The Bismarck Tribune Newspaper, October 2, 1929, Page 13

eee EON Ae GR aR pe eo Oeeoe ae ———- ee ee ee LIFE STORY FORMS {__ ROMANTIC CHAPTER IN BUSINESS ANNALS: eee eu apa i Merging of Two Great Film Or- ganizations Brought Dream | of Boyhood True ET | RAISED IN CHICAGO GHETTO; Broke Into Screen Gusiness as/ Piano Player in the First Nickel Playhouse Standing forth as perhaps the most | conspicuous figure in the gigantic} theater operating organization known | as the Publix Theatres corporation is @ young man of 35 whose life story forms one of the most romantic and dramatic chapters of the annals of lt ead so-called big business—Sam atc. It will be recalled that a few months ego Kate went to New York to as- sume the duties of president of Pub- lix which had just been formed to operate the theater's properties owned in whole or in part or leased by the Famous Players-Lasky corporation. The directors of the Theaters cor- Poration, impresscd by the brilliant success of the firm of Balaban & Hatz, had prevailed upon the Chicago concern to take over the management of its houses and one of the pro- visions of the agreement was that Sam Katz should take executive charge of the new enterprise. Hope Realized the merging of interests of greatest organizations in the amusement world, a Sam Katz dream came true. To him Adolph Zukor, president of the Famous s iures and quality im . His national advertis- campaign hat made a great im- ion upon the youthful Chicago ate from its inception some ten azo and when the Zukor organ- tion at length entered the exhibit- ing field on a large scale, it occurred ‘tion, hot and weary and in private’s THE BISMARCK TRIBUNE. jficer’s uniform, even if ft) may be; worm by a fledgling and fidgety “sec- ond looie,” is amusingly illustrated in an incident connected with the mak- ing of “His First Command,” by Pathe Riley, Kans. William Boyd, star of the produc- uniform for film purposes, was lying | flat on his back in the shade of the stables, his shoes unlaced, and very much at rest. A lieutenant in actual service at the fort spied the star, and | cial interest in the theatrical enter- prise, he gave Katz a letter in which he set forth that he had investigated the property and character of the two young partners and could, therefore, vouch for them. The letter brought money and crowds cnough. It was through this letter that the late Mor- | ris Rosenwald became interested in} the Balaban and Katz theaters. They | then built the Riviera, whereupon all | Chicago knew Balaban & Katz. The rest of the story necd not be re-/| counted. William Boyd Takes His Medicine The psychological sense of ,author- | determined to have some fun. lity and discipline embodied in an of- | wet over to the recumbent figure. lant, with a grin cracking his stern | trayal is face for the first time. { Ruefully unlacing his tormenting (Shoes again, Boyd grinned, too. The He | director and other piayers gave him | the merry ha-ha from the sidelines. “Get up and salute!” he barked. “But I'm not a——,” Boyd started to explain. “Keep quiet,” barked the lieutenant. “All ea all right,” said the har- assed Boyd. “Say ‘sir’ when you address me!" yelled the officer. “Yes, sir,” said Boyd, apparently teady to please. “Stand at attention!” was the next |Bismarck Paramount | Will Show ‘Illusion’ | One of the notable performances that make a fascinating picture of | “Tilusion,” Paramount's _all-talking | dramatization of Arthur Train's weil | known novel, co-starring Nancy Car- roll and Charles “Buddy” Rogers, ts contributed by a 78 year old actress, | command. making her debut on the audible “But I'm not a soldier!” expostulat- | screen. She is Emelie Melville, who ed Boyd. | first appeared on the legitimate stage “You don't have to tell me that.'as a child actress before the Civil | ‘You don’t look like one. Lace those / war, subsequentiy playing leading shoes!” | feminine rotes opposite that great | “But my fect hurt,” said Boyd. who American actor, Edwin Booth. had dragged the “pups” around for! In “TIlusion,” this charming vet- | |many an hour during the taking of | jeran of the stage is cast as Mother scenes, without a chance to rest. Fay, an aged trouper, still filled with “Say ‘sir’ I told you!” roared the | ithe zest of life, and eager despite her Neutenant. age, to take her place once again be- “Yes, said Boyd, meekly | Mina the footlights, Her performance enough. lis a rare treat; her actions and c “For a movie star you take army | tic comments provoke much hearty j orders pretty well,” said the Heuten- | laughter. In many respects her por- sir,” to Sam Katz that it would be a splen- «id idea to blend the two theatre con- rns. The thought persisted until it has become an actuality. Ty month or two I go down to ghetto in Chicego and look at old home and my father's oid tare: shop at Twelfth and Jefferson r raid Katz to an interviewer, “and it says to me ‘Here's where you ceme from, Sam Katz. Now be vour- eclf and cut out the Born in Ru: wousht to this he was a baby of three months, he went to live in the before- mentioned ghetto, When he was nearing his ninth hday he wert to the home of a prominent Chicago citizen on the h Side to engage in a school boy debate. There for the first time he caw men in dinner suits and women in evening dress. It all made an in- celible impression on him; especially he dinner jackets which stirred his mind to wonder and amuse- as he had always thought that ‘h 2 suit was enly worn by a waiter. lace just hit me right at the seys Katz, “and I said ‘Geet must get out of where T live and into something like this and I have got to £0 to school to do it.’” Started Work in Theater In 1905 when young Katz was 13 years old, Carl Laemmie had started 2 five cent moving picture show on the West Side of Chicago—the only movie show in town. The Katz boy applied for the job of playing the pi- eno there thinking that he could earn comething by working in the theater afternoons and evenings without in- terfering with his school work. He fot a job and his first week's earn- His amounted to two dollars and a half. To this day he remembers the red- whiskered manager, a former medi- cine show ballyhoo man. This man- oger told him that the boss was mak- ing several hundred dollars a week right there in that little place just entertaining the people at a nickel apiece. “I saw the thing awfully big and wont home and said ‘Dad, close up the barber shop. This is a business. This 4s a real business.’” The parents thought the boy was crazy but he went along with the new business and when he was 16 years old had his own theater with 144 folding chairs, subsequently en- larging the capacity to 275 and in- stalling an “orchestra” consisting of @ piano, violin and cello. Buys Another Theater ‘Tha next year be found that his gave them good ec! it. In that same year he was grad- uated from high school and his inner ee vt ia il sil OUNT trayal is being compared to the splendid work of Haidee Wright, who created the role of the energetic mother trouper of that well-remem- bered play, “The Royal Family,” which took New York by storm two Years ago. Mrs. Melville's is a role that both young and old will enjoy thoroughly. “Mlusion,” however, affords Miss Carroll and Buddy Rogers an excel- lent opportunity to sing, dance and make love as only they can. The de- lightful sweethearts of “Close Har- mony” and “Abie’s Irish Rose,” these popular young stars are decidedly at {home in one of the most entertaining pictures of the fall season. Other songs featured in this picture are “Revolutionary Rhythm,” introduced by Lillian Roth, alded and abetted by ppy, handsome chorus of dancing Is, and “Levee Love,” one of the ew negro spirituals, sung by the large plantation chorus of the Congo Cabaret. A particularly well balanced sup- porting cast includes June Collyer, Regis Toomey, Kay Francis, William Austin, Eugenie Besserer, Paul Lukas and Maude Turner Gordon. “Mlusion” plays Monday and Tues- ~ day, October 7 and 8. It is the second big all-talking attraction of the new | Paramount theater. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1929 Sam Katz, Only 35, Is Genius Behind Chain of Publix Theaters am Boyd Takes His Medicine | Paramount Theater’: 8 Rehearsal Is Planned The work on the interior of the new Paramount theater is now completed and everything 1s set for the grand opening on Friday morning at 11 o'clock. A complete rehearsal of the inaugural program is planned for Thursday. This complete prepared- ness, with leeway of at least 24 hours in which to rectify any possible omis- sion, will be the climax of many | weeks of work to complete the elabor- ate decoration and finishing of the beautiful auditorium. Not only will the Paramount the- ater be complete in all its appoint-|John Miljan, it will be} Marion Harris. Harold Lloyd’s new ments Thursday, but cleaned and polished from the “weather plant” in the basement to the projection machines booth, and the apparatus which makes the screen talk and sing. The furnishings of the theater have all arrived and are being placed. The entire program of entertain- ment for the theater openings on Friday will be gone over, including the screening of “Fast Company,” the | tion which has. has been selected to head the inaugural program. The management announces that admission prices of 15 cents for chil- dren and 50 cents for adults will pre- vail for the _ opening. ———_—_____,4 i _The New Yew Pictures | i Here are a few of the new pictures on the way: John Loder will play opposite Cor- inne Griffith in “Lilies of the Field.” Edmund Lowe and Constance Ben- nett have the leading parts in the Pathe picture “This Thing Called Love.” Ramon Novarro is to be the star of “Devil May Care,” while oth- ers in the cast are Dorothy Jordan, Helene Millard and comedy, “Welcome Danger,” has been completed and is about ready for ex- hibition. Ralph Graves has been cast opposite Belle Baker in a new one called “Song of Love.” Carlo Schipa, brother of the opera star, has a sing- ing part in “The Hurdy Gurdy Man,” George Jessel’s new starring vehicle. Lila Lee and John Loder also have parts in the same picture. Warner Brothers are producing two dramas, all-talking Paramount super-produc- one “The Agony ing out a new story written von Stroheim, actor-aut! And the old D. W. Griffith pictures; are to have @ revival, set to nolse, The first to undergo such treatment will be “Way Down East. Ronald Colman, having completed work on “Cond has left for a month's vacation in Alaska, where he will hunt bear, moose, elk and other big game. pebglores Det Rio collects Ince hand- 1 erchiefs. Her former penchant wa: for cigarette holders. What's next nobody knows. Richard Dix, cast as a physician in his latest starring picture, “The Love J Doctor,” studied medicine at the Uni- versity of Minnesoti “Trade winds" are winds slowing 4 continuously toward the thermal | ; the first from the Earl Derr Biggers The Greatest Shows FAMOUS LASKY CORP., ADOLPH zUKOR, PRES. Oy the best show in town!” of the New Show World are PARAMOUNT! | @, Remember how you howled at the Marx Brothers in ‘The Cocoanuts”? Remember the chills and thrills of “The Mysterious Dr. Fu-Manchu” and The Greene Murder Case”? The hair-raising drama of that great spectacle, \“The Four Feathers”? That glamorous, glorious romance of the stage, “The Dance of Life”? They were all Paramount Pictures and only a few at that — the New Show World of entertainment at its most thrill- ing best. , Now look ahead and see what great things are coming! Harold Lioyd talking in “Welcome Danger”; “The Two Black Crows”, Moran & Mack, in a great talking, singing, dancing spec- tacle, “Why Bring That Up?”; “The Virginian”—“The Covered Wagon” of the New Show World; Ziegfeld’s great girl-and- music extravaganza, “Glorifying the American Girl,” with Mary Eaton and Dan Healy and such stars as Eddie Cantor, Rudy Vallee, Helen Morgan appearing in the revue scenes —to name a few. “© The talking-singing screen opened a great New Show World, and Paramount, with 17 years of supremacy hack of it, and with the greatest resources and man-power in the industry, developed its possibilities to the fullest extent. With the cream of screen and stage stars. With the greatest music composers. With the leading directors and showmen. With the most ad- vanced sound studios in Hollywood, and also in New York, center of the dramatic and musical world. @, Small wonder the greatest shows of the New Show World are Paramount Pictures! And they’re yours to see and enjoy right around the corner from wherever you are. Your Theatre Manager will tell you when. 4, “If it’s a Paramount Picture it’s “THE a Hamilton WATCH FOR THESE 5 PARAMOUNT PICTURES : COMING! i aiiliien to the productions shown on this page, ask your Theatre Manager when you can see and hear— MAURICE CBEVALIER in ERNST LUBITSCH'S “The Love Parade” With Jeanotte MacDonald Hal Skelly, Fay Wrey, William Powell @ equator and deflected westward by the rotation of the earth. ‘ : PARAMOU!IT BUILDING, NEW