BORN ON THIS DAY
- Character actor Donald MacBride turned either 49 or 45, all dependent upon which of the birth years listed (1889 or 1892) is correct. Great at playing put-upon authority figures, at this time he is before the cameras at RKO, playing a harried hotel auditor, suffering under the shenanigans of the Marx Brothers in ‘Room Service.’ [MacBride played the same character in the Broadway production. For the film they modified his dialogue by cutting his copious use of the expletive ‘damn.’ Instead he went about proclaiming ‘Jumping Butterballs’].
- And cinematographer John F Seitz added another notch to his years – 46. He built a reputation for moody setups, utilizing low key lighting, and became the highest paid cameraman in Hollywood by 1928. [He had six films to his credit in 1938, including A Christmas Carol, on the release schedule from MGM for Christmas. Ahead he would have ten for 1939 – including ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,’ ‘Sgt Madden,’ ‘The Hardys Ride High,’ and ‘Another Thin Man’].
NEWS AROUND HOLLYWOOD
- It was announced today that a deal was struck between MGM and Selznick (a producer for United Artists) regarding the hottest property in town. Selznick owns the rights to produce a film based on the bestseller by Margaret Mitchell – Gone with the Wind. Selznick will move his entire production crew from his own lot to that of MGM. In exchange he is promised two Metro contract stars – Clark Gable for the Rhett Butler role; and Norma Shearer for that of Scarlett O’Hara. So far, Selznick has invested $300,000, and estimates that it will top off at 1.5 million. He expects to roll cameras before the end of summer. [Though Selznick once announced that the Scarlett role would not go to a famous actress, this mention of Shearer for the part indicated that he was perhaps softening on that notion. Many had auditioned for the role so far in 1938. There were still more to come].
- RKO has cast Ginger Rogers for the title role in the hit musical ‘Irene.’ Originally owned by WB, the rights were acquired by RKO. WB first optioned the 1919 play (which once held the record for the longest run on Broadway) and made a silent film from it in 1926. Pandro Berman has been tapped to produce. [Changes lay ahead for the project, with RKO completing it in 1940. Herbert Wilcox produced it rather than Berman, and it starred Anna Neagle instead of Rogers].
- Adolph Zukor of Paramount has answered Harry Warner’s charge of film hoarding, by denying it, and listing their numerous releases for the rest of the summer. [See 6/20].
- Director Mitchell Leisen is engaged at Paramount, making the latest Jack Benny feature – ‘Artists and Models Abroad.’ A bit of a fashion plate himself, Leisen once appeared on the set for a night club scene, dressed in a maroon velvet tuxedo. On the other hand, he was not loath to dress down, wearing shorts for those hot days on the set. [Leisen was once costume designer for Cecil B DeMille, and later for Doug Fairbanks. For the coming year – 1939 – he would bring to the screen ‘Midnight.’ A film that was selected for the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress].
- Also at Paramount, William Wellman is hard at work on ‘Men with Wings.’ Wellman was the perfect choice for directing aviation films – (he flew with the Lafayette Escadrille in WWI) – and he had garnered the Academy Award for Best Picture for them on Wings in 1930. But he was notoriously difficult to work with. He once ran afoul of Darryl Zanuck, who banished him from the lot. The story goes that when Wellman was directing ‘Nothing Sacred’ for Goldwyn, a scene needed to be shot on a rented stage at Fox. Wellman announced his presence on the lot by tossing a rock through a plate glass window and shouted, “That’s to let Zanuck know I’m back.”
OUTSIDE HOLLYWOOD
Walt Disney receives his Master of Arts degree from Harvard today. Also honored, the governor-general of Canada – Baron Tweedsmuir, was presented with a Doctor of Law degree. (The baron was John Buchan, the novelist – among other things. He wrote the Thirty-Nine Steps in 1915, which had been brought to the screen by Alfred Hitchcock in 1935).