Evening star., 1938-09-04

an era OF nlmS that afdXed the ad-
jective 'glamorous" to the business,
On the Goldwyn back lot the Oriental
street used in The Thief of Bagdad."
the plain little tenement from which
Mary Pickford started in 1921 to re-
claim her fortunes in Little Lord
Fauntleroy" the hacienda in which
Douglas Fairbanks fought the villains
at great odds in THE Mark of Zorro"
and the cove which shielded Miss
Pickford's vigorous virtues in Tess of
the Storm Country" have begun to
fall before the wreckers hammers. In
place of these historic sets will arise
a Philippine village to be used in Gary
Cooper's The Last Frontier"
There are few old sets left in Holly
wood. For years the colossal pillar.
used in D. w. Griffith's Intolerance"
stood on Sunset boulevard, but they
gave way to the subdividers. Universal
the oldest studio in town, still pre-
serves the opera house used The
Phantom of the Opera" and on the
back lot are Western streets pox-pitted
from thousand gun battles between
stalWart heroes and skulking victims
Progress has been rapid at Metro.
Paramount, Fox and R-K-O, and few
sets remain from the old days.
In Hollywood there is only TODAY:
there is no yesterday nor tomorrow.
There is no consciousness of the future
and all salaries are scaled to the theory
that If you do not get it today. YOU
probably never will. 1t views its
product as immediate and perishable
and once a picture is previewed it
takes its place with yesterdays news
paper. 1t is significant that no in
dustry body has ever made an attempt
to preserve the screens milestones in
any museum. This was left to an
outside group in faraWay New York
Sets, awe-inspiring as they once were,
have no sentimental value: they have
utilitarian purpose if they can be
reoressed and used in new picture
When tears are shed for such relics
as those that are being DESTROYED at
GoldWyn's, they are not for a great
age that has passed but merely to
olrect attention to the fact that The
Last Frontier with Gary Cooper and
Andrea Leeds. will be seen shortly at
your favorlte theater at popular prices.
MOT to be outdone by Selznick's
search for Scarlett OHara, the
Warner lads are working themselves
into a minor frenzy to find a suitable
Emperor Maximilian for The Phan-
tom Crown" Thus far eight have
been announced as having been tested
with many times that number having
been tried out without fanfare. To
support Paul Mum as Juarez and
Bette Davis as Carlotta in the BERTHA
Harding story of the attempt to set up
a monarchy on the American CONT
nent, the studio has made overtures to
such stalwarts as Fredric March.
Charles Boyer. Basil Rathbone.
Rudolph Foster, Ralph Bellamy,
Francis Lederer, Carl Esmond and
John Geilgud, and with each new
candidate the executives seem more
| confused
This week the problem of selecting
a Macmillan was dwarfed by the
problem of securing Mexicos CO.
operation in light of the International
situation. MUM, Hal Wallis. who will
produce. and William Dieterle, who will
direct, went to Mexico City to secure
the active aid of President Cardenas
While the Mexican government would
like to see favorable treatment of
the birth of their modern nation on
the screen. more important matters
seemed likely to delay the start of
The Phantom Crown" for the alter
cation with Washington may make it
inadvisable to have any truck with
Hollywood.
| One of the things President Car
denas is most anxious to see in the
script is utilization of the character
Juarez to advance his campaign to
have the Indians regard themselves
as Mexicans. 1t was Juarez, the In
dian, who drove the Hapsburgs from
Mexico and he feels that if the natives
can have called to their attention with
some vividness the part they have
played in Mexico's history, it will have
a substantial propaganda value.
IT HAS long been a favorite tenet
of the press agents to tell how their
| cforc 1.-Two f1oir ra1oc et0.
for the most part. bunk OF late, the
instances have increased, however. in
which actors engaged in series pictures
have shown tendency to pursue their
characterizations after they leave the
| studio. The members of the Jones
Family are reputed to imagine them
selves the Jones family off the screen,
| as we'll as on. The late Warner GLAND
had habit of speaking in Char-isms,
and when he was annoyed by the heat,
he was apt to say, If Chollie Chan
melt like pat of butter, electrician
will fry in grease"
Peter LORE, the Mr.. Moto Of his
series, who ordinarily is regarded as
pretty normal. has succumbed to his
own acting. When he can find them
he reads translations of japanese
novels and essays. and he has gone
rather deeply into the reading of theo.
logical works on Buddhism and Shin.
toism. Parenthetically, it might be
mentioned that because of the current
unpleasantness in the East, Fox re.
fers to him as an Oriental detective
rather than a Japanese. In pursuit
of living his role" he studied jiu.
jitsu for one picture, and was sc
pleased with his progress that he went
down to Los Angeles japanese quarter
to try out his knowledge on some rea
Jap wrestlers. The studio learned Of
this foray into realism when he showec
up on the lot with three fractured ribs
which he was forced to admit wer'
gained through overeStimatinR hi