The Washington times., 1929-05-07
SCREENINGS
By ANDREW z. KELLEY

the part superbly. Charlie Rug
giles, as one of the professions
congenital souse pots-a good
reporter but a better tippler--
carries on as though he was
thoroughly familiar with the
type of scribe who haunts the
managing editors outside office
between sprees looking for a
job.
/ refuse to concede this motion
picture as damning libel on the
newspaper business, even though
it spothghts some sordid sides
of a glamorous occupation.
Wickland Smell, to my mind, is
a composite of the great news
paper man. He loves the ex-
citement, and the game, the
variety of the daily grind, the
little insight into the insides of
the moving world, the thrill of
seeing a good story cast into
type, the satisfaction in chasing
and capturing a yarn, the stale
ink smells of the newspaper cor
ridors and by ways and the ele-
ment of competition in metro
politan news gathering. Men of
his type bring an enthusiasm
and a genius to this task of
producing good newspapers and
generally they may be found
with graying hairs in the inn
portant executive posts.
What endeared Gentlemen of
the Press" to me particularly
was the authentic treatment of
the press agents sinecure that
fell into Wickland SnelPs career.
Here was man who liked his
job but who couldn't resist the
lure of $4,000 a year in a ma
hogany office as a counsel on
public relations. 1t was a
chance to save a nest egg in an
office hour cinch. So Wicky
quits the paper. Then, one day,
the pompous old faker for whom
he turns out advertising propa-
ganda cleverly concealed as
news, summons the press for an
important story. He does it
without consulting "Wicky."
The scribes arrive and are roy
ally treated, even though it may
surprise some, and shock others,
to learn that newspapermen
sometimes bend the elbow.
When the reporters are con-
genially mellowed, the sleek pro-
moter unlooses a terrible poem of
his own composition pointing out
the glories of death if the empty
shell reposes in a mausoleum.
Wicky burns with indignation
at this hoax on his old col
leagues. The scribes treat the
old man with cold indifference
although they patronize his
liquor. Wicky quits on the spot
after as blistering a tongue
lashing as any pious hypocrite
ever endured. Then he's back
at the old game.
This incident has been
handled with a finesse and an
intimate knowledge of the
journalistic playboys that be-
speaks an experienced hand at
the megaphone, l credit Monta
Bell, former managing editor of
The Washington Herald, and
now production supervisor for
Paramount, with being an alert
observer during the newspaper
chapters of his own career. Not
forgetting also that some of
New York's best Fourth Estate
medalists had a hand in the
story.
The bibulous reporter of
Charles ,Ruggles is a type
rarer now than a decade ago
but still very much present.
The incident of this muddled
news gatherer telephoning a
story to the wrong paper paral-
lels something that actually hap
pened here in Washington, but
/ will not embarrass a coming
young journalist by exposing
the details of an earlier pay day
indiscretion. Exaggerated, yes.
But not too exaggerated to have
actually happened. The finale
of the feature is a magnifi-
Gently conceived touch of senti-
ment.
The soiled romance of the CEN
tral character l pass over,
stranger things have occurred.
What / liked was no stopping
the presses for the great exclu-
sive story. No reporter asked
to risk his life for the glory of
a scoop. No reporters with
bales Of copy paper scribbling
notes. No boss of the under
world bearing down on the edi-
tor. No impossible girl reporter
accomplishing what the star
fell down on. In short no pish
tosh and flub dub and new ex-
plotting of journalistic myths.
You may gather that l liked
Gentleman of the Press" for
what it left out as well as for
what was pictured. Exactly.
1t left behind some stereotyped
hokum and substituted some
salty realism Again. say a
medal for Ward Morehouse,
Monta Bell, Walter Houston,
Charles Ruggles, Russell Grouse
lin fact, any and all who