Evening star., 1938-11-13

: Too Many Ice Shows
Cause Dissention.
Feuds have broken out between
Metro and United Artists and Metro
and Twentieth Century-Fox over ice
pictures. M-G-M is miffed because
Edward Small is making Duke of
West Point" which will be COM
pleted before their similar venture.
Hands Across the Border" will be
finished; both deal with ice hockey.
In the M-G-M-Fox situation, the
latter organization feels the more
aggrieved because the territory of
their own Sonia Henie is being in
vaded by lice Follies"
| Metro signed the Ice Follies
troupe, which has been on national
tour, for a reputed 100000. The
Follies management was immediate
ly set upon by the Screen Actors
Guild on the charges of underpay-
ing and overworking their skaters,
and this condition was corrected.
This troupe specializes in precision
ensembles as we'll as embracing
number of acrobatic and stunt
skaters, Miss Henie has never per-
mitted any other featured perform
ers in her ice ballets. and little
attempt has been made to train her
ensemble in precision routines. This
lack is now being remedied, for she
has started on road tour that will
last several months and will serve
as a rehearsal period for her so
skaters. Although her youngsters
are not as we'll trained as the more
professional Ice Follies troupe, they
receive SIS a week, while members
of the Metro aggregation are paid
but $50 week when they are not
in pictures.
ice Follies" should be a much
more impressive Offering than any
thing essayed by Miss Henie. The
studio has designed some mag
nif1cent stylized sets for some of the
rink numbers, and emphasis will
be placed on such performers as
Eddie Shipstad and Oscar johnson,
a comedy character team. and on
Roy Shipstad and Bess Ehrhardt,
who will be seen in more conven-
tional numbers. Other contributors
to the spectacle are Harris Legg,
former Canadian figure skating and
barrel-jumping champion, who per-
forms on stills and hops over IA
apple barrels: Idi Papez and Kari
Zwack. a European team, and Ev-
erett MCGOWAN, former world speed
champion, who does an Apache
number with Ruth Mack.
Glamour will be contributed to the
film by Joan Crawford, James Stew
art and Lew Ayres. Miss Crawfords
role calls for her to be seen but
briefly on skates. and it is unlikely
that double will be used. However,
the two men are playing the parts
Of trick skaters and doubles from
the troupe will be used.
Douglas Corrigan
Turns Amiable.
R-K-O heaved a sigh of relief Mon
day when Douglas Corrigan reported
for work in THE Flying Irishman"
and proved to be not at all the diff
f1cult young man expected. Many
tales have been told of the wrong
way aviator's austerity and his gen.
eral contempt for small fry. Either
the stories were exaggerated, which
is quite improbable. or the young
man has been chastened by life and
has decided that the $4,000 the
studio is paying him merits a high
degree of amiability. During his
first days on the set, he was taken
in hand by the prop boys, grips and
juicers, who decline to be awed by
the most glamorous stars in the
world. They treated Corrigan as
brother mug and he liked it. The
studio believes that because of the
flyers changed attitude, that it will
be possible to create a new and more
engaging picture of him in the pub
lie eye.