Photoplay (Volume 36 – 37 (Jul. - Dec. 1929)) online

But this was two years ago. Now Vivian is
seen everywhere with Prince Youcca Troubet-
skoi, the blond and handsome Russian. The
princeling has one of the most unusual stories
in Hollywood. Pola Negri was interested in
him several years ago and obtained for him the
leading role in " Flower of the Night." Since
I hen he has been playing extras and bits.

FRANK BORZAGE has a colored
maid who is deeply religious.
Obviously, seekers of work in pictures
sometimes get Frank's telephone
number. On several occasions the
director asked the maid to tell the
caller that he was not in.

Came a day when the maid ap-
proached her employer and said:
"Mr. Borzage, I am a God-fearing
woman, and hereafter when you de-
sires me to tell someone you are not
in, I wish you would step out the
front door. I aims to be truthful."

YOUR little joke (or mine) really doesn't
amount to anything, but when the lilm
colony indulges in a laugh the results are
serious. One morning the papers carried the
announcement of the engagement of \'irginia
Valli and Cedric Gibbons. Was the colony
agog? My deah! Why, wasn't Virginia Valli
practically engaged to Charlie Farrell, e\en if
he had been seen in Janet Gaynor's society?
.And wasn't Gibbons still escorting la belle
.Aileen Pringle to our smartest bowling alleys?
Well, it isn't so at all. It began as a joke at a
dinner party and the newspaper item was the
result.



HERE'S the ultimate,
thing more to add to pictures. M.-G.



There cant be any-
M.
has now introduced the smell-a-tone.

At the opening of " The Holl>'Avood Revue of
1929" at Grauman's Chinese Theater the
audience thought the orange blossom finale
was so realistic that they could actually smell
orange blossoms. Well, they could. A gallon
or so of perfume was put in the ventilators
when the finale flashed on the screen.

NOW that Ian Keith and Ethel Clayton are
formally separated Ian is finding solace in
the company of Dorothy MackaiU who, I
believe, was reported engaged to somebody
else a month or so ago.



But don't let that confound. Dorothy is one
of those swell gals that everybody likes.

Thank Heaven that you and I were born

Into this rich artistic time,
When even the blatting oj a goat

Transcends the art of pantomime!

T) EMEMBER Ora Carew who used to ap-
â– '^pear in Triangle and Paramount films, long
before the infant learned to talk? Ora is back
in town, bent on conquering the speakies.
She has been on the stage, and toured for many
months over a vaudeville circuit.

The surprise element to this little human
interest story is that Ora Carew is now Joana
Hokkan, which sounds very foreign. Produc-
ers will probably be afraid to use her on
account of her accent.

A photograph in a motion picture casting
directory under the new name looks very much
like Ora, and if you want further proof, Ora's
private telephone number is hsted.

But, understand, it's all a deep secret.

T^URNED clever these Frenchmen. Corinne
-'-^ Griffith brought back a sports dress that
has all the other girls green with envy, white
with anger and red with rage.

Corinne puts it on in the morning and plays
tennis. When she gets a little "warmish" —
now don't get ahead of me — she un,hooks the
skirt, and voila, she's aU ready for a swim.

After that the outfit isn't much good for the
rest of the day. A cretonne bag carries a
collapsible sunshade and makeup parapher-
nalia. Why not a folding sxnmming pool to
match?

THE star was in a huff. "Well,
never mind," he said, "I don't
have to stay here at M.-G.-M. Para-
mount wants me."

"Wants you for what?" asked the
director.

"Wants me to stay at M.-G.-M.,"
said the star.



â– XyfARY and Doug, as everybody knows,
■^"•'■making " The Taming of the Shrew," v



are
^making "The Taming of the Shrew," with
Mary playing the shrew and Doug doing the
heavy taming. Well, it looks as though Doug
had done a good job of calming down, all right.
For Mary has just up and presented her lord
and master \vith a new roadster.

It's built like a torpedo, and is guaranteed to
turn out no less than 120 mUes an hour on
demand. Old Cal wishes Doug would give him
the recipe for a little high-class taming on such
terms!

T~\ESPITE the talk that it is easier to crawl
â– '-^through the eye of a needle (and what a
swell stunt that would be for Laurel and
Hardy) than for an unknown buy or girl to
make good in Hollywood, another small town
girl has gone and done it.

Virginia Bruce, a native of Fargo, North
Dakota, has been given a Paramount contract,
after making a distinct impression in a small
role in "Why Bring That Up?" the Moran and
Mack comedy. Her first assignment under her
new contract is in "Woman Trap."

Virginia came to Los Angeles to enter a local
university and wagered that she could get extra
work in the studio. Now the university is minus
a student. She is nineteen years old, a slender,
blonde Lillian Gish type, and a pianiste and
singer of unusual ability.



Westward the Course of Tin-Pan Alley

1 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 94 ]



throughout the production more than any
other song. This is to thoroughly familiarize
fans with it and create a demand.

"Singing in the Rain" will sell over a mil-
lion copies and easily as many records. " Strike

Bjerj advertisement in PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE Ig guaranteed.



Up the Band" probably won't goto 10,000,
if it goes to any fraction of that. To balance
things, studios have made an unique arrange-
ment in financial matters with song-writers.
Unique in the history of song-writing, al-



Photoplay Magazine — Advertising Section



though obvious to members of other businesses.
Prior to the Hollywood era of song-exploita-
tion, song writers were paid strictly on a
royalty basis. Every dollar they were handed
was charged against the financial earnings of
their songs published by the lirm. If the
final accounting showed they had drawn more
than they were entitled, such sums were
charged against future possible royalties. The
writer was in debt for whatever amount was
overdrawn.

npHE new arrangement has made Hollywood
â– '- brighter than any blue heax'en for the com
poser and lyricist. He is paid a salary plus
drawing account against royalties. The total
amount paid the writer is guaranteed to the
iiiiisic publislier by the motion picture producer.

No matter how much money a writer has
drawn, or has been paid — and 'whether his soni;s
have earned a single penny or not — he does not
owe the publisher or producer a cent in the final
statement/

He may draw $10,000 against royalties in
one year and his total earnings in that respect
be no more than $2,500. The following year,
he may still be drawing 510,000 and his royalty
earnings total §40,000.

The music publisher still owes him $30,000!
.\nd he gets it! The balance, supposedly due
the publisher from the preceding year's state-
ment, is not deducted.

Ml such sums are guaranteed, as I have
said, by the motion picture producer. The
film man still feels himself ahead and he is,
for he does not have to pay royalty on theater
box-office receipts to song-writers as do pro-
ducers of legitimate shows. All standard com-
posers and lyricists are paid a percentage of
the show's gross earnings during its entire run.
Jerome Kern, for example, gets three percent
of the total intake at the box-ofiice of any
operetta, revue or musical comedy for which
he has written the music. Vincent Yoimians
and George Gershwin get similar percentages.
Box-office royalties on legitimate attractions
to music and lyric writers range from two to
seven percent. The seven is usually set aside
by theatrical producers for division between
composer, lyricist and librettist.

Hence the savings to motion picture pro-
ducers can easily be seen. The average weekly
envelope for a song-writer attached to a studio
contains S350. In such cases, half is charged
to future royalties and the other half con-
sidered salary. Total weekly checks vary from
$200 weekly 'to $750.

'T'HIS system is now undergoing slight changes
•'• — even to the still greater benefit of the
song-writer. De Sylva, Brown and Henderson,
mentioned several times heretofore simply
because they have been most active in film-
song business, were paid $150,000 in advance
by Fox for the score, book and lyrics of a mu-
sical comedy called "Sunnyside Up," which
is to star Janet Gaynor. This sum was paid
because the boys gave up several offers for
legitimate musicals in New York to remain in
Hollywood. Meanwhile, they will also collect
profits in royalties on all songs written for Fox
productions. This trio had the publication of
the music WTitten by Conrad, Gottler and
Mitchell for Universal's "Broadway."

.\t the present writing, the music publishing
business is in a better position financially since
the advent of radio, when receipts started on
the down-grade. Not in eight years or more
have there been as many songs selling over the
million copy mark.

The first to hit six figures was "Charmaine, "
written as a thematic score song to "What
Price Glory?" by Lew Pollock and Erno
Rappe. Both these gentlemen repeated with
"Diane" for "Seventh Heaven." The first
sensation in theme songs since "^Mickey,"
written for Mabel Normand ten years ago,
was "Ramona" for Dolores del Rio's picture.
L. Wolfe Gilbert, who has been batting out
lyrics as far back as "The Robert E. Lee"
and " My Little Dream Girl, " was responsible
for "Ramona," with JMabel Wayne.



the ce



lebrated



99



Jlre:n^i:




ASTXE Mclaughlin'



Iincls tins new polisli flatters i
lovely lianas



ler



"Today more feminine fash-
ions really demand the flat-
tering brilliance of Cutex
Liquid Polish," she says . .

Tomorrow's fashion is what Irene
Castle McLaughlin is doing today!

That was true even when she was
a mere girl. Today she is called "the
best-dressed woman in America."

She has that gift of achieving chic
in each detail ot her appearance.
Whenever you see her, her hands
are noticeably lovely with their
glimmering, almond-shaped nails,
their clear half moons.

"Women don't realize what a
lovely asset their hands can be
made," she says. "And it is so
simple — in less than two minutes the
new Cutex Liquid Polish gives my
nails the accent I like with today's
feminine fashion."

■ ■ •

Just these three simple things give
your hands a charming femininity —

First — the Cuticle Remover to re-
move dead cuticle to whiten the nail
tips, soften and shape the cuticle.

Second — the Polish Remover to

remove the old polish, followed by
the flattering new Cutex Liquid Pol-
ish that sparkles undimmed.

Third — Cutex Cuticle Cream or
Cuticle Oil around the cuticle and
under the tip of the nail and then a
touch ot Nail White . . . Cutex prep-
arations, 3<;^ each. Unperfumed
Polish and Remover together, 50^.
Perfumed Polish and Remover to-
gether, 60^. Northam Warren, New
York, London, Paris,





"Your manicure stamps you as one who knows — or
does not know," Mrs. McLaughlin insists. " The way
you care /or your nails can change the whole expression
of your hands. Like all people interested in the arts,
I use my hands a lot — that is why I am so particular
to keep my cuticle smooth and my nails polished —
my little Cutex Set is invaluable to me." Cutex prepa-
rations are so easy to secure at all toilet-goods counters.




Mrs. McLaughlin's sensitive expressive hands are noted
for their lovely tiails. Your nails, too, can gain new
beauty — send the coupontoday for generous Cutex samples.

SPECL-iL INTRODUCTORY OFFER— 12 f!



I enclose I2(i for the Cutex Sample Manicure Set,
enough for si)C complete manicures. (If you live in
Canada address P. O. Box 2054, Montreal.)
Northam Warren
Dept. 9-Q-9, 191 Hudson Street, New York, N. Y.



When 3-ou write to advertisers please mention PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE.



lOO



Photoplay Magazine — Advertising Section



I



NDELICATE {



They
newsof




Yet just a light dusting of

Amolin would have guarded

her from their reproach

THE slightest trace of personal odor is an
offense which society refuses to condone.
For this breach of delicacy is avoidable, and
therefore inexcusable.

The use of Amolin, after your bath, is the
final, fastidious gesture. For Amolin is not
only a delightful bath powder, but it is a
delicate deodorizer — guarding your whole-
someness all day long.

Far from merely covering up odor or substi-
tuting one odor for another, Amolin neutralizes
odor. It is complete protection against this
personal intrusion.

Banish any fears that Amolin smothers the
natural function of the pores to exhale im-
purities. It doesn't. What it does is actually to
absorb odors as they arise. .And another virtue
— Amolin, by hastening the evaporation of
perspiration protects rather than harms your
silken lingerie.

You will find a dozen ways of using this
clean, scientific deodoriz^g powder. Sprinkle
it in your lingerie, put it in your slippers,
freshen with it those hard to clean garments,
such as rubber girdles and elastic combinations.
You can be free with its use for it is harmless
and not at all costly. Its fragrance which you
enjoy as you use it, vanishes at once.

So, go dancing, go shopping, play golf or
tennis, do a day's work in a hot office — for
AmoHn used after your bath or sprinkled in
your underclothes will protect you all day long.

If you would like a trial-size can of AmoUn,
send ten cents to The Norwich Pharmacal Co.,
Norwich, N. Y., or /O? Spadina Ave., Toronto.




moim

In tU'O sizes— 30i and 6/)i



li



These earlier songs were, written in New
York, before the music business was made a
collaborator of motion picture production.
Gilbert is now ensconced in Hollywood with
Abel Baer as his partner. Baer wrote "Lilac
Time" with Gilbert for Colleen Moore's pic-
ture and has teamed with him since.

They are also scheduled to write the special
numbers for Paul Whiteman's first movie at
Universal.

XJONE of these "best-sellers" were used vo-
â– ^ ' cally in the pictures for which they were
written. Even the master Irving Berlin melo-
dies are as yet to be heard from the voice of
a screen actor. Probably the first will be
Harry Richman. whose picture for United
Artists will have an entire score written by
Berlin. Berlin, however, has also found new
inspiration, financially and idealistically via
the screen. Both songs sponsored by him have
topped the million mark in sales. His first
was "Marie," for \'ilma Banky in "The Awak-
ening. " The other was " Coquette, " for Mary
Pickford.

Warner Brothers ha\'e been most fortunate
with vocal hits. .Uthough " Sonny Boy " didn't
bring his song pennies to them, "^^m I Blue?",
by Harry .\kst and Grant Clarke from "On
With the Show, " is rapidly mounting the
lists of numbers called for most in music shops.
Metro-tioldwyn-Mayer cleaned up for Jack
Robbins and themselves with "The Broadway
Melody" by ha\'ing three big sellers in the
one show. This is verj' unusual, even for the
best written Broadway revues. "The Broad-
way Melody," "You Were Meant for Me"
and "The Wedding of the Painted Doll" are
all from the score by the same writers, .Arthur
Freed and Nacio Herb Brown.

(Mdly enough, the writers of "The Broad-
way Melody" are probably the only composer-
lyricist team not brought to Hollywood by
producers, .\rthur Freed spent ten years in
Los Angeles, producing musical comedies and
straight dramas which somehow ne\-er cbcked.
Nacio Brown composed melodies for the spas-
modically produced musical shows on the
West Coast, and attained prominence finally
with the "Doll Dance," written for Carter
De Haven's Music Box Revue in Hollywood.

WITH the hits from "The Broadway Mel-
ody, " "Singing in the Rain" from the
"Hollywood Revue" and "The Pagan Love
Song" bringing royalties, the boys ha\e gained
sufficient confidence to embark on a music
publishing business of their own.

The free-lance song-writer has little or no
market in motion pictures. In fact there are
but three known successful ones, and their
connections in the past have made the road
easy. Billy Rose, otherwise famous as Fanny
Brice's husband, is one. Fred Fisher ceases
to be by signing a contract at this wTiting with
M.-C;.-M., and John Milt Hagen is the third.



Hagen was an established vaudeville and revue
writer in New York prior to coming to Holly-
wood, and since has been very successful in
writing the themes for independent firms and
for short subjects.

"TT is also a fact that the very topmost of
â– '-Those Who Rate are still in New York and
evince little desire to join their brothers in A
Paradise for Two — Or More. George Gershwin
has turned down $100,000 to do a picture.
Jerome Kern also remains aloof. Rudolf
Friml, probably the most prolific of living
composers, has succumbed to the wiles of
Sam Goldwyn and will write an operetta for
him.

The field for production writers seems a
set-up for newcomers in New York. That is
for the theater — not for pictures. Harry Ruby
and Bert Kalmar, who have been banging
out book lyrics and scores of shows for years,
were captured by RKO and will write " Radio
Revels" which is to star all the important
names of the National Broadcast System.
Kalmar and Ruby will be placed in an adjoin-
ing cage to Oscar Levant and Sidney Clare,
who have been holding down the entire RKO
lot by themselves and have turned out songs
for three pictures " Street Girl, " " Side-Street, "
and "Half-Marriage."

TN connection with the song-writers are a
-'•few unheard of indi\iduals known profession
ally as "arrangers." Their modesty is not
assumed, neither need they worry about pub-
licity. The average salary of an established
arranger is more than the weekly pay check
issued to most of the song-writers. Arthur Lange .
at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; Yictor Barravallc
at RKO, Louis Silvers at Warners, Leo Forb-
stein at First National, and Arthur Kay at
Fox are said to be paid §1,000 weekly.

However, they have no accrued royalties
coming, unless a composition be one of their
own.

It is these people who are responsible tor the
orchestrations of a song. Their arrangements
can make a poor number sound great and a
great one — rotten.

There is still another feature of the new-
song era that is lovely for the Holl>-vvood
Chamber of Commerce and the members of
the Motion Picture Producers Association.
They are relieved of anj- possible rush to
Hollywood by film-struck song writers. Sim-
ply because the .song-writers are not engaged
by studios in Hollywood — but by publishers
in New York.

It is just as well. Right now it is impossible
to cross the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel
without wading waist-deep through song-
writers. In Hollywood's cafes they get into
your hair.

.\nd that is the solution of why Sid Grau-
man finally got his famous locks sheared.
He knew what was coming.



It Happened in Hollywood



I CONTIN'C'ED FROM P.AGE 67 |
well, sort of stumble on



value. I'm going t
him unawares.

" .Vccidentally. you know. The rest, of
course, will be up to my ingenuity. I shall
sort of — attach myself."

It was e\ident that the lady named for a
Spanish town held a high opinion both of her
ingenuity and her ability to attach herself.

There was an unmistakable rustle from the
table hidden from Peter's \iew — the rustle of
impending departure. Peter shot out the door
behind him — and only when he got into his
own car below — the car he drove himself,_ in
defiance to the unwritten law that all motion
picture stars have one, if not two, chaitffeurs — ■
did fie draw an easy breath. "Watch out for



a lady named SevUlel" said Peter to himself,
and proceeded to do so.

For a week Peter Dunsany went about his
way with a weather eye out for anything
feminine that breathed of Spanish shawls and
castanets. .And for a week nothing even re-
motely suggestive of Spain passed his vision.
Then, being a very busy young man with only
an ordinary opinion of his charms, he quite
forgot about a lady named Se\ille. It was
therefore somewhat of a shock when he looked
up a few evenings later and found her clinging
to the casing of his open door, particularly
since he'd supposed he was in the one place
safe from impromptu visitors.

Not that he recognized her as Seville, of



Ever.v advertisement In PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE is guaranteed.



Photoplay Mac.azine — Advertising Section



loi



course. She didn't give her name. She merely
held on to his door in a vague, bewildered
manner, and stared at him. Peter stared back,
as well he might.

For one thing, he couldn't imagine how she'd
got there. His was the most ditlicult-to-find
home among the Beverly Hills retreats, and
how she'd got past the big iron gates that
locked him away from the highway below
was more than Peter could see. In addition,
hers was anything but the manner of a casual
evening caller. Iv\-en as he stared at her she
wavered and fell inertly across his threshold.

Peter dropped the book he had been reading
and reached her side in three strides. It was
then he saw her torn and crumpled frock and
the dark trickle of blood on her cheek. With
a sharp ejaculation he picked her up. As he
laid her down upon the di\'an where he'd
been reading, her head fell limply sideways.
and Peter, calling Hawley, his man. as he
ran, raced for a stimulant.

AS he tried to force the brandy between her
lips. Peter looked at the girl on his divan.
She was no more than that — a girl. .\s while
.-IS moonlight. As still as death. For a ghastly
moment, he thought she was dead. Then
the opened her eyes.

"It's all right." said Peter, in that reassur-
ing way people have when they're quite sure
it isn't all right. "Drink this."

The girl drank. Then she looked at him —
did she smile? — and said, uncertainly, "Sorry
— I'm afraid — I smashed your gate."

That voice! Vibrant, even in its breath-
lessness. Peter could hear it sajnng, "I'll sort
of — attach myself." He stood up stiffly,
motioning away Hawley who stood, open-
mouthed, in the doorway. So this was the
way she "stumbled on him unawares!" A
decent bit of acting, thought Peter. But it
wouldn't ,go over. Not with him Thank
Heavens, he'd done that bit of listening-in.

He said, curtly. "It's quite all right about
the gate. If you feel better now, I'll send my
man down to your car with you. You have
a car?"

The girl eyed him. "It's smashed." Then,
almost as if she were frightened, "I think —
I'm hurt. My head — "

Peter smiled. "I'm sure your head isn't
permanently injured. Miss Seville. Your name
is Seville, isn't it?"

Her eyes, amazingly blue, as Peter noted,
widened. "Yes — that is — " she broke off, to
innce sharply. Then, ".Vw-fuUy sorry — to
lrt>uble you — but — " Her eyes darkened and
he saw her catch her lip between her teeth,
as if in sudden pain.

The game, tliought Peter Dunsany, had
gone quite far enough. He spoke quietly.
"I'm really not good material, you know, for
a stunt like this. I see too much of it before
the camera. If you are ready now — to go — "

THE girl was paying no attention to him.
She was whimpering hke a hurt child, turn-
ing her head from side to side. When she spoke
again, she panted a Httle. "Hate — being a
baby — but it hurts so — "

Peter's patience had reached its limit.
"Look here." he said firmly, "I know your
game. Y'ou came out here — smashed somehow
through my gate — just to get in. But it won't
work. Privacy isn't just a publicity stunt
with me. And when I want to meet a woman,
I find a way to meet her. The rest of the time
I'm not interested. If your car is smashed,
I'll send you into town in mine. Goodnight."
And he turned to go.

.\ gasp startled him, a sharp, broken gasp.
He turned to see the girl getting to her feet,
clutching a chair to steady herself. "Oh —
you beastly man," she cried. "You think I — "
she swayed, crumpled back on the di\-an again,
all her bravado gone, all her defiance spent.
"Please — please — •" she whimpered. "Oh —
my head — "

Peter regarded her with calculating eyes.
"You do it well," he admitted. "You almost
— but not quite — convince me."





LJespite teeth of
flashing whiteness

NOBOD\^'S IMMUNE*



^'As the penalty for neglect^ 4 out of 5
are Pyorrhed's victims



D



ANGER seems so remote wheu teelh are



ances are deceivinfj. Remember, teeth are only
as healthy as the gums. Aud there is a <lread
disease that ignores teeth and attaeks the