WOMEN'S TALKIE ROLES

Waipa Post, Volume 41, Issue 3185, 7 August 1930, Page 3

WOMEN'S TALKIE ROLES

Women are beginning to play increasingly important roles in talkie production, both behind the scenes as well as on the screen. Almost daily Hollywood is recognising feminine talent, outside the " star" fold, and rewarding it with high salaries and important appointments, writes the cinema correspondent of the London Daily Chronicle. Elsie Janis, the stage star, recently rose to new fame owing to her success as a film director in " Paramount on Parade," a lavish and spectacular revenue-type entertainment not yet shown in Britain. Miss Janis's experience of stage work proved invaluable and she has it to thank for the fact that she is at present the only woman supervising filming production.

Ella Williams is West Coast manager of Cosmopolitan Production, a branch of the huge Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer organisation. Gloria Swanson made another woman a power in the' industry when she appointed Laura Hope Crew, a stage " star," as her manager for talkies. Miss Swanson made "The Trespasser" under Miss Crew's guidance, and now the Pathe Company is employing her as adviser on film productions. Lucille Gleason, wife of James Gleason, the screen and theatre " star," has a post as associate producer of Columbia Pictures, the firm responsible for " Flight," and another woman is wardrobe director of the same concern. Mary Pickford's busineess ability is well known. She is a director of banks, a member of two chambers of commerce, and holds many other important business positions. Dorothy Arzuer, who directed "Manhattan Cocktail," one of the best of the last of the silent films, is coming into prominence. Woman are steadily gaining ground in the scenario departments, and also in scene and costume designing.