Evening Star Newspaper, September 21, 1930, Page 48

- MOVIES - AND MOVIE PEOPLE BY MOLLIE HOLLYWOOD, Calif., September 20 (N.ANA)—When Winfield Sheehan hired Josef Urban to design sets for talking pictures, he gave a new art the most tremendous impetus that money and foresitat could bring to it. For if Josef Urban's plans for talk. ing pictures, as cutlined by him to me, come true, he will revolutionize the flat art of the talking screen and bring to this popular entertainment a beauty | and perspective which it has not hith- | erto had. Josef Urban plans to light talking| pictures as he has lighted the legiti-| mate stage. This may not seem to be a revolu- tionary move, when one considers it as a bald statement. You are inclined to say, “And then| ‘wha! But when you consider that talking | ctures—and. indeed, all gelatin en-| ertainment—has been flood-lig! | with a sheer flow of intense white {llumination which blotted out every| shadow, turned faces into bland masks | and made the farther corners of a room seem almost as near as the foreground of the room—then some faint idea of what the world's master of stagecraft 18 after begins to dawn on us “The motion picture art has used lighting with an eve to physical beauty alone,” says Urban, waving a pencil menacingly at me and spreading his plump hands out in a broad, inclusive gesture. “1 shall use lighting with an at- tempt to heighten the emotional qual- ity. When the heroine is happ: when the story slips into ldyllic ways, when romance is there and charm and ease. theh the broad white lighting of the cinematists is perfect. The gauging of the cameraman is perfection under such circumstances. “But when the tempo of the play passes into & more tense drama, When | there is emotional war or misery or| moral problems to be solved, I all | use the lighting of the stage which will throw the faces into the mood of | the story, and therefore intensify the emotion for the audience. | “Another thing"—Urban shoves up the sleeves of his navy blue silk smock | impatiently to give himself more free-| dom—"another thing: Has it ever oc-| curred to you what a handicap you put | on the emotional and dramatic moments | of a story when you blandly light it| and gauge it dow { "Akt'ngn is sitting at a table. The lght is from a lamp—on the table. He drops a knife, or a revolver, or even 8| “rose. And stoops to pick it up. With the | old lighting his face is as clearly \'flslblc‘ When he has stooped over and is about | pick up the object from the floor as it was when he started to bend| over. In other words, he is kept in a clear, white light instead of being put,| as he should be, into lamplight. which would leave his face in shadow when 4t neared the fioor. “Now, if his face is in shadow when neer the floor and he is about to pick up & knife, the audience has a greater | suspense during that moment in which he passes into shadow than it would | have were he left clearly visible during | that time. i “Tt is often the thing we do not see on the stage which heightens the mys- | tery and the glamour and the glory of | the play. But we haven't given our talking pictures, or the silent pictures, | this kind of opportunity. We've tried| o create a twilight atmosphere in the | audience while drowning them in the| brilliant rays of the sun. | “We have a vast room, illumined by occasional lamps, if we are to believe | the story that our stage set reveals. A person who passed out of that room, in | actual life, would walk from the fllumi- nation encircling the focal points of in- | from 12 to 18 hours a day for 30 years MERRICK. | strength and continuity of a story if there is less dashing into various sets. In other words, I want to sustain the | feeling of the atmosphere of a house | { rather than to divert the audience by | takirg them into the various rooms of |’ house. If the idea of luxury is to be planned one may do it as well in on> Toom as in the excursions from drawing | room to boudoir, to bath, to library, to | sun rooms, and so on. that now take place in talking pictures. Each new Toom entered diverts the audicnce from the trend of the story. The emotional thread is weakened. The actors have to work twice as hard to establish the ma again after each excursion. ‘One may take a single staircase about which a family lives. A staircase which links the living rooms downstairs and the more intimate rooms above. One can let the imagination of the au- dience play to advantage about the rooms of which they see oniy the open- ing and closing doors and perhaps the slightest glimpse of the interiors. And once used to being carried in the swing of the story, audiences will learn to love the sustained quality of it all.” Josef Urban is so convinced of the truth of his new cencept of the talking picture that he convinces the listener immediately. A man who has given his life to the work of the theater—for he does the Metropolitan Opera sets and has helped to make the name Florenz Ziegfeld famous—he knows more about | the psychological reactions of people to light and shadow and to masses and | lines than any living human | He receives in Hollywood the largest | sum ever paid an artist of his type And when one considers Hollywood sal- aries that is no light statement. For him has been built the most extensive studio which the colony can boast perfect room in white and ebony, de-| signed by Urban himself. Modern and Practical and In its bareness and ascetic | balance a_thing of indefinable beauty. | He has a loft for scenery in which one | might build a Zeppelin. The rooms for | his draughtsmen are almost a round dozen. Urban came to the United States in| 1912 to_design sets for the Boston | Opera. His father had enrolled him in | a Vienna law school as a boy, but he | Iater discovered that his son spent those | two years studying art instead of poking | into the dry formalities of the legal | profession. Before_coming to America | he decorated the Khedive's palace in Egypt. Central Park Casino is another of his works. And the $3,000,000 home | of Edward F. Hutton at Palm Beach, | Fla., shows what Josef Urban can do| gutside the theater if the spirit moves | im. | He weighs 253 pounds and is 5 feet| 9 inches tall. Hates exercise and loves to watch prize fights. Raises sheep dogs on his Yonkers estate. Never walks. Takes a taxi if he only goes two biocks. Knows no music. Smokes several pack- ages of cigarettes a day. Has worked and has never tired. His favorite food | is caviar. And the most outstanding thing about | him is his vitality and concentration. He told me his ideas of lighting talking pictures in eight minutes. But with such force and clarity that one under- stood the intent absolutely. This ability to compress much thought into little talk is one of the infallible prerogatives of such genius material as I have inter- viewed. (Copyright. 1930, by North American News- paper Alliance.) Cities Given Wading Pools. NEOSHO, Mo. () —Wading pools in which 10,000 children can find re- lef from heat daily have been given to cities in Oklahoma, Missouri and THE SUNDAY 8! TALES OF WELL KNOWN FOLK IN SOCIAL AND OFFICIAL LIFE (Continued From Eleventh Page.) beautiful mortuary spots of the Na- tional Capital. ok o x Mr. George W. Wickersham, former Attorney General and present chairman of President Hoover's Law Enforcement Commission, recently answered a ques- tionnaire issued by the Book Publishers' Research Institute relating to the read- ing habits of prominent people, and whether the tired business man remains too tired to read serious literature, For himself Mr. Wickersham gives a varied | list of books that have scothed him after the grinding cares of daily life, and the fact that he has included Fer- rara’s “Private Life of Nicholas Mac- chiavella” is considered illuminating. This super-politician’s process of rea- soning no_doubt proves of value in the major problems which Mr. Wickersham has been endeavoring to solve, and the same result may come from another of the former Attorney General's well thumbed volumes, “Lord Haldane's Auto- blography,” and the letters of the late | Ambassador from England, Sir Cecil Spring-Rice. -Mr. Wickersham'’s faver- ite poet is Browning. and he has read “The Ring and the Book™" man: Donn Byrne is AR SKEPITEMBER. 21 1930—PART THR ist, and “The Tales of Destiny Bay” his ‘ or the choice in the total output of the la- | lieves t Mr. Pierpont Mor- | mented Irish writer. | gan has confessed to much splfltulll‘ | reading, like the “Canterbury Tales, “Pilgrim's Progress,” Dante, and the | several recent books on St. Prancis of Assisi and‘on the lighter side of those \lund recitals of crime conditions in | New York City and elsewhere inter- | woven into fascinating plots. * K K ¥ As the late Sir Conan Doyle derived a fat dividend from his writings pub- | lished in this coutnry, and especially | from the Sherlock Hclmes series. Brit- ish admirers of that author seem will- ing to co-operate with Christopher Morley, who recently sailed for London nique memorial mission. ~ Mr. sentimental journey will end Criterion Bar, where, as_stated in “The Study in Scarlet,” Dr. Watson was lounging when he met the young medical student Stamford, who the same day introduced him to the illus- trious Sherlock Holmes. Mr. Morley believes there are more than sufficient readers who have derived pleasure from this momentous meeting who will share with him in the idea that a_suitable brass tablet in the tap room should be erected. This is unique because such memorials are usually bestowed on actual men and to record events rather than create fictional characters, but Mr. Mcrley before starting on his pil- grimage had issued a memorial edition called “"The Complete Sherlock Holmes," in*two vclumes, and with every tale of the inductive genius gathered handily le has far exceeded his K\llhllshm‘ expectations. He be- t many will contribute toward erecting @ few tablets, the first to be in the Critericn Bar and another in the hospital off High Holborn, St. Bar- tholomew’s, where the energetic Dr. Holmes pursued his theories, later ex-| | ploited by the devoted Dr. Watson, the house so often described, where the two dwelt and the scene of the tragedy in the vicinity of the Swiss village of Meiringen, and the Englisher Hof, where the two friends stopped prior to Sherlock's “first” deaph at the hands of Moriarity, also are tentative locations for the tablets. x5l Frau Winifred Klindworth Wagner, widow of Siegfried Wagner, the son of the great composer, has quietly, but in the most capable way, taken up the burden laid down first by Cosima Wag- ner and then by her husband. Frau Winifred has for years worked with the late Slegfried, and according to recent | | | is said to be without foundation. visitors from Bayreuth she has begun | with a_courage born of long association with Wagner traditiors a campaign to maintain its exalted standards. predicted that she soon will visit this country. music has such a wide following. The new manager of the Bayreuth Opera House is the daughter of an orchestra leader, the late Karl Klindworth, who It is| where the splendid Wagner | had been associated with the illustrious | | composer in the early days of Bay reuth tomed to attend rehearsals and to hear the arguments pro and con on each proposed innovaticn. After her mar- riage to the son of Richard Wagner \Y i As a small girl she was accus- | and the grandson of Franz Liszt she has gradually been intrusted with re- sponsible posts and for the past five years she has acted as general secre- tary and business manager. She ‘was thus able to lessen the strain’on her husband by attending to the trouble- some and countless details and afford him more leisure for artistic super- vision. Frau Winifred Wagner, is how- ever, say musical critics, irreconcilably opposed to sponsoring Wagner opera save in Bayreuth and Munich, and the report of & movement to establish a | Wagner opera center in New York and | music-loving cities of the Middle West Shot While Delivering Liquor. 13 SAN FRANCISCO, September 20 (). | —In a hospital with a bullet wound un. i der his heart, Louis Trost, 48, told | police he had been shot down without | any apparent reason as he was deliv- | ering liquor in response to a telephone call. Physicians said he probably would | die. Street Sweeper Must Go to Work. | NEW YORK, September 20 (#)— Father Knickerbocker 15 losing a classy | street sweeper. Carried on the pay roll | as a sweeper, a city employe was found | to be acting as a reception clerk, wear. ing fine clothes with a boutonniere. Hereafter he is to use a broom or draw no pay. | | i Pewis Il $5,000. | into the fight with a club. I " Golf Match Ends in Fight. | JASHEVILLE, N. C, September 20 | @ —A twosome tried to go throug! gurwme on the municipal links, drove | to the foursome, a ball was thrown away, there was a fist fight and now there is litigation. S. E. who was in the twosome, is suing Lyle | Jackson and Mrs. Jewel A. Iverson for | Iverson got He claims Mrs. Management wishes to announce that Miss Emily R. Pen;l]e(on formerly of the Westmoreland Cafe, is now manager of the Brighton Cafe Club Breakfast, 45¢, 60c, 75¢ —7:30 to 9 am. Lunch, 65¢—12:30 to 1:30 Dinner, $1.00—6 to 7:30 p.m. Our 1, 2 and 3 room apartments, recently redecorated, now available. h a|and her husband, McClellan, PSS he Brighton Hotel Take Second Honeymoon. 'Xl CAPRI, Italy (#).—Edda Mussol Count Galeazzo Ciano, began the “second honeymoon™ | habit early. Preparing ot go to Shang- | hai, where the count has been named consul general, they took time to return here to the scene of their wedding voyage. NORMAL WAIST LINES AND FI MODERN FROCKS WITH THE NEW STYLE PICTURE HATS COST REAL MONEY You can’ have an exclusive iigh-class wardrobe at a very great saving. Learn to MAKE YOUR OWN Professional and Home Courses French and Domestic PATTERNS CUT TO MEASURE Style and Fit Guaranteed. Est. in N. Y., 1382, 30 Years in Washington. 1333 F St. NN\W. ME. 2883 | IInciry WO WETILaC r Show mere of your curls and all of your forehead —*“DISCOVERY OF THE FOREHEAD could well be the first lesson of Fall hats,” terest—tables and reading chairs—into | Kansas by Mr. and Mrs. Frank H. a more shadowy region near exits, and | peeq. whose ofl holding made them £0.0n, out into another room. We sel- Lo, WRose OO Som nang lamps over our doorways | Weaithy. fFurds for 50 peols have been say the Paris millinery professors, and they have designed “hairline hats” that begin so far back all of your curls and even a bit of “part” or a “widow’s peak” will show. We put them where they will be of | Wse, Merefore the far corners of & room | are often dim and the focal point of | the room, the library table or the easy | chairs, suffused with a warm glow. I| want to light my stages so that a per-| son through such a room wflll g the gradations of light| which normally occur. “T feel that much can be done for the | Hosiery Runs | Repaired = Southern Stelos Co., Inc. | 301 2th N.W. i 1021 You N:W. H 1001 H N.W. 41175 7th SIW. AN/ TITUTION INTERNATIONALS . ‘world! The { ~ business ideal ‘mnmé shoe — Fresco, by L. M:fléf 'i - . )Empharic‘?‘ WBY,'; T }303‘ Swzée ngcfiiéi@ . THE FRESCO'S FASHION SIGNIFICANCE To wear with her dark tailored wool dress touched with white or light color at the neck and on the sleeves, the business girl will find the Fresco a most charming slip- per complement; and ita trim low heels assure all-day comfort and smartness. —That its two sides are never alike is the second axiom of the Fall hat—up at one side, trevealing a wave or a curl, and demurely dropped at the other to cover the ear and even the neck—giving a high-left to low-right tip-tilt silhouette that is as flattering to ma- trons as to sixteens. —Every hat in our Fall collection is an éxponent of this 1930 chic, in such charming materials as velours . . . peau de peche . . . velvet . . . kohinoor . . . dzcatelle and fine fur 55 w315 —and a special group of » Decatelle Hats at *10 —Neither felt nor soleil, but a lustrous new material whose velvet felt. sheen is contrasted with the reverse dull surface, subtle that it drapes in the most intricate manner. So soft and Tiny little caps, slant-wise brims, double brims, “middy” types—all are found in our specialized collection at $10.00. Kann Millinery Salon—Second Floor