TALKIES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 232, 1 November 1940, Page 6

TALKIES

BABIES CRY AT LULLABIES BUT GRIN AT "SWING" William Powell is authority for the statement that modern babies don't want to be serenaded to sleep with old-fashioned lullabies. Nowadays they cravc that red-hot 'swing' music, he declares, adding that this j is the way he found out: j Myrna Loy offered to mind eight-months-rold William Poulsen, playing the child of the two stars in "Another Tliin Man." when the real mother was called off near the end of the picture. Totally unappreciative of his pro tem nurse, young Poulsen started to cry. His two stand-ins, Gary Smith and Gary Hal lock, seeing all the attention he was attracting, joined in.. When Miss Loy's nursery tactics proved a flop, Powell add-libbcd his version of "Roek-a-Bye Baby." That didn't Avork, nor did a lullaby from the famous lips of Miss Loy, So Director Van Dyke II recited "Mother Goose" rhymes. This made the trio bawl all the louder. Miss Loy then tried'symphonic recordings. She played a Nelson Eddy disc. W T hen that failed she started a Caruso recording. In some way the records got mixed and the hot trumpeting of Louie Armstrong blared forth. Myrna quickly changed to AA'hat she thought Avas the right one but it turned out to be Artie Shaw's "One Night Stand." The babies began smiling broadly. "Just a trio of juvenile jitterbugs," grinned Poavcll. "It proA r es that modern babies no longer go for cradles and old-time lullabies." SAY ACTION ESSENTIAL ON SCREEN A revolutionary new technique in motion picture production was used' in the making of Bob Burns' latest UniA r ersal comedy, "Alias the Deacon." The new method is simplicity itself and is based on the theory that the screen is still a visual medium. As a result, Christy Cabanne, Areteran director of "Alias the Deacon" had the players view their work in the daily "rushes" without the sound track. In this A\a\ r , Bob Burns, Mischa Auer, Peggy Moran, Dennis O'Keei'e and other players Avere able to determine for . themselves Avhctliei their pantomiming Avas sufficient-to get oA r er the idea of the scene AA rithout the,aid of dialogue. "We belieA'e dialogue is an important adjunct to a picture, but it is still an adjunct," Cabanne says, "In other words, the players must not depend on dialogue and sound as a substitute for pantomime. And it is amazing how dialogue can bp streamlined and the tempo of a picture speeded up by this method." Cabanne credits his ace cinematographer, Stanley Cortex, brother of the actor-director, Ricardo Cortez, for' developing the new technique. Gortez points out that there were movies long before there Averc talkies, and insists that sound never can replace action on the screen.

ASTA'S FIREPLUG IS BACK 01' the several thousand props that have been used in the series of "Thin Man" pictures, starring William Powell and My ma Loy, the only one "which has lasted through all the productions, the third of which is "Another Thin Man," is Asta's fireplug. A bright-red portable reproduction of the real article, it was bought in the first picture as a gag Christmas present for Asta, (lizzv wire-haired terrier of Nick and Nora Charles, the "thin Man" pair. The gag created such gales of laughter among audiences evervwhere that the red hreplup, automatically became a trade marl: for Asta. It appeared in the second picture and shows up again in "Another Thin Man." HANDY ANSWER Hub Burns supplied an excellent excuse for failing to memorise his lines during the making of his new Universal comedy, "Alias the Deacon." During rehearsal, director Christy Cabannc taxed Burns Avith the temporary lapse. "But if I knew my lines," said Burns, "I'd lose my spontaneity."