TALKIES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 167, 31 May 1940, Page 7

TALKIES

REAL VETERANS OF LEGION RARE,, PRODUCER FINDS When Producer-Director William A. Wellman announced his plans to make "Beau Geste" he suddenly found thai Holiy\vood was swarming with men who purported to he actual veterans ol the French !< or-' eign Legion. Wellman, himself a veteran of the Foreign Legion, having served as a (lying legionnaire throughout the World War, advised his personal stall' that he wanted to give preference to former desert daredevils in picking the thousand or more extras for work in the Slim. His secretary duly took the names of all applicants, and her list reached Ihe surprising total of one hundred and thirty-two. That placed Wellman in something of a dilemma Obviously, Wellman couldn't interview all who claimed service in the Legion, yet he was reluctant to pen alise those whose claims were legitimate by just dropping the whole business. lie solved his problem, iinally, in a typically Wellman manner. Summoning Louis van der Eeker, technical adviser on "Beau Geste" and a real veteran of seven years service in the Legion, Wellman gave him these instructions: "Call in twelve of these fellows every day lor next two weeks, lake them out on the back lot and put them through the Legion manual of arms' The results were both chaotic and conclusive. Of the 132 veterans van tier Ecker discovered two who had actually had Foreign Legion service. Charles Townsend and O. M. Steiger. The rest, to put it with brutal candour, were just phonies. The supporting cast of "Bean Geste" is headed by Brian Donlevy. Susan Hayward, J. Carrol Naish, Donald O'Connor and James Stephenson. The picture is based on t.JC novel by P. G. Wren. Robert Garson wrote the screen play. NOTED VILLAIN BLEACHES HAIR FOR NEW ROLE J. Carrol Naish, who has gained a reputation as cne of Hollywood's outstanding villains or heavies —had to bleach his hair for the role which he plays in Paramount's "Beau Geste." Naish, cast as "Ras~ inoff," traitorous "Russian corporal, had to have his hair bleaened because William A. Wellman, who produced and directed the picture, does not believe in darlc-haired Russians. Consequently, Naish became for a week one of the best customers of a beauty salon operated by Wolly Westmore, head of the Paramount make-up department. Eight liour,s in just a single day were spent by the screen menace in a chair at the beauty shop. First he was shampooed. Then the beauty operator smeared his naturally jet hair with a paste mixed from powder compounded of peroxide and ammonia, which was allowed to itmain 45 minutes and then washed off. Naish had fifty-eight of these applications before his hair reached a hue that Wellman regarded as typical Russia. But as far as Naish, personally, was concerned, he said he felt like just another peroxide blonde. NEWS PARS Without doubt, William Boyd has the softest job of any motion picture actor in the film colony. He has just finished his role in Paramount's "The Medicine Show," and retired to his ranch atop' a mountain 45 miles from Hollywood and six miles inland from Malibu Beach. He will not work again until the next Hopalong goes into production, probably in about six months' time. n « 0 m Max Fleischer, who is producing Paramount's "Gulliver's Travels" at the Fleischer Studios in Miami, Flo rida, is a combination artist, producer and inventor. Fleischer is credited with about seventy-five inventions used in the production of animated cartoons. » m m m of nine separate nationalities are working in Para"Diamonds are Dangerous" They include Irish George Brent, Milanese Isa Miranda, American Elizabeth Patterson, and John Loder, Nigel Bruce and Ralph Forbes, who are English. Locale of the picture is South Africa.