Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-14


the two naturally go together In
the District of Columbla-tne
photoplay palaces are showing an
inclination to awaken from SUM-
mer lethargy. There are many
persons who may simply see a
hot-weather calm settle around
the Eff-street Hobbies when the
1St of July comes along, but
those who are really in the know
declare that the Summer product
of the producers falls away below
par: that as soon as the first cool
evenings of Autumn appear the
better pictures are shipped in
from Hollywood. Be this as 1t
may, there is no getting away
from the fact that the central
portion of September will ind
some splendid attractions billed
for the local screens.
For instance, those funny Marx
Brothers, with their Animal
Crackers" (said to be one of the
funniest of screen Efforts, comes
to the Columbia after Miss Carlo
concludes her engagement. The
Two Black Crows, Moran and
Mack, are back with us again in
"Anybody's War" at the Palace.
John Barrymore's big picture,
'Moby Dick" will draw the fans
to the Earle, and "Leatherneck-
ing" with an excellent cast,
is showing at Keith'S. Washing
ton is given a world premier"
with this weeks showing Of Scar
let Pages at the Metropolitan
and Ruth Chatterton and Give
Brook share the starring honorS
of "Anybody'S Woman" at the
Fox.
AS an added and very special
attraction, the Rialto, on Ninth
street, again throws open its
doors next Friday, according to
present plans. This beautiful
playhouse offers the screen YER
sion of a stage hit, Little Acct
dent" and it is said that the sec
ond attraction of the season will
be that smash" of the screen
world, "All Quiet on the Western
Front"
RURIED in comedy, literally sat
urated in comedy, growing
older in comedy, Hal Roach re-
tains his sense of humor! Could
anything be more unusual? Hal
is a pioneer in the manufacture
of screen laugh-producers; he has
worked with temperamental CO.
medians, dogs, cats and monkeys
in efforts to make them appear
funny, and yet he can laugh
heartily over a screen comedy. ]
had luncheon with him one day
, last week, and my impression Is
backed up by the thought that he
thoroughly enjoys his work. This
makes him a success in his par
ticular line-that Of supplying
laughs to the hundreds OF thou
sands Of theatergoers.
Hal Roach went into the movie
game when it was just game,
and he has seen this medium Of
entertainment grow until it is one
of the greatest Of industries. He
watched the coming OF the talk
les, he experienced the difficulties
incident to their successful pro-
duction, and he has seen them
gradually develop to q higher
plane. He has had no little part
with his comedies.
"When we found that we must
make our comedies with sound"
SAYS Roach, I'VE experienced
trouble in the reproduction of
comedy sounds. For instance,
take the fast-moving fire engine.
The sound was entirely too fast
for the engine. If the latter was
slowed down to fit the sound, the
engine merely crawled along. II
the sound was slowed down, 1t
did not fit the speed of the engine.
We have remedied this by record
ing the sound and the picture at
different times.
with Our Gang comedies, we
found that the youngsters voices
did not record well. When they
spoke in a natural tone OF voice,
this was too low for the recording
apparatus. When they were told
to speak louder, their voices were
unnatural. This has been rene
died, recently, with an entirely
new recording apparatus, which
will take up the SofteSt whisper.
The children can now talk in their
natural voices.
GAS regards the general run of
photoplays, we have had a re-
markable experience. With the
first silent pictures, we adopted a
technique of our own, getting en-
tirely away from the stage. This,
as the years went by, became
highly developed. Then, when
the talkieS came in, the produc-
erS and directors were of the
opinion that they were forced
back to the stage technique. They
followed this idea for a time, and
it accounts for much of the same
ness in the first talkies. Now,
they have dropped the stage idea
and have developed another tech
nique, fitted for sound pictures
far removed from the stage and
the first silent pictures. The di-
rectors have discovered the great
outdoors. In the months to
come, you will notice great i'm
provement in the talkies."
Roach travels about the coun-
try in his own airplane, often
making the trip from Hollywood
to the East Coast in two days.
y
FROM present indications, Wash
ington photoplay theaters
will operate without orchestras-
at least, to a large extent-within
a few days. The union and thea
ter managers, at this writing
have been unable to reach an
nnraar,nnnt. hot words have