Newspapers / Zebulon Record (Zebulon, N.C.) / Feb. 26, 1937, edition 1 / Page 12
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f y,e SUOBT ROAD 1 //HOLLYWOOD SUCCESS PIC By Paul Harrison HOLLYWOOD. IN case you haven't noticed, movie shorts are no longer the stepchil dren of the show world. Some of the orve- and two-reel ers are receiving billing, in lights, on the marquees of theaters. Some have been accorded more space than feature pictures in newspaper reviews. Many a well-known player, most notably Robert Taylor, has been brought to at tention by the celluloid brevities. And shorts have developed stars o. their own. Look at Robert Benchley struggling along for years in compara tive anonymity as magazine editor, col umnist and drama critic. Probably nc more than 20.000,000 people knew about Mr. Benchley until he began delivering silly little discourses for the sound cam eras on the love-life of the polyp, and how to sleep, and how to be a detec tive. Today he is known to almost everybody, everywhere in the world. Then there’s Peter Gridley Smith, called Pete for shorts. Mr Smith is no actor, and only his hands, feet and the back of his neck ever have been seen on any screen. Yet he is one of Holly wood’s most widely known celebrities, and he receives more fan mail than the average dramatic star. More, indeed, than Mr Benchley. Carey Wilson, for another example, is a distinguished scenarist with a rec ord of top-notch screen plays ranging in time, from “Ben Hur” to “Mutiny on the Bounty.” Yet the shorts which Mr Wilson now is making have earned him vastly more public attention than all • his strivings in the field of flicker dra maturgy. And so on and on through the dozens of players and producers who have something to do with the 500 or more short subjects which are produced an nually. The list ends with that grand est of all mimes, Mickey Mouse, and his mentor. Walt Disney. The shorts have their stars. About three years ago the single and two-reel pictures seemed well on their way to extinction. l #1 Hlk .. : | r^iiiiiWiF Hk jupSp^^HjMHHHml^H^aPP* Yes, sir, it’s Robert Taylor, performing in a “Crime Does Not Pay” short, which led to fame and fortune. IVEWSREELS and animated cartoons 1 ' were doing all right, of course, but comedies and novelties were tottering. Mack Sennett already had gone out of business; RKO had suspended its brev ities; and Educational had cut down its program to a fraction. The business had been literally smothered in custard pies. About four years ago this correspond ent happened to ask a movie-maker why short subjects were so uniformly bad. He answered frankly, “Because whenever anybody gets a good idea for a short it is expanded into a feature Why, the first all-talking picture ever made, ‘The Lights of New York,’ start ed as a short and grew into a full length film. I hate to think how many others have, too.” But the attitude of studios—most studios, anyway—has changed. Shorts have assumed importance for two rea sons: they’re the best natural enemy of the double-feature program that any body has discovered to date. And they also serve as an excellent proving ground for screen talent that is headed for big time. iHnr 1 JHB* iffllBBWWlBBWillBHHTTriii WiT imn iaBBBH v, -HP*j'' / »fi»«8$&->:':- '• % >yvy• KL«.iiaJt: jjr WMk gn Virginia Grey graduated from short films to impor tant roles in full-length features. Pete Smith, producer and commentator for some of Hollywood’s best shorts, ponders his lines while a fair assistant makes up a canine actor. A Mr. Jack Chertok, head of the shorts department at Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer, where about 80 screen brevities are made each season, said that at his studio these reels are considered impor tant as show windows for new talent. “One picture is worth a thousand tests. Take this comedian, Jerry Ber gen, who incidentally used to be in a vaudeville act with Martha Raye. He has just finished a short here, and chances are he'll be built up for fea ture roles or stardom. He may be worth a million dollars to the studio. “George Murphy is one of my gradu ates. Virginia Grey played opposite him in short subjects, and now Murphy has the lead in ‘Top of the Town’ at Universal, and Miss Grey is to make a picture with Richard Arlen at RKO ” Not bad, indeed. There was poor, discouraged Robert Taylor, kicking around and taking a test now and then, and wondering whether he ought to go back to Nebraska. Executives weren’t sure either. But they put in some of the “Crime Does Not Pay” two-reelers and the theater customers made the de cision. W/HEN Irene Hervey finished her part ” in a short called “A Thrill for Thel ma,” she didn't know that executives had been watching rushes on the film. Three hours later she was assigned the leading feminine role with Chester Morris in “Three Godfathers.” She now is under contract to Columbia. Edward Norris and Harvey Stephens won feature roles in major productions from their work in the “Crime Does Not Pay” dramaettes, each of which tells a complete detective story. Judy Garland and Deanna Durbin both came to attention in a miniature musical called “Every Sunday.” They didn’t come to the attention of M-G-M, though. Miss Garland was a hit in Twentieth Century-Fox’s “Pigskin Pa rade,” and Miss Durbin is being starred by Universal when she isn't perform ing on the radio. Charles Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Wal lace Beery, Gloria Swanson and plenty of other elder stars started in one reelers. So did Patsy Kelly and Joan Blondell. Bing Crosby’s first screen work was in some shorts for Mack Sen nett. Jean Harlow appeared in shorts —short pictures, that is. Miss Harlow's early career also seems to have been the inspiration for a se ries of behind-the-scenes-in-Holly wood pictures which now are being filmed by Carey Wilson. They re about an ambitious extra who has every im aginable break of hard luck, but who finally becomes a star. In the first episode she is shown stud ying hard, trying desperately for a chance. Then she gets what seems to be a big opportunity. She is rushed before the camera, and is all ready to turn on her charm and histrionics when she finds that all they want is a shot of her legs. That actually happened to Miss Harlow. The series continues —a successful extra, then a bit player whose acting is left on the cutting-room floor. Next to featured roles and stardom. For the < leading part in this series of shorts they actually chose a typical extra girl, one Jane Barnes. And they say she may reasonably aspire to the same progress she is enacting on the set. When drama is present in a tabloid movie it’s the celluloid equivalent of the magazine short-short story. In fact, there’s a plan to buy short-shorts for Pete Smith’s filming. Smith didn’t pioneer the novelty short, but he made it what it is today. The pictures which he produces and in which he acts as commentator are shown all over the world and have a profitable life of at least two years ■» longer than the average feature. He isn’t much to look at, but that s only one reason why you don’t see him on the screen. The other reason is that he can’t learn lines and never could learn lines.
Zebulon Record (Zebulon, N.C.)
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Feb. 26, 1937, edition 1
12
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