ACROSS THE FOOTLIGHTS

Taranaki Daily News, 1 August 1931, Page 10 (Supplement)

ACROSS THE FOOTLIGHTS

COMING EVENTS. ' OPERA HOUSE. ; To-night.—" The Cuckoos” (Bert Wheel-er—Robert-‘-Woolsey), R.K.O. production. August B.—“ The Vagabond Lover” (Rudy Vallee—Marie Dressier— Sally Blane), R.K.O. production. August 10 to 12—“ Just Imagine” (El Brendel-Maureen O’Sullivan-J ohn ; Garrick), Fox Movietone special production. August 15. —“High Society Blues” (Jan°et Gaynor-Charles Farrell), Fox Movietone production. THE REGENT. To-night, Monday and Tuesday.—• “The Perfect Alibi” (all star), . British production. / August sto 7. —“Top Speed” (Joe E. Brown —Bernice Claire), Warner Bros, production; and “The Notorious. Affair” (Billie Dove), First National production. August 8 to 11.—“ Danger Lights” ■/ (Louis Wolheim-Jeau Arthur-Robt. Armstrong), R.K.O. production. Augst 12 to 14.—“ The Life of the Party” (Winnie Lightner), Warner Bros, all-teehnicolour comedy special. • . ■ August 15 to 18.—" The Yellow Mask” (Warwick Ward and Dorothy Sea- ' combe), Edgar Wallace musical British production. . \ ' EVERYBODY’S. . To-night, Monday and Tuesday. — ■ “The Cohens and Kellys in Africa” (Charlie Murray-George Sidney), Universal production. August 5 to 7. —“The Better Wife” (Ruth Chatterton), Paramount production. August 8 to 10.—“ It’s a Wise Child” (Marion Davis), Metro-Goldwyh-Mayer production. August 12 to 14. —“Almost a Honeymoon’’ (Clifford Mollison-Dbdo Watts), British comedy special. August 15 to 18. —“The Dancers” (all star),-Fox Movietone production. •■* * * “COHENS & KELLYS IN AFRICA.” "The Cohens and Kellys in Africa” -will head the new programme commenc- . Ing at Everybody’s to-d'ay at 2 and, 7.4'5 p.m. Initiating Universal’s hilarious series with “The Cohens and Kellys”, Charlie Murray and George Sidney, and Vera Gordon and‘Kate Price have left a trail of laughter which has been doubled with each successive picture. Cohen and Kelly, whose perpetual arguments are screamingly funny, cannot fail to agree that their piano manufacturing business is in a serious depression because of a shortage of ivory for the keys.' In desperation they decide to go to Africa on an ivory ex- ! ' pedition under the leadership of Windjammer Thorn, a fake explorer. Mrs. Cohen and Mrs. Kelly, not to be left- behind, accompany their husbands into the wilds of the Dark Continent. How their serious predicaments are finally disentangled forms the basis of a thrilling and laugh-provoking entertainment. .1 a * * * V 1 “THE PERFECT ALIBI* It took an Englishman, celebrated as a writer .of gay and whimsical stories ' and plays, to write the finest mystery drama of the past ten years. A. A. Milne, author of such playa as/“Mr.' Pirn. Passes By,” and the famous children’s ibooks such as “Winnie the Pooh” and “Now We .Are Six,!’ is also the ■writer of one of the most thrilling and suspenseful of modern murder myster- , ‘ ies, “The Perfect Alibi.’’< Proof that “The Perfect Alibi” is a smashing success is found in the fact that it played on the'stage for two years during its , Broadway engagement several years 1 'ago. Now it is here as a talkie, coming to the Regent Theatre with a distinguished English cast and the direction of Basil Dean. This new British picture commences to-day at 2 and 7.45 ■ ' pan.. * ' ' “THE, CUCKOOS.” Filled with delirious fun and hilarious nonsense, “The Cuckoos,” Radio Pictures 1 wild riot of waggery, will be pre- ' sented for a return season at the Opera House to-day at a matinee at 2 p.m. i and to-night at 8. “The Cuckoos” is I ' not a revue. It is not a musical comedy, although comedy and music hold full sway through the production. The show is a distinct departure from the conventional, offering a well-knit story which serves as a background for the antics of the maddest pair of comics ever to grace tihe screen—Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, who won picture fame in “Rio Rita.” Romance has not been neglected, and a tender love strain is carried by June Clyde and Hugh Trevor. Wheeler and Woolsey are. capably, aided in their lunacy by Dorothy. Lee and Jobyna Howland. • Ivan Lebedeff and Mitchell Lewis are the “bad men” and Marguerita Padula lends her glorious voice to a number of song hits. Filmed partly in technicoldur, offering ten lilting hit songs, numbering more than a thousand in its cast and containing '■ the liveliest set of chorus presentations ever brought to the screen, “The Cuckoos” has everything that makes for perfect screen entertainment. • • • • “THE BETTER WIFE.” “The Better Wife,” Commencing at Everybody’s on Wednesday, again unites two of the audible screen’s outstanding personalities, Ruth Chattertori and Clive Brook. Together they scored bite in “Charming Sinners” and “The ■ Laughing Lady.” Miss Chatterton is also well remembered for her brilliant performances in "The Doctor’s Secret,” and “Sarah and Son.” In “The Better Wife” both these players are given exceptionally fine dramatic roles that should enhance their reputations. The story is from the novel 'by Gouverneur Morris. ••■ • • “A NOTORIOUS AFFAIR.” Billie Dove, the star of “A Notorious Affair.” the first National production coming to the Regent on Wednesday, has played varied roles in her career of the motion picture screen. She. has played Follies’ girls as in “An Affair of the Follies,” "The Heart of a Follies Girl,” and “The American Beauty,” a western girl in “Wanderer of the “The Black Pirate,” a Hungarian peasant girl in “The Yellow Lily,’’ a „ girl accused of being an octoroon in “The Love Mart,” and an American girl in “The Man and the Moment” and “The Other To-morrow,” and a bored English girl in “Her Private Affair.” Now she is playing another English girl in her latest picture, “A Notorious Affair.” In this she is the wife of a musical genius whom she struggles to hold against another woman. Basil Rathbone plays opposite her as the husband Paul Gherardi. Kay Francis, Montagu Love and Kenneth Thomson are in tlie supporting fast. Lloyd Bacon directed.

“JUST IMAGINE.”

The inimitable comedy team of El Brendel and Marjorie White, which has virtually run away with every picture in which they have beeii paired, are prominently featured in the second big De Sylva, Brown and Henderson Fox Movietone musical comedy, “Just Imagine,” acclaimed everywhere as a worthy successor to their "Sunny Side Up.” They were first seen and heard together in De' Sylva, Brown and Henderson’s initial screen offering, “Sunny Side Up,” which was undoubtedly one of the most popular pictures produced in 1929. They romped and played through that picture evoking multitudes of laughs. Both have unusually strong parte in “Just Imagine,” and those who have seen the picture forecast early stardom for each of these hilarious mirth makers. Others in the large cast are Maureen O’Sullivan, John Garrick, Frank Albertson, Kennth Thomson, Hobart Bosworth, Wilfred Lucas, Mischa Auer, Ivan Linnow and Sidney DeGray. David Butler, who directed “Sunny Side Up, also directed this hit and Seymour Felix staged the dance numbers. It comes to the New Plymouth Opera House for a three-night season commencing August 10. “TOP SPEED.” Both singing and acting lie very close to the heart of Bernice Claire, who has the feminine lead with Joe E. Brown in "Top Speed,” coming on Wednesday next to the Regent Theatre. Mies Claire, who is only 22 years old; won her fiist laurels on the stage in "The Desert Song.” Then • First' National pictures called her to California and gave her her first screen opportunity in “No, No, Nanette,” a singing and dancing role. This was followed by “Spring Is Here” and “Song of the Flame”-I—the 1 —the latter an admirable vehicle for the display of her • exceptionally beautiful soprano voice. But. about that time a certain First National'director, Mervyn Leßoy, took it into his head that this sensational young discovery was not only a really marvellous singer but an exceptionally capable actress. To prove it, he insisted upon Miss Claire being assigned a straight dramatic role in “Numbered Men,” with no music at all. It was a difficult role, too, calling for high emotional interpretation. The success of “Numbered Men” supplied the answer, and proved that Leßoy had known what he was doing. In "Top Speed” Miss Claire has a chance to combine her talents, as her role demands both singing and acting. The acting is in tihe vein of light comedy, for which her gift has become wellknown during the past season. Besides Miss Claire and Joe E. Brown, the featured cast of “Top Speed” includes Jack Whiting, Laura Lee, Frank McHugh and a distinguished array of lesser lights. « • * * “IT'S A WISE CHILD.” Marion’ Davies’ new starring film, “It’s a Wise Child,” is said to be the most mirth provoking picture of this popular comedienneis, career. “It’s a Wise Child” was purchased for Miss Davies’ use because film executives believed that this stage hit would provide the screen star with an ideal vehicle. This story of the embarrassing and uproarious effects caused by gossip in a small town has been praised by dramatic critics as one of the best farce comedies of the theatre. Those who have'seen the picture declare that it is even funnier. Miss'Davies was directed by? Robert Z. Leonard, who directed “Impersonating a Lady,” "The Cardboard Lover” and several of her other outstanding pictures. Sidney Blackmer, James Gleason and Lester Vail, all of whom have attained prominence on the legitimate stage, have important roles in the new picture. Among the important feminine feminine supporting players are Polly Moran, who contributes another of her inimitable laugh-promot-ing characterisations, and Mario Prevost, last seen in “Within the Law” and “Gentleman’s Fate.” # * * • “THE VAGABOND LOVER.” Rudy Vallee’s first great feature pic-, ture, “The Vagabond Lover,” will introduce the popular singer to his army of admirers. Crooning four delightful new songs, Vallee makes his bow in a lavish production created by Radio Pictures under the direction of Marshal Neilan. With him are the Connecticut Yankees, the seven boys as familiar to music as Rudy himself. It is to Sally Blane, Radio Pictures’ charming little starlet, that Rudy croons the four new love songs. They are "A Little Kiss Each Morning,” “I Love You, Believe Me, I Love You,” “I’ll Be Reminded of You” and "If You Were the Only Girl in the World.” In supporting roles are Marie Dresslef, Eddie Nugent, Danny O’Shea, Norman Peek, Nella Walker, Alan Roscoe, Malcolm Waite and Charles Sellon. “The Vagabond Lover” comes to the Opera House on August 8. • « « « “DANGER LIGHTS.” Immortalising the unswerving faith and courage of all railroad men, Radio, Pictures’ "Danger Lights,” first great railroad melodrama of the talkies, commences at the Regent shortly. It is a stirring tribute to the stout hearts who keep the wheels moving. With Louis Wolheim as the two-fisted, hard-swear-ing, roaring division boss whose indomitable strength holds the rails fast; Robert Armstrong as the ace engineer whose love for the railroad transcends his selfishness, and Jean Arthur as the railroad-bred beauty whose charm fires these iron men to death grips, “Danger Lights” is truly the song of the rails dramatised. Railroad men will appreciate the countless authentic touches of “Danger Lights”: the round-house operations; the emergency clearings of landslides and washouts; plunging long freights over mountain passes; the headlong stride of the limited greyhounds with their de luxe coaches; all the stirring glory of railroading in novel sound and talk. “Danger Lights” was filmed over the right-of-way of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific road, the cast covering more than 30,000 miles before’the film was completed. Its sentiment is expressed for railroaders when the general manager declares; “The railroad is the railroad man’s religion. It is not a question of one man but of every railroad man on every railroad in the country!” • • • • CLEVER CHILD ACTORS.

A clever imitation; in the right place and at the right time, will bring fame and fortune. More than ten years ago, the ‘shimmy’ dance was the most talked of thing in the United States. So, when Jackie Coogan, four and a half years of age, did an impromptu ‘shimmy’ on the stage of a Los Angeles vaudeville house, the audience gave thunderous applause. Charlie Chaplin saw the act, and engaged Jackie for "The Kid.”, Three years ago Moran and Mack, the Two Black Crows, were the most popular entertainers in the Show World and their records were be-

ELSTREE ACQUISITIONS. NEW PLAYS AND PLAYERS. British International Pictures, Ltd., announce that they have purchased an ideal talkie story in “High Speed. Containing all the ingredients required for a 100 per cent, screen entertainment, the story is bv Charles Bennett, who will be recalled as the author of “Blackmail,” which was the first talking picture to be made in this country and directed for British International Pictures by Alfred Hitchcock. “Brother Alfred,” a comedy by I’. G. Wodehouse and H. G. Westbrook, baa been secured by British International for early production. A strong and gripping drama has been secured in “McGluskie, the Sea Rover,” for immediate production at Elstree Studios. Adapted from the story by A. G. Hales, the famous War correspondent and author of “McGluskie, the Reformer,” and a series of interesting books dealing with the adventures of°this famous character, the film will be directed by F. W. Kraemer, who supervised the making of that outstanding British International picture, “Dreyfus.” This story deals with two men, McGluskie and his friend, who, in search of ' adventures, become gun-run-ners. At loggerheads in times of peace they become closer than brothers in the face of danger and in their exciting career they encounter thrills in . plenty. An early production date is anticipated and full details of cast will shortly be announced. An important and interesting recruit to the illustrious group of comedians now associated with British International Pictures, which includes Gene Gerrard, Stanley Lupino, Lupino Lane and Kenneth Kove, is Ernie Lotinga, who is well known for his brilliant stage caricatures. He lias been engaged to star in his own original story “House Full,” which will take the floor immediately a director has been-assigned for the production. This will not, of course, be Lotinga’s first film appearance and he is anxious to add further to the screen laurels he gained with “P. C. Josser.” The versatility and discernment of 8.1. P. is daily being made more clear by the varied and interesting additions made to its production programme, to which the inclusion of Lotinga must be a great asset. ACTRESS ROBBED. ENTERTAINING PRISONERS. While a London actress was entertaining prisoners at Wormwood Scrubs Prison her flat was ransacked by. thieves and a quantity of jewellery stolen. The victim of this freak of fortune was Marie Ney, who is playing in ‘London Wall” at the Duke of York’s Theatre, and who lives at South Kensington. When she returned home and found what had happened she saw the funny side of it, and burst out laughing. She was still chuckling when a reporter spoke to her that night. She said—"l was reading Shakespeare to the prisoners, and I think that’s why my flat was broken into. “The door of the flat was badly damaged. The thief was evidently in a great hurry, judging by the way the flat had been ransacked. He was apparently after money, as pillows even had been turned over. “A number of small articles of jewellery were taken, including a gold cigarette case and a solitaire diamond brooch. Some of the articles stolen were of much sentimental value to me, especially a gold chain which my father gave to my mother.” MARIE DRESSLER GIVEN A “RISE.” SEEN AS. A POLITICAL CANDIDATE. Marie Dressier, who pictures bring tremendous returns to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, has had her salary raised' by the corporation .from 150 Q dollars a week to 5000 dollars. 'She was also given a bonus of 10,000 dollars. Louis B. Mayer was the moving spirit in this generous deed. He is putting aside' a certain weekly sum that will yield an annuity should Miss Dressier retire from screen work, Mayer is looking for stories now in which to star jointly. Miss Dressier and Jackie Cooper, the brilliant child actor. Mayer believes the combination would be a world-beater, for the human touch in Miss Dressier’s work would have free play working with the admirable little actor. The fur is destined to fly in “Politics,” in which Marie Dressier as a feminine candidate for the mayoralty has a falling out with Polly Moran, who plays the role of campaign manager. The battle between the two will form a highlight of this new comedy.

ing quoted in millions of homes. So, when Mitzi Green, six years old, impersonated the lazy-voiced Charley Mack to her father’s piping Moran at an actor’s benefit in Freeport, Long Island, the audience acknowledged her a sensation. This brought her into motion pictures. Jackie and Mitzi will be seen and heard as Tom and Becky Thatcher in Paramount’s “Tom Sawyer,” at the Grand Theatre, Hawera, next week. The role of Tom’s playmate, Huckleberry Finn, is portrayed by Junior Durkin. # » * * VARIED NATIONALITIES. A veritable League of Nations could bo organised from tihe members' of the cast and staff of “Just Imagine.” El Brendel, born in Philadelphia, is of Dutch, English and 'Swedish parentage. Maureen O’Sullivan, leading lady, was born near Dublin. John Garrick, leading man, while born and reared in Brighton, England, claims Australia as his°home. Marjorie White, vivacious little comedienne, is a native of Winnipeg, Canada. Frank Albertson, light comedian, is of Russian and Icelandic parentage. Hobart Bosworth is of English extraction. Misdha Auer is Polish, while Ivan Linow was born in Latvia, Russia. jJoyzelle is of Spanish and French extraction. Buddy DeSylya is of French parentage. Lew Brown is Jewish and Ray Henderson, whose real name is Brest, is of pure German descent. In fact, the only “Simon pure” American in the cast is Kenneth Thomson, the “heavy.” “Just Imagine” will be shown at the Hawera Opera House shortly. 0 0 0 0 STAGE STAR FOR SCREEN. To Universal 'belongs the credit for introducing to the screen Genevieve Tobin. She was born in New York City, the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Jerome Tobin. Though none of her forebears had ever been interested in theatricals, both Genevieve and her sister Vivian went on the stage as quickly as she could get out of school. They were both educated in New York City and at the Institute de I’Etoile in Paris. Miss Tobin was featured in the British production of "The Trial of Mary Dugan” at Queen’s Theatre, London. Miss To'bin has a fine soprano voice, splendid ability as a dancer, and unusual dramatic talents, as well as a keen sense of comedy technique. She will be seen shortly in Hawera in “Blind Wives.”

HOLLYWOOD ECONOMY. . SAVING THE PENNIES. (Exclusive to Daily News by Robert S. White.) Economy is a word which, at the present time, fills us with all sorts of misgivings. It savours of curtailed expenditure. cheap, inferior production, and, worst of all, unemployment. Economy, in the general sense, means all that and more, but not so in its application to Hollywood motion picture studios. Economy, as instituted there, actually . increases employment at the studio, although it possibly has a different effect on the outside. At the Paramount studios, it entails the saving of countless pennies in the conservation of current assets and rejuvenating of past assets so that, in future months or years, those pennies can be spent in thousands of dollars for production purposes. For example, old furniture is never thrown away at the studio. Spring cleaning of the Paramount property room is unknown. There is no attic into which broken chairs, old dressing tables, vases and worn out toys can be tossed. And if there were an attic, it would not be used, for in motion pictures, an old broken down table is often as serviceable as a well preserved Chippendale. In motion* pictures laid in a preceding generation, old furniture in good repair is valuable for use on sets. When this furniture has seen all the possible service, it is not relegated to the junk heap, but is stored in the property room, to be . dug out when a use is found for it.

And there is always a use for it. A large part of the so-called junk furniture at Paramount has been dragged from its hiding place, and employed on one of. the sets of Clara Bow’s dramatic starring picture, “Kick In.” This set represents the attic, and it took a lot of old furniture to fill it.

It is a storeroom typical of any home that has been lived iii for a. long time. When spring cleaning time c6mes round, the average housewife hates, to throw away furniture and pictures that are worn out or broken beyond use. Often they have too many memories, and her sentimental side makes her store things in the attic, year after year, until a perfectly amazing amount of junk accumulates.

The attic set in “Kick In” had to iook real, so it was filled with such properties as would have been pensioned by a housewife. In it are old dressing tables, antiquated and broken trunks, an old-fashioned sewing machine, a brass bed, an ancient gramophone, piles .of neatly bound newspapers and magazines of years gone by, which the thrifty owner expects to sell for old paper some day, worn out toys, pictures with broken frames, chairs with the bottoms broken out, or with the legs broken off; in fact, so well does the property man know what to put in such a set, that you immediately suspect that his own attic contains more old junk than any other in the world. After the “props”' were placed on the set, a heavy layer of fine dust was

blown over it, and allowed to settle. Dust is another characteristic of attics. No one- ever cleans them. It is said that the history of a home can be read in the articles stored in its top floor, just as geology reads the history of the world in the strata of rocks. Whether the attic set of “Kick In,” tells the history of the characters. Miss Bow, Regis Toomey, • Juliette Compton and others portray is questionable. But it certainly attests to the progress of Paramount. But economy at the Paramount Hollywood studios has not been restricted merely to the hoarding of junk. There is a newer, though just as important method of conserving the pennies. It is the crucible furnace in paramount’s private foundry. Much has been written about the film city’s “melting pot,” but the actual thing, in flaming action, has not previously been publicised at length. .It fulfils a variety of purpose s in connection with the construction department in the little film city within the film metropolis. Edward Burdick, in charge of the foundry, turns metal into a molten flux, caste them into a variety of shapes, and melts them up again, to flow out in new forms. The completeness of the Paramount picture-making plants is exemplified by the operation of the foundry on its lot. To-day, it is casting aluminium hardware fixtures for a hotel setting in “Dude Ranch,” featuring Jack Oakie, Eugene Pallette and Stuart Erwin. Tomorrow, it is melting up those same fixtures to be cast into railings for the brownstone-front -street set, covering a 300-foot frontage, whic his under construction for “Up Pops the Devil,” a comedy with Skeets Gallagher, Carole Lombard and Norman Foster in the CcLSCa The patterns are made in wood, laid in the impressionable earth moulds, and the liquid aluminium is poured in. In a few minutes the bright, rough castings can be removed. It is - found that the clear, light metal can be use more economically and practically than iron. When the Paramount foundry is not easting construction material or fine parts in bronze, brass or aluminium, or others of the non-ferrous metals, it reduces to ingots all the flotsam and jetsam of the ’ 2fi-acre lot, which has moltable metal value. Scrap and junk metal are thus saved from the trash heap to blend together •into useful forms. The distillate furnace, operated between 1'250 and 2800 degrees Fahrenheit. Castings up to the weight of 700 pounds have been made in the foundry. Another important use of this department is ingot casting silver, which runs to within six per cent, of being pure, from the precipitations secured out of film emulsions after the celluloid has been condemned. A special process precipitates the silver out of the film emulsion on lead plates. It is then shipped off, and reduced to ingots in the foundry.

ALLAN WILKIE & SHAKESPEARE. (By Sir Archibald Strong, Professor of English Literature in the University of Adelaide.) Nope but & man of heroic will and temperament could have wrung triumph out of the dangers and difficulties which have beset Mr. Wilkie during the years of his Shakespearean production in Australia and New Zealand. His courage, his fine artistry and his high idealism have made him the dominating figure in the theatrical world to-day, and have enabled him to ‘confer upon this country an obligation of which it is at last becoming fully sensible. On September, 11, 1920, he commenced Shakespearean production at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne, and, by the middle % of 1924 he had given a thousand consecutive performances of Shakespeare in different parts of Australia. This constitutes a world’s record, for it is doubtful whether even five hundred consecutive performances have ever been given before. The record is all the more noteworthy if it is to be considered that he has seven million people in Australia and New Zealand on whom to depend for support, as against the forty million on whom an English producer of Shakespeare may count. A further handicap to the production of Shakespeare at the Antipodes lies in the huge distances which separate the Australian cities, and in the correspondingly huge cost of transport. Studied with regard to all these handicaps, Allan Wilkie’s record, as it stands to-day, seems almost a miracle. He has already produced 27 of Shakespeare’s plays, including several which have been staged in this country only very rarely or very long ago. It is’too often forgotten in Australia and New Zealand that there are some vastly important ways of furthering the country’s national life besides the ways of. politics or the civil service or the professions. In old countries artists of every kind receive far more honour than they do amongst, ourselves, and we are recognised as being invaluable to the national welfare. It is difficult to see how a man could render finer social services than by making the greatest genius of their race a living and familiar being to every age and class. That is what Mr. Wilkie is doing to-day. It has been calculated that through the concessions which he has granted to them, he has enabled over a million school children and students to witness performances of Shakespeare, and the advantages to our adult citizens has been equally great. No man’s work is more important to Australia and New Zealand to-day than that of Allan Wilkie. BRITISH STUDIOS ACTIVE. "HAPPY AUGURY FOR FUTURE.” The various talking picture studios affiliated with British Dominions Films, Limited, are working at capacity with many new features and shorts. Among the features being shot are “A Chance of a Night Time,” at British Dominions Boreham Wood Studios. This stars

Ralph Lynn and Winifred Shotter, and it represents the first production in which Lynn has appeared that has been written especially for the talking picture screeji. “Down River,” an adaptation of “Seamark’s Thames River” romance, has a cast headed by Jane Baxter and Kenneth Kove. An interesting collection of past and present styles in detective fashion is presented in Gainsborough’s Conan Doyle mystery, “The Hound of the Baskerville’s,” just completed at the Islington Studios. Numerous other features are in various stages of cutting and editing, among which is Maisie Gay’s "To Oblige a Lady.” . , Colin Clive, remembered for his interpretation of Stanhope in “Journey’s End,” with Adrianne Allen, Martin Lewis, Ron Clare and Gordon Harker appear in “The Stronger Sex,” powerful drama of the English coalfields just completed by Gainsborough. “Carnival,” said to introduce a new musical-dramatic technique, is nbw in production at British Dominions own studio, and from information received it will be one of the biggest offerings ever to emerge from a British studio. “East Lynne on ithe Western Front,” a musical skit on the famous old "Melo,” is now finished, while Harry Lauder is active on his series of short song-films. Altogether, this is one of the most active periods in England’s movie production history, and the increased activity at all the studios is undoubtedly a happy augury for the future. FUTURE AUTOBIOGRAPHIES. FILMED INSTEAD OF PRINTED? Will autobiographies of the future be filmed instead of printed? The possibility is suggested by the announcement that the new talkie to bo written by Frederick Lonsdale will tell the story of his own life, the famous dramatist has had a career more varied and thrilling than those of most film heroes. He is now engaged in writing his reminiscences for publication in the form of a screen drama. Though Mr. Lonsdale will be the first celebrity to screen his own history, biographies of famous people have been produced in film form on several occasions. Among the most successful pictures of the kind were "Lives” of Richard Wagner and Guiseppe Verdi. These films were made against backgrounds associated with the composers, and introduced many personal relies. One of the earliest British film successes was an elaborate reconstruction of the life of Queen Victoria. Another film of this type seen recently was D. W. Griffith’s “Abraham Lincoln.”

RELIGION IN HOLLYWOOD. FAITHS OF THE STARS. “An ill-informed preacher referred to Hollywood as a godless town,’’ says an American writer. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is as much sincere religion in Hollywood as anywhere. The Roman Catholic Church can boast many members among the movie folk. Ramon Novarro is an ardent Catholic; Marion Davies is a Catholic, and does not neglect her religious duties; Tom, Matt and Owen Moore, Sally O’Neill, Gilbert Roland, Anita Page, Zasu Pitts, Colleen Moore, Norman Kerry—all are devout Catholics. Bebe Daniels was baptised a Catholic, but married out of the Church when she wedded Ben Lyon who is a Jew. Mae Murray became a Catholic when she married Prince Mdvani. Maureen O’Sullivan, Maurice Chevalier and Claudette Colbert are Catholics. May McAvoy, Thomas Meighan, George O’Brien, Neil Hamilton, Rod La Rocque, Vilma Banky, Nancy Carroll, Antonio Moreno, Jackie Coogan, June Collyer, and Polly Moran are members of the Catholic Motion Picture Guild. Norma Shearer adopted Judaism when she married Irving Thalberg, a Jew. Carmel Myers is the daughter of a Jewish rabbi, and Charlie Chaplin is of the Jewish, faith and is a deep student of the Bible. Mary Pickford was formerly a Catholic, but after her divorce from Owen Moore. became a Christian Scientist. Douglas Fairbanks is also a follower of this sect. Conrad Nagel' is an usher of the Christian Scientist Church in Hollywood. Joan Crawford and Douglas Fairbanks, jun., were married in the Catholic Church, but now attend the Christian Scientist Church. The Church of England boasts a number of regular followers among the stars. Joan and Constance Bennett are Church of England, as are Richard Barthelmess, Victor McLaglen, Irene Rich, Virginia Cherrill, Esther Ralston, Ronald Colman, George Arliss, George Fawcett, Clive Brook, Ruth .Chatterton and Ralph Forbes. Marie Dressier’s simple creed is doing as one would be done by. Greta Garbo is a Lutheran. John Wayne is a Methodist. Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davies are Golden Rulers. Charles Farrell and Hedda Hopper are the only Quakers in Hollywood. The Catholic faith is the strongest, followed by Christian Science, third Episcopalian, then Presbyterian and Methodist. FILMING 15,750 FEET UP< THE FIRST ALPJNE TALKIE. On the pinnacle of Europe’s highest point the first Alpine talkie —“Avalanche,” was directed by Dr. Arnold Fanck, who made that silent epic, “The White Hell of Pitz Palu.” In the rarified atmosphere on Mont Blanc’s summit, 15,750 feet up, Fanck and his company endured hardships and risked death daily in order to secure the unique setting and beautiful moun-tain-top vistas that exist above the clouds. Daring cameramen carried their apparatus on their backs and their lives in their hands when they descended at a rope’s end the torn glaciers and bottomless crevasses to secure their pictures. Avalanches, snowstorms and Alpine thunder and lightning were frequent menaces to life and property, and owing to the difficulty of transport, life on Mont Blanc’s summit became one of primitive conditions. The rarified air, glacier burns (caused by the refraction of the sun's rays on the ice) and food and water - shortage stretched the endurance powers oj the company to its very limit, but for 12 days the party held fast and descended, at last, to the flower-bedecked valley below with the first sound-film drama ever en-

acted at such an altitude in its possession. ; , Those who see the .dm may judge for themselves whether the exquisite beauty of the panorama of snow and ice, the magnificence of mountain-majesty and the Intense drama of man’s struggle with nature in ite most formidable aspect, which it depicts, was not well worth all the hardships and difficulties that beset Fanck and his company. Fanck has, at any rate, spared no effort on his or his company’s part, to surpass his previous efforts in Alpine fibning. and “Avalanche’’ has fulfilled his highest houes as comoensation.