MUST BE VERSATILE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 280, 29 November 1935, Page 10

MUST BE VERSATILE

MODERN COMPOSERS EXPLANATION OFFERED No longer may a composer of popular tunes sit down at his piano and just pick out on the keys with one linger some light ditty of the moment. Those days have passed. Describing the composer of to-day, Mack Gordon and Harry Revel say he has to have considerable versatility as w.ell as a lot of talent. By versatility, this duo of composers who have produced most of the songs contributing to Bing Crosby’s fame mean many things. Here is their explanation of the Hollywood musical situation:— ‘ ‘There are a lot of song writers who can turn out hit after hit in a certain single vein. Good as these men are, they would have difficulty finding permanent places in Hollywood, because to-day Hollywood demands variety. That is why so many of the pres-ent-day song writers for the screen have what amounts to life jobs. They arc able, capable and versatile.” Gordon and Revel recently wrote five songs of the popular variety for Bing Crosby to sing in Paramount’s “Two for To-night.” They are “Without a Word of Warning,” “From the Top of Your Head,” “Two for To-night,” “Takes Two to Make a Bargain” and “X Wish I Were Aladdin.” Paul Kelly has been loaned by Fox to- Paramount for the load, in “From Little Acorus.” Called back from the quiet retreat of private life by the insistent demand of film fans. Dorothy Sebastian, for years one of the most popular actresses in Hollywood, is returning to the screen via the medium of RKO Radio Pictures’ “shorts.” Clara Kimbell Young, former filmstar of the first magnitude, announced her intention of regaining seme of her former prestige by entering into the film field again. Her first appearance will be in Paramount’s Cecil B. De Mille picture, “The Crusades.”

“Cat Across the Path,” a novel by Ruth Feiner, has been bought for screening by Mctro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Jane Withers, the principal of “Ginger,” is soon to start work in a called, at the moment, “The Immigrant. ' ’ Frank Buck has arrived in San Francisco from Singapore with 100,000 feet of film, including shots o£ an animal called a gaur. Lili Damita will, in all probability, play the lead opposite James Cagney in “ ’Frisco Kid,” though negotiations are not concluded yet. Estelle Taylor was originally chosen for the part. A record for mass make-up that should last for a long time was set recently by RKO Radio’s “The Three Musketeers” company, in connection with the filming of sword play sequences. Every available grease paint artist was secured to apply wigs, moustaches. and .beards for 235 court gentlemen, grande dames, and peasants. The job was completed in one hour.