Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-02
Hollywood's Plans For
Summer and Autumn Films
Eddie Cantor's "Palmy Days" Is Said to Be
Gorgeous Entertainment" THE Outlook
for Musical Pictures-New Drama.
By Robert E. Sherwood.

recurring as it does such quantities of
specialized talent on the part OF di-
rectors. authors and composers and such
prodigious sums of money from the
producers bank roll. That is why most
of the limitations of THE Broadway
Melody" were such dreary affairs and
why another wave of them may be
looked forward to with some degree OF
peSSimiSm.
Among crime melodramas the per-
centage of successes is sure to be appre-
Gladly higher. For these necessitate a
much smaller expenditure in gold and
in brain power. The material for them
and rich material it is-may be de-
rived from the files of the Chicago
newspaper. practically all of THE
Public Enemy" was based on fact, and
"Scarface," now in production, is SIM
ilarly truthful0
As previously reported. news is scarce
in Hollywood, due to the state of IN
ertia in which the film industry finds
itself at the moment. There are viz
tually no big pictures now being pre-
pared, though there is always the pos
Sibility that some small one will turn
out to be mammoth epic.
At Metro-Goldwyn John Gilbert is
now battling his way through west of
Broadway" under the able direction of
Harry Beaumont. Alfred Lunt and
Lynn Fontanne of the Theater Guild
are making the final scenes of THE
GuardSman." Joan Crawford is going
through the wearisome process OF re-
vising one called, I think. This Mod
ern Age" and william Haines is doing
The New Wallingford." Preliminary
operations have started on Flying
frh
Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields,
and with the same Bert Lahr who en-
livened this show when George White
presented it on Broadway.
The main feature at Universal is
Strictly DiShonorable." directed by
John M. Stahl. The scenario of Frank
enstein" ca follow-up of "Dracula'') is
now being ground out on the typewriters
and will be placed before the cameras
soon. Also impending are a foot ball
picture called The Spirit of Notre
Dame" and a talking version of THE
Hunchback of Notre Dame" which may
promote some confusion.
AT paramount Jackie Coogan is inn
personating "Huckleberry Finn" and
Junior Durkin, who played the part of
Huck in Tom Sawyer" is to have the
leading role in Booth Tarkington's
Seventeen, Other Paramount pros
poets are ''Twenty-Four Hours" (from
the Bromfield novel; and The Man /
Killed
At United Artists the employees of
Howard Hughes are applying the final
touches to "Scarface" and THE Age
for Love" directed by Frank Lloyd and
starring Billie Dove. The Samuel
Goldwyn organization has just about
finished "Palmy Days" and Street
Scene" directed by King Vidor with
cast which includes Sylvia Sidney,
Estelle Taylor and William Collier, jr)
Douglas Fairbanks is assembling the
travelogue that he made on a trip
around the world.
At the other manufacturing plants
Warmers, Fox, Pathe and R-K-O-there
seems to be nothing much about which
to write home. So I'm going to aban-
don the quest for excitement and for
Greta Carlo In Hollywood and return
to New York, where there isn't any news
either.
(Copyrieht. 1917