Paae Two CJaicaao SUI1day TribuI1e Looking at Hollywood with Ed Sullivan Will the Movi'e Industry Return to Chicago? By ED SUWVAN Hollywood, Cal. FTIiURMAN ARNOLD, as- slstant United States attor- Iney general, Is as successful as the movie Industry fears he w1ll be In his anti-trust suits against the major companies, It means that moving picture corn- panles w1ll have to abandon or get rid of their theater chains. It means, too, that the movie field w1ll then be open to Inde- A FEW OF THE MOVIE COLONY OF CHICAGO A QUARTER OF A CENTURY AGO pendent movie companies, be- Be?erly Bayne. heroine of many of Believe it or notl This i. Wallace Franci. X. Bushman, idol of the film Clara Kimball Young. a celebrate cause Arnold's plan is to force the old Chicago productions. Beery of away back when. fan. of another generation. star of the early pictures. the movie magnates to get out I of distribution and exhibition of Beery could have made amend pictures. Under the plan an .for this social grievance whe open market for films would be he returned to Chicago year produced. It all sounds very later to make a personal appear involved, but actually It isn't at ahce at the Chicago theater. Th all involved. It simply means stagehands were prepared t that under such a setup Chicago forget all about his previou 1••aancters could very well estab- curtness. When he came back 11sh great movie studios right stage one of the veterans wh there in Hlfnois and add an Im- had worked at Essanay wit portant industry to that area. him hailed him cordially. Beer If such comes to pass it w1ll\ managed a look of complet be poetic justice, because back Gloria Swan. on when .he was about 17 year. old and an extra of the blankness. So the stagehand around 1912 Chicago shared the old Eaaanay company. At right, above: Ben Turpin. the man with the have their own opinion of th movie Industry with Hollywood. comical ero•• eyea. (Euanay photo.) M·G·M he-man star; and it i The Essanay company, long one not exactly flattering. Glori of the leaders In film production, Swanson, who had been an extr was based in Chicago in a lodge girl at Essanay, also indicate hall at 62 Clark street. It made she didn't want any "I remem the scenery on the third floor, ber when" references from th carted it down to the second stagehands. floor, and posed the actors In e e e front of the sets. Then business prospered and Essanay moved Lon Chaney, who had a car into more spacious studio quar- in the stagehands' union out 0 ters in Argyle street. In the Denver, was their idol. Chane meantime Selig, the animal man, had no hifalutin' ideas of' hi was making silent pictures at own importance. Even when h the corner of Western avenue was world -famous he'd com and Irving Park boulevard. backstage and tug at ropes with Ben Turpin, Francis X. Bush- the stagehands. man, Beverly Bayne, Wallace Francis X. Bushman is anoth- Beery, Henry B. Walthal, Char- er "regular" in the opinion 0 lie Chaplin, Lon Chaney, J. War· the men who pull the backstage ren Kerrigan, Rod La Rocque, A .cene from a movie production. The background here might well have been photographed in a side street in Paris. so deft are producers today in patching foreign background. into American-made film•. pullles and lifts. Bushman, when Bryant Washburn, and Clara he was in the chips, was regular, Kimball Young were just a few new celluloid setup, because once game, but there had been no so that the audience wouldn't and just as regular when his of the movie colony who lived, the government cracks down the poker chips showing, ahd it was realize they were Intruding in fortune was wiped out. worked, and movies will be a wide-open prop- imperative that poker chips be the name of mechanical art. If the movie industry returns played in Chi- osition. displayed for the purpose of the The stagehands of Chicago to Chicago, even a considerable cago a quar- Older generations of Chicago- story. It was Sunday and no almost to a man have very little part of it, it would be a great ter of a centu- ans will have no difficulty in reo stores were open where poker to say in honor of Wallace Beery. thing for the city and the state. ry ago. An calling the movie colony as it chips could be purchased. An They remember an experience It would spread employment. extra girl was existed in 1912 in their city. unsung hero solved the dilern- they had with him when he was Musicians, stagehands, painters, Gloria Swan- Those who remember it best, I rna. He went to the commissary leaving Essanay in Argyle street sound technicians, hotels, apart- so n. A bit think, are the veteran stage- and got some ginger snaps and for the lush celluloid pastures ments, business s tor e s - all p l a yer was hands you find backstage at Chi- cut them down to poker chip of California. They determined would profit. If the Chicago Ed ward Ar· cago theaters. Most of them size. Necessity mothered Inven- to touch off a party in honor of Association of Commerce is as nold. Top sal- Geoyge It. Spoor. worked as set carpehters for tion. To get a hill effect camera- his trek west. They took up a astute as I believe it is, it'll probe ary was $200 Essanay and Selig. Their expe- men prostrated themselves on collection so that they could this thought carefully and go Ander.on'. part· a week. When nero riences are fresh in mind. They the ground and filmed the heads , send a taxicab for Beery at his into every phase of it exhaustive- Bushman remember the day when Web- of actors who stood on chairs. lodgings. He refused to ride in ly. The Thurman Arnold investi· commanded $750 a week the ster was directing a poker game Thus was won the 1llusion of it, allegedly demanding a limou- gatlon creates an entirely new nation whistled Its incredulity. on the second-floor studio. Sud- height. In mob scenes, where sine. So he didn't show up at movie horizon, and mechanical ir Director Harry Webster, denly there was a shout of dis- prop men had work, to do, they the party, and the stagehands inventions make Chicago a log- one of the first of the movie dl- Bronco Billy Anderson, the" A" of .. S & A" (Essanay). may. They had filmed a poker dressed as Indians or cowboys never have forgotten it. ical bidder for the studios. rectors, wanted to film a desert sequence, he carted his players to the Indiana dunes. If he want- ed to shoot ravines he took them Letters published in this department should be written on one side of the paper. to Starved Rock. Then the war Voi£e of .Le ~o..,ie FAn If you wish a personal reply please inclose a stamped, selj-addressed. envelope. came along to k1ll the goose that laid the golden eggs for George Dear Mae Tin~e; In the picture "Little ed Oxfordian scenery. But after about Ing combination? Something that makes tangible part of the personality that rnani- K. Spoor and Bronco B1lly An- Miss Broadway" I saw EI Brendel for the the fifth scene I suddenly became aware up for the weak plot Is the scene In which fests Itself involuntarily. I don't think derson, who had combined their fir s t tl m e in that I wasn't looking at the scenery, and Ginger Is hypnotized and goes around the any actress can simulate this quality; .talents and names to produce s eve r a I years. I found myself engrossed in the perform- skeet club shooting people. That was the when she tries you get something like EssanaY. Selig retreated from The first time I ance of a tall, slender Brltisher with a best part of the film. Janet Gaynor, and I think her true per- shy, quiet smile and a subtle, vibrant act- As a by-note to that weak plot colum- the flring line, too. Thus the saw him was in sonality has never been projected on the "JU,lit Imagine." ing abillty that shone all over the screen nist, let me say If you want a weak plot screen. My nornlnatlons for the possessors movie industry quit Illinois. Could you find and over and around Mr. Taylor, complete- go to see "Tropic Holiday." I couldn't of sweetness are these: Myrna Loy, Dean. e • e space for his pic- ly eclipsing him. even FIND the plot. na Durbin, Joan Davis, Fannie Brice, ture, biography, I'm speaking of Griffith Jones, of course. Yours very truly, ED CHESTER. Spring Byington, and, among the men, The movies went to California and the cast of Imperceptibly he stole that picture Inch Editm'>s note: Say fans, just give us Jhnmle Stewart. for two succinct reasons-one, characters 0 f by Inch from Taylor till no one In the Rogers and Astaire. To see them dance' Another thlrtg I'd like to comment on is the climate and scenery; two, " Just Imagine"? theater was aware of the fact that Taylor is all we care. A plot and trimmings we this discussion about the screwball com. because the state of California BILL GUSTAV was In the cast. In the face of Taylor's can spare. (THAT'S poeh'Y.) edy. My only argument against it is the cooperated in tax allowances. JOHNSON. obvious ••mugging" his restraint was as old one of " too much is enough." It seems refreshing as a julell. You began to watch to me that Irene Dunne and Katharine Illinois now doesn't have to yield Editor's note: for him and wish for his quiet presence Dear Miss Tln~e: Orchids to Margaret Lon Chaney, idol of stagehand., I reckon we can Hepburn have been most fortunate in the to California in any of these' In the midst of the rest of the hubbub. Sullavan in her recent picture, ••Three sct'ape up a little stories they have drawn for -thls kind of essentials, and I'll explain why. (For Pete's sake, are all the producers picture. Of COurse, if anyone had come theater I defy you to believe space for you. Comrades," for Today climate and scenery are asleep? Why doesn't somebody grab him Mr. Brendel was I think she did into the theater in the middle of the pic- of negligIble Importance. The that the film wasn't made actu- for American films?) born in Philadel- EL BRENDEL a wonderful job. ture I imagine that the shock would be ally in the Singapore streets. So Fen wants plctur. and As for Mr. Taylor, the less said the bet- quite severe. ' movies have perfected process phia, Pti., March If you could pos- California's scenic advantages blollraphy. ter. W. B. B.'s suggestion to find another This brings up another point. Did it shots to the photographic point !5, 1898. He's 5 sibly squeeze in have been dissipated. The Cali- picture, call It "A Brttlsher at Harvard," where they can fool even the feet 9 inches tall, weighs 165 pounds, and ever occur to you that the reason so many and let Mr. Taylor play the part of the her picture i n most expert. Say, for instance, fornia climate is becoming a neg- has light hair and blue eyes. Educated of the moviegoers refuse to accept their statue was pretty good. ••The Spirit of you r column I you have a movie company in ligible factor, too. As lighting Central High school in Philadelphia and favorjtes in any but the most stereotyped Spring," or something, with laurel in his would appreciate and camera work have im- University of Pennsylvania. Appeared in parts is for this very reason? If one goes Chicago. The action of the story hair and Garbo in his arms. Or, still fol- it v e r y much. proved, more and more the vaudeville and legitimate shows for many to a movie in the middle of it he naturally Is in Singapore, and you want lowing W. B. B., just let him keep rowing movie industry is shooting its years beiore entering motion pictures. He's Thank you! has no chance of following the develop- to have your actors act in Singa- ,down the river and out of the movies. ment of the story, if any. For instance, I mart'ied to Flo Bert, professional. Here's Yours very pore streets. The studio man- pictures in giant indoor studios. As for Griffith Jones, I'm going out and think that Joan Crawford could do hand- the cast of " Just Imagine": truly. R. S. ager cables a movie operator in There is no reason in the find another theater where" A Y. A. 0." is somely by a well written biography of Lola Single O •..•••..•..•••••••.•.•• El Brendel world, if Thurman Arnold dis- playing. What's good enough for the Singapore and tells him to pho- LN-18, '" Maureen O'Sul1lvan EditOl'>S no t e: Montez, and if one saw her as the young solves the open and secret com- British is good enough for me! Rather! !! Irish girl corning home from India, and tograph certain streets and cer- J-21. .. , , , , , John Garrick Y 6S,didn't she do binations of the