TALKIES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 203, 23 August 1940, Page 3

TALKIES

ACTOR, SONGWRITER, RANCH HAND MICKEY ROQNEY

Asking Mickey Rooney what he does in his "spare time" is like the proverbial bullish waving o£ a red flag. "Spare time?" he hurls back. "What's that?" The young dynamo, busiest young actor in the world"s busiest motion picture l career, is not only a beehive of bustling eneigy, but to his career as actor he has added succcss as a song writer, as orchestra leader, as a half-dozen other things. In addition, he is said to be no mean magazine editor, carpenter and rancher and he has just hung out his sign as a poultry and egg merchant. And he is studying to be a screen director! "You don't think I would just be satisfied to act, do you?" he queries. "No, I believe everyone should have a hobby. And by hobby I don ? t mean something yon work at just when you feel like it—-say, pressing a flower or two once a year. I mean something that keeps your mind alive, that makes you want to get up early on a morning you can stay in bed, that makes you forget you're tired from eight hours in front of a camera. That's what song writing, as one activity, does for me. Sid Miller, who writes the lyricsj and I get together at "thp ranch after dinner and sit .down at. the piano for an hour or two. Maybe we only write a bar of music, maybe wc finish a sohgj.. But anyway. we 'do this consistently, at least three times a week." But when you remind Mickey that he doesn't stop' at song writing, he has his answer right on hand for you. "Sure, I have time for Topper Magazine. That only requires copy reading about three nights a month. I try to read all articles which deal with the motion picture business, letters of praise and criticism on the magazine, also check some of the features,, and then try to map out a few art ideas. 'Topper* is a college magazine, a national, and it interests me to see what boys my age, who have full time for college, want to "read about. "Then my orchestra—George Stoll plays the violin, Dick Paxton, my stand-in and pal, the banjo, Sid the piano and I beat out the dirums-r— comes under recreation. Boy, do we swing out the hot tunes! Lots of times when the crowd comes over to the ranch they turn off the radio and we play for the dancing. Of course, this kind of stunts mv dancing but it gives us practice.'"

GRASS IS REAL IN MOVIE YARDS NOW

Grass seen on motion . picture lawns, once chiefly synthetic, is headed back to nature. The real lawns, however, like the synthetic ones, will be unrolled and tacked down to stage floors or pegged doAvn on the ground like carpets. A neAv development just introduced at Warner Bros for "Secret Enemy" has ma die the us'e of real grass more economical in most ! cases than use of the synethic variety. Taking advantage of the. recent developments in fluid feeding of plants, a method which is revolutionising agriculture, the film company's green-house men produce carpet lawns with strip burlay as a base. The development, which makes possible the replacement of synthetic grass carpets for many uses is, however, a separate one. Its secret lies in the method of storing the carpet for further use. It is stored in rolls in a special moisture conditioned room where the grasjs remains alive, keeps its colour but does not grow. The new system made its bow on a huge English lawn used in "Secret Enemy." Stars Boris Karloff and Margaret Lindsay testified that it's like one of England's famed lawjis —reputed' to be the best in the world!—even though it is inside n huge sound stage and lighted by a battery of "sua arc"' lamps instead of Sol himself.