Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-11

HOLLYWOOD. Calf. November II
CN.A.N.A.).--H days for the little
prodigies Of Hollywood. It's nearing
santa Claus time, but they're all per-
picked at having seen Santa on the lots
where they're working, some of them in
the very picture they are in. Christ
mas features must be made several
months before the holiday season.
sonny Boy" was hit pretty hard by
this. He'd been reared on the theory
that the one and only Santa appeared
on Christmas eve when you'd been
pretty good all through the year. I'M
agine his perplexity at seeing q rotund
! santa walking on the lot and speaking
| in the voice Of his friend, Charles King.
There were explanations. Sonny Boy
listening gravelY. Then, siding up to
King, he said:
T.. charlie ns.1 have you .: any !, drag rag
have I wish you'd slip him the idea that
want pony and cart for Christmas"
Perhaps the most consistent COM
plant of those who are kind enough to
write me Is their desolation ct what
talking has done for the celluloid love
scene.
Almost all my correspondents say
and rightly--that love Is gone from the
screen, that love demands silence. And
the new technique seems afraid OF 81
lence. (There are such things as ground
! noises, by the way.)
| I began to watch love scenes more
closely since my friends about the coun-
try called my attention to them. They
were wordy, in a stereotyped and uncon-
vincing way. They didn't catch the
audience by the throat. And, what Is
more, the kidders Of the audience began
to ply their art once again. This bore
is ever present in the movie theater,
and needs but a touch to get into ac-
ton. But, be it said to their credit,
they seldom kid fine scene. At such
times they forget that. they are past
masters of a very cheap gift.
Then I CHANGED into little theater
where the Moore brothers were playing
In the first picture In which all three,
Tom, owen and Matt, have appeared.
A casual enough story of a gangster
and cop and q young ambulance
driver, played by owen, Tom and Matt
in the order named.
But / have never seen In takes or
out Of them such delicious love scene
as Tom Moore gave up. It was a vi
gnette of delicious young romance, ex-
Quisitely and subtly done; sheer comedy
played with laugh but informed by a
world of tenderness; light as thistle-
down, yet carrying underneath the most
tremendous emotion.
When you can juggle emotion In this
wise you are an artist indeed. Add to
this the most fascinating voice with
lust q trace of irish English infection,
a charm that Is unquestionable, and
the fine, sure technique of the artist
who has come UP through long, bitter
years of silent picture training.
Here is a potential star for light,
sophisticated comedy that would make
new talkie records in the colony II he
were rightly cast in the proper sort OF
vehicle.
A sidelight on few lives Of Abraham
Lincoln are thrown by d. w. Griffith,
who has been reading biography prepa-
ratory to shooting his famous Lincoln
film:
"The Tarbell Lincoln I found impos-
sible. Herndon wrote fine life OF
Abraham Lincoln. Karl Sandburg read
1t and wrote a magnificent thing. Lud-
wig read Sandburg, went over to Ger
many, and with q couple Of secretaries
wrote still another life of Lincoln"
Corinne Griffith survived her first
talkie well. She had her voice insured
for a million dollars-an excellent idea.
1t makes every one fell that something
very rare must be concealed there to
warrant such extravagant protection.
whether there is anything there, the
feeling of value is established.
There has been SO much gossip about
Mary Pickford's reactions to the first
talkie made with her husband, Doug
las Fairbanks, that 1t becomes touchy
subject to handle and a difficult one on
which to give a straight report. The
consensus of those close to the family
Is that Mary Pickford Is not enchanted
with her part in 1.-THE Tanning of the
Shrew." It will have q London pre-
iniere, which is also a wise idea. II
London approves, Hollywood probably
viii follow suit. But am betting on
New York to stand on It's own feet.
! Adolphe Menjou faded from the scene
with his beautiful blond wife, Kathryn
Carver, long since. There was much
fanfare of trumpets over his departure,
so I need not go into that. The studio
says that Menjou's popularity was vest
ed almost entirely In European releases
and that this became too hazardous in
day of talking pictures.
The last EARNINGS picture shot by