LAUGHTON CHOOSES STRANGE ROLE FOR NEXT FILM

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 196, 4 September 1937, Page 10

LAUGHTON CHOOSES STRANGE ROLE FOR NEXT FILM

Charlea Laughton, who has been a Roman emperor, a Tudor king, a Dutcli piainter, a French policeman, a Victorian gentleman, an American butler, an Africaan river king, a Cockney murderer, and two sea captains during the past six seasons, is to play a London street performer in one of his next pictures (writes the London Observer's film correspondent). His part is that of a ''busker" — a mcmber of that strange fmternity of acrobats, reciters, and paper-tearers who earn their living by entertaining the theatre queues. He will have his own little turn, a musical act, and ia serious, very serious recitation of poems. The film, which is at present ealled ''St. Martin's Lane," follows the story of two people, a man and a girl, through the divided worlds of the theatre and the theatre queues, with stage and street life always meeting. It is an original script written for. the sceen by Clemence Dane, "out of nothing,' ' Laughton says — that is, out of an idea that first came to him in the old days when 'he was playing in a West End theatre. His dressing-room window loolced out on to an alley where the gallery queue

nsed to stand, and night after night, as he made up for the, performance, he would hear the buskers doing their turns outside. Three turns to every queue, no more, no less; best place in the bill,.number two turn, worst place. number one. He began to play then with the idea of a film story woven about the lives of these strange people, but • the emperors, and the kings, and the seacaptains always came along and stopped him. Besides, there was a return every now and then to theatre work — a season at the Old Vic., a season in "Peter Pan" at the Palladiuin, Threa Pictures. This- spring, however, he formed, with Erich Pommer, his own producing company ,and threw himself heart and soul into the business of picturemaking. For the moment he has given up all idea of stage acting, althpugh he may go back to the theatre every now and then when the newly formed company is well on its feet, and if he finds the right play — "King Lear" js his ideal. In the meantime he and Pommer have planned three Laughton pictures to be made during the coming year. The order is not yet fixed, but one will be a Somerset Maughan comedy, "The Vessel of Wrath," with Laughton as a beachcomber in Dutch East Indies; another will be "Jamaiea Inn, " with Laughtom as a Cornish wrecker of the nineteenth century, and the third will be his old cherished busker story — a tragi-come.dy, a land of Chaplinesque romance of London's. theatre allevs. As soon as they decided to work on the busker story they called in Clemence Dane, who had worked with Pommer on "Fire Over England" and "Troopship," and the three settled down to an exhaustive and exhausting research into the lives of • street performers. For weeks, night after night, matinee after matinee, they went the rounds of the London queues and the entertainers' pubs, talking to the men, maldug friends with them, taking pliotographs. After 'a couple of months Pommer and Laughton gave it up. Clemence Dane, avid for dialogue, intent on atmosphere, went on alone with the pilgrimage.. Laughton, a very businesslike, executive Laughton, showed me the pliotographs this week in Pommer's office. There were hundreds of them, neatly numbered and labolled. "Buskers' liotel, behind Coliseum." "Dirty street, ncar ". (no - names, no write), "Crowds at All-in Wrestling," "Gallery Queue iu Aldwych," "Stall in Covent Garden Market." Thero wero close-ups of men , women, newsvenrlors. Flashcs of street signs. Studies of individual buskers doing their turns. "Do you know," ko said, "tkat they havo their own languagc — buslcers' language — and tkeir own way of counting, like Italian?" "Its a uxiique organisation," said Pommer, "a kind of freemasonry, tliat ffxisU ia ao other countrr in the

world. They help each other, share their food, meet together for meals." "Wliat's the qualification for being a busker?" "Only to have no money." "And is there any 'jimit to their turns ? ' ' "Each one haa his own special turn; he never changes. You must have seen all of them, There 's the man •who recites Dickens — and ' Borderline, ' as they call him, who does that poem" of Robert Service's. And a man who lies on nails. And escapologists, and fire-eaters. There are a hundred and twenty-five busker turns in the west end." "Have they any grievances?" " Yes, they liate the people who thoughfc up the idea of putting slips of paper on stools to reserve places. It did away with half their custom. Friendly and Cheerful. "But they are very fair people, very friendly and cheerful,'' added Pommer. "Yes," said Laughton, "I was talking to a f ellow once when a blind man came along, tapping the pavement with his stick, and holding out his tin cup and saying, 'Blahnd — blahnd' to the queue. I asked' the busker, 'Isn't that f ellow muscling in on your turn?'' And, he said cheerfully, 'Oh, no, not him. You see, I have the' sympathy of the public behind me.' " I asked them whether they were going to use any of the real busker turns in "St. Martin's Lane," "Oh, yes," said Pommer promptly. "Don't let her print that," cried Laughton in alarm, "or we'll have them flooding us out with applications." "Never mind," said Pommer, "we'll use as many as we can." "How would they know?" I asked Laughton. "They would 'nt read the article, would them?" "Don't you believe it. Things get round the busker world in ten minutes. They know all about C. A. Lejeune. They read all the critics, to find out where the queues are going to be longest. Oh, yes, they. read you ail right." "I hope they like what they read." "Some day," he said blandly, "I'll let them tell you."

Leslie Howard and Joan Blondell have started work on "Stand-in." « * • Grace Moore, in her forthcoming musical production, "I'll Take ltomance," will have Mervyn Douglas as male lead, • « « • Charles Boyer and Claudette Colbert are starring in. "To.vari.ch." * # # Madeleine Carroll ' and Francis Lederer star in "It's All Yqurs." The cast includes Grace "Bradley, Mischa Auer, J. C. Nugent and Connie Boswell. «= # # Janet Gaynor- has been signed by Selznick International for exclusive services. Her first film, "Angel on Broadway," to be made in the fall, will bc in colour. 5