A new camera carriage has been introduced by its inventor Gregg Toland. It consists of a hydraulic lift and is being used for the first time on ‘The Lady and the Cowboy.’ [Toland, a cinematographer, was under contract to Samuel Goldwyn, and was given great leeway to develop new camera equipment in a lab on their lot. This most recent invention would replace the need for tripods of differing heights. No longer would they have to take the time to transfer the camera from one tripod to another. This new hydraulic one could be lowered to within 20 inches from the ground, or raised to the height of eleven feet].
Boris Morros, music director at Paramount, conducted the L A Symphony Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl tonight for an evening of music of the cinema. Morros has been involved with the Symphonies Under the Stars programs before, but this was his first time conducting.
Writer Delmer Daves and actress Mary Lou Lender wed on this date. He wrote Harold Lloyd’s latest – ‘Professor Beware,’ and she acted in the same. [When Daves was studying law at Stanford, he picked up jobs at studios working behind the scenes, starting with prop work on ‘The Covered Wagon’ in 1923. Rather than using his law degree he decided to continue work in films – becoming an actor – then a writer – and finally a director in 1943. He was one of the writers on the upcoming ‘Love Affair.’ His wife, Mary Lou, dropped out of acting until four years later, adopting the stage name of Mary Lawrence].
Phyllis Brooks refused the lead at 20th Century Fox on the film ‘A Very Practical Joke.’ And was immediately suspended. The studio relates that it was because she could not relate to her co-star Michael Whelan, and was uncomfortable with Ricardo Cortez in his debut turn as director. The actress denied the studio’s explanation, saying only that the project did not fit with her career expectations at this time. [Brooks had just completed a role in ‘Straight, Place, and Show’ with the Ritz Brothers, and her film prior to that ‘Little Miss Broadway,’ starring Shirley Temple, just hit the screens on 7/29. She would be back on the Fox lot for the prison film’ Up the River’ in September].
WB has announced that their project ‘Women in the Wind’ will have its title changed to ‘Dublin By Mistake.’ It will not have Douglas Corrigan, though his mishap has inspired it. Kay Francis has been selected for the part. [The film did get underway in September, but by the time it was released in April 1939, the title changed back to ‘Women in the Wind’].
Bert Lahr has been added to the cast of ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ He will take the role of the lion. [Songwriter E Y ‘Yip” Harburg recommended Lahr for the part. Lahr was then working at Paramount on the film ‘Zaza’].
Josef von Sternberg has left Universal over a disagreement as to payment. He had been promised $75,000 to direct ‘Rio,’ but bowed out when that amount was cut to $60,000. [The outcome was as listed in the July 11 post. It did not commence production until 1939].
German actress and contract player at Columbia, Dolly Haas, has been announced for the lead in Ernst Lubitsch’s first production as an independent producer “The Shop Around the Corner.” [Lubitsch planned to start production in October but the deal failed to materialize. The director took the project with him when he signed with MGM in January 1939. Dolly did not go with the deal. Come time for its production Margaret Sullivan was Lubitsch’s choice for the part].
Margaret Sullivan was then the current front runner to play Scarlett O’Hara.
W C Fields has signed a contract with Universal for his next picture – ‘You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man.’ He also wrote the feature. [Theater managers were chiming in with the complaint that the title was too long for most marquees].
Screenwriter Charles A Logue age 48, dies in Venice CA. Once a New York World reporter, he was also a war correspondent and author before taking up writing for the screen. In 1931 he was the editor in chief at Universal. [Active in film since 1916, first with Famous Players-Lasky (Paramount), then First National (WB, a Rin Tin Tin film), Universal. He finished his career at Columbia].
Producer Edward Small, put in a quandary by the unexpected death of Jack Dunn, has decided to hold off on ‘The Duke of West Point.’ Dunn was to have starred in that film. Instead, Small is considering teaming Jon Hall with Sigrid Gurie in a project to be titled ’South of Pago Pago.’ [The Pago Pago film came out from Small via UA in 1940. Although Jon Hall remained on board, Sigrid Gurie was out, and, depending on the part she would have played, was replaced by either Frances Farmer or Olympe Bradna].
OUTSIDE HOLLYWOOD
Don Ameche has arrived in Paris, France. He has recovered from an emergency appendectomy in Utrecht. He had been encouraged by his studio 20th Century Fox to extend his vacation by visiting the Riviera. [Ameche would be back to work come October when shooting commenced on ‘The Three Musketeers’].
