1935-01-26 — Page 11

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PICTORIAL SUPPLEMENT

THE HONGKONG TELEGRAFHL SATURDAY, JANUARY

DEADLY TERROR OF BRITISH CRIMINALS

ENGLAND'S GREAT PATHOLOGIST

BY MILTON BRONNER.

"Sir Bernard Spilsbury will please take the witness stand."

The clerk of almost any, criminal. court in England is apt to say this in his impassive manner.

A tall, handsome, smooth-faced man. who has been smilingly talking to some detectives, walks briskly for- ward. Now he is very grave and alert. His thin-linned mouth, keen gray eyes, and jutting jaw are noticeable.

The spectators in the courtroom lean forward to catch every word he utters in his quiet, matter-of-fact, scholarly manner, for everybody in England has heard of Sir Bernard.

He is the terror of the criminal, His evidence has had more to do with presenting murderers with hempen neckties than that of a most any other man in the king

dom.

D

Scotland Yard gets busy when murder is committed. in the metropolitan area of London. It also gets busy when asked to do so by police officers outside Lon- doc.

•

MARVEL IN PATHOLOGY

It gathers the clues, shadows the suspects, and finally arrests them "lo be questioned," as the

panera carefully put its

When there is a mystery in the a medical crime, when there is Bernard gets into action with his question that needs solving. Sir microscope, his test tubes, and his

scales. For he is the senior pa- thologist to the Home Office, that department of the British cabinet which controls London's police force, among other things.

Bernard

Many years ago Sir was a junior in the pathologist's office, but called attention to high- self by his remarkablo discoveries In the case of Dr. Crippen, the lit tie doctor who murdered his wife and fled with his paramour to

INDUSTRIALIST

CALLED

BY MILTON BRONNER othera who seldom arc men- "Who is Joseph Rank?"

tioned in the papers. England Put that question to the average | In general rarely knows about Englishman and he is likely to roply

"Rank Rank? Never heard of him."

And yet that same Joseph Rank is probably the richest man now alivo in England.. He is another proof of the fact that this tight Island is still, despite all that has happened since the World War, one of the richest, if not the richest, countries on earth. It is stuffed with millionaires. Remember that "mil- lionaire" in this country means more than it does in America. In Great Britain' it' meang the possessor of one million pounds sterling.

them until they dio and it is announced the British treasury has had another big "windfall.” This means that it has recolved a vast amount of money from death duties. on the man's big estate.

STILL BUSY AT 80 BRAN

оле

Rank is still alive and at 80 is going strong. His is of those success stories that in some aspects parallels that of America's self-made meni

Rank was born at Hull. Fla father owned a small flour mill about 70 years ago, when the bulk of the flour of the land was ground in the picturesque wind- With the names of many of mills which then still dotted the his country'a millionaires the landscape of the country. At average Briton is famillar. They, being paid a tiny atipend, give grandiose parties and aro he started to work for his fa- mentioned in the papers, Or ther.

they donato heavily to famous When his father died, he left charities and are ultimately re-his Hon £500. With that he warded by being given a knight-bought an old stone mill in Hull hood, a baronetcy-or--sometimes which_dizzily-produced--two even a peerage. But there are sacks of four per hour. The

Will Rogers

Clean, Wholesome Pictures Score

Victory.

BY DAN THOMAS

[OLLYWOOD.—Any of you people, who have

H

been laying bets as to who is the outstand

ing star in motion pictures to-day, now can pay off-ar collect, If you're lucky,

..

The correct answer is, Will Rogers.

That's not merely my personal opinion, either. It's the opinion of the combined indpendent ex- hibitors (theatre owners without any studio con- nection to prejudice them) throughout the United States, all of whom were polled in a survey.just completed by the Motion Picture Herald, leading film trade pubilestion.

What a break that is for those who have been campaigning for clean flims! Rogers, who con- sistently has stood for good clean entertainment with plenty of laughs, won in a walk-replacing the late Marie Dressler who had been in first placo for two years. However, despite her death, the grand old lady of the screen was not crowded out entirely. She still ranks among the ten biggest money makers of the year. And that, without a single now picture during 1984,

• *.

HERE'S THE LIST

THE ten leading stars, listed according to their rospective standings In this survey, are:

1. Will Rogers

2. Clarke Gable

3. Janet Gaynor

4. Wallace Beery

5. Alas West

0. Joan Crawford

7. Bing Crosby -

8. Shirley Temple

D. Maria Bressler

10. Normin Shearer

This list shows, among other things, an over Increasing tendency on the part of the American publie to retain old favourites. Only two new names, Crosby and Shirley Temple, are in the line-up. All of the others were among the top leaders Inst year. And many of them were in similar positions two years ago,

•

* „UP FROM 51XTH. PLACE TOWEVER, there has been some juggling of HOWE

positions. Two years ago Rogers was in sixth place. Last year he was second.

Now ho's at the head of the parade. It has taken Gable only one short year to climb from seventh place into his present position."

10Janet Gaynor remains right where she was

Sir Bernard Spilsbury.

Canada, only to be arrosted by cited under the heated, cross-ox- reason of a wireless message the "amination of the lawyers for the first time this 'had ever, boon done, | defence.

MUSEUM HIS HOBBY

SURE OF STATEMENTS

Since then Sir Beraard has Ho tolls' what ha“ knowe, and nover looked back. Ho has made only what he can prove. If there a fine art of his study of criminal ja anything in his investigations pathology. As a result of his long that is a point for the defence, he years of service, he has attached does not conceal it. Such a dis- to his office a criminal museum passionato witness remains un- containing several hundred spool-shaken and unshakable. When he mens, probably the biggest such is through, he goes gladly back to privately owned museum in the his handsome home in one of the world.

northern suburbs of London.

If over a man deserved to be called a nart of medical Sherlock Holmes, it is he

devil. He has a way of demolish- Criminals fear him like the ing all their fine-spun stories. His When the police have a body exhibition of the facts lays thom exhumed, he la there. When the wide-open to the most grilling! coroner holds an inquest in a mys kind of cross-examination when terious death, he is on hand. they dare take the stand in their When the body of a murdered own defence. They are confronted man is placed in the morgue, Sirby data they can't explain away. Bornard comes to take measure 65 years. Nor does his ordinarily Sir Bernard does not look his ments and examine the body.

genial intercourse with his follow- men betray the grim business. he purauca in his working hours, STARTED AS MEDICO

KNOWS KILLERS' WAYS

As a result of his Investigations in many murder cases, ho knows 'how killers go about their work. Added to this is a fino intuitive quality which enables him to re construe, the whole grim tragedy, Then he examines the skull or the bones of the throat, or the heart muscles to see whether facts fit with theory.

In a murder case, the English never proceed on suspicion or with the more hope of making a case. No prosecution is started until the officers are morally cer tain they have a very good case. The police contribute their part and Sir Bernard does his bit.

On the stand he is the perfect witness. He never raisos kia low- pitched voles. He is always cour- teous and fair. His never gets ex

་

He was educated at Oxford Uni- veralty and at St. Mary's Hospital In London. He began his active life as a medico by lecturing at the famous St. Bartholomew's- Hospital on. morbid anatomy and histology.

He was popular with medical students, who attended his course, as is evidenced by the fact that to thom he was "Spils," Some years ago he gave up lecturing because it took up too much of his time. There are many criminals who wish he would retire altogether.

But although he has soveral times spoken of doing so, the Home Office has always persuaded him to hold on. The government dooms him Irreplaceable.

GREAT BRITAIN'S RICHEST

Joseph Rank.

RICHEST MAN

owned six other big flour concerns. Ho got what he wanted and he paid a cool two million pounds in cash for it,

Vust wealth has not changed his habits. He lives in a simple house at Reigate. For years he taught in the Methodist Sunday school. Asked for the secret of his success, he said earnestly:

thrifty Rank saved £0.000 and Flour Millers Ltd., which, in turn, then started another mill in his home town. But, being a wide awake, far-socing young man, he perceived that the day of the old stono grinders was over. He equipped his new mill with the best steam-drives rollers he could afford and began to do business in big way. He was getting a market in London. But It was costly to ship flour to the metro- polis. So he opened a bigger mill in London. He never looked back. Gradually he built big new mills in strategic points all around the laland-Liverpool, Cardiff, South- ampton.. Birkenhead and Belfast over in Ireland.

ง

£2,000,000 DEAL To-day, the man who started with a tiny mill which turned out two sacks of flour per hour, controls mills which turn out 173,000 ancks per week or about 8,000,000 per annum. In other words, his flour alone would glvo bread to one in every seven persons in the British Isles.

A few years ago.he wanted the property of. Associated London

Leads Ten Most Popular

30

"IT I take anything to prayer, I always succeed."

He has been the biggest non- cial asset of the Methodist church in Great Britain. It is estimated that he, has given the church shares in his company valued at £2,000,000. His method of giving is dazzling and princely, A few years ago they showed him the rather poor balance sheet of the Methodist Aged Ministers Fund. His response was to sit down and write out a cheque for £100,000, If. the Methodist church to-day has mission halle in most of England's industrial cities and in the dreary East End of London, it is largely Rank's money which has built them..

1935

PAGE

A picturesque acune from a street in the old town of Jerusalami

This strange fah has attracted much interest in an aquarium oxblbi.

tion in London.

Film Stars Of 1934 TWO-YEAR

Here are the ten leading stars of 1934 ne rovealed by a survey of Independent motion picture ex- itbitors whoso decisions arp,based on drawing power of films and actors. They are, in order of popu larity, and na.numbered aňovo: 1. Will Rogers; 2. Glark Gablo; 3. Jangt. Gaynor; f. Wallace Feory; 6. Mao West; 6. Joan Crawford; 7. Bing Crosby;' 6. Birioy Tomple: D. Marie Dressler; 10. Norma Shearer. Eight of the ten gained similar honors last year. Bing Crosby and Bulriey Templo,,newcome ers, replace Eddis Canter and Jean Harlow.

before. Wally Beery has climbed a notch. Mac West has come up from eighth place. : Joan Crawford has moved up from the tenth rung. And Norma Shearer has slipped, back one step..

Eddle Cantor and Joan Harlow, fourth and sixth respectively last year, have been dropped. from among the ten leaders.

An Interesting feature revealed by a close analysis of these movie lenders is the public's vory doolded preference for laughs rather than

· sati! Rogers is an out and out comedian.

The pictures starring Gable, Beory, West, Temple, Dressler and Shearer have been comedy dramas. Crosby's films have been Inrgely. comedies with musle. Only Gaynor and Craw ford could be considered straight dramatic. actresses.

GOOD, PROSPECTS FOR 1835 00 AND now that we have seen the public's pro- forenes for the past year, as expressed by the number of admissions they bought, ktay

Shirley Temple and Bing Crosby Take Places of Eddie Cantor and

Jean Harlow in List.

CRUISE

Chance For Budding Sailors

Budding British sailors are still

have a look at what kid of screen entertainment eager for experience before the 1935 will hold for us.

24

Winfield Sheehan, boss of the Fox lot; unloaded a few words on this subject to me the athor day..

"Chief characteristics of talking picture entertainment in 1935 will be good music, clean comedy and drama of modern life, all built on strong simple stories of present-day times," remarked Sheehan,

·

"The group of new artists Introduced this past year will continue to establish themselves more strongly in the public favour. These new players, recruited from all nationalities, offor distinct and interesting personalities to the film world.

"The campaign to eliminate certain question- able elements from motion pictures will result in a marked improvement in quality. As a result, I bellove new theatre attendance records will be set."

*

Not a bad outlook, is it? Particularly that Mart about now racorda since they will result only from increased entertainment In pictures. I hope you're right, Mr. Shochan. We can atand it:

DOG FANCIER

West Highland terriers having captured H' practically all honours in both the Dakland and Los Angeles dog shows, Charlie Ruggles now is making plans to send the animals to New York to compete la the National Dog Show this winter.

STRANGERS TOGETHER!

THILE talking with W. C. Fields the other day I discovered that one of his ambitions is to meet Lionel Barrymore. And they Just finished plaving in the same picture, "David Copperfield"! But never once were they on the set at the same time.

"I thought sure that I would have a chance to get acquainted with Barrymore when I was cant In that picture," Fields declared. "But we never met once. In fact, because of the construction of the story, about half of the cast never met the other half, ENGL

Why, Frank Lawton never even met Elisabeth: Facile Allan and the played his mother

mast. Applicants for a crew of 15 have been overwhelming. The ship to the little full-rigged Joséph Conrad, formerly George Stage-of- Copenhagen, which has been fitting out at Lewich. She will be the first fall-rigged ship to fly. the British Bag for many yours, and is the property of Mr. A. J Villiers, the sailor journalist- author, and is being prepared for a. two years' cruise, Hundreds of apprentices were willing to pay $150 for two years Instruction in soamanship. Mr Villiers intends to follow the route taken by Captain James Cook when he sailed round the world in the years 1768-71, the cruise which resulted in adding Australin to the British Empire.

The Joseph Conrad will mall. first to Now York via Madeira. and Bermuda and Mr. Villiers. will there plek up some of his g apprentices. His course is then south to Rio de Janeiro and round Cape Horn to Tabiti, the South Sea Islands, New Zealand; and; Australia through the Torron Strait and to the Cape of Good Hope via the East Indies, and, so home.

The Joseph Conrad is a smaller ship than Captain Cook's En deavour, being of only 203 tons gross compared with 370 tons. She Is 100 feet long and carries every type of sail used in the famous tes clippers of the sixties of last century even the littip

which t

light studding all of canvas

set when

in master and

mates Trom the sites of big Finnfony amiling ahler. The two deck-boys” lesball from pawich and given tho asmont

teon