The Washington times., 1929-03-20
IGLEANINGS
AND
SCREENINGS
By ANDREW r. KELLEY

IOm Melgnan, whose new PIC
ture, "The Mating Call" comes
to Loew's Palace next week is
one of the wealthiest stars in
the movie game. Each ye'
gives away the greater p
ton of his Hollywood eai
in private charity. Any mem
Der of the Lambs Club will
defy you to name a needy actor
who ever appealed to Tommy
Meighan without a generous
response.
This is not a press agents
yarn but a paragraph inspired
by q well-known Broadwayite
who was with US when we
passed the Meighan likeness in
the Palace Theater frames on
Thirteenth Street. "Give that
fellow a hand any time You get
q chance" he said. "He slipped
me 5000 once when 1t looked like
q million. You never can forget
. guy like that and he's doing
things like it all the time"
William Gaxton, Of "A Con-
necticut Yankee" dropped into
our editorial sanctum yesterday
to tell how he almost became
the star of Broadway Melody"
the Metro -Goldwyn picture which
is shattering box-office records
and has made Charlie King a
full-fledged movie star at
four-figure salary.
Billy got wire from his
agent (Which he still preserves
as a memento) offering him
the lead in a new picture called
Broadway Melody" Unable to
get a release from a run of
the play contract. he wired back
suggesting Charlie King be ap-
preached. Mr.. King, playing in
present Arms, agreed on
salary, got a release on his con-
tract and took the first train to
the coast. He scored sensa-
tionally and is lost to the stage
for at least three years.
Last week in New York
Nicholas Schenck renewed the
offer and Mr.. Gaxton will ac-
cept as soon as Connecticut
Yankee" has completed a Chi
cago engagement, expected to
last at least three months.
Mr.. Gaxton, incidentally, told
how "My Heart Stood Still"
the smash hit of the Mark
Twain musical comedy came to
be inserted in the score. ORR
ginally written by Fields,
Rodgers and Hart for Yankee"
it was sold to C. B. Cochan,
the London producer, who used
it in an English musical, Zone
Thing After Another" When
it was decided that Yankee"
needed another good tune, my
Heart Stood Still" came to
mind. Cochran demanded and re-
ceived $4,000 from the COM
posers for the use of the
number in America. Singu-
larly enough, it was not the
big hit of the show when in
troduced. "Thou Swell'' was the
favorite for a time but soon
audiences proved by encores
what they liked best and it
has been that way ever since.
Bill Ewing Western Unions as
follows: "Mr. Kelley did you
know that Douglas MacLean is
one of the few minister's sons
in the movies stop that he has
made nineteen features since he
first became well known in
twenty three and half hours
leave that he was one of the
most popular actors in Los
Angeles on the Morosco stage
before he entered pictures stop
that he is going to celebrate his
tin wedding anniversary soon
stop that his latest picture the
carnation kid will be the attrac-
tion for next week at the Earle
Theater beginning with the Fri
day midnight premiere stop that
it is his first talking picture
and the first talking picture
with action shots stop Bill
Ewing advertising and publicity
Stanley-Crandall theaters.
Stop, Bill, you are breaking
my heart. What will Spyros
Skouras say when he finds out
you have been so extravagant
with "the's," or is Western
Union a Warner Brothers SUBJ
sidiary? Yeah, could get 80
per cent on your QUESTIONABLE.
You forgot something made by
. minister's son ought to be q
good holy week attraction. And
Doug MacLean is a Washington
boy and the son of a Washing
ton minister. And he was Sue
Carols boss until the courts re-
Gently broke the contract. And
he is one of the male stars who
was told to stop getting fat
unless he wanted to play Fatty
Arbucle roles, so he trains like
Jack Dempsey to keep the
weight down.
Musicians forced out of jobs,
they say. by the synchroniZed