davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10
Ghost City.

A N opportunity is afforded to become
acquainted with one of the famous
ghost cities of the West in the forth
coming Pathe serial, Queen Of thu
North Woods"
A number of exteriors in this seria
were filmed amid the ruins of Havilah
which was thriving city of between
three and four thousand souls during
the gold rush days in California. Now
the population numbers exactly six indi.
viduals. There is postmistress and q
Storekeeper, who serve the ranchers ir
a nearby territory, and their respec.
tive families. On the outskirts of the
town is also forest ranger station.
Most of the houses of Havilah are
still filled with the ornate furniture
which was brought from the East tc
satisfy the garish tastes of the golC
miners during the boom days. When
the gold rush blew up, the majority OF
the people simply walked out of Their
homes, leaving them just as they were
Many had made fortunes and left tc
spend them elsewhere Others hac
squandered their earnings, could moi
afford to take any personal belongings
with them and left with only what they
could carry.
Spencer Bennett, the director; Walter
Miller and Ethlyne Clair, the leads, and
other members of the company spent
several interesting days In this scene
of faded glories.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10
Well, That 8 That.

A REPORTER recently visited the
"A Pathe Studios to find out what
the Pathe players did before they en-
tered pictures. He had a theory that
previous occupations would indicate the
artistic trend of mind. Did it? This
is what he found:
Carol Lombard played in local stage
presentations and took up dramatic art
at the same time. One vote for the
reporters theory.
Gladys Mcconnell was only out of
the Hollywood High School one week
before she received her first screen test.
That gives a vote neither to the yeas
or the nays.
jeanette Loft played an organ in a
theater in Portland, Greg. That can
be called another vote for the reporter.
Diane Ellis was a stenographer in a
Hollywood Office. One rousing nay.
William Boyd was an orange packer,
grocery clerk. automobile salesman and
oil driller. Another loud nay.
Alan Hale was cub reporter and
medical student. Another echoing nay.
Robert Armstrong wrote and acted in
plays and vaudeville skits. This goes
as a yea.
Junior Coghlan was growing freckles
in schools. Another big nay.
Eddie Quillan played in vaudeville
act featuring his whole family. That's
yea.
The reporter figured up and found
four for and four against. Nothing
proved,
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10
The Snoring Picture cAlbnm
By Robert e. Sherwood.

| At the Goldwyn studio Brabin wa!
given picture to direct, and was asked
to submit an estimate of its cost
After due figuring he announced thai
he could make the picture for 10000
He was laughed at. I'VE don't pro-
duce any pictures here for less than
! $250,000," he was told.
He was therefore compelled to spend
a quarter of million, and to spend il
where it would show.
incidentally, the glorification of ex-
travagance at the expense of merit was
responsible for the collapse and demise
of the Goldwyn Corporation, which
lives today only through the associa-
ton of its name with that of Metro.
The old economic theories that DOM
well have wrecked it are now being
discarded. Their absurdity has been
exposed. and this welcome exposure
has been brought about as result OF
the advent of the talkies.
Warner Brothers have proved that
talking pictures can be made at an
amazingly cheap rate. Most of their
products of the past year cost no more
than did Driven" Yet these pic
lures. have earned more in actual profits
than have even the most successful OF
the million-o r-more- dollar epics.
The greatest money maker OF last
year was wings" which cost DE mil
lions to produce.
The greatest money maker of this
year is THE Singing Fool" which cost
one-tenth that sum Cal Jolson's salary
included.
THE Singing Fool will gross as
much as, if not more than, Wings" did
Which means that the profits derived
from 1.-THE Singing Fool will be COM
puted in millions, whereas those derived
from Wings" will be in the hundreds
of thousands. In view of its enormous
cost, wings has been lucky to break
even. Most of the epics end up in
masses of red ink.
1t would be good idea for Will H
Hays and his disciples to look up
epic in the dictionary and realize
the true significance of this word. The
dictionary says nothing about magnifi-
cent settings, thousands of extras OF
millions of dollars. It describes an epic
as an heroic poem-noble, impressive. y
There have been many epics on the
screen which we're produced compare
lively cheaply. "Tol'able David" was
one; "'Nanook of the North" stark
Love-" Chang" killing the Killer
and "The Dramatic Life of Abraham
Lincoln" were others. There are epics
almost every week in the news reels.
There will be more celluloid epics In
the future, but they will not necessarily
be constructed on De MILAN scale
They will undoubtedly be equipped with
spoken dialogue, but not with theme
songs.
Copyright, 1929
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10
British Approval.

GIT will be at least five years before
- the talking picture nears perfec-
ton, and 10 years before they are any
where near lifelike.'
This statement was made by Herbert
Wilcox, director in charge of production
of British and Dominions Films, Inc.
who has spent the last two months In
Hollywood studying American sound
methods with view of applying them
to production in England.
Nevertheless, Mr.. Wilcox Is sold SC
solidly on the talkies that when he left
for London this week, he took an Amer
lean sound technician with him, and
announced that he will begin at once
production upon 100 per cent dialogue
picture, the first to be made in England
ut is in my mind to also go to the
County Cork In Ireland" said Mr.. Will
cox, land make an all outdoor talkie
which will be the first complete motion
picture of any kind made in the Irish
Free State. Just whether can do that
at this time depends upon several
things, but I am going to do 1t soon ii
not Immediately. 1t is my intention to
show to America and the world ireland
and its people as they are. and not as
they have been caricatured."
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10
New Vaudeville Assets.

A NEW combine Is announced be-
tween Columbia Pictures Corpora
ton and the Victor Talking Machine
Co., which have entered into con-
tractual arrangement for the joint pro-
duction of talking films whereby Co
lumbia Pictures will have at its disposal
all the recording facilities, resources and
technical experience of the Victor Co.. IS
studios and laboratories at Camden, N. j.
Included in the advantages offered
Columbia by this arrangement Is the
use of the wide array of victor's talk
ing and singing talent, which comprises
some of the most prominent names in
the legitimate, vaudeville and operate
fields. With this roster of artists CO.
lumbia expects to make and distribute
series of short-reel subjects, recording
for posterity and present-day audiences
the accomplishments of such violinistS
as Kreisler, HeifetZ, Yehudi Menuhin;
singers such as Lucrezia Bort, Bohnen
and others; and even the terpsichorean
art OF dancers like Argentina, Goya and
the DeniShawns. Immediate production
of a series of shorts" is planned.
In addition to this series, arrange
ments have been made for the synchro-
n1zation in the Camden studios of sew
eral of Columbia's features. Two have
already been fitted with sound"
Columbia, it is explained, will an
nounce in the very near future its affilia-
ton with vaudeville agency, tending
to provide the picture company with !"
source of acting talent from which may
be drawn short dramatic playlets, block
outs and acts from the two-a-day.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10

IF YOU should succeed in crashing the
gates of the sound effect department
at studio and find several big healthy
men playing on the floor with roller
skate or child's pop-gun, don't think
that they have gone dippy. They are
probably trying to find something that
sounds more like machine gun than
the machine gun itself.
OF all the problems of sound pictures,
the most complex have fallen to the
synchronizers. Scott Littleton, director
of sound effects at the Pathe Studios,
has discovered that and many other
things during the sound recording OF
pictures by the photophone system OF
the r. G. A.
Zone of the idiosyncrasies of sound
picture recording is that often the
actual sound does not record as it is,
explained Mr.. Littleton. MANY sounds
will break the microphone and we have
found it necessary to create sounds in
the strangest ways that sound more like
the subject photographed than it would
ITSELF
For instance, it was necessary to get
the sound of 81" trains for William
Boyd's picture. "The Cop" Littleton
got a railroad handcar and phono-
graphed the actual sound of the iron
wheels on the rails. The result was a
deafening roar After experimenting
with many things they got perfect
reproduction of an 81" train by tying
an iron pipe to roller skate and drag
ging it across the bare floor.
In SAL of Singapore" they wanted
the sound of steam-operated cargo
hoist on Shipboard. The rail thing
didn't turn out we'll, but the problem
was solved by child's toy steam hoist
controlled by the thumb applied to the
fly wheel.
The beating Of real horses hoofs in
"Noisy Neighbors'' sounded like coal
falling down a chute. This problem
was solved by two wooden egg cups
pounded with a rhythm of galloping
hoofs in a box of sand.
It would be very difficult for any one
to guess the way in which Littleton
| finally obtained the sound Of two great
ships Scraping against each other for
the all-dialogue Pathe picture Strange
Cargo" First, two big pieces of sheet
| iron were tried but didn't work. The
| right sort of sound was only secured
with a cigar box and piece of resineo
string, an instance where boyhood in
| vention did the trick.
One of the hardest sounds to dupli-
cate Is that of footsteps. Different
kinds of shoes record differently. II
was necessary to duplicate the footsteps
Of Phyllis Haver, wearing French heels
| for scene in 1.-THE Shady Lady
Every kind of shoe was tried out with.
out success. Finally an ordinary block
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10

WHEN Willard Mack, noted stage
w star and playwright, entered the
Metro Goldwyn- Mayer studio to make
Hunted" his first talking picture, 1t
was not by any means his introduction
to film studio.
Willard Mack was a star in pictures
when stars were few and far between. in
1918, in the days when Charles Ray,
Bill Hart and others were just making
start. Mack made a long series of
silent pictures, starting with "The
Battle of Gettysburg" directed by
Thomas H. Ince-but he returned to
the stage to fulfill the demands of New
York producers for the type of plays
which have made famous the name of
Mack.
Mack's great stage successes, before
writing Hunted" for Metro-G GOODWIN
Mayer, include 1.-THE Common SIM y
Gang War;" "Tiger Rose" THE Man
Who Came Back" "The Scarlet Fox,
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10
As You Were, Alice.

BECOMING blonde after one has
been a natural brunette sometimes
brings about legal difficulties, as Alice
White, film star, discovered recently
when she decided to agree with Anita
Loos and become one of the kind whom
gentlemen prefer.
Miss White was informed that 1t is a
violation Of contract for motion pic
ture star to become a blonde when she
has signed the legal document as a
brunette. When the little star received
her new starring contract from First
National Pictures, Inc. there was the
clause that she was brunette of nat
ural auburn hair" Her lawyer, how
ever, averted hostilities and arranged
to have a clause inserted: Nov ap-
pearing by consent of the party of the
second part as blonde"
Under the usual form of contracts
for motion picture stars, the producing
organization has a voice in the matter
as to whether or not blondes may be-
come brunettes by means of beauty
preparations, or brunettes become
blondes. Wigs may be used to accom-
plish the same result only by consent
of the company.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10

TN the course of recent visit to
Hollywood Will H. Hays assembled
the directing geniuses of the big
i studios and advised them to make
more and bigger epics. An epic, in
case you are unacquainted with the
language of the movie industry. is a
picture that cost more than million
dollars to produce. 1t has massive sets,
thousands OF extras and is usually twice
the length of the ordinary feature pic.
ture.
According to report in the Exhib-
itors Herald-World. Mr. Hays stated
that these epic pictures must and will
continue to be made and will be yet
more magnificent" They may be equip
ped with a sound accompaniment, he
added. but should do without spoken
dialogue.
It is not for me, from this incon-
kpicuous rostrunl. to dispute with his
cnlinence the car of all the cinemas.
Nevertheless, it is my conviction that
the advice given out by Will H. Hays
IS bad advice. and I further believe
that it will be ignored by those at whom
It was directed
The talkies have willfully murdered
the epic-and this is one crime for
which they should be congratulated
rather than punished. 1t is true that
most of the great pictures of the past,
from 1.-The Birth of a Nation" to THE
Big Parade" have been technically
epicS. 1t is also true that these pre-
tentious productions have served to
throw the film business off its balance
and to bring it to the chaotic state of
disorder in which it has lately found
itself.
The movie producers came to the
conclusion that the only way to make
money was to spend it. They believed
they must hand out two million dollars
in order to get back two million dollars
and five cents. If the public would pay
big money to see THE Four Horsemen
of the Apocalypse" it was assumed that
the public would pay big money to see
anything else produced on the same eX-
travagant scale.
Consider, for example, the strange
case of Charles Brabin
Brabin had been director for Fox,
and decided one day that he would
like to produce a picture with his
own money. He went forth by himself
and made a drama of the Southern
mountains, called "Driven." He used a
small and Inexpensive cast of unknown
players, and the story of his picture
was so simple that it required only
two studio sets (both of them were log
cabin interiors;. The total cost of
"Driven" was $4,000 It was dis
tributed by Universal. and, while it
failed to set the world afire as box
office sensation, it did manage to earn
a comfortably handsome profit. Fur
thermore, it gained for Charles Brabin
a substantial reputation and a fat
contract with the old Goldwyn Cor
poration.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10

Preston Sturges, author and pro-
Queer of 1.-THE Guinea Pig" now run
ming in New York, plans to produce
another of his own plays, entitled The
Matrix,'' in the ttry-out towns TINS
month.
Sam H. Harris first production
next season, opening in September, will
be musical comedy, the book of which
will be by Owen Davis with music and
lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz
Hart. This trio is responsible Tor
Spring Is Here" which Aarons and
Freddy have in rehearsal.
George E. Wintz, who for several
years has sent out road productions OF
successful Broadway entertainments,
will make his first New York presenta-
ton in about two weeks. The piece
which was called "She Got What She
Wanted" in try-out tour.
MY Girl Friday new comedy by
william A. Grew, will be given its
initial showing in New York tomorrow
night by Gerald Bacon. The cast IS
headed by. Richard Sterling ana
Esther Muir.
George Whites plans for next season
will include the production OF three
musical comedies, one OF them TO pe
the tenth edition of Scandals. he
will also supervise a film edition OF
Manhattan Mary" in which Ed
Wynn will star.
r. E. Give will present "The
whispering Gallery" comedy mystery
by Percy Robinson and Torrance ne
Marney, in New York tomorrow night.
This play is now in its second month
at the Copley Theater, Boston, and mas
also been seen In London.
Charles Hopkins has arranged with
Ernest Boyd, transcriber OF Maya
and 'L'Invitationau Voyage" to make
the adaptation of Amiel Deny's play
"L'Image,'' which was shown TO the
audiences of Paris last season. Mr.
Hopkins will produce this play next
season.
BY an arrangement with David
Belasco and Edward Childs Carpenter
A. H. Woods has acquired the English
rights to 1.-The Bachelor Father. Mr
Woods will present the Carpenter play
In London october l.
James B. Fafan, Mary Arbenz
Alden Chase, Carolyn Clark. Knox
Herals, Shirley Gale, Bert Melville ano
Frank Collins will support Frances
starr in the starring role OF Autumn
Violins." which is due in New York III
two weeks.
There was no performance OF Mar
garet Anglin's play Lady DeolocK ~
New York last Monday night. At the
last moment the company agreed &c
abide by a previous decision to close the
plav on Saturday night Plans for
repertory company, in which Miss An
Gin was not to appear, were also aoan-
doned.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10
Just Three Years.

SCORING steadily since her success in
- the leading feminine role of Warner
Brothers production of 1.-THE Sea
Beast" Dolores Costello has in a short
three years risen to the topmost rllng
on the film ladder. All her film work
since reaching young womanhood has
been with Warner Brothers, and she
has now acquired a following and a
measure of popularity that are probably
not exceeded by any screen star.
{ In 1.-THE Redeeming Sin" the fair
Dolores appears as a tempestuous
Apache" entertainer in an underworld
Partisan cafe. Conrad Nagel is seen in
the principal male role.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10
United Artists "Talkie. !"

CLAIMED to mark the most forward
~ step yet made in the new art of
talking and sound pictures, camera and
micropllone work on "Alibi' has been
completed at the United Artists studios,
the company's first all-talking features.
This underworld thriller, based on the
stage play "Nightstick" and produced
and directed for the screen by Roland
West, one of the veterans Of the Joseph
M. Schenck organization, will give au-
diences a new conception of talking pic
lures when it Is released soon, according
to film experts. West has also produced
silent version of "Alibi" for foreign
distribution and for American theaters
not vet equipped with sound devices.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10
Willard Mack and Movies.

Lilly Sue" Weather Clear" "The
Moose" "Kick In" 1.-THE Big Chance"
Hunted is a fast-moving story of
the chase of an escaped convict by a
detective, the romance and final clear
ing Of the name of the convict. It's
cast comprises such well known players
from the Broadway stage as Robert
Ames, Duane Thompson, Sylvia Fields,
Alice Moe, Beatrice lanyard, John
MILAN, Tom MCGUIRE, Clark Marshall
and James Farley.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Notes of the Stage and Its People.

Mary Nash, now touring in 1.-THE
| Command to Love-" will appear in a
| Spring tryout of "a Strong Mans
House." by Lee Wilson Dodd. John
Tuerk is the producer.
In addition to Brandon lyman. the
cast of 1.-THE Devils Mistress" will in
clude Marcia Byron and Lucille Niko-
| las. The play is scheduled to open in
New Rochelle on the 25th of this month.
| Donald Meek and Josephine Hull have
been engaged for the principal roles of
"JoneSy." a comedy by Anne Morrison
and John Peter Toohey based on sew
eral short stories of the same name by
Mr.. Toohey. The play is booked to open
in Atlantic City one week from tomor-
row night. Earle Booth Is sponsoring
| the production.
| Barbara Newberry, who transferred in
the musical comedy field from Good
Boy to "Show Boat" recently, is to
have the ingenue role in the coming
Florenz Ziegfeld show East Is West, .
which is fast approaching the rehearsal
stage. The Gershwin brothers have
completed music and lyrics for the
piece and. it only remains for William
Anthony MCGUIRE to complete q book
| for the production to get under way.
H. M. Schiller, German producer,
is arranging with Sam H Harris to pre-
sent "Congai" in Germany and Austria
4 in the near future.
Robert Nichols, co-author with Maui
rice Brown of Wings Over Europe" has
left his home in England for Majorca
where he is completing his play don
JUAN" which the Theater Guild of New
York will sponsor upon its completion.
"His Wife's Affairs" with Galina Ko-
prenak, Alan Brooks and FRANKLIN Ar
dell in its cast, will probably open in
New York late this week.
Moffat Johnston, Lillian Brennard
and Esther Mitchell are additions to the
cast of meet the Prince" in which
Mary Ellis and Basil Sydney will be
seen In New York next week
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10
Taking Sound Effects.

of wood. made to do the heel-and-toe
movement on the floor, did the trick.
In 'The Spieler" it was necessary to
get the foot sounds of Alan Hale and
Fred Kohler in a terrific fight. Two
ex-pugilists wearing rubber shoes and
wrestling, not fighting, on canvas gave
the desired effect.
1.-THE reason for many Of the vagaries
in recording sound effects" explains
Littleton, lies in the fact that the
microphone is not as selective as the
human ear. It has no brain to control
its sense of hearing"
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10

Morton Downey, tenor and motion
picture actor, listed by some critics as
the best Irish tenor since McCormack's
debut, was married to Barbara Ben
nett, daughter of Richsfd Bennett and
sister of Constance any Joan Bennett,
recently in New York. The couple met
through being cast in the same picture.
She is, furthermore. to be her husbands
leading woman in his first talking pic
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10

"TIis wife's Affairs" with Galina Ko-
prenak, Alan Brooks and FRANKLIN Ar
dell in its cast, will probably open in
New York late this week.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10

Moffat Johnston, Lillian Brennard
and Esther Mitchell are additions to the
cast of Meet the Prince" in which
Mary Ellis and Basil Sydney will be
seen In New York next week.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-31

Cheerful, cool-appearing spreads with
searfs and pillows to match.
Spreads for single or twin beds. .$3.75
Spreads for double beds. ..$425
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-31
AT ~. y, T1oses 8 $ens SATURDAY

Bed Lights in SILK, or
CANDY or dotted Swiss,
$3.50.
Dresser Sticks, in metal
rose, ivory, green, or
child, $4.5O pair.
Pleatcd Chintz shades for
Dresser Sticks, $3.50
pair.
The Gift and Lamp Shop,
First Floor
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-31

Scarfs, 17x35, Soc; Scarfs, 17x44 .5oc
3-piece Vanity Sets. Soc Set
Pillow to match. Use
Linen Shop, First Floor
The Washington times., 1929-01-16
Ad Club Hears Editor
Describe Mass Era

The changing panorama of American life spread before
the mental eyes of the Washington Advertising Club by
Merle Thorpe editor of the Nations Business the club
weekly luncheon meeting in the National Press Club audi
torium, yesterday.