Evening star., 1926-10-17
Flashes From the Screen
BY G. e. NELSON.

Lya de Putti and Lois Moran have
the star parts in God Gave Me
Twenty Cents" now in the process
of filming. The odd title of the pic
ture has set the fans and exhibitors
wondering just what it is, and why
it is.
Here is some wonderful news for
the movie fans: Charlie Chaplin
saved his famous derby hat when
his studio in Hollywood burned re-
Gently. The star, returning to his
dressing room while working on
circus picture, found the blaze-but
he saved the sugar-bowl hat and
bamboo cane.
Some time ago the motion picture
producers on the West Coast met,
talked things over and decided to
establish a central casting Office,
where all film extras would be hired,
fired and paid for their work. The
scheme worked out very well--at
least as far as the pro :ucers were
concerned.
The extra people, however. do not
seem to care for the plan. They are
forming an organization of their
own. and they want, among other
things, a higher scale of wages. The
ordinary extra who appears in mob
scenes now receives SIS day when
he or she works, and for a great
many that is not often. The esti-
mate has been made that there are
between 10000 and $4,000 extras in
Hollywood and Los Angeles, and not
many of them work more than 10 or
IS days year. The extras who ap-
pear in closeups and minor parts are
paid from $3.50 to SIS per day, and
there is more work for them than for
the others. 1t is the $5 workers who
are clamoring for an increase.
X X X
Thirty-six separate and distinct
sets have been constructed for Erich
Won Stroheim's newest picture, The
Wedding March" and all of them are
Viennese and Tyrolean exteriors and
interiors. The photoplay is expected
to be the biggest thing Won Stroheim
has attempted since his connection
with the producers.
x X x *
Much has appeared in the public
prints concerning the alleged Soviet
made photoplay "Potemkin." One
of the local exhibitors, Mr.. Machat
of the Wardman Park Theater, went
to New York last week with the idea
of obtaining the picture for Wash
ington production-and his expert
ence is worth relating.
The photoplay, which tells the
story of Russian revolution, was.
according to Mr. Machat, produced
and is controlled by the Incorporated
Amalgamated Soviet Industries, and
it was brought to the United States
for the sole purpose of impressing
the banking interests of this coun-
try. Then. of course, after the
process of impression, was the plan
OF securing liberal loans for the in
dustries of Soviet Russia. The pic
ture has been given private ex hibi-
tions in New York. bankers being
the invited guests. But. in most in
stances, the bankers failed to attend.
Their tickets were handed out to
others, and the real purpose of the
film has been lost in the shuttle.
AS far as the picture itself goes,
Mr.. Machat says it is not much out
of the ordinary. The large groups
OF actors-usually termed mob
scenes'-are well handled, but there
is nothing to startle the average
American audience. Also, according
to Mr.. Machat, the picture is not be-
ing rented for exhibition-at least,
until the banker-loan idea is aban-
doned
Notes from Movieland-Harold
Lloyd is said to have the largest COL
lection of pedigreed dogs on the
Pacific Coast. He has 18 Great Danes
and St. Bernards in his kennels.
|. "Nobody's Widow is the title
of Charles Rays new picture. Lea
trrice Joy takes the leading femi-
nine role. Sorrows of Satan"
opened last week in New York. The
story is from one of the early novels
of Marie Corelli. The Motion
Picture Guild. showing the best of
the Older films at the Wardman
Park Theater. has met with unusual
success, proving that it is not always
the star who draws the crowds; it
can be the picture itself. The
Country Beyond another James
Oliver Curwood novel, is to be turned
into photoplay in the near future.
Mons" gigantic war picture,
has been completed in England, and
it is expected to do in the British
Isles what "The Big Parade" is do
ing in this country