Evening Star Newspaper, October 25, 1931, Page 78

1931, s " Hollywood B4 s THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, OCTOBER 25, s = : — = — The SMARTEST GALS in e | Yes, They AreNot Actresses, " but Research Librarians Who Anszoer One Million Questions a Year to Make the MoviesRight— W HO? WHY? WHEN? WHERE? HOW ? N 1 DAN THOMAS W here the movie industry uses its brains. Mrs. Elizas beth McGaffey and part of her staff in the Radio Pic- tures research department. Do they eat cantaloupes in Afghanistan? Director Dor- othy Arzner (right) gets some data from Helen Percey, head of the Paramount research staff. OVIANA'S real stars are not the ones you see on the silver screen. To be sure, these actors and ac- tresses whose faces are so famil- jar glitter brightly. But then they fade and go—nobody knows where. The real stars do not fade. Through the years they continue to shine brilliantly—using that word in its fullest sense. They are bril- llant people, the brains of the motion picture industry. Yet not a one of you knows the name of a single member of this corps. They are unseen and unsung—yet without them good pictures could not be made. These “brains of the industry” are the per- sons who work along quietly in studio research departments, answering questions all day long. Writers, directors, supervisors, actors, techni- cians and others all descend upon the research department to have silly but important ques- tions answered. And the department must never say *“We don’t know.” Whatever their other faults may be, studio executives do make an attempt to have their films authentic. To this end each studio re- search department is equipped with a huge library containing thousands of books on all conceivable subjects, Very often the men and women working in these departments can answer questions without first going through volumes of books. The majority of them have been employed in such a capacity for many yedrs and as a result have become very familiar with most of the facts of history. No college professor could stump them on & single question pertaining to history or the customs or costumes of all peoples back through the ages. AN ladies dine a¢ a British officers’ mess? Would a footman at the Russian ecourt before the war wear knee breeches? How is a corpse laid out in Germany? What is the exact wording of the Buddhist fnarriage ceremony in Annam? At what hour was Lincoln assassinated? What are the habits of a swarm of bees? How many shots does a machine gun fire? What does a Phoenician car look like? How many people are employed in the larg- est department store in New York? What was happening in the cottonfield dis- tricts on the day war was declared? What is the uniform of a postman in Ice- Jand? How soon can one marry in France? How do you address a duke? Can a man be forced to try on a hat found in the room of a murdered man? What does a billiard table measure? What is the exact procedure of a Catholic onfession? - How did they run the 100-yard dash in 1857? Natalie Bucknall, chief of the Metro-Gold- Wwyn-Mayer research staff, recalled these ques- tions in an offhand manner as she explained just how she and her staff operate in answer- ing approximately 25,000 questions every year. » OR does our job end with answering ques- tions,” Miss Bucknall said. “We also spend a great deal of time digging up pictures which will show costumes, properties, furniture, architecture and location of buildings in any given town at any given period.” Here are a few of the things upon which Miss Bucknall has had to supply directors and writers with pictures during the last month: A typical small inn in Spain. Construction work in the Holland Tunnel in New York. French handcuffs. A long shot of a French race track and close- ups showing all the details of the seating prrangements. A Parisian milk bottle. All stages of an English fox hunt. Interior of a typical jury room of & United Btates Federal court. A hibiscus in bloom. True, many of these questions don't seem to have much connection with the production of talking pictures. But let's take a look and see just why they must be answered. HE director of Joan Crawford’s new picture, “Girls Get Together,” had to know the size pnd shape of a Parisian milk bottle because in one scene Joan and Neil Hamilton sit on a Parisian back porch and drink a bottle of milk. Naturally, the bottle had to be authentic. Can a man be forced to try on a hat found in the room of a murdered man? That ques- tion had to be answered before a scenarist could write in one of the main scenes in Norma Shearer’s last picture, “A Free Soul.” And Director Jack Conway wanted to know how to get a scene with some bees without having all his players sent home with bee stings. Consequently he had to know the habits of bees so that he could tell his players just how to act and be safe. Seventeen years ago Mrs. Elizabeth McGaffey organized a small research library for Cecil B. de Mille, Now she is head of the entire Radio Pictures research department, with supervision over the huge library containing thousands of books and photographs, employing a dozen or more assistants to unearth all of the informa- tion necessary in making pictures. “Research work has passed through many distinct stages since T first started 17 years ago,” she explained. “When I started out the main concern of directors was architecture. Their theory was that buildings best established the character of a background. “Little attention was paid to costuming in those days. Costuming, however, came as the next phase, Then every detail of a dress had to be exactly as it was during the period por- trayed by the picture. “The third stage was devoted to details of all kinds. Everything had to be just so. 11 A T present, our work embraces all of these things and goes farther, delving into the habits and obscure customs peculiar to certain groups of people. For instance, I might be asked, ‘What would a farmer be doing with his hands as he sits on his porch?’ The answer, of course, would be that he might be whittling on a stick, playing with pebbles or lacing his boots.” One of the most important functions of a research department is to aid writers in devis- ing novel ways and means for killing people. - To aid in this, newspaper clippings of all strange murders and accidental deaths during the last 10 or 20 years are kept on file. If a writer must get rid of one of his characters, he calls upon the research department to help him devise a means that actually has been used. Several questions pertaining to the Civil War arose recently during the filming of “Secret Service,” Richard Dix’s latest picture. What food was eaten by Confederate and Union soldiers during their campaigns? Did Gen. Grant drink from the neck of a bottie or did he use a cup? Did clean-shaven soldiers or those with beards predominate? What did the field telegraph instruments look like? The average layman might figure that none of those items are of much importance. But they are. And they had to be absolutely cor- rect. FEW other unusual questions which at one time or another have puzzled studio re- search workers are: How many shots were fired to start the Okla- homa land rush? How was the Red Sea parted? Did Abraham Lincoln wear a flowing night- gown and walk in his bare feet through the corridors of the White House when he was troubled at night? What pet name was given the first locomotive to enter Deadwood? How many inches from the ground did the 1924 flapper wear her skirts? What would a railroad ticket for a train run- ning between Paris and Berlin look like? What style nightgowns did English girls wear in 1913? ‘When did the Chinese cut off their queues? What would a Norwegian family eat for breakfast? What kind of surgical instruments were used in the early nineteenth century? A stroll through the Paramount research de- partment—made possible only after getting passes from six or seven different executives— really is a revelation as to the magnitude of the work which must be done. N the library are more than 10,000 books and bound volumes of periodicals from the princi- pal countries of the world, some of them dating back as far as 1870. There also are on file more than 1,000,000 photographs, historical documents, maps, gov- ernment seals, coats of arms, passport forms, menus and wine lists from the world's leading hotels and steamship lines; birth, death and marriage certificates; telegraphic, cable and wireless message forms; railway tickets, time tables, letter-heads from hundreds of firms and scores of other things which might be required in the making of a motion picture. Surrounded by reams of hard facts. Natalie Bucknell, head of the Metro-Gold- wyn-Mayer research department, getting some dope together for a coming picture. Looking over this mass of data, it is a little easier to see how the research department can supply weird bits of information on a moment's notice Ruth Chatterton’s latest film, “Once a Lady,” is laid in Enrgland and France during three periods—1913, 1919 and 1931. Naturally, the directer required considerable information re- garding the people of these countries during those periods. He had to know how persons in various walks of life dressed, what they did for amusement and what particular habits, if any, they had. Digging up all that information was a man-size job, but it was all in a day’s routine for the research department. Josef von Sternberg needed data and photo- graphs of Chinese armored trains which will be used in his next production, “The Shanghai Express.” All the information he desired was supplied to him within two days after he asked for it. ANY question, no matter how hard, is all in a day’s work to these people. Situated in the heart of an industry known the world over for its haphazard methods, these research work- ers are efficient to the 'nth degree. Every bit of information is filed away in such a manner that it can be referred to without a moment’s loss of time. > How such efficiency can be found in such a disorganized business often has been a puzzle to those who are served. But it exists just the same. And executives imsist that it be kep$ up to that standard. No matter how lax they may be in their own departments, they demand prompt answers to all questions from the re- search department. The influx of the talkies heaped a new burden on these workers who “know everything.” Now they must know the correct pronunciation of all words as well as the different dialects spoken in this country as well as others. For example, it never would do to have & Virginian talk as they do in Oklahoma. The majority of people might never notice the dif- ference, but the Virginians would. As an aid in this, numerous pronouncing dictionaries are kept on hand and many language experts are consulted frequently. The unseen and unsung “brains of the movies.” So much is said and written about the amazing things accomplished in movieland. Yet so little credit is passed on to those who furnish the information which makes these things possible. In the old days a research department would have looked like an idiotic bit of extravagance. Directors used their own judgment on things and what they didn’'t know they guessed at. So did the costumers, property men and scene designers. " ’ As a result the old movies were full of anachronisms. For a long time nobody cared much. But complaints and eriticisms began to come in and at last the movie men set out to make each picture absolutely authentic. Ten Busy Counties counties and the free city of St. Louls accourffed for more than 50 per cent of the Nation’s wholesale business during 1929, ‘The total goods sold was just short of $70,000,- 000,000. The counties making up the select group which saw most of the activity were Los Angeles and San Francisco Counties, Calif.; Cook County, Ill.; Suffolk County, Mass.; Wayne County, Mich.; Jackson County and St. Louls, Mo.; New York County, N. Y.; Cuyahoga Coun- ty, Ohio; Allegheny and Philadelphia Coun- , Pa. ug'here were 12 States—South Dakota, Dela- ware, Maine, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Arizona, New Hampshire, Vermont, New Mexico, Wyo- ming and Nevada—which ranked below the District of Columbia in total wholesale business for the year. Hollyhock Native of Syria HE hollyhock, which makes such a fine show in the garden while at the height of its bloom, but which is considerable of the pest the rest of the year is a native of Syria. A member of the mallow family, it has through development been changed to a double flowering and highly beautiful flower while in bloom.