Indianapolis Times, Volume 48, Number 24, Indianapolis, Marion County, 8 April 1936 — Page 8

PAGE 8

Pictures Running Longer, Cost More, and They Are Better, Too, Says Writer Critics ot Nation Are Warming Up in Their Praise of Latest Hollywood Releases; ‘Green Pastures’ is Example of Trend in Production. BY JOHN W. THOMPSON Films are getting longer. The new pictures also are costing more. And, as a result, most of the recent Hollywood products are better. On the word of the critics over the country, pictures are much better. Writers usually given to swooning phraseology are out-doing the pressagents when it comes to superlatives. Even smug New York watch-dogs of the drama, who take movies, for the most part, like a bitter pill which must be swallowed, are loosening up.

One of the reasons why movies are bigger, cast more, is because they are based on broader subjects. For instance, there’s Marc Connelly's “Green Pastures,” which Mr. Connelly is directing. The sound stages at Warner Brothers, where the picture is produced, are 320 feet long and 200 feet wide. Live animals tvere used in the ark scenes and all kinds of trickery were resorted to whenever “De Lawd” felt like “rarin’ back and passin’ a miracle.” Hollywood Has No Limits ‘‘There’s no limit to anything out here,” says Mr. Connelly, pleased with the screen as a medium for his play. Rex Ingram, Negro actor, Is taking Richard B. Harrison’s place as “De Lawd.” His father was a fireman on the famous old boat, the Robert E. Lee. Rex was born on the boat. He won a degree in medicine from Northwestern University, where he was a four-letter athlete and a Phi Beta Kappa. “Green Pastures,” because the movies can give it added fantasy, is going to be much longer than the average film. So Is Gary Cooper's latest vehicle, “Mr. Deeds Goes To Town,” the story of a small town boy who inherits millions. Directed b;, Frank Capra, it takes two hours and a quarter on the screen, instead of the usual hour and a half. Pictures to Appear Soon In Culver City, Cal., Metro-Gold-wyn-Mayer is putting the final touches on “Romeo and Juliet,” starring Leslie Howard, Norma Shearer and John Barrymore. The same studio soon will release “The Great Ziegfeld.” with William Powell, Myrna Loy and thousands of others. In Westwood, Cal., Darryl Zanuck, the Twentieth Century-Fox pro- i ducer, has taken “Under Two Flags,” to the cutting room. In Burbank, the Warner Brothers are ready to release “Anthony Adverse,” another large screenful, starring Fredric March, Donald Woods, Olivia de Haviland, Anita Louise and Fritz Licber. They are ready to begin on “Florence Nightingale.” All these films will run much longer than 1935 pictures. John Ford, the director who made “The Informer.” is working with Katharine Hepburn in “Mary Os Scotland.” He explains that this film, like others of its type, must have a longer running time in order to present all necessary details. Production Has Many Dimensions “It is a production of many dimensions,” Mr. Ford said, “and the scenario must present historic points authentically. Mary’s disagreement with Elizabeth of England, her differences with John Knox, the events leading up to the death of her secretary, Rizzio, all must be given ample space.” Costume films, popular now. call for extra research. Old letters, files and remnants must be culled for authentic designs from which to fashion the copies used in the films. Several years ago, a mistake in costuming wouldn't have made much difference to the movie public. The joy of seeing “moving” pictures was enough. But the present generation wants its movies to be accurate. Almost every screen offering is pounced upon by avid [ fans, hunting for discrepancies. Too many mistakes would hurt a producer. It means more work. Double Bills Get Blow When movies are longer, they begin to defeat the distributing department's new whim, double-fea-tures. It's difficult enough for theater managers to get patrons to sit through two short films. Two long ones would increase the problem. That the art of making good movies is progressing can not be denied. The screen dramas are more interesting, the players much more convincing in their portrayals. That the screen eventually ' will drive out the legitimate theater is improbable. With the advent of serious, high-grade movies, the theater has been forced to improve its own productions. The result is healthv competition, a distinct aid to any industry. Started As Dancer J. Carrol Naish, rapidly becoming one of the screen's best known character “heavies,” began his acting career as a dancing partner of Gabv Deslys in a Parisian revue. Now he is a bad man in the current Richard Dix feature, “Special Investigator.” Gets Film Opportunity After two and one half years of striving. Steffi Duna. petite Hungarian actress, has many opportunities to display her abilities in "Dancing Pirate,” new technicolor film.

ISMiIIS I New Show "Todav” ■ Pat O’Brien—James Melton "STARS OVER BROADWAY’’ Plus “Feather in Her Hat" I

KEITH'S thonk i.i. TONIGHT AT 8:15 Federal Players In “THE BARKER” I NIGHTS—IBe, JSe. 40e I | WAT. MAT.—IQc, 2Qc, 30c | NEXT WEEK— "DO UNTO OTHERS"

b WALTZ TONIGHT g Ladies 15c, Including Checking p^,; UeoUentea *se before it LX RASTER SIX. ONLY BJ M BUDDY FISHER Eg And His Hollywood Orch Hajl lr Ji ’Favorite of the Movie Stars’ VdR MgH me Before 9. ■ ■ ■i i sw w

Chaplin Denies Political Aims Just Trying to Be Funny, He Says of Film. SINGAPORE, Straits Settlements. April B.—Charles Chaplin just was trying to be funny when lie made his latest movie, “Modernn Times,” he | iaid today when he heard that GerI many and Italy banned it as Com- ' munistic. He returned with Paulette Goddard, his co-star, by airplane from Java. Miss Goddard was wearing a wedding ring, but no engagement ring. Neither would admit that, as reported, they were married on the wav here by steamship from the Far East. Discussing his picture, Chaplin said that the Nazi and Fascist authorities made a blunder if they banned his film on political grounds. “Dictators seem to believe the picture is Communistic,” he said. “It’s absolutely untrue. In view of recent happenings, I am not surprised at the ban. But our only purpose was to amuse. It was just my old Charlie character in circumstances of 1936. I have no political aims whatever as an actor. And anything Communistic would be quickly stamped out in the United States.” Film Race Car Full of Speed Auto May Be Driven Against ■ 24-Hour Record. Times Special F LLYWOOD. April B.—An auto* obile built for use in movies may be used in an attempt to break the world's automobile speed record so; a 24-hour run. The racer, christened the “Falcon,” is 26 feet long, powered by a 675-horse power motor, making it capable of 180 miles an hour. The car was designed by Arnold Gillespie and built by Harlan Fengler and Lou Moore, former race course champions, for scenes in “Speed,” featuring Wendy Earrie, James Stewart, Weldon Heyburn, Una Merkel and Ted Healy. In tests for the picture, the car performed so satisfactorily that the producers gave the builders permission to use it in attempting to shatter the world’s 24-hour record on Utah salt beds. The present record was established last September by Capt. George Eyston of England at an average speed of 140 miles per hour for the 24-hour run.

WHERE, WHAT, WHEN APOLLO “A Connecticut Yankee," starrlne Will Rogers, 11:36. 1:36, 3:36, 5.36 7:36, 9:36. CIRCLE “Walking Dead,” with Boris Karloff, at 11:17, 2, 4:45, 7:30. 10:15. Also “Muss 'om Up.” with Preston Foster and Margaret Callahan, at, 12:45, 3:30, 615, 9. INDIANA “13 Hours by Air,” with Fred Mac Murray and Joan Bennett at 11 1:50, 4:40. 7:30, 10:25. Also, "Too Many Parents,” with Frances Farmer and Lester Matthews, at 12:35. 3:25, 6:20, 9:10. KEITH'S “The Barker,” Kenyon Nicholson’s famous play, directed bv Charles Berkell, produced bv the Federal Players, with Bernice Jenkins. Jack Duval. Ned LeFevre. E’atty Anne Brown. Ira B. Klein in the cast. LOEWS “The Garden Murder Case," with Edmund Lowe and Virginia Bruce, al 11. 1:18, 3:35. 5:55. 8:10. Also. "Don’t Gamble on Love,” with Ann Sothern. Bruce Cabot, at 12:09, 2:27 4:45, 7:03, 9:20. LYRIC “The Voice of Bugle Ann.” on screen, with Lionel Barrvmoiv and Maureen O'Sullivan, at 11:25. 2:15, 5:05, 7:55, 10:35. "Paris on Parade,' 1 on stage, at 1:05, 3:55, 6:45, 9:35.

1/ 2 Last Days: Iterl I p^r ..a.Pe I mHE 25‘.6 nfe ftsffiai ?a® I J^ugTJl [flii'lMHllNUffi HERE THEY ARE FOLKS*THE SISUB ACT OF |fj KIND IN THE WORIDC^^*?3 mm JpmiieSra I

Fred Stone, Al Jolson, Wallace Beery and Janet Gaynor Stars of New Films

4jj|(g~ ML wjN' iff aM|BgH < •-• JYijMmiMlKr ]£*&&. * ; 1H lj| Mr i Jp Jfct, fSj . Jmf f pit ißSSjKiieKf" t* Jk •! , JH J?MV 1 Affffl Mm. ..JBB . ”* ■***••••■* *t ft t jt *JP ;ri. iu.l i i'®Br ill - *1

f ' : :j& ££’•*** SIIIe in in * J’tv :r "’"

Grecian Profile Not Necessary for Film Success Nowadays Fred Astaire, Clark Gable and Henry Fonda Are Not Handsome, but They Pack ’Em In. Times Special HOLLYWOOD, April B.—When Greek meets Greek, the topic of conversation well may be the decline and fall of the “Grecian profile” as a standard of male beauty.

Lads with faces that look like they were hacked out by sculptors who didn’t have their minds on their work, now are successful in getting leading roles which only a year or so ago went to the collar ad types. Fred Astaire makes the perfect illustration. With a box office draw that staggers Hollywood, he is rated as one of the most charming, as well as agile, leading men on the screen. And Fred himself would be the first to deny that he is handsome. There is boyish, unaffected Henry Fonda, who now is working on “The Moon’s Our Home.” Product of the red barn theatrical circuits of New England, he has become one of the busiest leading men in pictures. And Fred Mac Murray, many say, plays light comedy with a gracefulness and ease which has been lacking on the screen since the death of Wally Reid. There is that top flight matinee idol himself—Clark Gable. But the die-hards of the old days who in-

Now—2 Hits "Don’t Gamble With GAYNOR Robert TAYLOR tft v*u ropy 3 GIRL' From Ben Ames Williams' Newspaper Serial with BINNIE BARNES JAMES STEWART Hetro-Goldwra-Uanr Cast l —Plus \ "MOONLIGHT f W MURDER" _/ 25c \ I-e° Carrillo / _ \ Madge Evans / TO 6 Chester Morris

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

sist he isn’t handsome rush to the theater every time one of his pictures is announced. Many other names may be on the list, men like William Powell, Spencer Tracy, Edward G. Robinson, Preston Foster, Victor McLaglen, James Cagney and Pat O'Brien, who pack the theaters, but who are not considered “handsome.” Actress Writing Day Frances Sage, who makes her screen debut with Ann Harding in “The Witness Chair,” is writing an original screen play.

WsMSmmjMq n s I m THIATKWSPS

WEST SIDE n m a rrv v-v 2702 W. 10th St. N 1 A I p. Double Feature cr x aa a x-i Marion Davies "PAGE MISS GLORY” "HOT OFF THE PRESS” rmT RAyAXTriv W. Wash. & Belmont BELMONT Double Feature rxvrj. s x Miriam Hopkins "SPLENDOR” "FRESHMAN LOVE” Da fry \j 2540 W. Mich. St. A I N Y Double Feature ax a t_r x Claudette Colbert "THE BRIDE COMES HOME” "THUNDER IN THE EAST” NORTH SIDE Rl m rw Illinois at 34tb I /, Double Feature Wallace Ford ‘‘ANOTHER FACE” "TWO SINNERS” uptown *£!Mfr2aa? Alison Skipworth "HITCHHIKE LADY” "FORBIDDEN HEAVEN” g~\ a p* rk i/"ygr 30th and Illinois LAKKILK Double Feature Norma Shearer "SMILIN’ THROUGH” "THE GREAT IMPRESSION” pat /"if *rn St. Clair & Ft. Wayne M. LiLAIK Ann Sothern Edmund Lowe "GRAND EXIT” COMEDY NOVELTY Pl 7 Y 30th at Northw’tn I\L/A James Dunn Patricia EUis "THE PAYOFF” T A I DATT Talbot & 22nd 1 /YLdU 1 1 Double Feature Lloyd Noland ‘‘ONE WAY TICKET" CHARLIE CHAN’S SECRET” STRATFORD "GUARD THAT GIRL" Al1 *" "WESTERN FRONTIER” MECCA ' Patricia EUis "HOLD ‘EM YALE” "LAWLESS RIDERS” DREAM "Double Feature Irene Dunne "MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION” "HIS NIGHT Ot'T” EAST SIDE RI VO L I _ George Raft ."1J HAt TO HAPPEN” "NEXT TIME WE LOVE”

UW* I . J^JF WII 1 ™ ■w C, - M K^fl^Mf' : | Y \ |! t* lb '%i^P^'i xj* p ; ‘ ]ii^m t _HI ■ ■■ H|:: 5 tl \. *w, \1 |*£<*W| ' * - Wn <l] Hi i m Ashv a4j>, iw_ TMe in iffIHHIIKSI

1— Fred Stone, veteran actor, shows a couple of movie players how a real farmer would hold the reins. This is a scene from his picture. “The Farmer in the Dell,” which with “Boulder Dam” is to open at the Circle tomorrow. 2ln another of his famous good-bad man characterizations, Wallace Beery adds to his laurels. The picture is “A Message to Garcia,” the Apollo’s offering starting Friday. 3 Robert Taylor is down on his knees to Janet Gaynor, with whom he plays in ‘ Small Town Girl,” opening with “Moonlight Murder” at Loew’s Friday. 4 The man who starred in the first talking picture, Al Jolson, is shown with Edward Everett Horton and Allen Jenkins in a scene from “The Singing Kid,” which is to be the whole bill at the Indiana starting Friday.

Ned Sparks Is Sued by His Former Wife By United Press HOLLYWOOD, April 8. Ned Sparks, long-faced screen comedian, was named defendant in a suit filed here by his divorced wife, Mrs. Mercedes Sparks, for accounting of community property valued by her at $200,000. Mrs. Sparks, in another action awaiting trial, is seeking to have an interlocutory divorce decree, obtained last year by Sparks, set aside on charges that the comedian misrepresented his assets to induce her to sign an allegedly unfair property settlement.

EAST SIDE rpjTVCnA E. New York |J\pJ)|l Double Feature x Miriam Hopkins “SPLENDOR” "THE GIRL FRIEND” rjy a yy/\ a 2442 E. Wash. St. TACOMA sss&Juss. "WAY DOWN EAST” "HOPALQNG CASSIDY” t n *r v % 1 a-y 5507 E. Wash. St, IRVING -tstiiiltr "IN OLD KENTUCKY” "THE MAN OF IRON” EMERSON Feature XVITXA-tXVVJVgiI Eddie Cantor “STRIKE ME PINK” "THE LADY CONSENTS” HAMILTON Double Feature S.IXXi.TIXXVX Y/iX Eddie Cantor "STRIKE ME PIN i” "THE LADY CONSENTS” Pa D 1/ U n 2936 E.' 10th St. ARK E R "COLLEGIATE” "WE’RE ONLY HUMAN” Sm n a rv 1332 E. Wash. St. TR A N D • o atur d “ONE WAY TICKET” "HERE’S TO ROMANCE” n /\ v IT 2721 E. Wash. St. K U A I Bargain Night "BARS OF HATE” “SPEED DEVILS” n . 411 E. Wash. raramount irene Dunne x uiuiliuuill Robert Taylor “MAGNIFICIENT OBSESSION” Comedy—Cartoon—Serial. SOUTH SIDE FOUNTAIN SQUARE Double Feature Arline Judge “SHIP CAFF.” _ME_NEVER” I SANDERS A ‘-H^r arf "AFFAIRS OF SUSAN” "HI GAUCHO" Ay t a < n ii Prospect-Churchmar VAL () N Donble Fejiti,r Frank Morgan "THE PERFECT GENTLEMAN" "TOO TOUGH TO KILL” oRffiNTAf 1 '”™;:: "* "PETER IBBETSON” GARFIELD Randolph Seott "SO RED THE ROSE" Short Root*

10-Minuie-Old Lamb Introduced to Films in 'Romeo and Juliet 7 Production on Shakespearean Classic Is Interrupted When Mother Sheep Steals Show on Location. Times Special HOLLYWOOD, April B.—The youngest actor in the screen version of “Romeo and Juliet” faced the cameras at the age of 10—minutes! A bouncing lamb, he was born in the shadow of a camera and microphone, and was carried into pictures on Leslie Howard’s coat.

The note of realism was injected into the Sycamore Grove sequence of Irving G. Thalberg’s production of Shakespeare’s romantic classic. The scene was filmed on location in the San Fernando valley, and 100 sheep were used. Halfway through the first “take,” a director shouted, “Cut. That sheep over there appears to be in distress.” “If I know anything about' animals,” declared Mr. Howard on investigation.” this is a time for action, not conversation.” The actor made a bed out of his coat. The sheep tenderly was moved to the improvised maternity ward, and not a moment too soon. An anxious interlude, and “Romeo.” for he promptly was given this name, proved to be a real trouper by rising shakily, but with determination, on wobbly legs. A moment

lIY RH A Ship” |l( nn rsuv sh^w^ SUB4IME WITH | OlORIOUS” WITH /^pHi WEERY >.,)■ . . . lovable villain of a dozen hiti! jgjjßßSpsSjlsfci STANWYCK WC I ... in whom hate and &&■— ', love are born by the cruelty of men! mL'fox A BOLES I . . . whose courage rostores a woman's faith in love m K* in A | MESSAGE* to I GARCIA 1 ALAN BAKKIE If HERBERT MUNDIN Wt IMHIfIIII—MRHIIIIIIIIIIRIIIIMIIIIin—i—IMII

later he gamboled at the side of his proud mother. “Now,” smiled the director, “we can go on with making a motion picture.” Mother and child are doing nicely, Howard reports. He knows, for lie bought them!

pf PHIL STONG, AUTHOR OF “STATE T A FAIR,” BRINGS ANOTHER GREAT / BS HU MAN, DC>WN-TO-EARTH II • loti laughed at him 'll as Katharine Hep- Wmo 111 hU^n,S falh<>r ' n '^ lKe py ilj head of the fighting till lhr 1 onoS ° r ' nr - ’ ■ I him as the lowa M ?i;£ farmer who became a "HI :■ s; Hollywood movie star If t 4l against his will.' H j; | The amazing, human drama behind the building of j / ] the greatest wonder ever wrought by man! | | if \ [n\ a^ig^BßTK^R3ftrH^nnfflnßMftßKT!n i T! i nß

.'APRIL 8, 1936

Trio to Give Concert at Art Museum Helen Brooks Fausset to Assist in Recital Tomorrow Night. The fifth annual recital by the Concert Trio, local chamber music ensemble, is to be held in the Sculpture Court of John Herron Art Institute at 8:30 tomorrow night. Members are Violet Albers, violinist: Mary Lohrmann Reiner, ‘cellist, and Ramona Wilson, pianist. The assisting artist is to be Helen Brooks Fausset, soprano. Oi particular interest on the program are the "Five Impressions of a Holiday” by Eugene Goosens. Although these “Impressions” are not a recent work, this is to be their first public performance in the city. They are short, mood pictures in the modern idiom, bearing such titles as “By the River.” “At the Fair” and "The Village Church.” The concert is to open with the Trio, Op. 1, No. 1. by Beethoven, and is to include the Tschaikowsky Trio, Op. 50. The work of these musicians affords Indianapolis audiences an opportunity of acquaintance with a field of serious and worthwhile music. Dionnes to Reach Hollywood in June By United Press HOLLYWOOD, April B—Elzire and Oliva (Mama and Papa) Dionne, parents of the famous quintuplets. are to arrive here for their motion picture debut late in June, the studio which has them under contract said today. Lillian Barker, New York writer, expects to complete the script of ‘Where Are My Children” before the Dionnes get here. The studio announcement said the Dionnes not only will act in the picture, “but will give technical advice.” School to Present Its Play Tomorrow Southport High School's junior play, “Uncle Till Tinkers,” is to be presented at 1:30 tomorrow in the school gymnasium. In the cast are Winston Pedlow, Greyble McFarland, Louise Hohlt, Ann Jordan, LaVere Neal, Margaret Grundner, Forest Crush and John Reno.

W LAST 2 DAYS! If FRED MacMURRAV\ i JOAN BENNETTJj \I3HOURS its Am V with ZaSu Pitts^