direct, humanised performance at long and happy odds with postured and upholstered Shakespeare. “There remains Mr. Moscovitch’s Shylock, to be dark shadow, as the learned

r say, across a romantic comedy. Yet, as it proved, less sombre than this or that tradition might ordain. The actor did not embody the sufferings and the defeats of his race as Irving’s Shylock was said to do. He reared no superhuman figure ■as Alansfield did. He rioted in no oriental temperament after the manner of Novelli. Observe him in the bargaining with Antonio and Bassamo, ■all alert of hands, face and body, persuading and agreeing, wheedling, demurring, consenting again, lhen, left alone, tense with remembered affronts and ingrained aversion. In either mood, ■watch his Jewish instinct and actor s ability to release it not only in his tones 'but in the whole gamut of bodily expression. Note him again in the brief scenes with Jessica. ll© is kindly, paternal, yet with an under-current or suspicion. So\ does a father mistiust, •when he must dwell, and his daughter with liim, under the- yoke and in the contacts of this Venice. Remark him once more w-hen he returns to his silent house and finds her fled. No superfluities, no extravagances, no bombinations. Only an old man crouched desolate on his doorstep;, his thoughts, like ashes flung about his head. ; “Thenceforth primarily an actor s ■Shylock. (Did not Shakespeare write for a company whose powers he knew and would serve?) With Mr. Alexander to aid Mr. Moscovitch made the scene with Tubal the exhibition of histrionic ■virtuosity that it really is. - Swift were the changes of mood; to each its particular vehemence, be it of tenderness remembered or of revenge nursed and advanced; with both firm and plastic, projection. A trial scene acted in flashes leering contempt toward hostile Venetians or the Jew confident and unveiled; absorbed whetting of the knife, piercing through the undermood of vindictive exultation; the shrill, acrid cry to Antonio ’a sentence, come'; the leap upon the victim at ‘prepare’; the recoil, dismay, up-creeping sense of impotence, a.t tPoitia's ruse; the collapse into Tubal’s arms under sentence heaped on sentence and insult piled upon affront; the gathering of every physical power for an exit bowed but not yet broken.” SCREEN AWARDS. PERFORMANCES FOR 1930. Outstanding achievements in the field of motion pictures were honoured at the third annual dinner given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at Hollywood, says the Chrislion Science Monitor. Will H. Hays, president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, was guest-speaker. A talking film containing an address by Thomas A. Edison was shown. ; The merit awards,,, the results of balloting by 600 leading artists of the. screen, were announced as follows;— Actor. —Best performance or performances: George Arliss in ‘Disraeli. Actress. —'Best, performance or performances: Norma Shearer in “Divorcee-'’ Director.—Best achievement. or achievements: Lewis Milestone in “All Quiet on the Western Front. ’ Production.—Outstanding picture . of ■ the year from all aspects: Carl Laemimle'for “All Quiet on the. Western Front.” Writer. —Frances Marion, “Ths Big House.” Art Direction—Herman Rosse. for work on "King of Jazz.” Sound Recording.—To Metro-Gold-w’yn-Mayer Sound Department for work on "The Big House.” Cinematography. —Williard Vander Veer and Joseph T. Rucker, in connec; tion with picture "With Byrd at the South (Pole.”

GALLI-CURCI TN LONDON, ; AUDIENCE OF 9000 ENRAPTURED. Seven thousand women of all ages and types were spellbound by Mme. Amelita Galli-Curci, th© prima donna, at th© Royal Albert Hall, says a London paper. There were nearly 2000 men there as well, but they seemed insignificant, for it was a day of emotion and enthusiasm for women. i Women who came in motor cars, modestly dressed women from the sub-' urbs, country women in tweeds, Indian women, and women from the Dominions, all sat bewitched for two hours by the voice of Galli-Curci. She has never faced a more rapt audience. While she was singing it was only her own sweet voice that mad© any sound in the vast Albert Hall. Not a head moved, not a programme fluttered, and there was not a cough. But when she was not singing this concourse of women cheered and cried for more. Young women who a moment before had been gazing at the prima donna with a sort of of divine heroineworship and older women whose eyes had shone with tears joined in a riot of applause which could not be appeased until the golden figure of Galli-Curci .stood before them again. At the .‘beginning of the recital Mme. Galli-Curci was nervous, uncertain how all these women would receive her, and the applause at the beginning was only moderate. But gradually the nervousness passed, the voice wove its spell, and as the women in the hall responded to its sweetness the heart of the singer went out to them. It was a snippety programme, sung in a snippety fashion, but her voice is in its middle range ■bird-like, true, and clear. Breathing faults, however, are noticeable in her high notes and by defective intonation •towards the end of cadences.

Galli-Curci looked- very feminine in a Spanish costume with a hooped skirt of gold material and a crimson bodice. The lower half of the dress looked like one end of a Christmas cracker. In her hair was a large Spanish comb, and it was so arranged that she seemed to he leaning her head against a large sunflower.

The applause swelled to a crescendo by the time the third group of songs had been reached, and Galli-Curci waved her handkerchief at the enraptured ■women, blew them kisses, and sang ■them sweet song after sweet song for three-quarters of an hour after the' recital was due to end. The women would ■not leave. They crowded in a vast circle round the platform and urged •Mme. Galli-Curci to sing them more songs. Smilingly she agreed. And standing by her piano—sometimes accompanying herself —in the midst of this great circle she sang them ‘‘My Old Kentucky Home,” “S.wanee River,” and “Home Sweet Home.” The lights had to be extinguished at 5.40 p.m. before the women would leave ' A WHENCE THEY CAME. ANTE-HOLLYWOOD DAYS. In the cast that supported Dolores del Rio in “Evangeline” were such players as Roland Drew, Alec B. Francis, and Donald Reed. Respectively, these gentlemen appeared as Gabriel, Father Felician and Baptiste. Diverting research discloses that in days before Hollywood brought them into such roles, Mr. Drew was known as Walter Goss, and sold advertising for a New York newspaper; Mr. Francis shocked corn in lowa, and was a section hand on a Minnesota railroad, while Mr. Reed regaled himself and replenished his coffers by the sale of adding machines. Lives of film stars aIL remind us that ■the desire to act is common to the butcher, the baker, and their traditional intimate, the candlestick-maker. Gilbert Roland as Luis Antonio Ramaso de ■Alonso was trained by his father, a Mexican matador of some note, in the gentle art of bull-fighting. Camilla Horn deserted the needs and prosperous 'py-jama-making business for the music halls and film studios in Berlin. 'While Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Norma Talmadge, Lillian Gish and others took •to the boards while their feet were ■tiny, many others turned to the art of Thespis as a belated vocation.. Ronald Coleman was a bookkeeper for a London shipping house, Richard Dix an assistant teller in a bank, Ernest Torrfence a piano teacher, with a background of general education at Edinburgh University and musical study at Stuttgart. Ivan Petrovitch studied architecture in Serbia and Shayle Gardner the same thing in New Zealand. Eric von Stroheim was clerk in a department store, deckhand, and writer of ■vaudeville sketches, Samuel Goldwyn sold gloves, Douglas Fairbanks sold soap. D. W. Griffith wag night Police Court reporter for the Louisville Courier-Jour-nal, he was elevator operator in Stewart's Dry Goods Emporium in that city, and. later he was a puddler inf a foundry at Tonowanda, N.Y. Fatty Arbuckle was a-janitor, John Mack Brown coached the freshman football team of the University of Alabama during the .1926 season, Ernst Lubitsch was a clerk in his father’s Berlin clothing establishment, Gloria Swanson studied at' the Chicago Art Institute. 1 John 'Barrymore began as an artist. He studied under George Bridgman of the Art Students’ League in New York, illustrated editorials of Ella Wheeler Wilcox in the New York Journal, was discharged from that job by Arthur Brisbane, and worked for twenty minutes as cartoonist for the Morning Telegraph. Lewis Stone fought in the Span-ish-American War and during the World War . was an instructor at the Plattsburg Camp. Gary Cooper rode the ranges of Montana. Stuart Holmes studied art. Georg© Bancroft, the mighty menace of the screen, was -a song-and-dance man. Norman Kerry sold typewriters. William Boyd was a grocery clerk in Orapge, Cal., and also drilled oil and sold automobiles. Louis Wolheim, who has an M.E. from Cornell, taught mathematics there before the Barrymores lured him to the Stage in “The Jest.” Mary Nolan, after winning her board in an orphan asylum in ■St. Joseph, Mo., by washing dishes, became a model for Neysa McMein, Charles Dana Gibson, Harrison Fisher, and other artists. Joseph M. Schenck was a clerk in a pharmacy, and Don Alvarado was a professional boxer. LONDON SUCCESSES. “STREET SCENE” The Elmer Rice play, “Street Scene,* has repeated at the Globe Theatre, London, the success it achieved in New York. High praise has been given to the' impersonators of the heroine, Rose Maurrant, and her father and motherthree characters played to perfection by the artists who appeared in the ori’’inal/production in the States —Miss Erin O’Brien Moore, Miss Mary Servoss, and Mr. David Landau. The story is of the domestic life of the trio,, with Rose, a typist, likened to a “girl-Hamlet of the slums”; keeping her way faithfully through the exciting events of her mother’s murder, her father’s arrest, and the rivalry of her lovers. Master Charles Hawtrey (a pupil of Italia Conti) and Josephine Huntley Wright, daughter of Huntley Wright, on© of the most famous comedians of the. London Gaiety in the George Edwardes production days, were also in the cast.

MISS WIL-FORD’S NEW ROLE. li'S & LEAD IN BRIGHT COMEDY, I ' « ' " » ' .>F Bliss Isabel Wilford, daughter of Sir Thomas Wilford, High Comissioner for New Zealand at Home, was selected for the lead in Mrs. Kilpatrick’s new comedy, “Getting George 'Married,” which was put on at the Everyman Theatre Guild, Hampstead, and which, according to the Wellington Post’s London correspondent, may well have a chance in the West End with a little cutting and a little speeding up. The piece is classed as a comedy written round a “Haw-try part.” George is an amiable type of character; his embarrassing adventures in the social world, following tho sudden inheritance of a dukedom form the theme of the story. Miss Wynne ((played by Miss Wilford) is the secretary to the Hon. George Tremayne, student of old coins, who inherits the title. There is a designing and managing old aunt, whose mission is to get George married, which she attempts to do most agressively. Louise Hampton essayed this role with complete success. It is a foregone conclusion that George will eventually marry his secretary, but the comedy kills him off (first in a fire, then conveniently resurrects him in a saleroom, where he is indulging his hobby for bld' coins. The aunt’4 designs and those of a very modern cousin being, thwarted, George and Marion come into their own. Also in the cast were Bruce Belfrage, Marie Daipton, Freda Lockhart, Brember Wills and Rex Harrison. Of Miss Wilford it is said that she played. the part with a pretty, natural charm, her acting being one of the outstanding memories of the initial performance of the fouract new comedy. 'She is the first person on the stage at the opening, and one of the two at the close. Mrs. Kilpatrick is one of the few women who ■have written continuously for Punch: she has also written several successful ■West i End plays, including “Virginia's Husband” and “Wild Cat Hetty,” both of which ha,ve been filmed. She has also written entertaining novels, among them “Our Elizabeth,” “Educating Ernestine,” “Camilla in a Caravan,” “Red Dust,” and “Rift Valley.” EVELYN LAYE’S SUCCESS. ' ENGLISH, ACTRESS IN TALKIES. “Boo,” as Miss Evelyn Lave, the English actress, is known to her friends, and the least affected girl in English musical comedy, went to the United ■States four mouths ago to make her ■first talking pictures; She returned to England early in November an international “star” and the prima. donna of singing pictures. Mr. 'Sam Goldwyn saw her in England and engaged her for his first film operetta. At present the'film is without a name. In th© meantime, Mr. C. S 3. Cochran, compelled to find a. new heroine for his success, ‘'Bitter Sweet,” implored Miss Lay© to accept the part. When Miss Laye was met on her return from America at Cowes she was very excited and poured out a rain of questions about her friends and a'host ■of little tales about the wonders of Hollywood. She told how, when her picture was finished, they tried it at a little place three hours’ ride from Hollywood. It was slipped into the programme unannounced, so that the producers could test its reception by a country audience. ■Miss Laye fled from the hall in fright when first she heard herself singing. They told her afterwards that she had ■been the greatest success for years, and they rallied round her with offers of big contracts. • 1 Immediately on reaching Waterloo Station, Miss Laye hurried off to start her rehearsals for the.opening of “Bitter Sweet.”