“THE GAY DEFENDER"

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 268, 2 February 1928, Page 17

“THE GAY DEFENDER"

NEW PARAMOUNT PICTURE Three players famous in Mexico City were cast in minor roles in Richard Dix’s new Paramount starring picture, “The Gay Defender.” The story concerns the adventures of Joaquin Murietta. early-day bandit of the California goldfields. Carmen Castilla, operatic soprano, and Valerio Oliva, a graduate of the military college at Ghapultapec, appear as young lovers. Senorita Castilla sang recently at Coronado and the fiesta at Santa Barbara, California. Senor Oliva is a nephew of General Aurelio Blanquette, Minister of War under President Diaz of Mexico. The third Mexican player is Elena De Lai lata, who is said to have played every classic dramatic role in Spanish dramatic literature. Two nieces of Murietta himself recently visited the studio where the picture was being made, called on Dix and met a grandson of a man killed by their adventurous uncle. The kinswomen were Mrs. Hermina Stevens and Mrs. Anita Pruitt, both of Los Angeles, daughters of Antonio Murietta, brother of the outlaw. The man they met is a former prize fighter known as Sailor Sharkey, whose real name is Joseph S. Weimer. Sharkey is tak&s a small part, in the picture.