WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1931.
MARX BROTHERS IN REAL LIFE.
THE CHINA MAIL.
MUSIC DRAMA · FILMS.
Harpo Untaught Harpist.
ROUND THE CINEMAS the Devil," "A Woman of Affairs" and "Anna Christie" again handled the megaphone.
GRETA GARBO THE HEROINE
OF "ROMANCE.”
-1
A FAMILY GROUP.
Plymouth, Dec. 31. Three of the Marx Brothers ar rived at Plymouth t-night on their way to London, where they are to head Mr. C. B. Cochran's variety programme, which opens at the Palace Theatre next Monday.
The missing brother was Harpo Marx, who arrives in other liner to-morrow.
an-
The three entertainers were in the children's dining-room of the Paris, surrounded by their families. Groucho is the father of twa boy and a girl.
i..
Chico, the pseudo-italin pianist, i and Zeppo, the juvenile, were alsoj scrompanied by their wives,
But Groucho, who stated that it was eight years since he visit ed Manchester, and that the soot was still in his cars, was a wide ty different man from his screen personality. Rolbed of his moustache and swearing octagonal- shaped spectacles, he looked in his owler hat like a rather unhappy tourist whose only desire was to
go straight home.
Chien, on the other. hand, in hisi green suit and with a cigar stick ing out of his pocket, was exactly wint one would expect."
Rise to Fame.
The story of the Marx families' rise to famie was, as he told it, a romantic one Their grand-|
father, who died at the age of 101, was a conjecer, and his wife was harpist. It was upon her instru- ment that Harpo, the absent brother, whoas real name in Arthur, taught himself to play. Although amazingly proficient on the harp, he has never had lesson in his life.
Groucho
Was once
billed!
ADAPTATION OF STAGE HIT.
of the
Among the hundreds of reasons which have been advanced at one time or another to account for the phenomenal success of Greta Garbo, exclusive of her inimitable person jality and beauty, is that
Swedish star's versatility. Whereas other cinema personalities are con- tent to shine within limited spheres by which they may be recognised as the flapper-type, the sophisticated-
Greta Garbo.
"The Singing Nightingale," type, the romantic-type, etc. und Harpe owes his reputa- Miss Garlo refuses to be cast into tion of being dumb to the fact that a mould and has made it a point to
“WITH BYRD AT THE SOUTH POLE,"
The management of the Central Theatre, receiving many requests, have decided to show to-day and to-morrow only the daring flight of Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd across the South Pole in Para mounts "With Byrd at the South Pole."
screen.
pictorial record been spread on the Never before has such a colourful
film were required to perfect it. ..More than 30 miles of
From the moment Byrd and his intrepid band of ex- Rear-Admiral
plorers
landed in the unknown
region at the "bottom of the world" until they started the final
dangers such as few men have lived through.
Even before this thrilling race started, the Byrd men had to win a race against the terrife cold. The plane had to be made ready. Engine oil, always removed at the end of a flight to keep it from con- gealing in the crankcases, had to be heated to a boiling point in one of the houses. The airplane motora, covered with thick canvas hoods, wore heated by means of gasoline torches placed under them. It took two hours to bring the engines the boiling oil. to the proper degroe of heat to take The temperature was 65 degrees below zero,
When the motors were warmed, a shout, was sent for the oil man.
Such incidents, exciting and real. are parts of the picture Paramount has captured, "With Byrd at the South Pole." Willard Vanderveer, Paramount camera man with the
I
FILM COMPANY'S FAILURE.
Effect of the "Talkies."
The statutory first meetings of the creditors and ahareholders of Apha Film Corporation Ltd., War- dour Street, W., were held at the London Bankruptcy Court.
Mr. H. P. Naunton, Official Re- celver, reported that the company was registered as a private com pany in September. 1928, with a capital of £5,000, to carry on bust. ness as film renters, producers, and film agents. The first direc- tors were Maurice James Wilson and Claude Maurice Marx. Mr. Wilson was appointed managing director at a salary of £600'a year
expedition, says "It was an amazing and £440 a year for expenses, und
Now,
experience to live through. when I see it on the screen. It is more amazing than ever."
"MEN OF THE NORTH,"
"Tuned fists" aro one of the exigencies of talking pictures. When "Men of the North," Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer's dramatic story of the North woods, which will open to-morrow in the Queen's Theatre, was filmed, a fist immersed for ten minutes in warm water did the pounding on a cabin door.
The scene. is that in which Glibert Roland comes upon Barbara Leonard, Arnold Korff, and George Davis in a snow-bound cabin. It was filmed in the snows of Truckee. When Roland pounded on the door, it sounded in the microphone like a club striking the panel.
Investigation proved that the actor's fist, hardened with the cold, was almost as hard as wood. So bafore he pounded again, he had to aoak the fist in warm water to "thaw it until it really sounded like a fist.
The new picture is a dramatic adventure romance of the French Canadian wilds, based on a story by Willard Mack and directed by Hal Roach. The plot circles about the pursuit of a suspected lawbreaker by the Mounted Police and entails
he was accidentally given nothing insist on being given a totally dif. / trek for home, the life they led, the exciting faces on skils and dog-
to say in an early sketch.
Their father, who is a French- man, is coming to London to seu them at the Palace.
There is a fifth brother, known us Gummo, from his habit of wear ing gum boets all the year round, but he has now retired.
PRIMITIVE OBSTACLES IN
ferent characterisation with each succeeding picture.
perienced are in this film for every filming of an avalanche which al- sights they saw, the thrills they ex-aleds. An unusual detail is the
body to wonder and marvel at.
most buries the heroine in the
snow. "The
From the Spanish portrayals of; such early pictures 23 Torrent" and "The Temptress" and the erotic flavour of "Love" and "Flesh and the Devil" Miss Garbo swung to the restrained but highly dramatic characterisation of the maligned British heroine in "A JAVANESE JUNGLES. Woman of Affairs." Followed the oriental atmosphere of wild Orchids," and then, in striking con- trust, the American girl of "The Single Standard." The sophisticat- ed woman of "The Kiss" was her next role, and close upon its heels came the totally unexpected char- Defying all warnings against an acterisation of "Anna Christie." expedition into the unexplored As the latest Indication of her Malay jungles, Ernest B. Schoed-amazing versatility, in "Romance," sack, dare-devil soldier-of-fortune, her second all-talking picture which spent more than a year in the is showing in the Queen's Theatre, "bad-landa" of Sumatra, and Misa Garbo plays the part of an emerged safely with the completed Italian opera singer. film of "Jungle War," an adventure drama for Paramount.
FILMING PICTURE.
When Schoedsack, who
This is the same role played on the stage by Doris Keane in the Co-well-known Edward Sheldon drama directed "Grass" and "Chang," ar- which, following a successful season rived in Java fourteen months ago, in New York, ran for three years in bent upon making a picture in the the Duke of York Theatre in wilderness of Sumatra, Govern- London and was subsequently play- ment, officials tried to dissuade him ed in most of all the large countries from his plan. He was warned throughout the world. The talking that he would have to brave the screen adaptation was made by treacherous part of the jungles, Boss Meredyth and Edwin Justus where heat, disease, force tribes- Mayer, and Clarence Brown who men and tigers stalked the progress directed Miss Garbo in "Flesh and of white men.
Because the story he had written |
for "Jungle War" required the "The Javanese Jungles possess a simultaneous appearance of apes savage aplendour that is impossible and tigers, and because the for to describe," asserts Schoedsack. bidden tropics of Sumatra is the "During our march we often lost only place in the world where both the path because the tropical animals inhabit the same forests, growth had covered it overnight." -Schoedsack deterruined to push the When
expedition through as originally halted for the night, it was neces- the camera-adventurers planned.
asry to build ten colossal fires to The first Gordion knot he was keep the prowling tigers from forced to unravel was the trans-paying unexpected visits, Even portation of twelve tons of equip with the protection of the fire, ment through more than fifty miles Schoedeack was warned by the of impenetrable jungle growth natives to sleep with one eye open This problem was solved by die as a hungry tiger refuses to ba tributing a year's supply of food, daunted by a few burning logs. Alm, medicine and cameras into Each day they averaged a distanco sixty-pound boxes that could be of a scant ten miles because the carried on the heads of Javanese crushing heat, which often reached porters. Securing The notoriously 150 degrees, the tropical rains and work-shy natives to act as carriers, rangled growth cut progress down sent Schoedsack and an interpreter to a snail's pace. At the end of scouting over more than 100 miles the fifth day, the Expedition reach- of jungle to native villages where ed a small clearing in the jungle one by one the Javanese were per-that was to be ta home for more anaded to join the expedition for than a year. Schoedsack super- the unheard-of wage of thirty-eight vised the building of four bamboo cents a day.
huts raised fifteen feet from the At the edge of the jungle, ground, in deference to his majesty Schoedsack and his forty carriers the tiger, and a few rough, tablon halted because the growth was too and benches for furniture. When tangled to permit the march to a special room had been construct continue in single file. Schoedsacked to protect the cameras and film elected four Achinese warriors from the destroying dampness, and from the ranks of the porters to the food supply had been buried start twenty-four hours ahead of and aurrounded by bamboo blades the campaign and beat down a to protect it from the scavenging makeshift path with their war animals, Schoedsacks was ready for Cleavers.
the big job of filming a picture of (Continued at foot of next Column) jungle adventure:
Byrd's race to the South Pole was terrific
Gilbert Roland plays the leading male role and the cast includes Barbara Leonard, Arnold Korff. Robert Elliott, George Davis, Nena Quartaro and Robert Graves, jun.
a race against time, the cold and the appalling terrors of the Antarctic winter. For seven weeks the adventurers waited while claud Then and fog blanketed the sky. came twenty hours of clear weather, The picture presents an innova- and, in these twenty hours, Byrd, tion in the production of talkies, with thres companions, made the having been filmed simultaneously daring flight across the Pole and in five languages. Miss Leonard back to the comparatively safe base. playing the feminine lead in the They covered a distance of 1,680 | English. French, German and miles and, during the flight, faced Itallan versions.
Mr. Marx acted as sales manager with a similar remuneration and Allowance.
by its
The company, it was stated, had been handicapped throughout tack of working capital, and business had only heen carried on through the medium of loans ob- tained from time to time on the security of contracts entered into with the exhibitors, and of bills of exchange accepted by the company. The unsecured creditors' claims amounted to £25,000, including £9,000 due to Mr. Wilson and £1,000 to Mr. Marx, and the former had stated that he had given his personal guarantee to the extent of £6,000 to unsecured creditors. Mr. Stephen Croft, who had been ap- pointed receiver, had stated that go far as he could ascertain there was no prospect of any surplus being available from the. realisa- tion of the assets for the benefit of the unsecured creditors.
The failure of the company was attributed by Mr. Wilson principal- ty to the advent of talking films. A resolution was passed at both meetings appointing Mr. Donald P. Ell chartered accountant, дв liquidator.
YESTERDAY'S SOLUTION"
THANK DETER
SA
TW
ARMED
THE
HONG KONG
PENINSULA HOTEL:
11
HONG KONG HOTEL: REPULSE BAY HOTEL
PEAK HOTEL
AND
SHANGHAI
ASTOR HOUSE: PALACE HOTEL.
HOTELS,
LIMITED
In association with the Grand Hotel des Wagons Lits, Peking.
THE HARBOUR VIEW PRIVATE HOTEL.
9-12, Chatham Road, Kowloom. Finest Situation on the Peninsula. Beneft of the Cool Ben Breeze.
Phone
Tel, 66734.
Large Airy Booms with Fall Unequalled Cuisine.
Proprietress-Mrs. Gardiner.
Cable Add "Harview."
SAVARIN HOUSE
Telephone.
56780
PRIVATE HOTEL.
31-34, Wing Lok Building. 1st floor. ALL MODERN CONVENIENCES. UNPARALLELED CUISINE.
The finest of foods and wines served in the brightest and most attractive surroundings. class orchestra. lusurious lounges.
First-
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Tiffin $1.10.
Tel. Add
gavaria
Hotel Cecil
Furnished with
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B.K.
for ite High-Class Cuisine and Service combined wiha Moderate Tariff. Near shops and theatres. Yet in a pleasing neighbourhood.
Dinner $1.30.
ENCLOSED IN ORIENTAL FERNERY AND EASTERN CHARM,
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SELECT PRIVATE HOTEL.
THE MARBLE HALL
21, Nathan Rd., Kowloon.
Telephone 67089.
to each
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motorists.
Modern rooms
bata. attached
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FROM NOW ON-
-OUR CIGARETTE!
DAILY CROSS-WORD PUZZLE.
(This cross-word puzzle has been made by an expert but our readers are warned to look out for occasional phonetic spellings, such as harbor, plow, and altho.)
13
(8
19
THE
22
FAVOURITE
$16
OF
DISCRIMINATING SMOKERS
· Castler®
THREE CASTLES
CIGARETTES
FAMOUS FOR FIFTY YEARS
30 31
35
39
43
HORIZONTAL 1-Sexsoned with
apicos 6-Tines of a fork 11-Baver violently 12-Pacfidious frland
Othello 13-Preposition - 15-Rubbers for
removing persi). marks
.......
6
12
: HORIZONTAL (Cont) 40-Assumed an
attitude [42-Minerai apring |43–Within. of[44-Type of roof
46-And (Latin) 47-Reverbrated (48-Tumute
50-EN010- 81-Diapers.
17-Goddess of the sarthị
(Gr. Myik.) 18-Clear of 20-Daughter of a sister 21-Cham 22-High: Turkish rules 24-Born (Fr.).
25-Journey
་
28-One of the Cyclades 28-Idle talk
29-US
VERTICAL 'f-Was tenient 2-Pronoun 8-Letter of alphabet' 4-Guin 6-Draw off by dagrees -8-A ́fragment
7-Father of modern
surgery
B-King of Bathan (poss, onso) 20-Rod for beating time: 5-Negative reply
·82-One of the monies 85-At any time. 86-Japanese' cofn 28-Small river-duok 89-Distress signal
10
VERTICAL (Cont.) 17-Mannor of walking |10-Maken weaker
21-Spices of green
planta
|23-Revolving part of a
machine
25-Something that
gives unueunt planeure 27-Mindred 23-Deep, hole 130. At hand
31-River of
-central England. 83-Narrow strip of
woven fabrie 34-Exalted 88-Carala 37-Approxchan
[40-Piece of window
200 41-Prop 10-A vast plain "davold 44-Musso (abbr) of forest, 81berla 46-The June-bud 16-Record the fate of 47-Egyptian sun-god 16-A state of being 49-Topographloat.
sandy
Engineer (abbr)
(The solution of the abode crossmoord puzzle wil appear in to-morrow's "fsane along with a new cross-word puzzle.)
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