SCREEN & STARS

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20480, 5 December 1934, Page 3

SCREEN & STARS

JjMLMGOERS will be able to hear the late Sarah Bernhardt speak in a new French production. Her voice will be re-recorded from a gramophone disc, and the picture will be produced by the famous Comedie Francaise. J>ROFESSOR MAX REINHARDT, the famous German theatrical producer, has signed a long-term contract to make films in Hollywood for Warner Brothers. His first production will be “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” with Mendelssohn's music, which he recently presented in the open air at the Hollywood Bowl. Other Shakespearean pictures will follow. T HE ANNUAL REPORT of the Los Angeles tax collector shows that Greta Garbo is taxed for only £11,050 in bonds and a £l6 motor-car she has owned for years. Charles Chaplin is Hollywood’s wealthiest star, says the report. He is assessed at £655,846. Mary Pickford is taxed for £390.152 and Douglas Fairbanks for £213,106. Constance Bennett is assessed for £38,005, Joan Crawford for £13,193 and John Barrymore for £19,288. CROWD, which included many stars of the stage and screen, packed the theatre studio of the National Broadcasting Company in Hollvwood recently to see and hear Mary Pickford doing her first radio play. As Susie Wayne, in the leading role in “ The Churchmouse,” Mary Pickford was a great success. Among those who applauded the performance were Norma Shearer, Helen Hayes, Ann Harding, Claudette Colbert, Katharine Hepburn, Richard Dix, Francis Lederer, Ginger Rogers, May Robson, Thelma Todd and Gene Raymond. Mary is still one of the screen’s most popular women. The little theatre is adjacent to the R.K.O. and Paramount Studios, and most of the stars working there managed to persuade the moguls to let them away for half an hour to see and listen to the radio play. They expressed their goodwill to Mary Pickford with gorgeous floral tributes. The was heavy with the scent of roses. The stage was crowded with baskets of flowers.

Q.RETA GARBO never uses nail polish, but her nails are always wellgroomed and shaped perfectly.

EVERY KISS that gets on the screen four are left in the studio. Technicians calculate that the average time for a close-up kissing scene is four minutes. That same kiss often takes an hour to photograph during production. Although more than twenty years have elapsed since D. W. Griffith first made it popular, filming the closeup of a kiss still remains a most ticklish problem for directors, players, camera men and sound men. TALLULAH BANKHEAD has been asked by Jock Whitney, the American millionaire, to appear in a play called “ Dark Victory,” written by Maxwell Anderson, the author of u hat Price Glory!” When the last English mail left she had booked her passage to New York. Alexander Korda, the film director, had asked her to stay in London and star in a play and a film in London. Tallulah said: I shall go with one big regret—that I have been unable to play under Korda's direction. I hope to do so at a future date.” « a RAMON NOVARRO is contemplating the formation of a picture organisation to operate in Mexico. He has been asked to produce, direct and act in a series of Mexican films. The offer made to him will not interfere with his Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract. M\ RY ELLIS, the New York actress, has been “ discovered ” by Hollywood—as a result of her work in London! No film offers came to her while she was playing leading parts on the American stage. Last year she was the star of “Music in the Air.” at His Majesty’s, and lately was heroine of the British film, “ Bella Donna.” One major company, after seeing this picture, has signed her on a long contract. This will not start until after the run of the play “ Josephine ” at His Majesty’s, with Mary Ellis in the role of Napoleon’s Empress.