The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1939-07-06
WHO'S
NEWS
THIS
WEEK
By LEMUEL F. PARTON

ME- YORK.-Filming of Kip
~ ling's "The Light That Failed"
on the New Mexico desert, near
Santa Fe, was delayed the other
Sandstone Mild savage wind
Compared to blew the tents
D;-...o,. De-. away. The pug
nacious William
Wellman, the director, long known
as "Wild Bill" enjoys fighting sand
storms, having licked one almost
single-handed when he was filming
Beau Geste," in Arizona. He
probably got few good shots of the
storm and will work them into
the film, with his gift for IMPROVE
cation.
He was the flying partner of
Tommy Hitchcock, the polo
player, in the Lafayette Esca-
drille in the World war, and re-
vealed an instinct for Snowman
ship by playing tunes on Ger
man tower bells with a machine
gun as he tipped around the
belfry. 1t was said that, before
the Germans dropped him in a
tree and sent him home, he
could peg out "Silver Threads,
Among the Gold" without a
sour note.
In aviation films, he has employed
effectively both his histrionic talents
and his training in air acrobatics.
His film, Wings" of 1928, touched
off his expanding fame. ''Men
With Wings" of last year, rated
by discerning critics as top
bracket film, told the story of avia-
ton from the day of the Wright
brothers first flight.
He was known at times,
around Hollywood, as "Screwban
Bill" but has simmered down
considerably since he married
Dorothy Coonan, finding a des-
ert sandst0rm only mildly di-
verting, considering his rough
and-tumble past.
He is, however, as Irish as ever,
and his famous serial fight with an
unknown Paris antagonist probably
will continue. On leave in Paris,
he found it nec-
Engages w q essary to re-
Serial Fight Duke an often
VIII Unknoyn sive stranger
by knocking
him stiff as plank. Late, in Chi
cago, the stranger, spying Mr.. Well
man on the street, did the same to
him. A year or two later, in Holly
wood, seeing his unknown sparring
partner crossing the street, Mr..
Wellman put himself one up by a
blow to the chin. There have been
other encounters. believe the score
is now even. But he bears no grudge.
1t is just detail of his native ebul-
Hence, which leads him to such de-
vices as galvanizing the chairs on
the lot so his working crew can't
sit down.
With Capra, La Cava and
Hitchcock, he is achieving a
sharp characterization and fin
ished technique, as the movies
get into long pants and offer
adult entertainment. He grew
up in Brookline, Mass, tried
to sell chocolates and wooden
goods, but didn't, went to the
war with an ambulance unit
and won the Cr0ix de Guerre
with the Lafayette EscadriIle.
His friend, Douglas Fairbanks
ST., steered him to Hollywood,
soon after the war, as a mes
senger boy for Goldwyn. In 10
years, he did almost everything
for every studio in Hollywood,
before he hit his stride with
"Wings."
He is 43, slender, whippy, with a
touch of gray in his curly brown
hair, and is apt to sock anybody in
an argument and then affectionate-
ly buy him drink. "a Star Is
Born liked his fame considerably.
HIS reporter asked several in
= formed persons if they knew
that woman was assistant secre-
tary of the United States treasury.
None of them
women IN OWce did. Mrs. Blair
No Longer Rate Banister, who
.S.o. H.oJ., holds that Of
= fee, would find
encouragement in that. She tells
the Regional Conference of Demo
cratic Women at Washington that
the decreasing public excitement