Hollywood Innovation

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 74, 18 June 1927, Page 23

Hollywood Innovation

“THE QUICKIES!” Inartistic Movies ATTRACT THE BIG STARS TTOLLYWOOD is in the throes of the “quickies,” a motion picture produced in two weeks. This illegitimate offspring of the more dignified feature production manages to get some of the best playersHigh priced men and women with a free week between pictures dc not scorn these s inartistic movies. They are paid more than their regular salaries and often tied up only a week. A Hollywood correspondent, writing by the last mail in reference to “The Quickies,” says:—“When I first heard the glib expression, ‘quickie/ I was intrigued. Norma Talmadga, who had been offered 50,000 dollars to make a series of closeiips with some unknown actress doubling for her in the long shots, mentioned the other to me. Naturally she refused, although with her sense of humour she was greatly entertained at the idea that the producer would be willing to pay her 50,000 dollars for a few hours' work. Her name,

of course, would carry the picture. “I was astonished a few weeks ago that Eugene O’Brien, one of our wellknown leading men, was ’ making a quickie. ‘How can they afford to pay his salary T I asked one of his friends. “ "Easy/ was the reply. "This picture only gave him two weeks’ work. They photographed Gene in closeupn and worked him day and night.’ ” A GOOD INVESTMENT

Not all quickies are mace with the closeups of a star and an extra doubling in the long shots. Some of them employ well-known players for from two to three weeks. Others feature

less expensive talent, but keep the same players all through the production. The quickie is such a good investment that some of our best-known players have invested money in the stock of these producing companies. Harold Lloyd, whose worst enemy would never accuse him of being a spendthrift, thought so well of the idea when it was suggested that he make some two-reel westerns he accepted with alacrity. These two-reel thrillers shir Edward Horton and are made with the best talent of the Lloyd Producing Company. Of course there is no chicanery in these films such as using doubles in place of the star. I learned that 40,000 dollars would cover the entire production, including director, production costs, talent, etc. The returns would bring in not a penny less than 200,000 dollars. You see Harold knew what he was doing when he parted with some of that 6,000,000 which he has saved so carefully against a rainy day. Others of our famous stars are said to be financially interested in several of these film producing companies. Naturally the quickies that Harold Lloyd is interested in are net the fly-by-night variety that uses expensive talent for a single week. His investment is more a matter of two reelers than a bona fide quickie, although they are made in three weeks' time. When Charlie Chaplin’s assets were blazoned forth in print for all to read who were interested in his holdings, the stock of several of those minor companies was listed as Chaplin property. Charlie is another multi-mil-lionaire who, while not in the Harry Lauder class, Is at least not a spendthrift. He must have recognised the value of these investments before he put his money into them. The real quickie is made In “Poverty i«ow.” Oh, yes, Hollywood nas its Poverty Row.- It’s not a tenement district devoted to people who are one step ahead of the sheriff, cither. It consists of rows of neat studios well equipped and a small edition of he more pretentious studios owned by the larger companies. WORK DAY AND NIGHT Stars who take a vacation by doing a quickie have no need to be asham< d of their excursions into Poverty Row. An amateur wouldn’t have a chance, for there are never any retakes and rehearsals are an unknown quantity. The stars, engaged at big salaries, are worked day and night until their particular scenes are completed. The quickie is a godsend in the villages where the high price rentals make the more pretentious motion picture prohibitive. They offer entertainment as replete with thrills, drama and love interest as some of the 450,000 dollar productions. They make no claim to be artistic and no effort to be subtle. They are obviously what they are, the ten, twenty and thirty variety of films. They are to the movie theatres what the old-fashioned stock company was to the local opera. Two film players who leaped to fame almost overnight under the direction Df Raoul Walsh will again be brought before the camera in “Carmen,” one of the most pretentious of recent productions, now being made for Fox Filina. Victor McLaglen, the Captain Flagg, and Dolores Del Rio, the Charmaine of “What Price Glory,” are the two. Nancy Nash and Don Alvarado also will be in the cast. Walsh promises to produce “Carmen” in a manner quite new to the screen. Edwa.rd C. Hill, newspaper man, was sent to Spain a year ago and has assembled wardrobes, photos and notes that will help to “make” the picture.

The charm of Gloria Swanson, plus a dash of Constance Talmadge’s bubbling personality with something in her eyes reminding one of the late Barbara La Marr—thus does Cecil B. De Mille describe his latest candidate for stardom, Elinor Fair, who plays the feminine lead in “The Volga Boatman.’’ Miss Fair first attracted attention in “The Miracle Man,” in which she played the part of the crippled girl when she was hardly more than a child. Parts in “Kismet,” “Driven,” and “Through the Back Door” increased her ability and reputation, and then a series of pictures for Fox gave her her chance.