davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
Following Up Success.

T United ARTISTS, having scored
~ heavily In the talkie field with
"Alibi" and Bulldog Drummond," Is
following uh its success with current
production, of five all-talking pictures
with we'll known stars and with a great
Increase in it's studio sound facilities.
What the company says Is the largest
soundpropf stage in the world is now
being constructed at its studios. 1t Is
claimed to be three times the size CT
any sQhndproof building in that studio.
Tt isi225 feet long, 1872 feet wide and
70 feet high. II has stage within
Itself, permanent theater to be used
In photographing and microphoning
pr oductions that require stage or opera
a atmosphere. 1t contains a large pipe
organ, ten camera booths and scores OF
t1nicrophones.
Four of the five talkies in production
! are based on stage plays. Mary Pick
ford and Douglas Fairbanks are casting
THE Tanning of the Shrew." 1t is their
| first joint production. Norma Talmadge
| is rehearsing for Tin Pan Alley Her
bert Brenon is directing "Lummox,
| taken from Fannie Hurst's novel.
George Fitzmaurice's version of Chan
ming Pollock's play THE Sign on the
! Door" Is being made under the title of
The Locked Door," and Three Live
Ghosts" Frederic Isham's stage play, is
being rehearsed under the supervising
| eye of Max MARGIN, who sponsored the
work on Broadway eight years ago.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16

America. I arrived IN New York with
s37. two letters of introduction and
three clean collars. All the picture stu
dos were closed as the result OF a bad
slump in business. Some one told me-
1t was cheaper to live in Brooklyn than
in New York, so I went over there and
located a cheap rooming house. When
I had spent my last dime for coffee and
had gone hungry for two days, I got
a part in a Shubert show, which con-
sisted of my stepping out and speaking
two lines. The show Topped after two
weeks But got two weeks pay at SIS
a week. Then went down again to
my very last quarter, then a dime, and
finally to a nickel which used for car
fare to New York, where succeeded in
obtaining part in East Is West
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
The aMoying Picture c4lbnm
By Robert E. Sherwood.

else CLOSE Harmony" "Coquette,
Mothers Boy" Weary River" His
Captive Woman" SHOW Boat" Bull
dog Drummond, F" "Alibi, " THE Doctors
Secret" THE Letter" and others that
are familiar to American audiences are
enormously popular in England, where,
it was said. the hated American accent
would be taboo.
AS a matter of fact, the question of
accent seems to weigh very lightly with
British audiences, who have become &C
customed to the American twang and
the American idiom since the war
American jazz songs have been dinned
into English ears in the music halls
and on the monograph; American
plays, such as rs Eat Sop, THE First
Year" Broadway" THE Trial of Mary
Dugan," etc, have been performed by
American actors all over Great Britain.
One may hear that wholesome word
bunk in the drowsy bypaths of a
Surrey village.
The f1awless English accent of Ronald
Colman is losing him no votes, even
in Chicago, and the Kansas drawl of
Charles CBuddy') Rogers is not inter-
fering with his popularity in London.
X x
AS result of the talkie upheaval,
England is greater than ever. 1t has
been another supremely bad break of
luck for the British movie industry. For
just when they were beginning to find
themselves as producers of motion pc
tureS--just when they were beginning
TO provide some Semblance of compe-
tftion for their Hollywood rivals-along
came the noise era to upset their apple
cart.
The British producers have had
terrific setback and are making a
heroic attempt to regain the ground
that they have lost. They are labo-
riously building sound-proof studios at
Elstree and elsewhere. and are drawing
up impressive "all-taking programs"
But their funds are limited, they are
forced to make use of American me-
chanical devices and even American
engineers, and they face the discourag-
ing knowledge that the public in their
own country regards their efforts with
a singular apathy.
In recent years British producers have
tried hard to initiate the methods of
our American producers, in manufac-
turing films and in selling them. They
have succeeded only in initiating the
mistakes made by American magnates;
they have duplicated none of the
triumphs that have been achieved, from
time to time. in Hollywood.
It remains to be seen whether the
Movietone will be boon to the film
industry in England. Just at present
it is assuming the proportions Of a
major disaster.
(Copyright. 1927
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
The y ak of London.

The Talk of London.
~ NE Of the usual sights of Lon
dom these days is procession
OF sandwich men parading ST.
~ FTltly UP and down Regent
street, bearing advertisements
Of the Entertainments that are features
OF the current London season. One of
their Agns will tell you that at the New
Burl ngton Galleries you may see the
lateSt exhibition OF paintings by the
ert4Sts of the Royal Academy. other
signs contain the even more exciting
announcement that at the Empire
Theater, in Leicester square, you may
see and hear the all-talking, all-sing-
ing all-dancing sensation, The Broad
way Melody"
For the strident voice of the Movie
tone is now being heard throughout
England, and 1t is producing precisely
the same weird effects on the populace
that it produced on the inhabitants OF
North America last year. In London
and to an ever increasing extent in
other parts of the British Isles the
talkies are forming a subject for fer
vent discussion. There are those who
are saying, The cinema is ruined for
me and I shall never go back to it until
the ancient silence of the screen is
restored And there are otherS-hun-
dreds of thousands of others, apparently
who are eagerly paying their shillings
and pence at the box Offices of all the
theaters where the magic words see and
hear" are displayed. Just as in the United
States and Canada, every one you meet
confeSses that he despises the talkies,
but the talkies are prospecting to an
amazing extent and the silent films are
starving to death.
All the big London cinema palaces
are equipped with sound apparatus and
are showing nothing but dialogue pic
lures. About 300 theaters throughout
Great Britain have been wired so far.
There are 200 more in prospect. and it
is estimated that within the next year
one-third of all the film parlors in the
kingdom will have gone noisy.
It is also predicted that large num-
bers of the smaller theaters. which can
not afford the sound equipment, will
quietly pass out of existence. The Brit
fish public wants talking pictures, and II
It can't have talking pictures it prefers
70 stay at home and listen to the radio
programs that are broadcast from Lon
don, Paris. Berlin and Copenhagen. It,
Is no trick at all to pick no foreign Ian
guages on receiving sets in Europe.
X X X
All the all-talking pictures on view in
Great Britain are American made. Tor
the good and sufficient reason that no
other country has as yet had time to
catch up with the startling progress of
sound 1.-The Broadway Melody is the
biggest hit in London, as everywhere
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
Up From "Five-a-Day" .

small town fight manager in the all
talking romance of the boxing ring
THE Man I Love" Richard Arlen
featured with Mary Brian In the cast, Is
Green's protege
Green's stage experience began when
he was law student in New York
To pay his way through school he
worked up" a monologue act and sold
1t to the subway circuit, arranging his
schedule so that he had classes only
in the morning and the early afternoon.
The rest of the day and evening he did
his five turns, studying law between ap-
pearances.
He finished his course, got his degree,
practiced for two years 'just to prove to
myself that I could" and then closed
his Office 10 devote all Of his time to this
work he has come to love.
Just prior to his coming to Hollywood
he made tour of South Africa with
his own company, offering The Music
Master" A rest was his main object in
the Hollywood visit, but now he plans to
give all of his time to talking pictures.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
COMPELLING Themes.

1--WE major themes which compel the
interest Of average Americans have
been isolated at the research depart
ment of Paramount through Helen
Gladys Percy. expert psychologist. The
themes are love. mystery, music, great
disaster and adventure.
The placing of mystery second on this
list completely revised previous Inter
est" charts, but Miss Percey's report
read:
Anything pertaining to mystery OF
unusual criminal exploits wins a high
rating in public interest.
THE United States is becoming de-
tective- minded Newspaper readers are
avid devourers Of news occurrences with
a mystery background. and apparently
enjoy forming hypothetical solutions
This interest has found outlet in the
moving picture. The Canary Murder
Case had an overwhelming success,
and The Studio Murder Mystery all
talking thriller. also responds to the
public interest in MYSTERY"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
Twenty for One.

GIT takes nine tailors to make a man. y
Ten men behind the lines for one
at the battle front.
And 20 people back Of the camera
for one in front of it.
when First Nationals company max
ing THE Great Divide" left for loca-
ton in Zion Canyon. Utah, 1t numbered
~ people, including only two players.
Dorothy Mackaill, who portrays the
featured role, and Ian Keith, who arr
pears opposite her. were the players.
The 40 people included Director Regi-
Maid Barker, Cameramen, property boys,
electricians. Vitaphone crew, photog-
raphers and others.
Talking pictures have raised the
ante" of persons per player. as it made
necessary the sound engineers, mixer
and added technical men.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
Talkie Dress Rehearsal.

AN innovation in talking picture
a preparation was introduced at the
United Artists studies when the entire
cast of Three Live Ghosts went
through a final dress rehearsal of the
comedy drama in scene Sequence ex-
actly the way it I'LL be seen and heard
on the screen.
In producing the screen play in stage
form, preparatory to launching actual
camera and microphone work. Thornton
Freeland. director, and Max MARGIN,
playwright and stage producer, who
adapted the story. inaugurated what is
said to be a brand-new technique,
designed to have wide effect on future
talking picture methods.
A unique feature of the dress rehear-
sal was that instead of changing the
sets for the audience, the audience had
to move from set to set for the various
sequences.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16

A CTORS and actresses who work for
"a Herbert Brenon. United Artists pro-
ducer director, lose their identities UNI
til the picture they are making is COM
pleted. and that's why Winifred West
over. Ben Lyon, william Collier, IT.:
MYRTLE Stedman and other members OF
the cast are finding it easy to forget
their real names while appearing In
the all-talkie. "LummoX."
Brenon never addresses a player by
his or her name during the filming OF
one Of his productions. He demands
that they automatically become the
characters thew portray The director
never refers to Miss Westover, former
wife of Bill Hart, as Winifred. either in
speaking to her or giving Instructions
TO his staff, and woe to the aide who
violates the Injunction! When an as
sistant was heard calling Miss West
over" Brenon corrected him, saying:
"There is no Miss Westover' until 'Lum-
mox' is ready for the screen. she Is
Bertha and no one must think OF her
otherwise on the set. Only by actually
living their roles can characters in
stories give convincing performances
For instance, in Peter Pan / never
thought of Betty Bronson as anything
but Peter In Beau Geste' l forgot
Ronald Colman and knew only Michael
Geste.' H. B. Warner became Stephen
Sorrell to me the minute he came on
the set in 'Sorrell g. Son."
Under Brenon's system, some of tho
players In "Lummox" have acquired ur Z
usual personalities. Ben Lyon is RI a.
Farley, a wealthy young poet who ha
o strange love affair with his mot'Agr'
servant girl, and after hearing h msel
addressed as "Rollo' all day lo'lg, h
says he feels like going home at might
dressing like Little Lord Fa' Sntlero
and rolling a hoop around tfE blocs
Buster" Collier finds his mar M on tn
bulletin board as "Wally wkllenste.n
and force Of habit is eau ns him 3
look for his mail under that name
Some OF the other Characters ar
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
II Remember When"

Waldorf Astoria. It had cheesecloth
roof, and every time 1t started to rain
each player had routine Job of grab
bling certain decorations, and dashine
TO cover. The whole thing was so per-
fectly organized that in two seconds
the set would be completely barren oi
any furniture or decoration.
'I remember when star used to feel
like Rockefeller when she could say her
salary was two hundred dollars week.
and Mary Fuller's vas
IT remember when days were so slim
that the actors we're glad to eat the
props. Mary Fuller took great fancy,
as did all the company, to a little suck
ling pig who appeared in the picture
One day he disappeared, and when Miss
Fuller inquired about him from ont
who passed for an efficiency man If
those days he replied.
THAT sucking pig? Why we hao
him for lunch!"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16

ST REMEMBER" said Bradley Barker
on the set at the Pathe Sound
studios, 1.-The days when Richard Bar
thickness. then q schoolboy at Trinity,
and young Douglas Mclean used to
come around to the studio after school
hours, and try to get Jobs as bell hops
In the pictures. Barthelness' mother
was In pictures, too, and she used to
say to me. Wait; you'll see some day my
bow Is going to be big star.
"I remember. too, when Rosemary
T!.11epy, a big star in hF day, used to
make the draperies on the sets, and
throw aside her needles and cottons to
play the leading roles in the same pro-
duction.
II remember when Dorothy Phillips
and Priscilla Dean used to haunt the
studios for extra work, and / remember
when Charles Ogle became so incensed
because Horace Plimpton refused him a
raise that he took all the players he
could induce to leave with him and
went over to Universal.
IT remember when we used to work
in Coytesville on a set that we thought
gigantic portion Of the lobby of the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
Thanks for the Abb!

EILM1NG of recent picture at First
= National studios, in Burbank, Calf,
was halted last week. when Burbank
policemen and detectives appeared on
the "set." They were seeking witnesses
in connection with a sensational pay
roll robbery at San Diego.
The records of seven extras were in
spected by the officer in charge Of the
investigation. Director Irwin Willat and
assistants, Ed Berry and AL Alborn,
substantiated the evidence that on the
day of the robbery the seven men were
before the camera.
The unusual procedure was due to the
fact that in the picture the whole water
front from San Diego to San Francisco
was combed by Whats scouts for
tough-looking characters.
Fifty-two of them, the toughest-look
ing, broken-nosed, caulif1ower- cared
tattooed boys who could be found, were
finally secured. Many of them had
been extras and bit players in many
pictures. They expressed their graft
tude to Willat for hiring them and es-
tablishing miles Of celluloid alibi.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16

HARRY GREEN, felt to be one of
Il the most picturesque figures in the
chow business today, a man whose ex-
perience has embraced everything from
the "five-a-day" in cheap vaudeville to
producing his own show in his own
theater In London, is filmdom's latest
acquisition.
Green is a Jewish comedian, in addi-
ton to being an able dramatic actor.
He is the only man, other than David
warfield, who ever successfully and
through several seasons played the title
role In THE Music Master"
In vaudeville he is known as George
Washington Conn., and as such is one
of the most adroit card workers ever
known. For a season he toured in a
mind-reading act that is still talked of
in green rooms where actor folk gather
to discuss their kind
There are only two things having to
do with the theater that he has not
tried. He has never worked the seals"
And he has never sung tenor in quartet.
Green was cast by Paramount as the
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
O. Henry in Talkies

Mr.. Currier said recently. His stories
are natural scenarios for sound pic
tures-lively, amusing and colorful. The
tales are beloved by millions for Their
original insight and for the trick Of
their endings, which gives the needed
flip to a picture which most modern
writers and scenarists usually miss
The addition of sound. Mr.. Currier
feels. will add UNNECESSARILY to the real
istic value of the o. Henry series. With
sound, he declared, the noises of the
city. the sounds of the elevated, OF
horses on the cobblestoned streets, OF
newsboys and all the hurly-burly which
made famous the o. Henry vignettes OF
Park Row and the brownstone- front
streets of the middle-town will be dupli-
Gated with fidelity.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
A Lucky Break.
DREAKTNc; a leo * one wa,

breaking leg is one way of get
~ ting into the movies successfully
Richard Arlen, who started his bright
career with successes in wings" Beg
CARS of Life" Ladies of the Mob, y
Manhattan Cocktail and. now. The
Man Love-" broke in that way Born
in Charlottesville, Va, he attended st.
Thomas College and the University of
Pennsylvania before enllstiAg in the
Royal Flying Corps In New York in
1917. He trained In England. received
a lieutenant's commission and served
in the air force on the battle front.
After the war he was instructor of
swimming at the st. Paul Athletic Club,
worked on the Duluth News Tribune
as sports writer. took fling In oil
in the Texas fields and then headed
for Hollywood. Finding studio doors
closed to him, he took a job as mes
senger and in this capacity he had his
leg broken in an accident. met a cast
ing director in the hospital and started
on his acting career.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
Their Private Lives.

Two had served short Jail sentences
and is knew what the inside of a jail
was like; five had bullet wounds not re-
ceived In the war; six admitted to hav-
ing belonged to tough gangs.
Two were college graduates and 10
claimed some college training: e had
never gone beyond the eighth grade.
Twenty-Five we're born in the United
States, seven in Canada, three in Eng
land. two in Germany and one each IN
Brazil, Constantinople and Ireland.
BY trade nine had been machinists,
three sailors, one tailor, four plumb
ers, nine truck drivers, one leather
maker, two had always been actors,
seven were Jacks of all trades and fouI
admitted to never having had any reglI-
lar occupation. Nineteen said they were
writers or wanted to be; some had beer
business men, one cop and three "prD'
n1oters"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
Great Flood Scene.

ONE of the most iAkeresting scenes
~ in "Noah's Ark" ifs the great flood
which sweeps away the Temple OF
Jaghut.
Over $4,000 tons of water were used
TO make this sc kpe realistic. Great
tanks of concrete were erected in the
hills above the studio and. at fash
from from Director curtiz, the food gate:
First the wfAer began to trickle down
then 1t grew in volume, the rain de.
scended on the lot and soon the awfu
power of IN actual flood was sweeping
across the land and carrying everything
before It,
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16

PRODUCTION is announced to start
Immediately on the first four of a
series of short dialogue pictures based
on the most famous of o. Eenry's short
stories of New York life. This is dis
closed by Richard Currier, production
head of the RCA Photophone Gramercy
studios, in New York.
The stories to be recorded in sound
are "a Little Speck in Garnered Fruit, "
"Past One at Rooney's." THE Song and
the Sergeant" and Something In Rub
ber." There is a possibility that II
others of the we'll known tales will be
recorded before the Summer is over.
20. Henrys stories offer satirical.
sentimental kaleidoscope Of the city
that is ideal for the short sound film, "
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
or what stuff are movie gangsters

OF what stuff are movie gangsters
made?
The lurking figures that move across
the screen with hands on guns end fea-
lures shadowed-who and what sort OF
men are they?
Propelled by curiosity, Jack Mulhall,
who plays the featured lead IN DARK
Streets" carried on 4 friendly research
into the real lives of 40 crooks" who
appear with him in the picture.
After asking lot of questions ana
reading the biographical data in cast
ing office files, Mulhall found the fol-
lowing interesting facts:
Twenty-three gangsters have been
married; seven have divorces and IA are
living with their first wives; one mas
been married three times. They have
81 children between them.
Their average age IL &c.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
An Unusual Dancer.

0NTARIETTA," whose dancing, in Its
A'A wild, free grace and charm. is
said to suggest the faun, will make her
appearance in the John Murray Ander-
son stage production at the Palace this
week for the first time in the East, 1t is
announced.
This exquisite young dancer, prod
uct of the West Coast, began her terp-
sichorean career at the age of ID, and
1t Is said, was an attraction In one of
the theaters for an entire year. In her
dancing apparel and ornaments, as well
as in her terpsichorean interpretations
she is said to be most unusual.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
* Valuable Prop"

IHIS most valuable piece Of furniture
that has ever been used IN a Billie
DOVE picture was on the set of her lat
est picture recently.
st is lakewood desk, formerly owned
~ the late Gar of Russia and present.
ed to him by King Edward of England.
(The desk was purchased in Europe
recently by Hollywood collector, ana
is valued at more than $4,000. 1t was
built to order for the King. and Is the
only desk of its kind in the world.
Constructed of teakwood, with intri-
cate brass inlays, the desk has small
porcelain PLAQUES showing the coats OF
arms of the various reigning houses In
Europe, and the members of the various
noble families.
Because of its value, the desk was
guarded day and night by special
! Watchmen. It was rented for the pic
ture, and It's debut before the cameras
cost the company tidy sum.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-16
Lose Real Identities

Chita dorothy Janis), VerCG1ica Neid-
ringhouse fMyrta Bonillas), Annie Wen
nerberg Lydia Yeamans /'Titus) and
Barney the Cop Danny 0'Shea).