Million Theatre for Melbourne

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 104, 23 July 1927, Page 23

Million Theatre for Melbourne

To Seat 4,500 People Union Theatres are contemplating a theatre construction scheme in Melbourne which will involve the expenditure of £ 1,000,000. The company has obtained an option over properties owned by Sir Benjamin and Mr. John Fuller in Bourke Street. Melbourne, which includes the sites on which stand the CJeiety and Bijou Theatres and the Palace Hotel. THE SUN’S Sydney correspondent writes to the Movie Editor: The venture is probably the outcome of the visit of Mr. Stuart F. Doyle to America, where he went to study the latest methods in theatre construction. It is believed that a theatre with a seating caapcity for 4.500 will be built, and in addition a large commercial building will be constructed on the property. “Union Theatres have embarked on an ambitious building programme, and in Sydney the Capitol and State Theatres will be opened in the near future. Work has already commenced on the new Ambassadors Theatre in Perth.”

TO PLAY “A BIT! GEORGE O’BRIEN’S INSTRUCTOR “EAST SIDE. WEST SIDE" Captain Felix Riesenberg, author of “East Side, West Side,” has had a colourful career, but never until his ' book was adapted for a motion pici ture did he try his hand at acting. During the production he was a frequent visitor to Allan Dwan’s set, and he showed great interest in the technical details of making films. One day Mr. Dwan asked him if he would like to play a “bit.” A tutor was needed to instruct the character played by George O’Brien in the mysteries of engineering. Captain Riesenberg said he would like to try it. Most players are nervous when they first appear before the camera, but Captain Riesenberg was quite at home. When Mr. O’Brien asked Captain Riesenberg how long it would take

SCREEN TITLE Hollywood where everyone is related to everyone else by marriage. —Wm. Wiley.

him (Mr. O’Brien) to become a real engineer, the captain smiled and said that it would not take any longer than it would take him (Captain Riesenberg) to become a real actor. Gertrude Ederle, the first woman to swim the English Channel, has been engaged by Jesse L. Lasky to play a role in Bebe Daniel’s next picture, “Swim, Girl, Swim.” One of the big features of this production is a swimming race across the Catalina Channel.

HAD ENOUGH! ADOLPHE MENJOU’S BROTHER RETURNING TO COLLEGE Adolphe Menjou’s younger brother, Henry, has definitely turned his back on the movies. Despite offers from independent producers anxious to use the Menjou

name in their billing, and despite his influential connections in circles, the younger* Menjou has decided to return to college and complete his studies in medicine. In addition to acting as Adolphe’s business manager, Henry has been an actor in several of his brother’s pictures. notably

“Blonde or Brunette ” and more recently, “Service for Ladies.” He would have completed a medical training at Cornell University, but for a youthful restlessness that led him into various lines of endeavour, including school teaching, newspaper reporting, military service with the British Colonial Infantry in the Orient, where he spent seven years, and service in the United States Army in France during the war. Through it all, however, his ambition to be a physician has persisted and so he left by automobile recently for New York and after a summer course in organic chemistry at Columbia University he will enter either the Harvard Medical School or McGill University at Montreal.

Edwin Carewe, producer of the film version of “Resurrection,” is to begin work in August on “Ramona.” Dolores Del Rio is to be starred in this picture.

“The Harvester,” based on one of Gene Stratton-Porter’s novels, is nearing completion in film form. It is being directed by James Leo Meehan, Mrs. Porter’s son-in-iaw.