1937-07-04 [P F-5]
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
splatters over the dignified man's fare. Film’s Quest for Star in a New Role Whitbeck had some difficulty get- Comedy Lovely Busy Short and Sweet Trailers the sort of ttgn right person for the 1 -- - speaker role. Finally, William Nor- ■B SI '.' .. .. Knows No Limit ton Bailey, one-time Shakespearean Spending Planned by Movie Studios star, was tested With great dignity, he entered Whitbeck's office, saying Hits at Record he understood there was a part await- Broadway Laugh Bought Film Makers Eliminate High Pressure Re- ing him in a feature Prices Part of Scheme "Brother," said Whitbeck, "Can you Only Industry’s marks and Make Advance Advertise- take a pie in the face?” Bailey decided he could and he to Make Its Product Mirthful. the ments More Attractive to Fans. got job. He even brought hi3 own cutaway coat But that By Jay Carmody. Harold wasn't the worst of It. is serious about being funny next season. Impressed by By Heffernan. Whitbeck then had a long hunt to find a man with its own success, and that of Broadway, in turning mirth into money (N.A.N.A.).—To the general public a trailer may be Just pie-throwing tech- a in recent months, it is prepared to give comedy pretty much the piece of tin that tags along at the end of an automobile, but to nique. Pie-throwing is a dead art in the men connected with the Hollywood It took five to HOLLYWOODright of way in production. celluloid Industry, a trailer means that days round The best of the Intent to HOLLYWOODprecious of film that advertises the up an actor with that evidence be light-hearted is the willingness of strip forthcoming screen attraction. peculiar knack cinema to A trailer is that never —dormant since the of executives fairly wreck bank accounts to get laughter pieces. With something get* a mention in a theater's marquee reign Mack Pnliimhio r\a vino •900 OOO fr\r "Vnn A-—_ without it Sen nett bulb*, yet the exhibitor would be at a loss. One of his features m irrKl ke lata tka naaia »>•! IJ Can't Take It With You," four acts (Copyright. in.'iy. by "he North American comic writing is that it rarely g its ef madness by Kaufman and Hart, canceled out or the cartoon comedy Newspaper Alliance, inc..' away from the newspaper man as its ture, *m revealed today aa a hilarious an all-time high was set for fllm right burn In the booth, but don't, for the • — preferred lunatic. Ever since ‘‘It bit of Likewise, the buying. To some conservatives. Co- exhibitor's peace of mind, let anything travesty. trailer Happened One Night" introduced hi- for Clara Bow'* "Call Her Third. lumbia looked batty enough to be a happen (o that little unmentionable Savage" Sonja’s larity in the form of Clark Gable's seemed and tedious. character in the play, Instead of the ahort that is flashed on the screen long In contrast, CONJA HENIE S third 20th Century- reporter role, cinema comedies have a modern trailer on fllm producers of it. ahead of the entertainment the fans "This Is My Af- Fox vehicle will be "Bread, But- tended to give the that fair" ran less than However, came the balmier days of impre&sion pay to witness. two minutes and ter and Rhythm." only workers are that was as later Spring and R-K-O turned a newspaper The Hays office, governing body of emphatic as it was brief. This third ice-skating musical for crazy. There was one or more in "Mr. Each ieal with George Abbott for "Room the Industry, estimates that upwards studio employs a trailer- the beautiful blond Olympic ar*d Deeds," in “Theodora,” "Love on the maker and some have two Service" at a price that Finland could of 100,000,000 movie tickets are sold and three, world skating champion will go into Run" and the two in "I Met Him in who work have used for an annual installment every week in the United States alone. with representatives of production this Fall. After Sonja Paris" were a couple of literati who National Screen. The on its wrar debts. It was *255.000. That makes the motion picture screen latter's duty is finishes her co-starring role with Ty- might have come up from police re- to the enough money to divert every play- the most important advertising me- help studio man devise the rone Power, her off-screen romantic porting. most wright in tiie country from the gloom dium in the world for the sale of its salable title* and select the interest, in Lovely to Look At,’’ the Stage dramatists have taken a of serious drama: except, of course. own merchandise. most interesting scenes from the pic- plans a three-month vacation. broader slant on the subject. Tney ture Itself Titles Maxwell Anderson, Eugene O'Neill, That's why the theater owner can- i are lettered and find merry madness in all kinds of and possibly Sidney Kingsley. Cer- not get along without a trailer. The photographed and trick camera men characters from ice men to housewives and tainly, if Columbia was to be con- movie theater is perhaps the only optical printers do the rest. Head- to unemployed grandfathers. True, signed to the madhouse for its deal, spot in the world where the advertiser ing the various trailer departments there is a them to R-K-O has earned the right to tell tendency among has the consumer by the throat. He in the studios are expert showmpn. locate quite a few of the in the former to move over. pixilated can t get away. If he walks out he such as Frank Whttbeck. at M.-G flits the of the vicinity stage. There are misses the M.: at Banqup It will be a long time, however, be- show. On top of that, the George Thomas, Columbia; a couple in "You Can't Take It With fore the soundness of these deals and consumer is caught when perfectly Troy Orr, at Twentieth Century-Fox, You." the girl with a yen to dance such as Warner's *140.000 for relaxed and movie-minded. and Herbert at Paramount. others, and Moulton, ibraBaiM'UpA* the mother who became a "TYivarich," M-G-M's *125.000 for play- because However, the movie house trailer is wright some one delivered a is "Excursion." will be determinable. If a marked an important factor second-hand typewriter to the home undergoing metamorphosis ^^OVELTY you are going to call a man nasty — by demand of both in this important business of en- by mistake one day. "Room Serv- urgent fans and names for his investments, it might exhibitors. Within the ticing fans back to see ice.” of course, is a last year subsequent be well to wait until the final returns strictly study there has been a decided programs. Trailer men live with their of the pleasant insanity of stage change—for &s?itttOHffS are in. the job night and day, at work and at %T people better—in the quality of these No one knows, for play. And in the instance, pre- selling arguments thrown or. the search for new "Idiot's Delight," the film rights cisely what will happen to these screen. ideas, trailers are out into of which to reaching successes—and the belong M-G-M, finds its a new Broadway many Fans have become fed with arting field happiest imbeciles in a pair who lived up long others—in Hollywood. The recent For instance, in the too long in and blatant announcements, promis- getting up fate of “Stage Door" on the R-K-O backstage dressing rooms, trailer for the Marx but ing as the following week's attraction Brothers aom- "Tovarich” finds two just as lot is a case In point. The adaptation "the edy, "A Day at the Races." Whit- charmingly in the disinherited greatest, most colosssl and stu- of this drama of the stage-struck is j crazy beck decided to Russian pendous super-gigantic production open on a black cur- such that its creators. Kauf- nobility. tain original ever shown on drop. The curtains and a a this screen." Holly- part man and Hart, are declared to have "Having Wonderful Time.” which R-K-O wood has awakened to the emergency distinguished-looking gentleman of found it recently purchased from Ar- the unrecognizable. R-K-O, and old school, fully bedecked in eve- I thur Kober, and orders have gone forth from head which has *130,000 tied up in the story, "Excursion.” owned clothe*, offices to studio advertising depart- ning proceeds with dignified is its own ideas of how by M-G-M, go very far afield in simply using ments reduction in urbanity to tell of the fine and serious finding characters whose antics make demanding sharp to get that money land a lot more) of "this for length and elimination of high- undertakings great industry.” back. laughter. The former turns to remarks in all Meanwhile, the camera pans over to a Summer the latter pressure trailers. First The same thing may happen to a camp, to a ferry the side, boat. step was taken by Twentieth Century- revealing a mild little fel- great others. Or it may not low many which has with a disgusted look on his The result of to the Fox. just completed an In- face, happen. bringing scene his hand.* behind his all these new tensive survey of exhibitor and audi- back.