ACROSS THE FOOTLIGHTS

Taranaki Daily News, 18 November 1933, Page 8 (Supplement)

ACROSS THE FOOTLIGHTS

SIDELIGHTS ON SCREEN STARS.

NEW USE FOR MICKEY MOUSE.

Further details of the distribution of the late Mrs. Charlotte Pickford’s estate show that she left Mary 1,196,000 dollars to add to the 3,000,000 she is already reported to possess. # « # *

With the signing of a new contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Wallace Beery becomes the most-highly paid male star in Hollywood. The agreement calls for 5000 dollars a week for 52 weeks.

Will Rogers was very surprised when he discovered that his young daughter had re-named herself Mary Howard and landed a part in a new musical picture to be made by Fox.

Yvonne Printemps, formerly Mme. Sacha Guitry, will play lead in the London presentation of Noel Coward’s “Conversation Piece,” to be produced by C. B. Cochran.

There are thirty-seven actors in important roles besides fifty-three others in “bit” parts, and two thousand extras who take the roles of convicts, state officials, soldiers and civilians in “I Am a Fugitive” starting at the Opera House, Hawera, to-night.

It is believed that Germany has ordered her native film stars to return from America to take part in local productions. The penalty for ignoring the ultimatum will be a loss of nativity—they will never be allowed to return to their fatherland. This high-handed move smacks of pleasant Mr. Hitler.

So anxious was Herbert Rawlinson to score as big a success on the legitimate stage as he did on the screen, that he produced, directed, and starred in “City Haul” and it was a . tremendous hit in New York and on the road. These last few years Rawlinson has appeared on the Broadway stage exclusively, but returns to pictures in a strong character role in "Moonlight and Pretzels,” which comes to the Opera House to-day.

Who are the good and bad golfers in the film world? There are many keen golfers, ranging from “plus” men to “dubs.” Eddie Quillan is the best player of them all (he often does a round in 75), closely followed by Bing Crosby, Richard Arlen, Douglas Fairbanks, sen., and Harold Lloyd. Among the enthusiasts who have not yet acquired a, high degree of skill are Jack Oakie, Fredric March, Jean Harlow, Maurice Chevalier and Irene Dunne.

No less an authority than Adolphe Menjou states that the route to a girl’s heart is via a cute little moustache 1 “A well-trimmed moustache increases a man’s sex-appeal 20 per cent. Sex appeal is judged largely by physical characteristics. Men have few of them. ,A moustache is just one more.” He further maintains that tfhe average girl would rather be kissed by a man with a moustache than by one with a clean-shaven face!

' Like the father who “just wants to show baby how the train? run” at Christmas time, Lionel Barrymore undertook to teach little Tad Alexander how to shoot an air rifle during the filming of location scenes for ,“The Stranger’s Return,” coming on Wednesday to the Regent. Tad brought the rifle, a new gift, out to the farm where the Metro-Gold-wyn-Mayer picture was screened under King Vidor’s direction, but it was Barrymore who did most of the shooting, using tin cans for targets!

Henrietta Crosman is of a peculiar breed of crusader. She actually has the courage of her convictions. Since childhood, Miss Crosman has been a lover of animals and she has dedicated her life to making their lives happier. She carries her creed to the point of actual practice. She never eats meat and never wears furs—because she believes it is wrong to kill animals for such purposes. She is the star of “Pilgrimage,” coming here shortly.

Regardless of the film success she achieves in the starring role of Frank Bprzage’s production of “A Farewell to Arms,” which comes to the Opera House shortly, Helen Hayes says she will appear in at least one Broadway play each year. “A Farewell to Arms” gives Miss Hayes her fourth big film role. She won praise for her performances in “The Sin of Madelon Claudet,” “Arrowsmith,” and “Son-Daughter.” In her latest picture she is co-starred with Gary Cooper, and Adolphe Menjou is featured in the cast.

The forgotten men and women of the extra ranks, the countless thousands who don’t possess dress suits and evening clothes, recently got their first break in months. At the Fox Film Studio 260 of them were engaged for exterior dock scenes of “Pilgrimage,” which comes here next week. Later 480 more were engaged for other scenes. With the passing of silent pictures and the resultant need for more' personal and intimate scenes, the mob players went jobless except for rare occasions when spectaculair outdoor scenes were necessary. These “forgotten men and women” extras are distinguished from others by the fact that they have limited wardrobes, possibly only the clothes on their backs, and as a consequence cannot be used for dress scenes. Most of tliem have gainful occupations which they sandwich in between picture engagements.

A girl who made fame for herself by dropping all her clothes and doing a dance with two fans as her only garb, now claims a salary of 2500 dollars a week for three pictures. She is Sally Rand, and the producer for the company that engaged her at the huge salary made a special trip from Hollywood to Chicago to get her signature to the contract. At the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago, Sally bided her time and after several attempts to break into the movies hit upon the idea of shocking the film magnates into recognition of her talents. She astonished the world, and incidentally was the subject of newspaper discussion and arrest, but she got her contract, also a special engagement at a Loop circuit theatre at the salary of 4000 dollars. Miss Rand certainly took advantage of her opportunity to have all the movie producers chasing her. She has yet to prove that she is as good an actress as she is a publicity expert.

They have discovered a new use for Mickey Mouse in London. According to reports from London, Mickey is now helping to correct squints at the London Refraction Hospital. Among the latest equipment used for eye-testing in this institution is an apparatus for correcting a squint. The child who is being tested has to look through two -lenses, in front of which are two slots to hold coloured plates, like lantern slides. Both the plates are exactly the same and have on them pictures of Mickey Mouse in various poses. At first the child sees two separate pictures, but they are slowly moved about by the optician until the child sees the two pictures merged into one. This has the effect of making both eyes look in the same direction, thus correcting the squint. While this treatment in the beginning is a slight strain on the muscles of the eye, the hospital authorities declare that the child forgets all about that if he is looking at funny little pictures of Mickey Mouse. Hail Mickey the humanitarian I