Man Who Made "No, No, Nanette Looks Us Over

Radio Record, 3 July 1936, Page 7

Man Who Made "No, No, Nanette Looks Us Over

CLARENCE BADGER -... -Famous Film Producer In Wellington

( Written for the "Radio Record" )

in the Hotel St. George lounge when I walked in, like the . was such a merry little party skeleton at the feast. Some-

one noticed me and whispered something to Mr. Badger. "A what?" said Mr. Badger, eyeing me a little gloomily. : "A Press man-you know, writes things for newspapers." ~ I was grateful for this particularly lucid explanation, for Mr. Badger’s eye brightened right away and he got up and shook hands. "Now don’t," I said, "tell. me that you think New Zealand would be a great place to establish a film colony. For one thing we don’t believe it-and neither do you. ‘Tell us about Hollywood. ‘Tell us whether Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers really do fight like cat and dog

on the set; tell us about Joan Crawford, and. the wig that’ Bing Crosby’s supposed to wear, and the row that Janet Gaynor had with Fox." . "And I suppose I. may say a word or two about myself?" : Clarence Badger is an

American film director of some standing-he made that excellent talkie, "No, No, Nanette’-and he passed through Wellington last week on his way to Sydney, where he is to direct a Zane Grey film for. Columbia Pictures. Victor Jory is being brought from Hollywood and Nance O’Neill from DPlstree,.so the picture, which is to be called "Rangle River," should have an international flavour. We talked about the coming of the talkies, "I remember the first rumblings ‘of the storm," said Mr.: Badger. "Sam Warner-he died some time ago-invited a crowd of studio executives along to the Warners’ laboratories to see these new "talky-soundy’ films, The whole crowd went thumbs. down on them. ‘My God-never!’ said Adolph Zukor, and walked-out. But the Warner brothers were eonvinced ‘they had something worth while and they worked

hard on it. ‘Maybe this thing we’ve got here will pull us out of the hole,’ said Sam-and believe me, it needed a pretty big something, for Warners were in a fair-sized hole. "And so they worked like ten thousand ‘devils on these new sound films, and soon they were ready to release ‘The Jazz Singer’-the film that had exactly -six spoken words. It went into Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, in Hollywood, and within two days the queues went twice round the block at every session. And did the other studios tear their. hair! ; "Came shekels to the coffers of Warter Brothers-came ‘The Singing Fool." And that picture, the biggest moneymaker ever produced, was just one great big pain in the

neck to the studio. You see, in those days, talkies were made by the Vitaphone: process. The film was actually silent and the sound was on a ' dise like a gramophone record. And, as there was. to method of putting. strips of sound ‘on to the’ record, the

scenes had to be shot in sequence and a complete record made to synchronise with the sceties in the filin. . To-day, with sound:on the film, all the scenes on one set are shot at once, irrespective of where they appedr in the‘picture, and the film is put into its logical sequence in the cutting-room." "And now Technicolor looks as if it’s going to cause ‘the same sort of trouble," I su ggested. ‘ "T'don’t think’ so," Mr. Bad ger replied. _. "very big studio is putting one or two: coloured films on its schedule, but. it will be years before Technicolor films become general, All the information we have from the film head- _ quarters points .to a long life yet for the black and white film." "What's the trend in: pictures in Amer lon at the 79 . moment? (Continued en nex: nage.)

Bound For Sydney To Direct "Rangle River" Zane Grey’ 5 ‘New Film

(Continued from previous page.)

"Well, child stars are more than holding their own. Shirley Temple has stepped into poor old Will Rogers’s shoes as the most popular figure in the talkies. Freddie Bartholomew is. very popular all over America. That may seem strange to you, wheu you consider how utterly unlike the average American child he is. His latest picture, ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy, is making big money. Mr. Badger was met-in Wellington by Mr. Frederick Davies, managing director of National Studios, Limited, where "Rangle River" will be made. The picture will probably take about three months and the estimated cost of. the production is £20,000, .