Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 45

Wot jBfrxrit jfrie PART FOUR SCREEN, STAGE, MUSIC, ART and BOOK REVIEWS iooth Year. No. 301 DETROIT, MICHIGAN, SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 193 1 Free Press Want Ads Bring Best Results HIQH SALARIED FILM STARS COMINQ INTO THEIR OWN AQAIN STAR RETURNS IN TRIUMPH ANOTHERACTOR DESERTS STAGE BIG FIGURES ARE NAMED A Moment of Decision 1 RATHER AN AWKWARD SITUATION Hardie Albright, Young Lead Stage, Screen Successes Give Ina Claire Much Real Satisfaction. Box Office Winners Command Fabulously Large Stipends. 7H- i --i iTWOI.H.'.LIIH.I.IHIILIIIW I.

"mil MONROE OWSLEY. Famous Team Reunited For Promising New Film Pair Who Played Fighting Marines of "What Price Glory," "Cock-Eyed World," to Make Third Picture. CONSTANCE BENNETT. Cast aside by the Vnan she loves and facing being turned into the street by the man with whom she has been living, Constance Bennett, as Laura Murdock In "The Easiest Way," in the scene shown, has a decision to make that not even the loyalty of her friend Elsie, played by Marjorie Ramb4u, is able to lessen its importance. The picture was adapted from a successful play of two decades ago, and its story centers around a model in an advertising agency, the millionaire FREDRIC MARCIL What's a girl to do when she drifts in to a mountainside inn with one suitor only to find another there to greet her? That's what happens in the episode shown in "Honor Among Lovers" in which Claudette Colbert plays the girl and Monroe Owsley and 1 March, the boy friends.

When the story was adapted and first placed in production it was titled "Sex In Business." What do you think of the change In name? Speaking of Cinemas MAUREEN SAILS HOME WITH BROKEN HEART Hollywood, Feb. 28. (A. Maureen O'Sullivan, sailing for a month's vacation at her Dublin home after 15 months in Hollywood, made five pictures during her stay and broke at least a half-dozen hearts without the least bit of encouragement on her part. In the meantime her own heart received a crack which film-city experts say won't be healed for a long time.

"He" la engaged to another girl, and while he doesn't love her, plans for the marriage are going ahead and he just doesn't know how to go about getting out of It. Children Demand More Westerns Hollywood, Feb. 28 (Special to The Free Press.) Whether or not you like western pictures, Tiffany believes you do and they have signed Ken Maynard for three years, to make eight productions per year. Stories of this type have hung in the balance during the last year. With the coming of dialogue, sophisticated stories jumped into popularity.

Maynard continued to believe in westerns, and has consistently pack-d them into the box offices with his films. "So long as we have children, we must have western pictures to entertain them," Ken says. "Parents do not want their youngsters at underworld, dance hall screen showings. Nothing teaches history, geography, honor and integrity so quickly and effectively as a riproaring. riding, whooping picture based on actual facts of the west." ing Man, Casts Fortunes With Pictures.

Hollywood, Feb. 28. (Special to The Free Press). Hardie Albright, youthful blonde actor who sprang into prominence in the leading juvenile role In "Young Sinners" on Broadway last year, has been signed to a contract by Fox and is at Movietone City, In California, ready for work. His initial assignment nas not oecn announced, it will be his first screen appearance.

After "Young Sinners," Albright's services were In demand for a variety of important roles in leading stage productions. He was playing opposite Muriel Klrkland In "The Greeks Had a Word for It," when he signed his movie contract. Albright is 28 years old and has been playing leads ever since he started stage work six years ago. It was Eva La Gallienne who discovered him when he was playing In amateur theatricals at Carnegie Institute. Pittsburgh.

Mis La Gul-lienne was impressed with his work to the extent of signing him to a contract as the juvenile of her civic repertory company. After graduating from Carnegie Institute with an A.B. degree, Albright went to New York to fulfill his contract The Shuberts, leading stage producers, engaged him for a featured role in one of their plays, thus bringing him to Broadway for the first time. The play was not a success, but Albright's acting received such favorable attention from the critics that the Shuberts signed him to a three-year contract. He appeared In Willard Mack's play, "Gang in support of Otis Skinner In "A Hundred Years in "The Cradle Song." and in George Arliss plays.

On two occasions he dyed his hair black to fit his roles. These were Spanish characters, one in the Otis Skinner play and the other with Ethel Barrymore in "The Cradle Song." CONTRACTSCALL FOR EXTRA WORK Well Known Feature Players Sometimes Cast in Humble Roles. Hollywood, Feb. Most contracts between film companies and players are of the "40-week" variety. That is, the company e-serves the right to "lay off" the player a total of 12 weeks In the year.

If the player is in demand he may work the whole 62 weeks. Among the "big shots" the contract calls for the pay check every week of the 52. Down among the still smaller players, too, the Dixie Lee. clause stipulating "featured roles" is omitted. In such case3 the player may even be called for extra work.

This was the case of Frances McCoy, who headed the list of feminine players in Rube Goldberg's first, so far only, and (also so-far) financially ill-fated screen authoring, "Soup to Nuta." Miss McCoy has been called for several glorified extra roles since the release of that picture. Should she decline to obey orders, her contract would be automatically broken. Dixie Lee, blonde-haired and brown-eyed Tennessee girl, Is In the same canoe. After playing a number of leads, she Is also filling an extra's shoes at $400 a week. CECILIA LOFTt'S.

is a story of highborn English gtrl married to a landed gentleman who, unfortunately, is completely dominated by a spinster sister whose interference ultimately breaks up the union. The wife is sesnt away; she is befriended by an old family friend and admirer who takes her to the continent; later he is killed and she returns to England and goes to her former husband's home in the hope of seeing her child. There she is stricken with the blindness and Is i found by the husband in whose It Z4s Other Women Players Due to Score Effective Comeback. BY SCOOP CONLON. Hollywood, Feb.

28. (Special Cor respondence to The Detroit Free Press.) Ina Claire has returned to Hollywood in triumph. Fresh from her recent stage hit in "Rebound," and her screen sensation, "The Royal Family of Broadway," the iair ina is enjoying the last laugh. A year ago this noted stage star was having a pretty sad time of it in Hollywood. Her first picture wasn't a success her marriage with Jack Gilbert was proving rather hectic so the picture world began to get a bit ritzy with Ina.

That she 4s easily one of Somip Conlon the finest of sophisticated roles in the fworld today, seemed to have been impletely forgotten even by the rociurers. Hut ina, Dorn ragan, isn't Irish nothing. She's a fighter, bo ftr she recovered from the shock, trie wem iu wur 10 snow me nn and girls that Ina Claire is a inch bif-'ger figure than Mrs. Jack lilbcrt. She is signed to a five-year star-iiK contract with Samuel Goldwvn.

kvliereby she becomes a fellow star Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pick- BYini, Douglas Fairbanks, Gloria c-'wanson and Ronald Colman. She begin her new career by star-Sing in the talking picture version "Rebound, under the Pathe Runner, having been loaned by Inldwyn. She has definitely burn-rl her staee bridees behind her. Slaving scored a triumph in plc-Jures she is with us for good. RUMORS.

How does this sound to you? Col- een Moore in Molly-O with 91 i Iickev Neilan directing under Bennett's supervision. Several ears ago, when John McCormlck ns married to Colleen, he tried to iv the remake rights to "Molly-CT" hirh made a fortune with the late dab-el Kormand in the title role. nnett. refused to sell. Although olleen has not been successful lely, she still has a tremendous llowine amone film eoers.

If she listens to financial reason, there Is little doubt that she will land a marvelous opportunity to star In ft big picture. Another rumor current along the Jlollywood rlalto is to the effect Uliat Corinne Griffith may return to laming pictures to star under the Iffany banner. While this mav eem like a comedown for the love- C'nrlnne, who is now one of the stars in the motion plc- ure industry, It must be remember- that Richard Rowland, erstwhile eart of the First National com-any, is the new head of Tiffany. was Rowland who first naid orinne $10,000 a week. ARLISS' PLANS.

We can look forward to excellent ictures from George Arllss. Not lat he has ever made an ordinary but in the history of pictures Jiere has always been a first. How- Continued on rage Five. VIRGINIA "his is the new Mrs. Charles arrell.

Followlne a romance that fid ita inception about three years Farrell, whose film popularity placed him at the top of the of fan favorites, was married icw aays ago to Virginia Valll. po pictures. The Dair slipped ay from Hollywood to New York. ent over to New Rochelle. N.

J. fid the knot was tied by a Metho-st parson. There is 10 years difference In the ages of the bride pnd groom, according to the marriage license, which gave the bride 1 Recently Old Time System Being Revived by Many Large Companies. Hollywood. Feb.

28. (A. The high salaried motion picture stan are coming back Into their own. The studios buzz with talk 'if $2,500 to $8,000 a week, and one featured player is to receive $30,000 a week for a short period. When the talkies arrived producers experimented with the idea that "the play's the thing." They made pictures with stage actors and actresses whose names were little known to movie fans.

Many of the luminaries of the silent screen faded and a few disappeared entirely For a time it seemed the few big stars would be replaced by a constellation of minor ones. The big salaries were going, too. Active Bidding. But the industry could not shake off Its habits of centering publicity and advertising on the players. The play usually came second.

New stars were created. The fans demanded to see more of them and producers bid for their services. Compe 1 1 1 1 has been keen between Warner Brothers-F I National and Paramont. Ruth a 1 1 erton, In leaving Paramount niYt fnll will receive William Powell. $7,500 a week, studio reports say, and William Powell, who goes over this spring has a contract approx imately as large.

Kay Francis is another who will benefit handsome ly financially by the change. Ann Earns Plenty. Ann Harding's salary under a new agreement with Radio-Pathe, will run between $6,000 and $8,000 a week, it is announced. Constance Bennett tops the list of the permanently employed. During a "vacation" period allowed her by Pathe, she will make two pictures for Warner Brothers, receiving $150,000 each, equlvolent to $30,000 a week.

John McCormlck, the Irish Tenor, Is credited with receiving $500,000 for making "Song O'My Heart" This compares with the earnings of such stars of the silent films as Colleen Moore, Corinne Griffith and Jack Gilbert, which ran as high as $500,000 a year. They since have appeared in. talkies, but without much success. Independent players like Charles Chaplin, Mary Pick-ford and Douglas Fairbanks equalled or surpassed this salary sum. The talkie stars are only beginning to establish themselves.

Whether their earnings eventually will eclipse those of the silent film i a question, and Hollywood awalu the answer with interest VAMPIRE BELA LCGOSI. Recreating In front of tha cameras and microphones the character of the vampire in Bela Lugosi shortly will be seen in this sinster drama on the screen. As a stage play "Dracula" was a long continued success. It tells tha story of a nobelman. Count Dracula, who destroys every human being with whom he comes in contact.

The play was written from a book the author of which was Brara Stoker, an Englishman, long associated with the late Sir Henry Irving. The cast for the picture includes besides Lugosi, Helen, Chandler, Frances Dade, Joan Standing, David Manners, Edward Van Sloan. Charles Gerrard, Dwight Frye and Herbert Bunston all of whom were chosen for their especial fitness for the roles assigned them. Lugosi is from Hungary and has won much fame on the legitimate stage and in pictures here and abroad. AFFLUENT BUDDY.

Girls! did you know that Buddy Rogers owns five automobiles? i i I I I'd: CLAUDETTE COLBERT. brilliance. Instead of forcing too much McLaglen and Lowe on the public the actors were allowed to go their separate ways. Now, It Is felt, another team production will be popular. Greta Nissen, blonde Norwegian actress, has a leading role in the ne film called "Women of All Nations." The title, itself.

Is suggestive of a Burton Holmes travelogue. El Brendel, now a star comedian in his own right; has been pressed into service to supply the lighter moments, and Bela Lugosi, who plays in "Dracula," wil! afford the menace. Raoul Walsh was selected to direct TIMID BARRYMORE LOSES CHANCE Refuses to Meet Einstein; Loses Coveted Autograph for Daughter. Hollywood, Feb. 28.

(A. Friends contribute "The Bashful Autograph Seeker" to the collection of tales that have John Barrymore as their central character. This one is not legendary, as are many of those about him. Barrymore be-g a collecting autographs very famous personages, not including other actors, several months ago when his daughter, Dolores Ethel, was born. He wants to present her with a bookful of noted names when John Barrymore, she is older.

When Dr. Albert Einstein came to call where Barrymore makes pictures, John and one other star, Richard Bartheliaess, were Invited to lunch with him. It was a chance for John to get a swell autograph. But Barrymore refused to meet Einstein, his excuse being that he couldn't speak German and the doctor couldn't speak English. Luncheon over, Einstein started to leave.

Still Barrymore hadn't appeared to ask for the autograph. A friend rushed to him to tell him to hurry. John appeared embarrassed and said he guessed he wouldn't bother. Then he changed his mind, pulled out the autograph book, shoved it into the hands of a property man and gave him a curt order. "Props" approached the doctor just as he was getting Into his car.

But he shook his head and was driven away. CHIC SALE. When that famous specialist, Chic Sale, goes to Hollywood to be starred by Radio Pictures, he will stick to the old rube character which he made famous on the stage. Sale has just completed an engagement in musical comedy in New York and is all ready to make his debut in a series of short-reel comedies. His family, including Mrs.

Sale and four children, are already settled down In Hollywood. Nicknames Of Film Famous Hollywood, Feb. 28. (U. Hollywood, usually a stickler for formality, goes to extremes in nicknames.

Who, for Instance, would you imagine is "Big Boy" to his friends and fellow-workers? None other than George Bancroft. And who, you might ask. Is "Red?" Most guesses probably would be "Clara Bow," and the majority, in the case, wins. Other nicknames applied to reigning screen favorites include: "Buck," Richard Arlen; "Bucket," for Jack Oakie; "Midnight Joe," for Josef Von Sternberg; "Coop," Gary Cooper; "Texas," Mary Brian; "Frank," Frances Dee; "Iron Man," Edward Sutherland; "Lu," Ernst Lubitsch; "Irish," Nancy Carroll; Kakie," Kay Francis; "Bill," William Powell; "Hal," Harold Lloyd; "Stu," Stuart Erwin. Anyone who shows tendencies of a "kibitzer" or other unliked and unwelcomed things Is known as "Joe Martin." 1 MARJORIE RAMBEAU.

owner of which establishes her In magnificent quarters. On a trip to the far west with him she meets the boy with whom she falls in love. He is a journalist and Is sent on a South American assignment. During his absence the girl, who had left her wealthy friend, finds It difficult to procure employment. Circumstances force her to return to her protector, and then the boy conies back.

Robert Montgomery plays the boy and Adolphe Menjou the millionaire. McCORMICK. screen, a silent offering, that the whole world interested in the production and the seeing of motion pictures, waited eagerly for its release. Only a few weeks old and in the case of Detroit three days, "City Lights" still remains the most discussed picture now before the public. It is thoroughly Chaplin-esque.

The appearance of a new feminine face on the screen Is always a matter to be looked into, and so Elissa Landi's introduction to American pictures In "Body and Soul," at the Fox, is something to mention. Miss Landl came to New York a few months ago to appeal on the stage to Arms," and won her Broadway public immediately. She is well known on the European stage and screen, especially in England, where she lives. In her first American picture she Is co-starred with Charles Farrell, that most popular of male stars, so she has had an auspicious beginning. Among the several other unusual details of the current film menu is the picture version of "Millie," at RKO Downtown, with the talented Helen Twelvetrees in the name role.

The book, by Donald Henderson Clarke, was counted among the best sellers of its year and also rather roundly berated for Its frank handling of taboo issues. The plcturiza- tlon succeeds in eliminating the offenses and retaining the punch-giving Miss Twelvetrees another chance to prove her acting talent. Bebe Daniels, who was so delightful and ornamental a part of Douglas Fairbanks' comedy, "Reach ing for the Moon, which departed from United Artists to make way for the Chaplin picture, is just as charming, if very much naughtier, in "My Past, at the Michigan, or the first time In their careers. Miss Daniels and her husband, Ben Lyon, appear together on the screen. This fact perhaps, adds more than a little to the sincerity of their love- making.

The death, less than a fortnight ago, of Louis Wolheim, willabring a moisture to the eyes of everyone who sees this fine actor's work in "A Gentleman's Fate," at the Fisher. Throughout the making of the picture Wolheim was ill, and many of the scenes, especially those in which his once powerful fists were brought into play, were gone through with difficulty. He enacts the role of a rum runner, brother to the society man played by Jack Gilbert, and the story centers around the pair and the older man's devotion to the younger. The picture Is one of the last two made by Wolheim. Knockabout Jollity is to be en-Joyed with Winnie Lightner and Joe E.

Brown at the State, where the farce comedy, "Sit Tight," recently seen at the Fisher, is playing a return engagement "Trader Horn," just starting Its second week at the Shubert-Detroit, is one of the mo. 1 remarkable pictures of the decade and certainly i leagues ahead of anything that has yet come out of the African jungles. Unlike previous animal films, "Trader Horn" has a dramatic and romantic human story of three white people In the depths of the dark continent. It is spendldly acted by Harry Carey, Edwlna Booth and Duncan Renaldo, but it would seem that chief honors fr the production should go to its director, W. S.

Van Dyke, and the camera man, Clyde DiVinna, who must have risked their lives more frequently than the playrs, and to whom after all fell the brunt of the whole undertaking. To miss seeing "Trader Horn" is to overlook an achievement that should be indelibly written In cinema history. Only a few more days remain in which to hear the golden voices of Grace Moore and Lawrence Tib-bett in "New Moon," at the Paramount This dramatic and lovely screen transcrlpticn of the successful operetta Is not to be forgotten wheh film shopping, either, for it is a beautiful and worthwhile production. "Morocco," with Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich and Adolphe Menjou, is to be seen for its second run locally at the Hollywood and Riviera. The picture introduced Miss Dietrich to the American scrtcn, and it will be remembered not alone for that reason but for its fine quali" of direction and act- ling.

Hollywood, Feb. 28. (U. They are back again, those rough and ready marines Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt ready to fight, or make love at the droop of a feminine eyelash. When Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe teamed up in "What uiory they established a popularity "which brought big rewards at the box office.

And who, in these days, will say producers don't watch the )ox office? At any rate, executives recognized the worth of Mister McLaglen ind Mr. Lowe and put them together in "The Cock Eyed World," which also scored a Victor McLaglen. success. At this point the brain department showed a great streak of Make But One Film Appearance Hollywood, Feb. 28.

(A. A surprising number of players who deserted the "legitimate" for the movies made solitary appearances. Such big-league names as Ed Wynn, June Walker, Dennis King, Harry Richman, Ted Lewis, Sophie Tucker. Rudy Vallee and Paul Whiteman are among them. Amos and Andy, radio stars, probably will not make another picture for the reason, Hollywood hears, that the enormous paid them is the difference between just a profit and a big profit on "Check and Double Check," It is said they got a quarter-million each.

VALLL 36 summers and Charlie 26. The couple have gone' to Europe on their honeymoon and will remain there some time as the Fox company, with which Farrell is under contract, has given him leave of absence for three months. The marriage is Farrell's first venture but his bride is a once divorcee. She is a Chicago girl whose family name Is McSweeney and was a dancer in the stage before going into pictures in 1916. She has blue eyes and reddish brown hair and is placed among the best dressed women in the film colony.

A Bride BY ELLA II. Not lessening the excellence of otHer pictures now being shown on local screen, beyond a doubt, the most Interesting film in town at the moment Is Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights," which had a brilliant opening Thursday, at United Artists. ne (Jhaplin picture has been so much talked about and so long anticipated two years in the makingand, in this era of the talking Cattle Drover "The Conquering Horde' is a new picture of the southwest country in which Richard Arlen and Fay Wray are seen together for the first time. Arlen Is a cattle drover with whom the girl falls in love but mistrusts until the end of the story. Miss Wray plays a cowgirl who drives thousands of heads of cattle across the state of Texas and into Kansas.

The story was written by Emerson Hough who wrote "The Covered Wagon" and it Is said to carry all of the sus-penseful moments which made that film memorable. CONRAD NAGEL. arms she dies. Miss Harding Is said to play the wife with skill and pathos. Cecilia Loftus, widely known in England and America for her achievements on the legiti mate stage, plays the spinster sis ter and Conrad Nagel is the husband, with Clive Brook as the lover.

In making the picture, elaborate research was undertaken before a camera was turned and It is said to be an example of the extreme care and exactness of detail that characterizes the best films of to-1 i day. Famed "East Lynne" Finds Its Way To Screen After 60 Years of Active Life on Stage IT I II I tips m-MP A srif litxii a' Aw ANN HARDING. "If a play can survive a half-century it stands an excellent chance of living forever, provided it Is built upon a foundation as solid as life Itself and possesses an appeal of universal magnitude." William Archer, eminent British dramatic critic and journalist, once wrote of "East Lynne," a favorite drama of the legitimate theater, which ha-" just been picturized with Ann Harding in its leading role. For upwards or ou years, every emotional actress, great and little, has played Isabel in "East Lynne." It.