Indianapolis Times, Volume 48, Number 31, Indianapolis, Marion County, 16 April 1936 — Page 20

PAGE 20

Movie Music Should Blend With Action It’s Best When Audience Doesn’t Notice It, Directors Say. TTOLLYWOOD, April 18.—There’s -*■ * more music than you’d guess In the average photoplay. About as much, in fact, as in the average symphony.

Hollywood musical directors are pleased, though, when fans don't notice the background music in a picture. That's an indication that the melodies are truly in the mood. Such a defeatist attitude is pretty painful, at first, to those who compose the music and orchestrate the scores for movies. But they get over it. Carlo Alberto Colombo did. Colombo Manhattan-born Italian, one-time child prodigy, symphony cellist, Broadway conductor, and arranger for Paul Whiteman— Is the RKO musical director. He also is one of the most prolific composers in the world. Has to be. After the action of a picture is filmed, they toss it over to him and say: “Score this, please—it is scheduled for release in 10 days. Vaya con Dios!” So Colombo writes like mad, recording by day what he has composed and arranged the night before. He wrote 200 pages of music for “Seven Keys to Baldpate” in one week. Most of his tune-ideas come to him while he is driving his car, or during the few hours he spends in bed. He stops his car or springs from the covers, as the case may be, and jots them down. Nearly All Original Nearly every note of music in pictures these days is original, except when trick arrangements are made of very old tunes to help with the re-creation of some period. One reason most of the music is original is because it’s cheaper to hire a composer than to pay royalties on copyrighted stuff. For example, a studio must pay royalty if an actor whistles just a snatch of “In the Good Old Summer Time.” Colombo’s method of working is to see a picture several times and catch its mood and tempo. (Every picture has tempo.) He takes notes, figures about what’s needed, then crouches over his piano and writes. Music Fitted Into Intervals When the musical theme is developed, he writes various chapters which are to be fitted into specified intervals in the picture. Knowing the tempo of the music, and the number of bars, he can tell to the second how long a piece will run. Everything is orchestrated next, and Colombo and his men retire to the scoring room, where the orchestra players watch him and he watches the screen. Marks on the side of the film, visible on the screen, tell him exactly when music should begin and finish. They have to record right on the dot, because Colombo says some spectators can discern a mistake in synchronization of one-eighth of a second. Voices Are Dubbed In There's often difficulty about dubbing in a singing voice, because spectators closely watch the lips of a vocalist and feel they’ve been fooled if a note lingers an instant after the singer’s lips are closed. Colombo solves that by studying the sound track and cutting a little out of the middle of the long notes. Then he matches up the vibration waves, pastes the film together, and nobody could tell the difference. Colombo did 22 pictures in 1935, the equivalent of about 20 symphonies. In his spare time he works on a symphony of his own. Been working on it for years, and it’s about half finished.

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FRANK CAPRA'S 'MAGIC TOUCH' BOOSTS HIM TO EMINENCE AS MOVIE DIRECTOR

BY JOHN W. THOMPSON Behind the scenes on the Columbia Pictures lot in Hollywood, under a huge camera, sits Frank Capra, quiet, little director whose ; successes rapidly are lifting him to j the eminence of the film stars themselves. Every so often he emerges from under the camera with what, usually lis a hit picture. His latest film, ! "Mr. Deeds Goes To Town,” starring ! Gary Cooler and Jean Arthur, has been booked for the week of April j 24 at Loew s. It is not often that a movie dii rector achieves fame. But when Mr. Capra's production, “It Happened One Night,” swept through the country’s box offices leaving a trail of cash, producers took notice of the young director’s technique. Luckily, Columbia had him under contract. Best Technique—None at All As to technique, Mr. Capra employs the best there is—which really is none at all. He just sits back in his chair, smokes his pipe and lets the camera grind away on the script which Robert Riskin prepares. Whenever Mr. Capra’s imagination suggests a change in the original story, he stops the cameras, talks quietly to the script girl and the principals and has the scene done over. Sometimes his assistants consider his inspirations silly. But evidently what Mr. Capra likes is what the public wants. His annual picture always has been a box office hit.

The reason Mr. Capra makes only one film a year is that he takes his time shooting the story. He and Mr. Riskin, who has written all his scripts, confer, the original story laid before them, and talk it out. They never work more than five weeks on the first script. After that they let it get cold, then go over it again. That doesn’t take long either. What takes time is the filming. For instance, in “Mr. Deeds Goes To Town” there was a scene in which Cooper was to slide down a long banister. When they were ready for the scene, Capra called for Raymond Walburn, who plays Gary’s valet. When Capra heard Walburn's voice, he said: “Did you hear that echo?” “Yes,” answered Walburn. “Well, answer me again, this time louder.” Walburn repeated his answer several times, each time louder. Capra smiled, called in the picture’s butler, cook, chauffeur. A few soft words to them and he retook the whole scene. When it was finished, it went something like this: Out Comes Harmony Mr. Cooper comes out of his room at the top of thp stairs, calls for Mr. Walburn. Mr. Walburn answers and Mr. Cooper notices the echo. He calls out the chauffeur, the cook and the butler. Each is told to try his echo. Then Mr! Cooper has them do it together in different tones, producing harmony. Sounds silly, doesn’t it? Producers call it Capra’s “magic touch.” It is one of the funniest scenes in the picture. Things don’t always go so easily for the director. When an actor makes a mistake Capra never bawls him out in front of the company. When he’s provoked he whistles, taps his feet and pounds his pipe in his palm. He is sole ruler of the lot where his picture is filmed. Producers let him handle the reins because he hasn’t failed yet. Five feet, seven inches tall, stockily built, with dark hair and brown eyes, Capra came to this country from Palermo, Italy, when he was 6. He attended grammer school and Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles, sold newspapers cn the side. He was graduated from college with a chemical engineering degree, but he didn’t want to be a chemical engineer. Hunger for reading ulti-

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mately led him into the writing field. First he was given a 'job with Hal Roach as a story writer. Then he went to Mack Sennett as gag man. The first picture he directed was Harry Langdon’s initial full-length feature, “The Strong Man,” and the film was chosen one of the 10 best in 1926. Others he has managed are “Lady for a Day,” “Platinum Blonde,” for Jean Harlow, and “Broadway Bill.”

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WEST SIDE C T 4 T r 2'02 W. 10th St. STATE “sssßisr “CAPTAIN BLOOD” “RECKLESS ROADS” nni itf/wino W. Wash. Sc Belmont BELMONT EKt/tiS? “THE GREAT IMPERSONATION” "EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT” A I o XT 2540 W. Mich. St. A I S Y Double Feature i A Joe Morrison “IT’S A GREAT LirE” I “SHANGHAI” NORTH SlfiE R. m m Illinois at 34th I I / Double Feature 1 1 ** Jarkie Cooper “TOUGH GUY” “MUSIC GOES ROUND” UPTOWN Doubl*FeatlnrV ' JxxvyTTil Claudette Colbert “THE BRIDE COMES HOME” “THE MELODY LINGERS ON” #•1 4 rs Fa 1/117 30th and Illinois CjARKILK. Ronald Colman “THE TALE OF TWO CITIES” nm /~si 4in SL Clair & Ft. Wayn* SI CilyAIK Double Feature OX. Ulifixa R.b(rt Donat “GHOST GOES WEST” “TWO IN THE DARK” npv 30th at Northw’t’n KKX, Boris KarloO “INVISIBLE RAY” Comedy—Cartoon rp 4 | n/vTvr Talbot Sc 22nd 1 ALoU 1 1 Do ” b * e Fe‘ure Victor Jory “ESCAPE FROM DEVIL’S ISLAND” “WHISPERING SMITH SPEAKS” STRATFORD “MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION” “DANGEROUS WATERS” Mr o o i Noble Sc Mass. L L Ll A Double Feature va Claudette Colbert “THE BRIDE COMES HOME” “SMILIN’ THROUGH” rvn P a u 2361 Station St. LIKLAM /red MeMurry Carole Lombard “HANDS ACROSS THE TABLE” Chap. 13 "ROARING WEST”—Comedy EAST SIDE RIVOLI „ "the musicgoes c Ground” S Sn° n THE PRISONER OP SHARK ISLAND” * A -^

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Frank Capra

Now he and Mr. Riskin are working on “Lost Horizons,” which is to star Ronald Colman. Surprisingly, Mr. Capra has left more of the original James Hilton novel in the scenario than usually is his practice. “Mr. Deeds Goes To Town” is an adaptation of Clarence Buddington Kelland’s story, “Opera Hat.” In the cast with Mr. Cooper and Miss Arthur are George Bancroft, Lionel Stander and H. B. Warner.

EAST SIDE TITVPnn <O2O E. New York TUXEDO l Edmund e Low. e “GRAND EXIX” t ■■STORMY” TACOMA ‘‘ROSE OF THE RANCHO” “THE MAN WHO BROKE THE BANK AT MONTE CARLO” IR VIN G 6 o v Geo. Raft • EVERY NIGHT AT EIGHT” ‘‘TWO FISTED” EMERSON SJE£ Jack Buchanan “BREWSTER’S MILLIONS” “TOUGH GUY” _____ HAMILTON Site. “YOUR UNCLE DUDLEY” “PROFESSIONAL SOLDIER” PARKER “ 11 Marlon Davies “PAGE MISS GLORY” “VIRGINIA JUDGE” STRAND "£.0557 C ■■ANr'iNooS^. 0 ””’ “PADDY O’DAY” D A V V 2721 E. Wash. St. K U A I Double Feature Barf sin Nifht “LIVE WIRE” "SUICIDE SQUAD” Paramount 41pl ** mSP' “BLACK FURY” Chap. S “THE GREAT AIR MYSTERY” SOUTH SIDE . FOUNTAIN SQUARE Double Feature “NO MORE LADIES’* J_ “THE REVENGE” SANDERS “j^teT “HIS NIGHT OUT” _ •‘WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES” AVALON “COLLEGIATE” __ “AMATEUR HUSBAND” ORIENTAL “"""IT “ “TRANSATLANTIC TUNNEL” GARFIELD • man or mon"’ - -a Short Reels .

Movies Now Paying Debt to Founders Studios, However, Probably Won’t Be Losers by Hiring Veterans. BY PAUL HARRISON HOLLYWOOD, April 16.—(NEA) —The motion picture industry is making a gesture toward payn ent of its debt to the people who made it. I mean that more old-timers are going to be given jobs. The Producers’ Association has agreed that through the individual studios, it will do what it can toward re-em-ployment of once-illustrious performers who have slipped into the extra ranks and, even farther, into the relief rolls. It would be difficult to estimate just how much pure altruism is involved in this move, because most of the old-timers are by no means hams when it comes to putting over character bits in the talkies. Many a veteran of the gilt-and-plush era can be put under contract for S3O a week, and be glad to get it, so the chances are that even the more benevolent studios will get their money back. Some Are Without Value In fairness to the bustling young industry, it should be observed that a few of the ex-stars really are more trouble than they’re worth in cold cash. For nothing is less destructible than a trouper’s pride, and it’s hard for a celebrity of 1916 to admit that he or she is a has-been of 1936. Some of them mugg, or over-act, when they face cameras today. Some are temperamental. A few have cracked voices which sound pretty terrible in a burst of histrionics. Some time ago I mentioned several of the veterans now under contract to Warner Brothers —Paul Panzer, the “Perils of Pauline” heavy; Leo White, the comedian; Jacqueline Saunders, another former star. Others are Andre Beranger and Tom Wilson, both funnymen; Stuart Holmes, Pauline Garom and Clara Horton, former child star. Filming “San Francisco,” M-G-M is using Jean Acker, first wife of

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Opening Tomorrow Apollo, “CAPTAIN JANUARY”—ShirIey Temple, Buddy Ebsen, Guy Kibbee, Slim Summerville, June Lang,. Directed by David Butler; screen play by Sam Heilman, Gladys Lehman and Harry Tugend, from a story by Laura E. Richards; dances staged by Jack Donohue. Story—Truant officer tries to take little girl away from old lighthouse keeper, who rescued child from shipwreck. The two flee officer, are caught. Rich relatives take child home with them. Seehig little girl unhappy despite luxury, relatives adopt &U her old friends. Everybody happy. Indiana “SUTTER'S GOLD”—Edward Arnold, Lee Tracy. Binnle Barnes, Katharine Alexander, PriscUla Lawson, Directed by James Cruze; based on a novel by Blaise Cendrars and a tory by Bruno Frank; photographed by George Robinson and John P. Fulton. Story—True account of the life of John Sutter. Swiss immigrant who owned half of California at the time of ’49 gold rush. Sutter’s soldiers and workers desert him when gold is found. They take his property, dig up land, kill his cattle. Impoverished. Sutter files 27,000 eviction suits and sues the state for 600 millions. Going to Washington he fights unsuccessful legal battle through three administrations. Loeiv’s “PETTICOAT FEVER”—Robert Montgomery, Myrna Loy, Reginald Owen. Directed by George Fitzmaurice; screen version by Harold Goldman from stage play of same name by Mark Reed. Story—Labrador wireless operator has not seen white woman in year. When girl and fiance find shelter with him after plane wreck, he falls for girl. With two held virtual prisoner by operator, girl learns to love him. When fiance makes escape, she plants Eskimo girl in her place in sled. Operator’s former girl friend shows up, claims him. Girl leaves in huff. Boy friend finds he has inherited fortune, understands former sweetheart's motive. Pursues right girl, wins her back. “HELL-SHIP MORGAN”—Victor Jory, Ann Sothem, George Bancroft. Story and screen play by Harold Shumate; directed by D. Ross Lederman. Story—Seaman loses fight with tough sea captain who admires his grit. Takes him on own ship. Captain has befriended penniless girl who gratefully promises to marry him. She and seaman fall in Captain finds out. During storm, captain orders sailor * overboard to make repairs. He falls in ocean, rescued by captain at cost of broken back. Hopelessly crippled, captain jumps overboard. Lyric HORACE HEIDT AND ORCHESTRA on stage—Full hour of dance music and variety, with Alvino Rey, Campbell Sisters, Jerry Bowne. "CHARLIE CHAN AT THE CIRCUS” on screen—Warner Oland, Keye Luke, Shirley Deane, Francis Ford. Original screen play by Robert Ellis and Helen Logan, based on the fictional character by Earl Derr Biggers; directed by Harry Lachman. Story—Chan discovers circus owner murdered, presumably by ape. Owner had previously been witness to murder as was girl trapeze performer, seriously injured in accident soon after. As girl is about to have emergency operation on lot after accident, someone releases giant ape. Chan solves the mystery..

Valentino; Gertrude Astor, ‘bestdressed” star of 1919; Rosemary Theby, most prominent about 1911; Frank Mayo, of earliest Universal days, and Fritzi Brunette, of the early ’2os. Word comes from Vienna that Edwina Booth is recovering from the tropical disease contracted when she played in “Trader Horn.” Tully Marshall, 72 and spry, is making a nomadic tour by auto trailer.

A FEDERAL THEATRE PROJECT WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTATION IIfCITU’C PHONE [\LI I rl and LINCOLN 9000 FEDERAL PLAYERS in “THE BARKER** HELD OVER BY POPULAR DEMAND NIGHTS, ISc. 25c, 40c. SAT., MAT., 10c, 20c, 30c. WEEK "00 lIKTO OTHERS" WITH CHARLES ALTHOFF AS GUEST STAR

’APRIL Iff, 1936

Players to Give 'Charm School' Sutherland Group to Offer Play at Church Two Nights. Alice Duer Miller's comedy. “The Charm School,” is to be presented by the Sutherland Players Monday and Tuesday nights at the Sutherland Presbyterian Church. It is to be the third production of the Players’ tenth anniversary season. “The Charm School” enjoyed extended runs in both New York and London. Members of the original cast included James Gleason and Ivan Simpson, now featured players in Hollywood. Those selected for the local production are: Riley Fledderjchn, Paul Fledderjohn, Robert Roult, John Farley. James McDaniel, Loring Woodward, Sue Tezzman, Deane Scott, Myrtle Hinehley. La Vora Gibson, Betty Berrie, Emily Yucknat, Marjorie Ziegler, Elizabeth McClure, Martha Robbins, Helen Widdop, Mary Ellen Widdop and Martha Meyers. The production staff includes Carl Tezzman, stage manager; Richard Robbins, lighting; Evelyn Kent, properties, and Virginia Brackett Green, technical director. Norman Green is director. Collects Theater History Sylvia Sidney, known in the film colony as “literary minded.” is gathering an extensive library on the history of theater. ITA7V NEXT DOOR I * TERMINAL STATION I