January 30, 1932

From Luella O. Parsons
A FREE LADY WILL BE NEXT CONTSTANCE BENNETT TALKIE
Los Angeles, Jan. 29
A refractory (good word) wisdom tooth has laid Constance Bennett low. I suppose one ought to be glad to be young enough to be cutting wisdom teeth, but a mean tooth is unpleasant at any age. While Constance has been recuperating at her Beverly Hills home, she has read and approved A Free Lady by Cecil Stranger as her next picture.
Constance and her bridegroom, the Marquis de la Falaise, sail for Europe in May on a belated Honeymoon.



FOX TO STAR ELISSA LANDI IN WOMAN IN ROOM THIRTEEN
Los Angeles, Jan. 30
Much whispering in current film circles and frequent guesses as to what will happen now that Edward R. Tinker, president of the Fox company, and Richard Rowland, chief advisor, have reached town.
Neither one seems inclined to give out information, but we did learn unofficially, that Elissa Landi is to be given a chance to make new screen friends.
That famous stage play and exciting melodrama, The Woman in Room Thirteen, is to star her. Henry King, well versed in directing drama has been named by Fox potentates as Miss Landi’s director. I suppose that little airplane jaunt Henry and Frank Borzage promised themselves is postponed. The picture, according to all we hear, goes into production immediately.

Snapshots of Hollywood: Dorothy Burgess, with many orchids, at the opening of Mata Hari with Clarence Brown, who is now her “steady company.” Norma Shearer, wearing her hair in a severe fashion that only a woman as pretty as Norma could stand. Irving Thalberg backing out when they tried to photograph them at the theater. Jack Warner in top hat and red carnation representing what the well dressed man should wear. Alec Francis commenting on all the platinum blondes present.




FILM ACTOR WILL PAY SPEEDING FINE IN INSTALLMENTS
Maybe it’s the depression.
Anyway, Duncan Renaldo, Hollywood motion picture actor, is paying his Atwater speeding fine in installments.
Renaldo, who was arrested near Atwater several weeks ago and whose trial was postponed several times, was scheduled to appear before Justice W.H. Osborne at Atwater Thursday.
Instead, Renaldo telephoned the judge,
“I can’t appear in court to-day,” Renaldo told Judge Osborne. “What will the fine be if I plead guilty by telephone?”
“Thirty dollars,” the judge answered.
“Can I pay $15 now and the balance in a month?” Renaldo asked.
Judge Osborne granted the request. The next day a money order for $15 was received.



MARIAN NIXON MAKES GOOD
Come-backs are always interesting but seldom does one find a case which parallels that of Marian Nixon.
After two years of almost idleness, Marian now is staging a real come-back – and much to her own satisfaction she is doing it in the same studio that once kicked her out.
Back in the pre-talkie days Marian was a near-star on the Fox lot. Her salary ran well into four-figures at each new picture in which she appeared. She seemed to be “in” so solidly that nothing could sidetrack her.
Something did, however. Something called a microphone.

LILY DAMITA CAST
“He Met a French Girl,” a new type of screen musical romance with an European background is to be produced at Paramount’s Hollywood studios with a cast headed by Lily Damita, now appearing with Maurice Chevalier in the French version of “One Hour with You.” Cary Grant, leading man of numerous Broadway musicals, and Charlie Ruggles. Frank Tuttle will direct.

PICTURE NEARLY COMPLETE
Only a few more days will see the completion of “Love on a Budget” at the Warner Bros. studios in Hollywood, according to advices from the Coast. Loretta Young and Winnie Lightner will be headlined in this film, which is based on a story by Maude Fulton.

UNITED ARTISTS GETS 3 OF TEN
United Artists again take the lead this year in the poll of the ten best films as conducted by Film Daily, the motion picture paper. Three of the ten best bear the aegis of U.A. producers, the pictures being “Street Scene,” “The Front Page,” and “City Lights.”
Which means that, although United Artists distributed only two percent of the Hollywood output in 1930-31, the company registered thirty per cent among the winners. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer also placed three among the winners, but M-G-M produced four times as many pictures as did U.A.

GAY BANDIT TITLE CHANGED
“The Gay Caballero” will be the title of George O’Brien’s new Fox Picture when it reaches the screen shortly. It was formerly called “The Gay Bandit.” Victor McLaglen, Conchita Montenegro and Linda Watkins are featured.
Another Fox picture whose title undergoes a change is the forthcoming Louis Joseph Vance story with Thomas Meighan, Linda Watkins and Charlotte Greenwood in the leads. It will be billed as “Cheaters at Play,” instead of “First Cabin.”



NEW ARLISS FILM OUTRANKS OTHERS
“The Man Who Played God” – one immediately thinks of that as a George Arliss picture. The English actor is about the only man in Hollywood who would fit into a film with such a title. Since he made his first appearance on the screen in “Disraeli,” Arliss has been free from bad pictures. To be sure, some have been better than others. His latest, “The Man Who “Played God” easily ranks with his best efforts.

SCARFACE TITLE CHANGED
“Scarface” the daring expose of gangster activities, which Howard Hughes has transcribed into film form from the novel of Armitage Trail, will be released under the title of “Shame of the Nation.”

POWELL FAST AND CLEVER IN “HIGH PRESSURE”
Talented Actor Is Well Supported in Film on Stock-Selling Campaign
Excerpted from Wood Soanes:
The debonair and dreamy eyed William Powell, who has fallen into a habit, in recent pictures, of playing roles as if he were walking in his sleep, awoke with a start on the screen at the State theater yesterday, and gave a most energetic performance of an enthusiastic promoter in “High Pressure.”
There is nothing somnolent about the new Powell, and it was a welcome relief to watch him pounding around the celluloid turf as Gar Evans, the genial and irresponsible scoundrel, who dominates the action in a story that bears a direct resemblance to “Get Rich Quick Wallingford.”

Double Bill at Century
Lew Cody, Irene Delroy, James Hall and Natalie Moorhead in “Divorce Among Friends,” and John Bowers, Blanche Mehaffey, and Robert Ellis in “Mounted Fury” are the all-talking attractions which will open a two-day engagement at the Century Theater tomorrow.

Movie tag lines:

Electrifying Thrills and Romance!
A grand picture with a smashing story – a story with a history of bestsellerdom back of it!
Brought to you for the first time on the talking screen, this thrilling drama that fairly staggers your wildest imagination.
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
A Paramount production featuring popular
FREDERIC MARCH
Miriam Hopkins, Rose Hobart


CONWAY TEARLE
Favorite of millions rises again to new heights via the talking screen in this emotional portrayal of a daring girl’s love affair in Monte Carlo.
CAPTIVATION
Modern, adventurous drama among the sophisticated, with
Betty Stockfield

January 29, 1932

From Luella O. Parsons:
GEORGE BRENT, WARNER HOPE, TO PLAY IN BLONDELL FILM
Los Angeles, Jan. 28
Some one at the Warner Brothers studios denies that George Brent looks like Clark Gable. There you have the story in a nutshell. George Brent, Warner Brothers’ hope, may be their Clark Gable for 1932. They are building the boy by giving him such parts as the lead opposite Ruth Chatterton in The Rich Are Always With Us, and opposite Barbara Stanwyck in So Big. Gable, remember, first played opposite all Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s favorite stars. George photographs like a million and he has a personality. If the women of the country fall for him as they have for Clark Gable, well, Jack Warner and his brothers will find he is valuable to the tune of a few millions per annum. The next Brent picture is Miss Pinkerton of Scotland Yard, starring Joan Blondell.




A variety of opinions have greeted Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express. Some of Miss Dietrich’s critics have suggested that she be permitted to be more spontaneous, but all of us reviewers agree she needs only the right pictures to keep her a popular headliner. East River, an original by John Colton and the very same story that Pola Negri set her heart on doing, has been purchased for Fraulein Dietrich. Tis the tale of a Harlem night club and the East River. Miss Dietrich will sing. That reminds me, one of Garbo’s acquaintances tells me that the mysterious Swede has a complete set of Dietrich’s records with all of the German actresss’ songs.

Greta Garbo, drawing down $7000 a week at M-G-M, is asking $10,000 now on her new contract. Her life is so cloistered she may not have heard about the big depression. The agreement expires in March.

Word comes from Hollywood that Paramount, in all likliehood, will resign Ernst Lubitsch; and there is a warm possibility of starring Maurice Chevalier and Marlene Dietrich.

LINDA WATKINS WEDS G.L. HESS IN CHICAGO
Chicago, Jan. 28
Miss Linda Watkins, film actress, and Gabriel L. Hess of New York were married at the Blackstone here today. The ceremony was performed by Superior Judge Denis Normoyle. The couple arrived from Hollywood this morning. Although she has recently appeared in pictures, Miss Watkins is best known for her activities on the legitimate stage. Mr. Hess has for years been attorney for Will Hays and the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. He was previously married to the former Miss Katherine Hawley of Seattle. She died last April when she was thrown from her horse while riding through the Felix Warburg estate at Hartsdale, N.Y.


FILM DIRECTOR LOSES JEWELS
Los Angeles, Jan. 29 (AP)
Two masked bandits escaped with money and jewels valued at $10,000 today in a daylight robbery of the Beverly Hills home of John Francis Dillon, motion picture director.
Herding together three servants, Mrs. Dillon and her daughter Pat, three years old, the two forced the directors wife to open the door when Mrs. William Bailey, a friend came to call, and then, with the visitor also covered, commanded Mrs. Dillon to open the safe containing the valuables.

MRS RUDY VALLEE IS HOME WITH MOTHER
Santa Monica, Jan 29 (AP)
Mrs. Fay Webb Vallee is “back home with Mom and Dad for the third time since I married Rudy” today.
She said frankly she doesn’t like New York, that she is a native daughter, and “all the glitter and glamor of the gay white way can’t keep me from being lonesome.”
No, she said, Rudy does not sing in the bathtub, or around the house at all.
She does not favor any particular ballad sung by Rudy but likes all of them. They still love each other.
“I stay in New York until I get too lonesome, then I come home until Rudy gets too lonesome. Then I go back. Life is just one railroad train after another.”




JOHN GILBERT STARS IN FILM AT GRAND
John Gilbert has been blocked again in his struggle to regain in the talkies the fame he enjoyed in the silent pictures. This time it is in “West of Broadway” which opened yesterday, and even with a vast improvement in voice and an unmistakable vigor in delivery, the star fails to triumph over his vehicle. In fairness to him, it is doubtful if any one else could have done much with the material at hand. Lois Moran is the girl and doesn’t seem quite able to determine whether she should be a good little bad girl, a little prairie flower growing wilder every hour, or someone whose mother was a lady. El Brendel is carted along through the picture for comedy effects, but even Brendel can’t create much hilarity out of such episodes as a stomach-rubbing contest with a Chinese cook or wearing misfit chaps and a derby hat.
The picture just seems to have been another case of giving Gilbert something to do and being indifferent as to whether he does anything with it. He works it for all it is worth, but that amounts to complete unimportance.


The Empire State building is to provide the dramatic setting for the opening sequence of “After Tomorrow” on the Fox lot. Cameramen have been scrambling all over the tower for a week getting scenic shots. Charles Farrell and Marian Nixon are to be featured.


THEATERS SEEK REMOVAL OF BAN AGAINST SMOKING

Managers Say Business Has Fallen Off Alarmingly Because of Rule
Modesto, Cal. – Jan. 29
A request made by managers of four theaters that smoking be permitted in balconies is under consideration to-day by the city council.
“Business has fallen off to an alarming degree” in the playhouses as a result of the smoking ban, said a letter addressed to the council and signed by theater managers.”
“Almost every first class theater and motion picture house in the United States now permits smoking,” according to the communication.
Robert C. Pearson, manager of the Strand, in a personal appearance before the council, urged the city to revoke its 1927 ordinance which prohibits balcony smoking. Business would be greatly stimulated by the change.

January 28, 1932

REGINALD DENNY HURT AT POLO
Hollywood, Jan. 27 (AP)
Suffering from injuries sustained when his polo pony threw him and stepped on him, Reginald Denny, screen actor, was confined to his home today.

From Luella O. Parsons:
Trouble may be brewing between Sam Rork and Columbia. The cause is Clara Bow. Miss Bow has been waiting patiently for her first picture which is to be released through Columbia. Rork says he has the money to produce it but so far he hasn’t been able to get Harry Cohn and the New York office to settle on a story. “I cannot expect Miss Bow to wait forever,” says Rork. “She has been mighty patient but if they don’t give me a decision on a story soon, well, there is only one thing for me to do and that is, look for another place to release my picture.

An encore on Union Depot is the deep-laid plan at Warner Brothers’ studio. Why not when this picture is doing business wherever it is shown? The new picture (it isn’t a sequel) – is called Central Park. It will have much the same general idea of Union Depot. The tragedies of human life as they occur in one place, this time a park, will be unfolded. Again Douglas Fairbanks Jr. will have the leading role. That boy did so well in Union Depot no one can again say he owes his screen success to his family name. An all-star cast will share honors with young Doug.




CHILDREN’S SCREEN SHOW ANNOUNCED
Noah Beery and Sue Carol are the stars of “In the Line of Duty, which will be the principal screen attraction at the children’s matinee at the National Theater.
Other films will include a kiddie review, Tapping Toes; a cartoon, Alien in the Jungle; and a serial – chapter five of Battling with Buffalo Bill.




MISS DRESSLER IN ‘EMMA’ AT FOX THEATER
Laugh Film Stars Favorite in Role of Housekeeper Who Breaks Into Society

Laughter runs riot thorugh “Emma,” Marie Dressler’s first starring picture opening today.
Frances Marion, authoress of “The Big House,” “Min and Bill,” and “The Champ,” all outstanding film hits, wrote the story and Clarence Brown directed. The latter has such successes to his credit as “Possessed,” “A Free Soul” and “Anna Christie.”
“Emma” introduces Miss Dressler as the stern and old-fashioned housekeeper in the family of an eccentric inventor… As in the case of “Min and Bill,” the star is given numerous episodes in which to make the most of her inimitable talents as a comedienne.
Supporting artists include Jean Hersholt, Richard Cromwell, Myrna Loy, John Miljan, Barbara Kent and Leila Bennett.
Other attractions include a Thelma Todd-ZaSu Pitts comedy, “On the Loose”; the Boswell Sisters in “Close Harmony”; and a sports picture, “Piscatorial Pleasures.”

Colman Stars As Amateur Cracksman
Out of the maze of romantic antiquity, “Raffles, the amateur cracksman” strides the screen again.
The familiar role of the dashing thief is portrayed by Ronald Colman at the National Theater where Samuel Goldwyn’s all-talking version of the melodrama opened yesterday.
The character is said to be a combination of “Drummond,” with that bold fighter’s humor, but not his wise cracks, and the Michel of “Condemned,” but with refinement. Colman is supported by a cast headed by Kay Francis.

January 27, 1932

LINDA WATKINS RUMORED DUE TO BECOME BRIDE
Linda Watkins has obtained a release from her Fox contract and is on her way to New York. That isn’t the half of it. Her friends expect to receive a wire any day now that she has become Mrs. Gabriel Hess, wife of the attorney for the Motion Picture Producers Association, and a pioneer in that film business.
Miss Watkins was brought here from the New York stage. She has appeared in a number of current Fox pictures and she was slated for several more so that when she asked for a release from her contract the Fox officials were surprised, to say the least.
Then came the whispered word that she had taken the train East accompanied by Hess, who has been here on business for the Hays organization. There were further confidences given friends that she expects to marry Hess immediately.

ACTRESS ORDERED TO PAY $1104 FOR JOB
Los Angeles, Cal. – Jan. 27 (UP)
Dorothy Jordan, motion picture actress, was under court order today to pay Mrs. Bernice Cowell, formerly her manager, $11104 commission for obtaining her a studio position. The amount represents 10 per cent of a salary recently increased from $300 to $450 a week for the period covered by an asserted agent’s and manager’s contract.

CONVICTS TALE OF PRISON LIFE SHOWN IN FILM
“Ladies of the Big house” at the Paramount
A story of prison life, of human revolt, and the hopeful power of love, as written by Ernest Booth, is portratyed on the Paramount theater’s screen today in “Ladies of the Big House.”
Booth wrote this unusual drama while serving a life sentence in Folsom. It attempts to disclose the souls of those victims who see love and freedom torn from them. Sylvia Sidney and Gene Raymond are the leading characters, and the plot revolves around a killing for which they are unjustly sentenced. In attempting to make this picture as compelling as the life-stories of which Booth writes, Paramount has embellished “Ladies of the Big House” with a cast of stars seldom afforded a single production. Among these stars are Wynne Gibson, Rockliffe Fellows, Earle Foxe, Edna Bennett, Ruth Lyons and Theodor von Eltz.
The Paramount stage presentation features Fanchon and Marco’s “Once Upon a Time” and surrounding items of the program include a Burns-Allen comedy, a “Souvenir” from ancient movies, a song cartoon and the Paramount news-weekly.



Variety carried a story last week that Clara Bow had turned down an offer to go with Ringling Brothers’ circus on the ground that “she will make her come-back through the films when and if Sam Rork obtains what she considers a suitable story.”

January 26, 1932

DIET HARMFUL
Hollywood, Cal. – Jan. 26 (UP)
Marie Prevost and Leila Hyams, motion picture actresses, are confined to a hospital today. Miss Prevost is suffering from the effects of too rigid dieting and Miss Hyams is resting and under observation for intestinal trouble.

ESTELLE TAYLOR CARRIES NECK IN BRACE NOW
Hollywood, Cal. – Jan. 26 (AP)
With her neck in a steel brace, Estelle Taylor, screen actress and former wife of Jack Dempsey, heavyweight boxing champion, today faced an indefinite period in bed in a local hospital. Miss Taylor injured in an automobile accident Christmas, is suffering from a fractured cervical vertebra.

HAROLD LLOYD, JR. HAS BIRTHDAY
Beverly Hills, Cal – Jan. 26 (AP)
Weighing 20 pounds, standing 30 inches tall in height and having two teeth, Harold Lloyd, Jr. yesterday observed his first birthday. Harold Junior was the baby who weighed two pounds and fourteen ounces at birth and spent his early months in an incubator.
Only his father and mother and two sisters, Gloria and Peggy, were present at his birthday party.



From Luella O. Parsons:
That movie play of Harold Lloyd has kept him busy trying to find just the right leading lady. It’s to be a sort of modern Merton of the Movies, and the girl in this picture has far more to do than she ever had in any other of his comedies. Leila Hyams, who not only can act, but is one of the prettiest girls in our town, will be borrowed from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to emote opposite Harold. At least that’s the talk.

SON OF LON CHANEY OFFERED CONTRACT
Hollywood, Cal. – Jan. 26 (AP)
Creighton Chaney, twenty three year old son of the late Lon Chaney, has been offered a film contract by RKO-Radio officials, it became known today.



TRANSGRESSION AT LYRIC
“Transgression,” featuring Kay Francis, Ricardo Cortez, Paul Kavanaugh, and Nance O’Neill, is the feature attraction at the Lyric theater.
From the quiet panorama of an English countryside, the picture moves swiftly to the night life of Paris with its parade of women flirting with the danger of pleasure, and thence to the romantic setting of Spain.
The films was adapted from the novel, The Next Corner, by Kate Jordan.


From Wood Soanes column:
While Hollywood is exporting some of its Mexican beauties to Broadway, it is dipping freely into the European beauty market. Greta Garbo continues, of course, at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer with a new contract imminent and no heavy opposition from the various “contenders.” They continue to “contend” however, and almost every studio has its Garbo in the making.
The advent of Gwili Andre, Danish artists’ model from New York brings to Radio a blonde whose beauty will contrast with the dark stateliness of this lot’s other foreign star, Pola Negri. First National’s entry is Lil Dagover who may return from Germany for more pictures. Universal soon will offer Tala Birell, a Roumanian who has been coached by Laura Hope Crews.
Failing to jostle Garbo from her throne with Marlene Dietrich, Paramount is presenting Sari Maritza, real name Patricia Detring-Nathan, daughter of an English father and an Austrian mother, who was born in China and rose to stardom on the continent, and Fox is banking on Elissa Landi and hoping it can find a vehicle worthy of her talent.

Paramount also announces that George Bancroft is raising a mess of red whiskers to fit his next picture “On the Black Sea,” and that Jeanette Macdonald will make a world concert tour when she completes her next picture with Maurice Chevalier in April.

During the last ten days four new stories have been purchased by Fox films: “Down to Earth” which will be done by Will Rogers; “Little Teacher” for James Dunn and Marian Nixon; “After the Rain” for Sally Eilers and Spencer Tracy, and “Man About Town” with Warner Baxter in mind.

Carl Laemmle sends word now that there will be no shut down now at Universal City. Among other things, Universal is now filming a serial, “The Great Air Mail Mystery” which is to be released in twelve episodes with James Flavin and Lucile Browne co-starred.

January 25, 1932

from Luella O. Parsons:
PARAMOUNT PICKING CAST FOR KAPEK’S R.U.R. PLAY
Los Angeles, Jan.25
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has its Grand Hotel and Paramount will soon have its R.U.R. Every important star on the Paramount lot has been singled out by B.P. Schulberg for a part in Karel Kapek’s robot story. Remember, this is the Theater Guild play which was such a sensation a few years ago.
Rouben Mamoulian, who directed it on the stage, plans to direct it on the screen. The cast for R.U.R will be all-star. Not just one of those make-believe all-star casts, but real headliners. Sylvia Sidney, Fredric March and Phillips Holmes are the first three named, and the other players chosen will be equally well known.


JOCELYN LEE’S BILL IS PAID BY STRANGER

Los Angeles, Jan 25 (UP)
Jocelyn Lee, motion picture actress and former wife of Luther Reed, director, was at liberty today instead of possibly being in jail, through the fact that a court spectator loaned her $8.75.
Miss Lee appeared to face charges of having to pay Olga Wagonlander, her former maid, wages amounting to $8.75. She was fined $100 or 30 days in jail.
When she tearfully protested she had no money, Justice of the Peace Joseph Paul suspended sentence if she would pay the $8.75.
“But I haven’t even got that much your honor,” she wept.
Whereupon a court spectator stepped forward and paid the bill.


MAE MURRAY WINS $32,295 IN HOUSE SUIT

Los Angeles, Jan 25 (UP)
Mae Murray, actress, today had won the final round in her suit to recover damages in connection with the purchase of a house after the State Supreme Court had refused to review the case. She won damages of $32,295 on her complaint that Jack Donavan, architect, and his mother, had misrepresented the house.

MONTGOMERY STARRED AT FOX
A romance marked by frequent wit, stars Robert Montgomery at the Fox Theater this week in “Lover’s Courageous.”
With him in this account of a man who doesn’t know what he wants, are Madge Evans, Roland Young, the comedian, Beryl Mercer in a mother role, Reginald Owen, Alan Mowbray, little Jackie Serle, and Frederick Kerr.
On the screen also are Fox Movietone News, an Our Gang comedy titled “Readin’ and Writin’,” and a travelogue, “Sharks and Swordfish.”

January 24, 1932

FILM RACKETEER DOES NOT DRINK, GAMBLE OR SMOKE
Hollywood, which is prepared for almost anything, is not easily surprised, but it was surprised by James Cagney. The tough young man of “The Public Enemy,” “Smart Money,” and “Blonde Crazy” handed the studio people their first shock when he revealed that he neither drank nor smoked. A little later came another jolt. It was learned that Cagney, in his spare time, was learning the piano, his desire being to attain such proficiency as would enable him to play Bach.
And then when “Smart Money” was in production came the really big surprise. There was to be a gambling scene, and Cagney, appearing on the set to take part in it, said to one of the assistant directors: “You’ll have to explain all of this to me, for I don’t know one card from another.”
“What?” gasped the official, “Don’t you play poker?”
“No.”
“Pinochle?”
“No” repeated the actor firmly.
“Well,” said the assistant director, coming up for air, “there isn’t much to explain so far as the scene goes. All you’ve got to do is hold the cards like you hold the steering wheel of a car.”
“I don’t know how to drive a car,” said Cagney.
That was the climax, for in Hollywood even the six-year-olds drive. People thought at first that Cagney was spoofing them, but it was true.

LEADING ROLES
Charles Farrell and Janet Gaynor will play the leading roles in the Buddy De Sylva picture “Have a Heart,” upon Miss Gaynor’s return from her European vacation. James Dunn, who was originally assigned to the role which Farrell will play, is scheduled to act with Marian Nixon in “Little Teacher.”

EXPERT AVIATOR
Buck Jones is an expert aviator and holds a first-class transport license and served all through the war as flying officer in the U.S. First Air Squadron. Jones is now appearing in “One Man Law.”



NEXT ARLISS FILM
George Arliss’ next starring picture will be “A Successful Calamity,” from the stage play by Clare Kummer, it is announced. Grant Mitchell is the only player definitely selected as yet for the supporting cast, but the picture is in active preparation and rehearsals will begin within the next ten days.

PROMINENT ROLE
Andy Devine has been engaged for an important supporting role in the first starring vehicle for Kay Francis to be made under her new contract with First National. To date other members of the cast are David Manners and Una Merkel. Title of this film has been changed from “Working Wives” to “Pleasure First.”



BANCROFT STARS IN PICTURE AT STRAND
“Rich Man’s Folly” which will be the featured picture at the Strand Theater starting Sunday brings George Bancroft back to the screen after an absence of several months.
Bancroft acts the part of a big shipbuilder, a man of large affairs in the business world and a dominating personality. Robert Ames has the next important role. The leading feminine role is played by Frances Dee, who was leading lady to Chevalier in Playboy of Paris.”
Wheeler and Woolsey are on the program in a two reel comedy “Oh Cleopatra.” Dorothy Burgess is featured with the two comedians.