Evening Star Newspaper, February 6, 1927, Page 61

BY C. E. NELSON. NOTE of warning has been issued against fake movie schools, and Los Angeles is being overrun with these in- stitutions to obtain easy money from film-struck men and women, boys and girls. The Will Hays organiza- tion has been looking into the mat- ter with the idea of cleaning out the “schools,” “screen test studios” and “make-up colleges” that have been preying upon those who think they are fitted for screen careers. One of the new schemes of the “educatic institutions” is arranged to evade California laws. Instead o guaranteeing “graduates” positions with motion picture companies, the “schools” accept notes with tuition fees) for the production of a picture in which all the students are to have parts. The notes are supposed to finance the production, and in this way the would-be movie star is led to believe that he or she will not only become prominent in screen work, but a producer as well Naturally, the “production” neve sees the light of day. Another bad feature of the “schools” is that they are using the names of prominent and reputable directors in_their advertising, giving the impression that the directors are in some way cornected with the schemes to fleece the aspirants to movie fame. It is expected that the fake schools will lead to immediate action by the film industry and that efforts will be made to obtain new legislation in California for the pro- tection of those who seek the bright lights of the studios. * oK % ok W.-\SI{INGTO.\"S new Film Guild _Theater will be conducted, ac- cording to present plans, in an alto- gether different way from the aver- age celluloid theater. For instance, an advisory board has been appointed which w fore they are exhibited in the down- town plavhouse. This will not be a censorship board in any way, but will pass upon the pictures offered, s lecting the most suitable for exhibi- tion purposes. Without doubt, many of the foreign films will be shown, but there will be revivals of the best American pictures. The new theater will be located on Ninth street near G and will be opened after it is deco- rated according to the ideas of the Film Guild. s 2 ’]‘HF, Harvard Graduate Business Administration an- nounces that, beginning March 15, a series of lectures and discussions by ders of the motion picture indus- School of ry will form an integral part of its| curriculum. The series will be under the direction of Joseph P. Kennedy, president of the Film Booking Offices of Ameriga, Inc., and among others who have already accepted invita. tions to iead discussions in connec tion with the lectures are Will Hays Adolph Zukor, Marcus Loew, Jesss Lasky. Cecil B. De Mille and Harry M. Warner. 7 This is the first time that any of the larger American universities has so actively recognized the impor- tance of the motion picture industr The Harvard Busines it is prompted to sponsor the series of lectures primarily for three rea- sons: The need and opportunity for trained business men in the industry, the influence that the films in this or any other country must have upon the lives of the people, and be- cause the motion pictures serve as an illustration of an industry which has grown so rapidly that all stages of its commercial development may be clearly traced. * ¥ X x N!j:VV YORK film men are wonder- ing what effect the new Roxy Theater is to have upon the exhibi- tion of first-run pictures in the Metropolis, and here is the way several of them have summed up the situation: The Roxy Theater, sched- uled to open in March, will gross not less than $100,000 a week and it will be in a position to pay the producer a_weekly rental of $25000 for his picture, and play it three or four weeks at that figure. With its great income, the Roxy project will draw larger crowds on account of greater advertising, and the other exhibitors will be unable to bid with Roxy for the best of the first-run pictures. So the other theater owners are the least bit worried. Roxy will use the “hen and chickens” plan in his theatrical scheme. He will have a (together | pass on productions be- | »|in “What Price Glory,” has School says | the same newspaper advertising and all operated under the same policy. He will have little competition in the | selection of his pictures, getting first {call on the work of the world's | producers. | A |'THE first natural-vision stereo- | ™ scopic screen drama, which was |to have come to the screen as “The | American,” has been changed | Bessie Love are the stars of the picture, which is being produced under the direction of Commodore J. | Stuart Blackton and George K. Spoor. The first_exhibition will be in New York in March. This natural-vision picture is hailed |as an invention which will “revolu- THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. ¢, FEBRUARY 6, 1927—PART 3. C OTOP[Y | to! | “The Flag Maker.” Charles Ray and | | tionize the motion picture industry.” | | Those who have been fortunate | enough to view several of the scenes | from the picture are unanimous in | their praise. ‘B 'HE United Artists have launched upon an _expansion program around Culver City, and their newest | venture is the® purchase of 60 acres | for the construction of a new studio. The latter will serve as an auxiliary plant to the present studio, and the | new building, when completed, is ex- | pected to have cost around $2,000,000. The new plant will give Culver | City four large producing units and places it in the first rank as a pro- | ducing center. The studio is neces- | sary on account of the increasii demand for the construction of large |and permanent sets. For the pres- {ent Constance Talmadge picture it | was necessary to construct a section | of a Venetian community with tower- |ing chateaux and canals. The size of the set makes it impossible to build any additional sets until the picture has been completed. Eowiax UNE MARLOWE, who has just finished her work in “Alias the Deacon” at Universal City, has been assigned to the only feminine role in “Thunderhoofs.” It is likely that Laura La Plante’s next Jewel feature will be “Stolen Silks.” This is an adaptation from the stage play, “A Pair of Silk Stockings,” by Cyril Harcourt, and it is possible that Miss La Plante will be directed by her husband, William A. Seiter. “The Big Parade” tops the list of photoplay money-makers on Broad- way. The picture is in its sixty- third week. “The Ten Command- ments” played to Broadway for sixty-one weeks. | Wallace Beery and Ford Sterling {are to play the leading roles in the base ball picture, “Slide, Kelly, Slide,” which is to be produced by the Metro - Goldwyn - Mayer company. lSam Hellman, the fiction writer, has been engaged to write the titles. Dolores Del Rio, who is Charmaine been proposed for the leading roles in the film productions of “Carmen” and | “Tosca,” which are to be made by |the Fox company. | Conrad Veidt, the German screen star, has arrived in this country and will 'soon be in Universal City, where his_first work will be done in “The Chinese Parrot,” based on a mystery, story by Earl Derr Biggers. D. W. Griffith, according to re- ports, is to become associated with the Pathe company, directing two pictures and having supervision over eight others. The pictures will be made on the West Coast. More than 50 cameras, many of them electrically controlled, were used in making the fire scenes in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture, “The Fire Brigade”” The film has gone through its eighth week on Broadway. Cullen Landis has started work in a new serial, “The Crimson Flash,” at Charleston, S. C. Hollywood has two new million- dollar motion picture theaters, one of them recently completed. Production work on Reginald De: ny’s new picture, “Fast and Furious, has been stopped on account of the illness of the star. Denny is suffer- ing from appendicitis, but will be ready to resume work within a short ti me. One of the Mack Sennett releases for the coming month will be a bur- lesque on the Catalina Channel swim, which was won by George Young. The star swimmer will, naturally, be the star of the picture, and George has already. suffered the screen chain of smaller theaters, covered by tests. IRISH EYES A-SMILIN’ They are Kitty Kelly's eyes. Sh with First National Piciures, aud movie fans. e has just signed a e long shie will be well wh Lo the 5 Eruas o < RICHARD BARTHELMESS - efmpoli’ran_ ARLETTE MARCHAL, ADOLPHE MENJOU ard GRETA NISSEN -+ Palace | | Vitaphone atMetropolitan | CRANDALL'S Metropolitan Theater | ™ announces that it has definitely contracted for one of the most note- worthy special attractions in the his- tory of motion ploture entertainment, in the vitaphone, perfected after of research and effort. This device, which provides voice and sound with the pictured image, will be installed at the Metropolitan for a perlod of years for exclusive presentation, at a cost which is said to mount far into the thousands of dollars. ‘The vitaphone is a device whereby the sound is perfectly synchronized with the actlon on the screen. It is operated by a speclally installed motor which controls both the run- ning time of the pictured subject and the playing of the musical accompani- ment. Many of the most noted artists in the theater in this country have been enlisted among the vitaphone stars and these will be audible as well as visible _exclusively at Crandall's Metropolitan upon the completion of the installation of this mechanical | marvel. | Among those who have already con- | tributed " their services to the vita- | phone are Marian Talley, Anna Case, the New York Symphony Orchestra, | Waring’s Pennsylvanians, Al Jolson, | Martinelli_of the Metropolitan Grand {Opera, Reinald Werrenrath and others of like standing. | || Not Lost to Base Ball | ‘ LARM among base ball fans follow- ing the announcement that Babe | Ruth had signed a fat contract to !star in First Natlonal Pictures was | banished this week, when Richard A. | Rowland, general and production man- ager of the company, it em- | phatically clear that the great Sultan of Swat would not be permanently |lost to base ball. In fact, in telegraphic advices to | First Natfonal's New York headquar- | ters he pointed out that the agree- ment calls for Ruth to start opposite Anna Q. Nilsson fn_a production | called “Babe Comes Home™ early in | February. Ruth is expected to finish | his camera work in about a month | which will allow him ample time resume his Spring base ball practice at St. Petersburg, Fla. The King of Swat was on a vaude. ville tour of California when offered the screen chance by John McCor- | mick, First National's West Coast | production manager. He is now wind- |ing up his vaudeville tour o long-term contract|to start eamera work at tional's By tud Text two g Vi HE movie magnates all_seem to be afflicted with Kubla Khan complexes. Kubla—in case you have forgotten the famous lines— was the gentleman who did “a stately pleasure dome decree.” It cost & great deal of money, and the slaves engaged in its construction suffered and sweated and (in many instances) worked themselves to death. But the labor and the cost meant nothing to old Kubla, who could com- mand plenty of both. He wanted to experience the prideful thrill that only a pleasure dome—and a stately one, at that—could give. There are pleasure domes arising in every American city, and any one of them is sufficiently gorgeous to make Kubla Khan feel uncomfortably inex- pensive. ~ After all, he lived many years before the dollar reached its present eminence; he had no way of knowing just what real luxury can be. * %k Kk X Kubla's pleasure dome, I belleve, was not thrown open to the general public—and therein lies the greatest evidence of his primitive folly. The modern pleasure domes are hos- pitable to all, at so much a head (plus amusement tax). The proceeds thus | derived enable the movie magnates to erect other, costlier and more elabo- rate structures. "The most recent and most magnifi- cent of all is the Paramount Theater in New York, which 1s the principal platinum link in the Publix chain of film parlors. It represents the last word in just about everything. The Paramount has been in exist- ence for a dozen weeks, with a new feature picture on view each week. No more than two or three of these pic- tures have been much better than average in merit. The rest have been trankly poor. Yet, in the course of its brief career the Paramount Theater box office has reglstered close to a million dollars in cash receipts. * kX X The ardent fans who have paid in all this money have not done so through any inordinate desire to see Bebe Danfels in “Stranded in Paris,” | or Richard Dix in *Paradise for Two.” Not by any manner of means. | "It 18 the theater itself that attracts | the crowds. No mere strip of perfo- rated cellulold could compete with this incredibly lavish temple as a source of | entertainment T have been to the Paramount many times, and have always been amazed at the general conduct of the custom- ers there bled. They seem to A Eunor FAIR and LLIAM BOYD- Earle “Nei HamiLron RONALD COLMAN ard RALPH FORBES: ational leck of FEB.3— v The Moving’ Picture Album BY ROBERT E. SHERWOOD. take but small interest in the audi- torium, where the feature picture is on view. Instead, they move about, in silent awe, through the hall of nations, the great hall, the Marie Antoinette room, the chinoiserie, the Elizabethan room and others of the side shows. They are people from the tenement s who have journeyed to Times Squ: to taste, for a while, the sweet ambrosia of luxury. For the price of admission all this unprecedented grandeur is theirs. Their tired feet may walk on carpets that might have been made for the boudoir of Du Barry. Their wonder- ing eyes may gaze On GOrgeousness that Solomon could never have con- ceived. . This theater, which one may enter for 50 cents, is as beautiful, as glori- ous, as opulent, as thrilling as heaven itself, and very much more accessible. EE I The Paramount, although the grand- est of them all at the present moment, is actually but one among many. From Miami to Seattle, from Quebec to San Diego the country is studded with cinematic jewels—and more are sure to come. Within the next few weeks the Para- mount Theater itself will probably be relegated to second place in New York. It is to be “topped,” according to advance reports, by the new Roxy Theater. Where will it all end? Where, in- deed! The producers will unquestionably 80 on, erecting huger and more elabo- rate piles of marble and crystal and gilt, and will continue to attract larger crowds. Nevertheless, I feel quite certain that, in the long run, they will all be compelled to return to the homely for- mula promulgated by Will Shakes. peare, viz., “The play’s the thing.” No man who deals in entertainment as a commercial commodity can get very far from that formula. He may lure the unsuspecting customer with gaudy trappings and trimmings for a while; but he is bound to learn, sooner or later, that the average citizen would rather see a good show in a [barn than a dull show in Westminster | Abbey. | (Copyright. 1927.) | i | __Henri Menjou, brother of Adolphe Menjou, the Paramount star, has a prominent role in _Adolphe’s latest picture, “Blonde or Brunette.” Henrl Menjou is beginning a.career in the ilms, |achieved in | popular members of the Ram's Head Next Week's Photoplays. PALACE—John Gilbert and Greta Garbo in “The Flesh and the Devil.” METROPOLITAN—George Sidney in “The Auctioneer”— “The Gorilla Hunt.” COLUMBIA—Charles Ray and May McAvoy in “The Fire Brigade. RIALTO—Bert Lytell in “The Lone Wolf Returns.” Ram's Head in New York. ASHINGTONIANS may be inter- ested in the recent success New York City by two Players of this city in connection | with the production by the Civic Rep- ertory Theater of “The Cradle Song.” Josephine Hutchinson (Mrs. Robert Bell) appeared as’ Teresa, the found- ling girl, and was acclaimed by critics for her fine and true perform- ance, while Leona Roberts, as the Vicaress, is credited with excellent work in her role. The Little Theater. THE Little Theater in Washington apparently has become a reality through the courtesy of Harry Ward- man and Miss Estelle Allen, teacher of dramatic art, who has been an en- thusiastic advocate of an institution where local talent may have an op-| portunity to try its wings. Miss Allen has decided to donate her services, and asks the co-operation not only of amateurs and profession- als, but of every one who is interested in the movement, either as directors, publicity chairmen, costume designers, scenic artists, playwrights, illustrators and lighting designers. The grillroom at Wardman Park has been secured for rehearsals, and the Carlton Club rooms, at the Carl- ton Hotel, for soclal affairs. All who are interested and those who have previously registered are in. vited to attend. A meeting of the organizers of the movement is announced for Tuesday evening. Old Song—New Story e 'WHITE WINGS," they never srow weary, and I cyn prove it, too,” says Maurice Murphy, a young hopeful of the movie industry. “‘Banks Winter, the composer of ‘White Wings,’ is now playin, postmaster in ‘The Flag Maker, di- rected by Commodore J. Stuart Blackton, and it marks his golden an- niversary on the stage and screen, together with the introduction of the third-dimension camera. “He i3 70 and I am 11 years old, but in our friendship we seem the same age. He has seen so many pro- gressions that have become a part of the history of this big motion picture industry and he tells me that in a few years this camera that George K. Spoor and Commodore Blackton have had the courage to introduce will be as common as the automobile today. “‘His enthusiasm over the success of this picture in which we play our small parts proves that in all his 70 years his ‘white wings’ have never grown weary, and the enthusiasm with which our fellow-workers received his song when he sang it for us on the set also proves his public has never wearied of his ‘White Wings." “In sealing our friendship as troupers I have extracted a promise from Mr. Winte) It is that he will help me cel o my golden anni versary in ) thotoplays This Week SILENT DRAMA ATTRACTIONS. METROPOLITAN—"The White Black Sheep.” evening. COLUMBIA—“The Winning of and evening. This afternoon and Barbara Worth This afternoon RIALTO—Talking pictures, “Sensation Seekers.” This afternoon and evening. PALACE—"Blonde or Brunette." WARDMAN PARK—‘Peter the [ TIVOLI-"Kid Boots.” This after AMBASSADOR—“The White Bl evening. CENTRAL—"“Christine of the Big Tops.” ning. | METROPOLITAN—“The White Black Sheep.” At Crandall's Metropolitan Theater this week, beginning this afternoon, the photoplay feature will be “The White Black Sheep,” with Richard | Barthelmess as its star, and the com- panion offering will be a new Hal Roach two-reel comedy, “Wise Guys Prefer Brunettes,” with Helene Chad- | wick featured. “The White Black Sheep” is a ro mance of the desert, and “Wise Guys | Prefer Brunettes” a travesty of Anita Loos' story, ‘“Gentlemen Prefer | Blondes.” “The White Black Sheep” has as its central figure a young Englishman | who is exiled from the soclety in which he is accustomed to move | through an unfortunate episode at the card table. Taking up his life as a tribesman on the desert, he encounters ative revolt and the blandishments a beautiful desert dancer, and finally is permitted to save the lives of his family, friends and the comm: dant, who happens to be his father Hal Roach has launched himself { upon a course of comedy production of a new character. He has drafted a | number of the foremost legitimate screen stars and is presenting them in stellar roles. “Wise Guys Prefer Bru- nettes” is one of the first releases in this series, and presents Helene Ch { wick in a role unlike any in which | sho has heretofore appeared. She is supported by an admirable cast of laughmakers. clude the Metropolitan World Surve: | musical program by the Metropolitan Symphony, under Daniel Breeskin. | another of Mr. Breeskin's miniature | concerts, in which Durward Bowersex, | assistant concert master, will be fea- |tured in two violin solos—“Hejre | Kati,” by Jeno Hubay, and Willlam | Penn’s “The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise.” The love theme for the | accompaniment of the Barthelmess feature will be “That Night in Araby,” by Ted Snyder, and the beggar theme, ‘An Indian Legend,” by Baron. COLUMBIA—“The Winning of | Barbara Worth.” | One of the great screen triumphs will be given its first Washington showing at Loew’'s Columbia Theater | this week, beginning this afternoon. | It is Samuel Goldwyn’s classic, “The Winning of Barbara Worth,” from | the novel by Harold Bell Wright, with Ronald Colman and Vilma | Banky in the chief roles. | One of the greatest of modern fic- |tion hits. Samuel Goldwyn paid more than $125,000 for the screen rights alone. Henry King, who produced “Tol’able David,” “Romola,” “The White Sis- | ter” ana “Stella Dallas,” is respon- | sible for the direction, and the cast |also, including Paul McAllister and | Clyde Cook. | "1t concerns Barbara Worth, daugh- ter of a desert capitalist who planned o make the desert into a vast gar- den and who, in interesting addi- tional capital, brought in an East- erner and his adopted son who saw the project only as a means to profit. Their commercialism not only | inundates the whole valley from an ill-constructed dam, but brings on a | bitter war between the settlers in | which the favor and beauty of the girl play a prominent part. The pic- ture is marked throughout by dra- matic episodes involving thousands of characters. | The supplementary offerings will in- | !a natural color scenic subject and a The overture will be subordinated to | This afternoon and evening dirate.” This evening noon and evening ack Sheep.” This afternoon and This afternoon and eve- Paths and_a A shortlength comedy, the newsreel, Topics of the Day musical score by the Columbia | chestra, under Leon Brusilof, | round out the bill ! RIALTO—Taiking Pictures | Sensation Seekers.” The Sensation Seekers,” featuring | Binte D Raymond Bloomer and Huntley Gordon, De Forest phonofilm, offering urrent New York revue of the Club Al the double-feature bill at t this we The phonofilm, whict sented for the first ti ton, is sald to be | tion of sound syn: | tion. The process is invention of Dr. De Forest | Alabam Revue, which is the phono | film production, will include such |artists as Abble 2 ell, Stlent | Johnny Hudgins and Starr, as sisted by a chorus of 20 people. | “The Sensation *“the film | eature, 1s 2 Universal production, dt rected by Lois Weber a drama of the complex emotions eautiful society leader and absorbing fts ou look on modern youth | Others in the y | gomery, Phillips Smalley, E | Yorke, Clarence Thompson and N | Cecil. The overture by the Rialto Greater Orchestra is called “Bits and Hits of 1927 ranged and conducted by Rex abam cast d- | Rommell. | " “Oh, What A Kick” is the comed; | The Internatio News and other short reels will also be shown PALACE—“Blonde or Brunette.” Loew’s Palace for this week, begir ning this_afternoon, annou Wendell Hall, Victor record poser and radio artist, will stage honors with the Ford Revue a minature musical comedy, With Adolphe Menjou in ‘Blonde or Brunette,” the photoplay. In “Blonde or Brunette,” Greta Nis sen, the Norse nymph, and Ar] Marchal, the brunette beauty, have roles of importance in a racy farce of modern Paris, in which a gay boule vardier is forced to marry two girls in order to decide his preference for blonde or brunette. Wendell Hall is internationally known for his songs, “It Ain't Gonna Rain no More,” “Mellow Moon,” and at least 100 others, as well as the only radio artist who ever undertook an around-the-world tour of broadcasting stations, With his banjo-uke he will offer a group of the song numbers that have made him famous. “The Ford Revue,” the minfature musical comedy offering, has been fascinating audiences ali _over the Loew circuit. It features Edwin and Lottle Ford of international vaude ville fame, supported by the C Sisters, Herbert Leslie and Wendt, in a delightful miniature song show that has been handsomely staged. An overture arranged for “Radio Week,” called “Romping Around the Radio Dial,” which will be offered by the Palace Orchestra, Thomas J. Gan non, conductor, with lighting effects devised by Colby Harriman, and Loew’s Palace Magazine, Topics of the Day, Aesop's Fables and Dick Leibert’s’ Organlogues will be added features. WARDMAN PARK—"Peter the . Pirate.” The Film Guild at Wardman Park Theater announces for this week commencing this afternoon, ‘Peter the Pirate,” the first melodrama pro. duced by the Ufa Co. in its premier showing in Washington. NE of the most ambitious “loca- tion” projects for the filming of a motion picture was originated and carried out by Samuel Goldwyn in the production of Harold Bell Wright's novel. “The Winning of Barbara Worth.” The spot chosen on the Western Pacific Railroad in Nevada is in the heart of the Black Rock Desert, ap- proximately 35 miles from the nearest village, and 125 miles from Reno. It was a_waterless, treeless desert when the Goldwyn unit arrived from Los Angeles, with a technical staff of | 50 men, a cast of 24 principals and 150 “extras,” while hundreds of laborers, skilled and unskilled, carried with . close-up from the new picture, * | the star of the production, which will phtofoplay houses. “Barbara Worth™ | them lumber, tents d building ma | terial to transform mere dot or the map into a habitable dwelling place. | The location was promptly dubbed “Barbara Worth and within a few hours three movie cities, with hotels banks, courthouses and all the other accompaniments, had been erected, in cluding necessarily substantial living quarters, mess hall and the like, to care for the big Goldwyn contingent Henry King, who directed the pic ture, was in charge of all these ac tivities, while combing that sectior of Nevada for several thousand native extras to play in the big mob scenes of the picture, BILLY AS A VALENTINE “An Affair of the Follies.” Billy Dove i soon be ready for one of Washington's