Evening star., 1938-02-20
Series Films
Prove to Be
Gold Mine
Hollywood Finds
TO.Be.COntinued
Dramas Popular.
BY Douglas ". Churchill.

he screen mas uneartneo q gold
mine in the recently discovered
value Of the series Aims in
L which the joys and sorrows Of
. set Of characters are followed from
picture to picture. The idea, Of
course. dates back to the Mr.. and
Mrs. Sidney Drew comedies, which
we're followed by "The Newlyweds" and
THE Gumps," the latter the only
comic strip series to engage the Gus
toners approval. Newest Of the con-
tinued-in-our-next dramas Is a group
which will be produced by Jerry Hoff-
man Of Twentieth Century-Fox deal
ing with the sports of adolescents,
the first of which will be Racing
Blood" featuring Marvin Stevens of
The Jones Family"
Intermittently over the years there
have been various types of yarns
dealing with one or two central char
acters. The. majority have been de-
tective stories as exemplified by
Charlie Chan" "Mr. Moto," Bulldog
Drummond." THE Lone Wolf" the
Hildegard Withers- Oscar Piper puzzle
mysteries, "Torchy Blame" Crime
Club and the expensively adorned
Thin Man" series. Two years ago a
new vogue was started with The
Jones Family" and this has been fol-
lowed by "Penrod" at Warmers and
Judge Hardys Family" at Metro,
groups that deliberately parallel the
Jones" pictures.
Two years ago when Max Golden
was made q producer at Fox, instead
of attempting the routine fare with
the grade Of stars always assigned a
new producer, he hit upon the every
day problem of an American family
for his formula. Hoffman, q former
Hollywood newspaper man, who Joined
the production ranks last year, saw the
merit Of Golden's experiment and cast
about for a comparable series. The
principal obstacle he has found to
making q series on sports is that
horse racing, boxing and football are
the only activities regarded by the
industry as having pictorial value.
With horse racing overdone and with
the studio committed to an annual
football picture, he only has boxing
left, but he believes that Hollywood's
rules. can be broken and that he can
carzy his central figure through the
athletic interests Of an American
youth. Racing Blood" will be fol-
lowed by yarn based on the Golden
Gloves contest with q third one tenta-
lively set as basket ball picture.
MORE and more, the cinema Is re-
sorting to background music as
the standard and dependable element
to accomplish dramatic effects. Al
though the public is unaware Of the
importance of the contribution to their
entertainment Of the orchestrated
sound track. the industry has resolved
this Intangible. emotional factor into
chart of percentages. The musical
experts can determine with accuracy
just how much given score will add
to specific scene. Action that would
leave the customers unmoved can,
when placed in front of the proper
notes, cause the most hardened audi
ence to brush away tears. Comedy
scenes that scarcely provoke q smile
can be accentuated by frothy music.
The other day Dave Dreyer Of R-K-O's
music department held forth on the
problems of his division.
| In some instances, Dreyer said, mu-
sic prepares the audience for the
drama to follow. 1t is used to trans
init to the subconscious in advance of
the action the quality to which the
customers are supposed to respond.
American pictures are almost wholly
dependent on music for an interpreta-
ton abroad. for the superimposed
titles could not alone convey the feel
ing of the play. Foreigners without a
knowledge of English are thus able to
comprehend the dialogue emotionally.
Because of the universal appreciation
of good music in many European
countries there is little hack writing
of scores in Hollywood any more.
There have been instances in which
audiences laughed at dramatic scenes
before music was added while the ac-
ton was acceptable with an orchestral
accompaniment. To insure the proper
reception, sad music is invariably in
jected into a scene a few feet before
the first line of dialogue is spoken.
There were laughable scenes in
Plough and the Stars" and Lost
Patrol" was regarded as a very bad
picture before the scores were added.
In both THE Hurricane" and San
Francisco" had sound alone been used
during the disaster footage, the result
would have been monotonous and dis
pleasing. Music permitted the sound
to vary, and by changing 1t every four
bars it combined with the tumult Of
havoc.
Applying music to comedy requires
more delicacy than writing q score for
drama. Soft music is Of little avail in
the lighter pictures which must have
. gay accompaniment. The music
must be timed so that no lines Of
dialogue are covered by any instru-
ment, one note from a horn being able
to kill an entire situation by reaching
the sound track at the same instant
as q word essential to the dialogue.
It must be used, however. For in
stance, a comedy scene in a cocktail
bar without music would be deadly.
Walt Disney's cartoons are largely
dependent upon music for their ulti-
| vnato roe,,ltc Chou,o ciyApfly than