The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-03-10
j. LII liz \
BY NORMAN SIEGEL

JILL WOOGs NAL CIl ~. -
i l. Having found the pot Of gold,
Hollywood now is out to capture
the rainbow through movies in
color.
Color photography today is
where the "talkies" were back in
1923 when AL Jolson revolutionized
the motion picture business with
THE Jazz Singer"
Backed by the huge fortune of
John Hay Whitney, the Pioneer
Pictures Corp. is doing what it's
name indicates. Their first effort
was the brief comedy, La Cuca-
racha," which did more business
than any black-and-white movie
short ever made.
They then splurged into color
with Becky Sharp" the flash be-
ing bit too much and tirins to
the eyes.
At present they're in produc-
ton on Dancing Pirate" which is
being filmed at the United Artists
Studio. A new technique is being
used in making this feature, one
which the producers believe will
solve most of the problems that
stood in the way of Becky Sharp"
being a huge success.
There are only four technicolor
cameras in Hollywood today. They
cost $4,000 eaech and use three
negatives instead of one. One
negative photographs red, the
other blue and the third green.
They're then synchronized in
the developing room. Equally as
scarce as the technicolor cameras
are cameramen to operate them.
There are only three in Hollywood.
Two more are being put through
a siX-month training course. These
cameramen have to be more than
just good photographers. They
also have to be experts in color
design and lighting effects.
ID OBERT EDMOND JONES,
IN who is supervising the film
ing of Dancing Pirate" is the
"Encyclopea Brittanica" of color
photography. He is an artist with
a thorough background of the
theater He created Heaven" for
the stage production of Green
Pastures" With Eugene O'Neill,
he was in the Provincetown Play
house and Greenwich Village The
alter ventures.
He did the sets for John Barry
more's Hamlet" and many of the
spectacular musical dramas that
Leopold Stokowski presented in
Philadelphia. Jones knows more
about color than the most expert
radio announcer does about blurb-
ing breakfast foods. And f ats a
lot.
Discussing color photography on
the screen, Jones points out that
in LA Cucaracha" they couldn't
get perfect reds. They were slight
brownish on the screen. This was
corrected in Becky Sharp" Too
much so, for the film was a riot
of color.
The problem in making color
films today is an artistic and not
a technical one, according to
Jones. What a director puts in
front of the camera is what
counts. The machine will catch
every bit of the spectrum, so the
blending of the colors is the i'm
portant thing.
LIE also finds that it is hard
IL l. to follow too many things at
once in color production. His
present film will emphasize cool,
quiet hues, cutting down on the
amount of brighter shades.
The action, particularly the
comedy episodes which feature
Frank Morgan, will be emphasized
more than the color. The latter
will be incidental, for Jones be-
lieveS that color is only interest
ing as it pertains to the action.
His color will lead up to the
climaxes, which will be bright and
vivid. He isn't interested in
using color to gain prettiness and
charm, but works on the theory
that if it is rightly used, it aids
in making the dramatic action
more powerful.
Acting gains by color, according
to Jones, but by the same token
it also can be hampered if the
color is just splashed on the
scene.
Jones describes the difference
between color films and the con-
YentiOnal black white mnviaS