Evening star., 1944-02-06
What So Hard
AS to Name
A Character?
HOLLYWOOD.

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HOLLYWOOD.
With such wartime problems to
cope with as shortage Of talent and
materials, limitation Of film con-
sumption, transportation jams due
to gas and tire rationing and SO on
ad infinitum, mere names, would
seem unimportant yet they re-
main one of Hollywood's most terri
flying problems.
Maybe you've never realized 1t,
but actually the most difficult job
for q scenario writer Is to tab his
characters with names that can be
safely used-without the studio be-
ing sued for a million or SO in libel
They must make certain that the
name they invent for the villain is
not the name of a respectable
blacksmith in Sioux City, Iowa.
Otherwise the blacksmith may re-
sent the fact that his name is used
for the sinister fellow who comes
between a pair of film romancers.
He may be mad enough, or shrewd
enough, to consult an attorney. And
then the unlucky film company
faces another shakedown.
Postlethwaits Offended.
Let a character tagged Preston
Fitzhugh Smun commit a fictional
felony on the screen and up pops
somebody, somewhere. who not only
admits to the monicker of Preston
Fitzhugh Smun, but Indignantly
protests that he has been held up
to public scorn and ridicule by the
use of his name.
There have been cases in which
people actually named Hereward
Postlethwaits or Anastasia Pile
thyphengolas have come forward
with claims for monetary redress Of
wounds caused by the appearance
in a picture Of a wholly imaginary
character given such a name be-
cause even Hollywood's vivid imagi-
nations, having concocted such a
handle, could not conceive the pos
sibility that some doting mother
had fastened it to one of her off,
spring.
All studios now have permanent
releases signed by scores of en-
ployes permitting use of their
names in all the various manners
they are employed in making films
for individual characters or firms,
for lists of tenants posted in the
vestibule of an apartment house, on
imaginary police blotters, on tomb
stones, ships passenger lists, hotel
registers, etc. Every name you see
SO used in picture these days is
the name of a real person-and it's
not you.
VerificatiOn Available.
When Fred MacMurray was cast
as the orchestra leader in the mu-
sical. "And the Angels Sing" the
problem was to find a name which
is not owned by any living band
leader. The Paramount legal de-
partment checked dozens of COM
binations and turned them all down.
So 1t was decided that his first
name should be simply a nick
name. Mimi Chandler, daughter of
Senator A. B. Chandler, has a fea-
tured role in the picture and sug-
gested that her fathers nickname of
Happy be adopted. It was. Where
upon Director George Marshall OBJ
served that he had no objection to
lending his own surname in the
cause of art, SO the MacMurray
character became Happy Marshall.
Now If any real-life, baton waving
Happy Marshall shows up, Para
mount can prove it's just a coinci-
dence.
When Warner Bros. began filming
I'm Our Time" Paul Henreid, play
ing the role of a Pole of mixed an
cestry, was handed the screen name
of Count Anniballo Cristo Kotchian
and that only after the research
department had scanned European
directories, world almanacs and
other name sources to be sure they
weren't doubling up on some living
character. However, after the pic
ture had been under way several
weeks, Henreid notified the front
Office that maybe his name should
be changed. He explained that his
wife, in looking up a telephone num-
ber in q small North Hollywood di-
rectory, came across an A. G.
Kotchian, living on Moorpark ave-
nue-almost next door to the studio.
A halt was made, Henreid was re-
named Count Stephen Orvid, and
retakes made.
Research Abroad.
Something of an all-time record
IN obtaining name release was set
before Cecil B. De Mile dared film a
foot of "The Story of DR.. Wassell." !"
Since the production, based on the
spectacular exploits of DR.. Wassell
in rescuing wounded soldiers from
the Jap invasion of Java, is entirely
factual and contemporary and thus
involves the portrayal of characters
who in almost every instance are
living, their official consent had to
be obtained before they could be
duplicated on the screen. Total num-
Der of name releases for the picture
reached As. One of the characters
was in China, another in Australia,
and several had returned to service
in unannounced localities. And vet
all were rounded up and their con-
sent obtained.
The same exhaustive procedure is
followed with reference to copy