Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-21
MOVIES AND MOVIE PEOPLE
BY MoLL1E MERRIcK.

strength and continuity of story Ii
there is less daShing into various sets
In ether words. want to sustain the
feeling of the atmosphere of house
rather than to divert the audience by
taking them into the various rooms OF
house. If the idea of luxury is TO be
planned one may do 1t as well IN one
room as in the excursions from drawing
room to boudoir, to bath. to library, 70
sun rooms, and so on. that now take
place in talking pictures. Each new
room entered diverts the audience from
the trend of the story. The emotional
thread is weakened. The actors have
to work twice as hard to establish the
drama again after each excursion.
"One may take single staircase
about which a family lives. A staircase
which links the living rooms downstairs
and the more intimate rooms above.
One can let the imagination OF the au-
dience play to advantage about the
rooms of which they see only the open
ing and closing doors and perhaps the
slightest glimpse of the interiors. And
once used to being carried in the swing
of the story. audiences will learn to love
the sustained quality of it all.
Josef Urban is so convinced of the
truth of his new concept of the talking
picture that he convinces the listener
Immediately A man who has given his
life to the work of the theater-for he
Goes the Metropolitan Opera sets and
has helped to make the name Florenz
ziegfeld famous-he knows more about
the psychological reactions of people to
light and shadow and to masses and
lines than any living human
He receives in Hollywood the largest
sum ever paid an artist Of his type.
And when one considers Hollywood SAL
aries that is no light statement. For
him has been built the most extensive
studio which the colony can boast. A
perfect room in white and ebony, de-
signed by Urban himself, Modern and
practical and in its baroness and ascetic
balance a thing of indeflnable beauty.
He has a loft for scenery in which one
might build Zeppelin. The rooms for
his draughtsmen are almost round
dozen.
Urban came to the United States in
1912 to design sets for the Boston
Opera. His father had enrolled him in
| a Vienna law school as boy, but he
later discovered that his son spent those
two years studying art instead of poking
into the dry formalities of the legal
profession. Before coming to America
he decorated the Khedive's palace in
Egypt Central Park Casino is another
of his works And the 100000 home
| of Edward F. Hutton at Palm Beach,
Fla. shows what Josef Urban can dc
outside the theater if the spirit moves
| him.
He weighs 253 pounds and is feet
! 9 inches tall. Hates exercise and loves
| to watch prize fights, Raises sheep
/ dogs on his Yonkers estate. Never walks
! Takes taxi if he only goes two blocks
Knows no music Smokes several pack
! ages of cigarettes a day Has worked
/ from IL to 1s hours a day for 80 years
! and has never tired. His favorite food
/ is caviar
/ And the most outstanding thing about
him is his vitality and concentration
/ He told me his ideas of lighting talking
4 pictures in eight minutes. But with
such force and clarity that one under
| stood the intent absolutely. This ability
to compress much thought into little talk
4 is one of the infallible prerogatives OF
such genius material as have inter
| viewed
Copyright. 1890. by North American News.
paper Alliance)