The Eugene Guard from Eugene, Oregon • Page 30

Page 8B Register-Guard, Eugene, April 11. 1948 Drive-in Is Set 'Dootu Director Says Lousy Titles Frighten Movie-Goers Away Mow, I "OtMW, on another movie. Somebody was scared fans would think it was about politicians. It became "Fort Apache." Other title-changers attacked "Mission In Mufti." Sounds like a town In Turkey, they insisted. It became "Stations West." After another conference, the title-changers announced a new title change, the shortest in history.

The movie now is "Station West." Then there was "Romance In High which drifted to "Romance On The High Seas." "Virtuous" slyly became "The Bride Goes Wild." One studio, RKO, got stuck once for titles. It ran title contests in the publicity department. One Kcod adult fare 'W Ir NPv 1S ft. A wife jc Tfc co-star In tfe crust tatt FOUR DAYS REMAIN for showing of "A Double Life" the movie for which Ronald Colman recently won the Academy Award "Double Life" played at the Heilig last week and opens at the Mayflower today for a four-day stay. Signe Hasso portrays divorced wife of Colman.

chese. JANE POWELL, Portland's native daughter, looks down on Jeanette MacDonald and Jose Iturbl In this scene from "Three Daring Daughters," opening at the McDonald Theater today. Psychiatrist Says Everybody in Filmland on Verge of Insanity By ALINE MOSBY UP. Hollywood Correspondent HOLLYWOOD (U.R This being "What's Wrong With Hollywood" season, today we present a dopester with a new theory. People shy away from movies, he says, because they have lousy titles.

The horrible handles can be blamed, this guy figures, on a disease currently eating movie town. Title changetis. By the time a picture hits the screen, its moniker has been switched so many times it's dull and shopwotn. Folks never heard of the movie by its last title. They're confused.

They stay home to read books. Our expert on this state of affairs is Producer-Writer-Director P. J. Wolfson. He's savagely been taking note on title changes.

The results, he informed us, are appalling. "Know why picture business is bad?" he demanded- "Look at movie titles, wishy-washy. Been changed too much. Wouldn't draw a fan to a theater unless he was just hungry for popcorn." Theater operators all the time point out that a good title means good business. Do movie-makers pay any attention? No, sir, says Wolfson.

They pick a fine title and then change it so much it ends up a dud. "Take 'The Long Gray Line'," growled P. J. "Wonderful Title. Mysterious, rythmic.

But somebody at Paramount thought movie-goers would think it was a movie about a bus company instead of West Point. "They changed the title to 'Beyond What does that vague thing mean?" Fox Studio, for instance, had a beauty of a moniker In "The Chair For Martin Rome," about a guy named Martin Rome who was electrocuted. Some wag wanted to change it to "While Rome Burns." He was ignored. The studio instead chose "The Law And Martin Rome." And then lamely settled for Just "Martin Rome." "War Party" was a fine handle PLASTERING There la No Substitute for Good Plastering! F.R. Barnes Son Plastering Contractors Phone 2738-W I -mBsi STATij I "BAD ibk'S I STRANGER FSOllfe Flu Adit "WOMAN moil publicist, whose hand we'd like.

to shake, was fond of the title, "Look Out Below!" No matter what the picture was about, he suggested that title. At last it was picked for a Fred Astaire picture. But changed, of course, to "The Sky's The Limit." The publicist was crushed. So was the guy who turned in a masterpiece for a horror picture. "I Ate My Sister." It wasn't used.

(Editor's Note: Miss Mosby forgot to tell that "Rachel," the movie filmed near Eugene last summer, was changed to "Tall, Dark Stranger," an acceptable title, then rechanged by RKO to "Rachel and the Knox, Peters In Hit Film A screen drama with high-sounding entertainment possibilities is "Sign of the Ram," opening at the Heilig Theater today with a cast that has long-since weathered the storm and come through on top. With exception of Susan Peters, who is returning to the screen after a two-year absence, the cast is well-known to movie goers everywhere. It Includes Alexander Knox of "Sister Kenny" and "Indian Summer" fame. Knox portrays the husband of Authoress Leah St. Aubyn (Susan Peters).

Also in the cast are Phyllis Thaxter as Miss Peters' secretary, Peggy Ann Garner as the youngest step-child, Ron Randell as the family doctor, and Dame May Whitty as a gossipy neighbor. Screenplay for "Sign of the Ram" was written by Charles Bennett and directed by John Sturges. Not the least, the psychiatrist says, are their income taxes, "Stars who earn $200,000 a year must pay the government $120,000 of it in taxes." he exnlaina, "That, to the big star is causing much worry and mental strain." What makes it worse, according to the doctor, is the tight. littl clique Hollywood's lords and ladies move in. "They all have the Sama rnm.

plexes, and that makes each individual complex worse," he said. "Before long the mass psychoses have built up to a state of mass panic, mat's why we have such stagnant movies today." 7 1KB NOWTHBUTM For Completion A new drive-in theater with a 700-car capacity will be completed on South Willamette St. be tween the middle of May and first part of June, it was reported this week by Albert Forman, Portland, who with Ted Gamble will be co-owner of the venture. The $200,000 structure was started last fall, but work was stopped because of the rain. A foreman from a similar construc tion project in Salem will arrive in Eugene early this week ana line up crews of men for the work.

When completed the theater will be equipped with the latest RCA sound and speaker equipment, and will feature all the most modern conveniences of outdoor movie theaters, Forman said. Theater Programs HEILIG Sunday through Wednesday "Sign of the Ram" Thursday through Saturday "When the Daltons Rode" "Chatter Box" MAYFLOWER Sunday through Wednesday "A Double Life" Thursday through Saturday "Sign of the Ram" MCDONALD Sunday through Wednesday "Three Daring Daughters" Thursday through Saturday "Sleep My Love" "Joe Palooka Fighting Mad" STATE Sunday and Monday "Bad Men of Missouri" "Each Dawn I Die" Tuesday and Wednesday "Unfinished Dance" "Banjo" Thursday through Saturday "Land Rush" "The Westerner" McKENZIE Sunday through Tuesday "The Senator was Indiscreet" Wednesday through Saturday "The Exile" "Fabulous Texan" VARSITY Sunday through Tuesday "Stranger from Ponca City' "Woman from Tangiers" Wednesday and Thursday "High Conquest" "Dead End" Friday and Saturday "Dark Alibi" "Border Bandits" REX Sunday through Tuesday "I Walk Alone" "Honeymoon" Wednesday through Saturday "My Wild Irish Rose" "Springtime in Sierras" UZABETH SCOTT BURT LANCASTER IN I WALK ALONE STRAIGHT Jane "eetTS ITT Yt AN ACADEMY AWARD WINNING PERFORMANCE Ronald Colman's All-Time Best! Which face is really his? Even he did ml ltd! Behind the cloak of his greatness, he nnrtorei a hidden madness, which, when fanneu bj Hi flames of genius, turned his pejtest trim into his greatest slnl ALEXANDER KNOX, coming to the Ucilig with Susan Peters Sunday in "Sign of the Ram." 'Henry Gets Return Three-Day Billing Return of the film, "Henry to the Mayflower Theater has been set for April 19, 20, and 21. "Sign of the Ram" carries over through Sunday from the previous week. "Henry was filmed by Lawrence Oliver in England and Ireland during the war, and was shown here for the first time last Feb. 4 and 5.

The film will be shown continuously from 12:45 p.m. daily. The nurses' homes maintained by many hospitals today are probably a survival of the customs of 13th century France. In those days, nurses were forbidden to go outside of hospital walls, except by permission of the clergy. Significant of unsatisfactory living conditions for American nurses in the 20th century is the fact that the ANA is carrying on a cam paign to eliminate the practice of many hospitals which require nurses to accept room, board or other perquisites in lieu of salary.

THE HOLLAND "Eugene's Leading Spot for Floor Shows and Entertainment" No Economy in Hollywood, Everybody Is Essential i lMy iMacDONALDfeSH Cjl FlFMU 'iil POWELL AL8 qtc! Jfe1 1M powerful enotiw extra mm By VIRGINIA MACPHERSON U.P. Staff Correspondent HOLLYWOOD ttJ.R) Prac tically everybody in Hollywood is crazy, an eminent psychiatrist declared Saturday. That's why they turn out so many bad movies. It a form of mass neurosis," Dr, R. V.

Linauer said. "Eighty per cent of the people in the mo tion picture industry need psychiatry. Not only the stars, but directors, producers, and execu tives." By "crazy," he explained, he doesn't mean they're all ready for the loony bin yet. But they might be, if they don't correct what he calls their "mental disorders." "All artists are sensative," he went on. "They have to be sensitive in order to know their own creative power and transform it into visible art.

"At the same time, the common flow of daily life, with very little imagination and flexibility, seems to clash with such highly-outspoken personalities. The result is traumas and complexes." Actors and actresses, Dr. Lin-our said, are forced to work under conditions that would drive a ditch digger nuts in no tlnv. "Kleig lights are one," he pointed out. "All players detest them.

Peering eyes of visitors on the sets the sometimes harsh demands and criticisms of directors the almost constant social whirl they have to take part In all these are disturbing elements." SHIRLEY TEMPLE GUY MADISON IN HONEYMOON' INSTRUMENT RATING MULTI-ENGINE RATING 3ASIC A ADVANCED GROUND SCHOOL Restaurant Gets New Star Pics HOLLYWOOD (P) Bob Cobb has taken down a number of the famous caricatures of older movie celebrities which for years have decorated the walls of his Holly wood restaurant, The Brown Derby. Cobb, with a "such is fame" apology, explained that he needed the space for sketches of newer screen personalities. However, the old-times are not going into the discard. Pat O'Brien requested, and obtained, many of the caricatures for the den of his home. Orchestra Leader Xavier Cugat and 'other celebraties made a number of the drawings.

Anthem of Local Composer Featured A recently published composition by Milton Dieterich, instructor in music, at the University of Oregon, be played here for the first time during a campus concert at. 4 p.m. Sunday. Dieterlch's new composition is entitled God of Mercy." It will be one of the featured selections during the concert of con temporary American music in the university school of music audi' torium. The program, presented by men's and women's national music organizations, will include vocal and instrumental solos and ensembles.

Of Dieterich's 25 published compositions, IS are anthems, as is God of Mercy." i Other contemporary American composers whose work will be performed are Douglas Moore, Kent Kennan and Charles Griffes. The concert is open to the public. "mike" man and a cable man the minimum crew fgr dialogue. Then there were the set dec orator, two property men, a gaf fer (chief electrician), four electricians handling lights, a still cameraman, two grips (handymen, to move the camera crane), a painter, a carpenter and three laborers. Altogether, they could have built, wired, painted and decora ted a fair-sized house.

ONLY YOUR PROFESSIONAL BEAUTICIAN CAN GIVE YOU THAT NEW LOOK On The Upper Deck STUDIO BUILDING 13th and Willamette Phone 881 "Everything for the Accordion!" Private Instruction ir Sales Fine Italian and American Makes 4r Instruments for Rent it Repairing Complete efficient service Accessories Under Direction of CHESTER PIETKA Phone 4817-R Eugene Accordion Center 319 Hampton 610 WUL TOTiBWfl KTCTTOWI l.l.lll., I BEAUTY "SAMBA MANIA" Jl V' i I I I'M I A A a II ff I I I I MW'l HOLLYWOOD. (P) about economy in Hollywood film studios is easy. Practicing it isn't. Even a single simple scene may involve 30 highly-paid persons. In one scene of "The Saxon Charm," Audrey Totter sits at a desk in a tiny office, talking on the telephone.

That's all. But 31 other persons were concerned with putting that scene on film. Controversy How many of them were act ually necessary is the subject of endless controversy in film studios. Economical or not, procedures are pretty well established. To deviate from the system might in itselfcost money.

Behind the camera photographing Miss Totter were Producer Joseph Sistrom and Writer-Director Claude Binyon. They were flanked by three assistant direc tors. Cinematographer Milton Krasner had a camera operator and an assistant cameraman. There was a script girl, of course The film editor was on hand, hop ing to forestall unnecessary cutting later. Miss Totter's makeup man, hair-dresser and wardrobe girl stood by.

The sound staff comprised a mixer, a recorder, a MIDGLEY'S Sashes Doors Cabinet Work Phone 1059 COMING MONDAY, APRIL 19th LTA RYTHM BOYS DE STARS OF STAGE, SCREEN AND RADIO One of the finest singing combinations In show business Phone 4080 For Reservations Now! Some Women Born Under the Sign of the Ram Will Stop at NothlngI This Is the story of lovely Leah gay tender deadly who sought to rule or ruin Based Upon the Novel by Margaret Ferguson Also Cartoon, News Tex Beneka and the Glen Miller Orchestra IFIK1EIE VETERANS LEARN TO FLY FREE UNDER THE GJ. BILL OF RIGHTS NO PREVIOUS FLIGHT TIME REQUIRED COURSES FOR THE FOLLOWING RATINGS AVAILABLE EVERYTHING is taken care of when we produce your "Perfect Party" in i Fll til Eugene's Only Complete Catering Service. acerincL PRIVATE PILOT COMMERCIAL PILOT FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR Cf Phone 1524-W in 1 HEI1IGJ i NOW THRU Witt GREEN FLYING SERVICE DEALERS FOR CESSNA AIRPLANES Euaeno Airpark South Chamber. Sheet Phone 8398-J.