The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 15

The Weather Par5 30 Pages PART LOCAL SHEET I PAGES rORFCAST FOR HOUTHKRN CALIFORNIA AND LOS ANGELES: rlr Monday nd Tunday with Modrt temprraturai tentl variable windi. Mill-Bum (oil minimum trmnc riturei yrstcrdny: 7B fl. Vol. L. MONDAY MORNING, MARCH 2, 1931.

CITY NEWS EDITORIAL-SOCIETY THE DRAMA GAS0L5NE WAR CLOUDS LOWER GREEK THEATER STANDS UNUSED ONLY FOUR OF FILMDOM'S CELEBRITIES HOLLYWOOD HIGH SCHOOL PRODUCTS GLIDER CRASH FLYER UNHURT FILM WRITER TAKES BRIDE IN SANTA ANA A aitcer Campaign of Majors Against I ride pen dents ush ed Gift of Col. Griffith Finds Park Board Cold Exhibition Flight to United Airport Fails 4K Sunday Standard Fuel Cost Down to I 1-2 Cents City Has A'o Appropriation to Produce Plays Large Throng at Air Relief Shoiv Sees Stunts I 'V t-i 1 "-''I' I I 5 i 1 JIW. ft if" I i 1 I 1 I V' in Alice white: Stanley smith fay wiav Aai3.y Dgian' They Represent Screen City's School in Motion-Picture World Miss Brian was born in Texas, Miss Wray in Canada, Smith in Kansas City and Miss White in New Jersey. Virtually the only players who approach the 100 per cent "home town" product classification are Rosetta and Vivian Duncan and William Bakewell, another locally born youth who received his schooling in the Harvard Military Academy. One of the curious Hollywood examples is that of Frances Dee, the former extra girl who was selected from the ranks of "nobody" to play opposite Maurice Chevalier.

Miss Dee was born here but received her education in the schools of Chicago. A check-up on home-town talent was made as a result of questionnaires answered by all of the seniors at the Hollywood High School recently graduated. These questionnaires brought forth the information that nc one of these students, nurtured in the very center of film activities, is anticipating a career as a screen player. Only four of the class de Aviatrix Breaks Oivn Outside Looping Record Catapulted from the highest peak In the Hollywood Mountains in an attempted exhibition glider flight to United Airport, Burbank, five and one-half miles distant, Maurice W. Collins, 24 years of age, of Glen-dale, regarded as one of America's foremost glider pilots, crashed yesterday afternoon a few seconds after his take-off, but escaped injury.

His craft was demolished. The glider was reported to have had the widest wingspread of any motorless aircraft in the world, with a span of sixtv-four feet. The pilot, who lives at 530 Justin avenue, Glendale, has been making glider flights for more than three years and was the first licensed pilot of such craft on the Pacific Coast. He has made several sensational flights, notably from hazardous points on the Ridge Route, and was performing yesterday as one of the stellar attractions in a benefit show for the Red Cross drought sufferers' fund. ROPE CATCHES The take-off was made by means of a huge elastic rope.

Twenty men were required to handle the undertaking, the glider being released from behind after the clastic had been stretched to its utmost limit The cord is designed so as to re lease itseii automatically when the tension is relieved, but witnesses of the crash said it failed to rfn and apparently became entangled in mountain brush, causing the pilot to lutie uniroi. Hollywood Dolice WPr nnHfind nf the crash and an flmhiilnnpo tioc dispatched to the SCPnp hut. nonrlv an hour was required to reach the spot where the crash occurred. United Airport was thrnneert for the benefit show, about 20,000 persons being present. The program iiicuiaea comDat maneuvers bv army bombers and pursuit planes lrora.

Rockwell Field. San Diego; parachute leaps by Royce Stetson and Fred Zawnmiller; exhibition flights by Bob Lloyd in the new Cornelius free-wing safety plane and by Waldo Waterman in his changeable-wing plane; a model airplane contest, in which Nick Rose's prize-winning model soared out over the airport and released a dummy in a miniature parachute, and an aerial circus. LEAPER HAS GOOD AIM Zawnmiller and stetson went aloft to the 2000-foot level and "bailed out" to guide their 'chutes to accurate landings on the airport runway. The former jumper delayed releasing his silken lobe until he had fallen half the distance to the ground, but came down safelv on the mark at which he aimed. One record was broken when Dorothy Hester, 19-year-old Portland aviatrix.

increased her own mark for outside loops from five to twenty-three. Once, during the fight, her ship went into an upside-down spin, but she righted it in time to continue her assault on the record. As tlie meet drew to a close, Florence Lowe Barnes, holder of the world's speed record for women, arrived at the airport after flying from Sacramento in two hours and thirteen minutes. The show netted the Red Cross fund about $1700, officials announced. DEATH NARROWLY MISSED OX MT.

WILSON FLIGHT Without, benefit of power except that supplied by air currents, Richard Devine. designer and pilot of motorless craft, yesterday made a successful glider flight from Mt. Wilson to San Gabriel, a distance of about ten miles as the crow flies He is the second man to have ac (Continued on Page 2, Column 5) HOLDING GROUPS FACE CURB Haight Calls Halt on Salesmen Urging Owners of Loan Certificates to Distance lends enchantment to motion pictures. While hundreds of established screen players have made their way to Hollywood from all parts of the earth, a mere handful called the film capital their home before entering film work, a survey revealed yesterday. Whereas, thousands of youths throughout the country foster ambitions to become film stars, Hollywood's own have almost totally turned thumbs down on this industry, as a chosen profession, the figures disclose.

As a matter of fact, it was revealed that only four celebrities are former Hollywood High School students and that not one of the quartet was born in the film city or in surrounding territory. Three of these players are gathered in Paramount studio. They are Mary Brian, Fay Wray and Stanley Smith. The fourth is Alice White, now free lancing. FIESTA ASKS MONEY AID IN ADVERTISING Supervisors to Consider Request for $75,000 for National Publicity County aid to the extent of requested by the newly organized La Fiesta de Las Angeles Association to advertise the coming sesquicentennial here in September will be considered this morning by the Board of Supervisors.

The communication to the board, signed by I. B. Dockweiler, chairman, states that the association was recently organized by members ap-jxmitcd as a committee by Mayor Porter to arrange the festival, to be held this fall to commemorate the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the city of Los Angeles. The association is nonprofit, the letter states, and will endeavor to widely advertise, through newspapers, magazines and pamphlets, not only the festival, but the water resources of Los Angeles county, horticultural, agricultural and manufacturing advantages, the harbor and its activities, the city as a literary, artistic, musical and educational center and the proposed Coast highway extending from Alaska to South America. The organization asks that the county appropriate $75,000 for the work and employ the association in any way it deems necessary to carry it out.

Vigorous action was threatened yesterday by Corporation Commissioner Haight to protect holders of building and loan certificates from salesmen seeking to "switch" the certificate holders into stock of building and loan association holding companies on representations that the in tarry arr UST to show he was a rcai sport, Prof. Einstein signalized his departure by letting us in on the secret of his discovery about the underlying law of electromagnetic and gravitational phenomena. He has embodied it in the theorem L.s. equals 0. Isn't it just too silly that we didn't think of that ourselves? HOW SARCASTIC! Being locked in the drunk tank after the usual Hollywood wild party, Mr.

Walter Catlett made a speech to the other prisoners, in which he said: "I feel honored to be among you." Being that he is a professional comedian, this must have been funny. In the circumstances I should say that the honors on both sides were about even. BILL IS BACK Bill Pickens, recovering from a slight attack of bankruptcy, is back in town again this time with "Big Bill" Tilden under his wing. In an older day Bill piloted Barney Oldfleld in his hair-raising automobile races hurling along at forty to fifty miles an hour out at the old Agricultural Park. Bill, at the beginning of each race, used to breathe a terrible secret to the sporting te-porters tiiat Barney had had a terrible dream and that he felt he would be killed in "today's mad race." ARNEY GUESSED WRONG Barney, by the way, is said to have exerienced a rough walloping in the last Wall-street crash, dropping something over $900,000.

"HE VANISHED AVIATRIX The mystery of the disap pearance of Edna May Cooper, the aviatrix, may have something to do by way of sequel with her disappointment over the lack of public excitement when she and another girl broke the endurance flight record. I had a very bitter and sarcastic note from her at the time, commenting on my own inability to get properly excited over this old stunt. AN INNOCENT CHILD ward son of a rich Chicago family, must have carried a rabbit's foot when he went to trial lor bank robbery. Although lie tried to murder a young man with a sawed-off shotgun the jmy decided that it was only second-degree robbery. What does a crook have to do to become a first-degree robber? Blow up the mint? EASY MONEY TO SPEND Mr.

Reynold Blight's expert figures show that the bonded indebtedness of cities and local governments in the United States has increased more than in seven years. The World War taught us to think in big figures. These free-handed gents who sit in city councils use $1000 bills to light cigars and we pay the freight. LOUIS SCIIWAEBE It will be hard to find another Federal collector of customs with the sweet reasonableness of Louis Schwaebe. He made customs inspections of travelers an easy ordeal.

You could get your baggage through without the feeling that you had committed at least one double murder. AUNT HET BY ROBERT QUILLEN "Jane's oldest girl is goin' to make some man a fine wife. She can set by the hour and listen to symptoms without men-tionin' her own." (Capyrighl IM, PubUshtrt S)ndicmr) Jiorrv Minors Expected to Slash Price Further Today While yesterday was a day of official inactivity along the gasoline-price-war front indications were that aggressive hostilities will be resumed early this week, with the smaller independent refiners and the stations handling so-called bootleg gas, making the first move. The "bootleggers and the inde pendents generally yesterday were retailing the fuel at either 12 or 12 1-2 cents a gallon, while the product of all the major companies continued to be sold for 14 1-2 cents. Continuance of tills situation would be satisfactory to the large companies, it was said by executives oi tnese companies, as they leei they can regain what they consider ineir normal gaiionage wtth a spread of less than 3 cents between their price and that of the boot- Tt.

ic hfllAvv1 hrnrmrnr IViuf flip ui uuauiroa uic iaiier uuuei existing prices soon will force them to make another cut, and that such a cut will be met with a corresponding reduction by the majors. Before hostilities are over, one dealer said yesterday, it is more than likely that the bootleg and indeiiendcnt stations will be selling as low as 8 cents a gallon and the majors between 10 and 11 cents. Under those conditions, it was agreed, no one will be making any Wk i iu iii i but the major companies are ooviousiy Detter equipped to pass through such a period. BAY CITY DEALERS' ASSOCIATION TOTTERS SAN FRANCISCO, March 1. (Exclusive) With drops in gasoline prices expected soon, the San Francisco Service Station Dealers' Association, which for two years has fought to stabilize the retail mar- ket here, is on the verge of collapse tonight as a result of the present war, according to well-authenticated reports.

If the association is wrecked price cutters are expected to utterly demoralize the market, for a time at Meast, several retailers admitted. Prices today were practically unchanged from previous levels, ranging from 15 to 19 cents a gallon, both in San Francisco and on the peninsula. Sixteen cents was the lowest price reported in the East Bay district. The expectation of a further low ering of prices here is based on the recent drop by the major companies in Los Angeles Saturday. Heretofore, the Los Angeles prices have inevitably spread to San Francisco wnd throughout most of the State.

Officials of the larger companies reported no new developments today and declined to comment on the possibility of a further cut. The threatened break-up of the service-station men's association was revealed by officers of the organization, who asserted they were sick of a two-year eifort to keep a lot of price cutters from ruining their ow-n business." mpervisors to I Get Plans for New Pier Today Plans and specifications of the new proposed ocean pier for Redon-do Beach, to cast approximately $169,750, compiled by County Architect Muck and County Superintendent of Parks and Playgrounds 1Vari.swnrt.lv will he nvpspntprl fn jhe Board of Supervisors. The drawings show a structure ISOO feet long, sixty feet wide and water. The deck of the pier would be of reinforced concrete and would be supported by wooden piers. The new pier, if built, wil lextend from the county beach adjacent to the Redondo City Park at the end of Ainsworth Court.

RAIL CASE COURT CHOSEN Members of a United States stat utory court, made up of two district judges and one Circuit Court Judge, will near arguments today in an action of the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad Company against the Arizona Corporation Commissioner. The cn.se involves a constitutional question. The court will be composed of United States District Judges James. Los Angeles, and Jacobs, Arizona, and Circuit Court Judge Sawtellc of San Fran cisco. POOR PA BY CLAUDE ALLAN "Uncle Dob prays for the Jim psoas since they got in such bad shape.

Uncie Bob swindled 'em out of their property an' he prays for 'em to make up for it." (Cwrifht, 1931, rubliihrrt iyndtcnlt) Commissioners Deadlocked on Leasing Structure Nestled' in a natural hillside cup at the head of Vermont Canyon in Griffith Park, unused and idle since tio ui-uiuuuuu last oepiemoer, sianas i beautiful Greek theater, repre senting an expenditure of $205,000. And strange as it may seem, the owner the city of Los Angeles doesn't know what to do with it. Because of its municipal charac ter some members of the Park Com mission, under whose management It rests, are loath to lease it for. a term to private individuals, while others of the commission point out that the city has no appropriation with which to promote and produce plays or pageants. And there you are.

One faction of the commission favors hiring an experienced nro ducer and manager to exploit the ineater lor the benefit of the nub lie, with the city making up what' ever deficiencies occur, and the same faction also would consider leasing the theater to an individual or a reputable group for a term A months on a per diem basis with a 5 per cent commission on the profits. COMMISSION AT ODDS However, both of these plans are opposed by another faction of the commission which asserts that con trol of the character of the plays wouia oe lost to the city if the theater were leased out and that there is no appropriation for the salary of a manager. And as a result of these differ ences the cobwebs gather and the sun looks down on vacant seats instead of classic drama. For months the deadlock has re mained. In the meantime the picturesque structure has received only the superficial attention of a sal aried caretaker.

Few persons have seen the theater, and beyond the 4000 persons who attended" its dedication on September 25, 1930. only scattered number of automobil- ists have driven up the canyon road to inspect it. The building of the theater was the outgrowth of a beqivuc of $100,000 in the will of the 1U Ool. Griffith J. Griffith, donor of most of the land of what is now Griffith Park.

Fot thirteen years the money lay in the bank until the accumulated interest amounted to some $25,000. Plans were drawn in 1929 and the contract for its construction was let to the firm of Crossel Kitchen for $131,742. The Park Commission agreed to make up the deficiency of $73,258 for extra costs and furnishings which brought the total for the structure up to $205,000. Elaboratt ceremonies marked the dedication. City officials, civic leaders, noted artists and the elite of fashion turned out, and the spoken program was broadcast over the radio.

The event was heralded the "beginning of a new cultural opportunity for Los Angeles." Special guides showed dedication vis itors through the structure, which is situated in almost the geographical center of Griffith Park's 3759 acres. The theater itself is of the conventional outdoor Greek type with a seating capacity of 4119 persons. Beneath the bowl is a concrete. modernly equipped garage with a capacity for forty-tw cars. Dress ings-rooms to accommodate 400 actors are equiDned with stands.

tables and mirrors. Also, there is a modern dining-room and kitch en. From the administration offices an up-to-date switchboard connects all departments and rooms of the structure by telephone. On the dedication night thou sands of electric lights in panels, cnanaeners ana clusters threw a brilliance about the settine. Since then the gates and doors have been closed and at night the sleep of the (Continued on Page 2, Column 3) Neglected er ly of i i 1 US clared themselves in favor of following some line connected with the picture industry.

One of these wants to be a director, another a photographer, a third a set designer and the fourth a sound technician. There are ten or more players who were educated in the limits of Los Angeles but all of these were born outside Southern California. These personalities include Carol Lombard, born in Indiana: Bebe Daniels, born in Texas; Louise Fazenda, born in Indiana; Lloyd Hughes, born in Arizona; Bessie Love, born in Texas; Myma Loy. born in Montana; Carmel Myers, bom in San Francisco; Nick Stuart, born in Rumania and Glen Tryon. born in Idaho.

In contrast to these local Hollywood products, there are Mar-lene Dietrich and Emil Jan-nings, Greta Garbo, Leon Errol, Rosita Moreno, Lupe Velez. Dolores Del Rio, Paul Lukas, Claudi'tte Colbert, Clive Brook, Ronald Colman, Barry Norton and even Charles Chaplin, all from foreign lands. Switch to Stock at any time and on promises of Suitor Speeds Laggard Cupid by Mail Plane One way to beat the three-day marriage license law is to use air mail, Palmer Baker Hewlett, San Francisco business man. found when he made arrangements here yesterday to marry Mrs. Berta Coester.

32 years of age, native Californian. on her way here from Germany, as soon as her ship docks. Hewlett, from the Plaza Hotel at San Francisco, wrote Miss Rosa mund Rice, head of the local marriage license bureau, asking for application blanks. He filled one out and sent the other to Mrs. Coester by air mail in care of her ship at Colon, C.

Z. This was filled out and returned to Los Angeles, also by air mail. Hewlett asked if it could be arranged that a judge board the ship and marry him and Mrs. Coester as soon as the eager bridegroom can get aboard. Miss Rice advised him that the captain of the ship can perform the ceremony outside the three-mile limit.

Mrs. Coester, divorced, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Metz. Princely Gift Mrs.

Jack Townley Jack Townley, film writer, and Jean Lake were married at Santa Ana yesterday morning. The two returned to Hollywood for an informal reception at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard C. Boyd, 2718 Westshire Drive, Hollywoodland.

The nuptials took place at the Methodist Episcopal Church in Santa Ana with Pastor Wanner officiating. Mr. and Mrs. Boyd were attendants at the wedding. Townley, a former newspaper man, is with Educational Studios.

Miss Lake is a sister of Mr. and Mrs. Charles C. Reese, 6636 Moore Drive, Carthay Circle. The couple plan a brief honeymoon at Palm Springs.

Miss Lake is 23 years of age and Townley 34. FERGUSON'S HEARING TO BEGIN TODAY Realty Operator and Aid, Clayton Luchey, Will Fate Forty-eight Counts Harold G. Ferguson and Clayton Luckey. president and vice-president, respectively, of the Harold G. Fer guson Corporation, are to appear before Municipal Judge Baird this morning for prelimi nary hearing on a joint complaint charging them with forty-eight violations of the State Corporate Securities Act.

The hearing, according to Dep. Richardson who has been assigned to prosecute the case, will require at least a month. Neither Richardson nor Jerry Geis-ler, defense attorney, has made any statement as to their plans. The hearing will determine wheth Ferguson and Luckey shall be bound over to Superior Court for trial on the charges set forth in the complaint. The two men were arrested on February 9, last.Pr after State Cor- porarion Com-mis Haight had suspended ner- mits of the i-Ferguson allied corpora- 'f -tions, involving approxi mate- 4 17,000 in-f -vestors a ds $8,000,000.

Most I the counts Vitirrra coin nf lots in the Malibu district CLAYTON LUCKEy without a permit from the State Corporation Com missioner, and all are based on technical violations of the State cor poration laws. of dedication month ago. HAROLD C. FERGUSON City Finds No Law Permitting Utilization of Griffith Park Playhouse vestors may have their money back higher returns. "Salesmen guilty of these practices will lose their licenses and, if it is found that the companies employing them have knowledge of these acts and take no steps to stop them, the permits issued to these companies will be suspended," Commissioner Haight said.

Haight cited the case of an eld erly inmate of the Soldiers' Home at Sawtelle, who made a report to Edward F. Dishman, head of the division's fraud department. The war veteran said he had been in duced to exchange $2000 in building-and-loan certificates for stock In a holding company by assurances of 7 per cent dividends and tils money back on demand. He received no dividends, he said, and was repulsed when he sought the return of his money. The commissioner asserted that as a rule officers of the holding companies are closely identified with the building-and-loan associations.

Names of possible purchasers of holding company stock are, therefore, readily available, he said, from lists of certificate holders. Permits issued to holding compa nies to sell their stock provide that sales must be for cash, Commissioner Haight pointed out, adding that (Continued on Tage 2, Column 5) Municipally owned Greek A yx 1 Ij r. i il i A- ff theater in Griffith Fark gathers cobwebs, deserted and unutilized since day.