Actress Joan Marsh and her dad Charles G Rosher ASC
NEWS AROUND HOLLYWOOD
Cameraman Charles G Rosher was absolved of a judgement against him (reported this day – dates to August 3). Originally $4450 had been awarded to his daughter Joan Marsh for non-support. An L A court ruled that she earns enough on her own. [Rosher divorced Joan’s mother in 1923. He paid $150 a month for her support until she turned 18. At issue was her contention that the monthly allowance was to continue until she turned 21. When the case originally was decided in her favor, he refused to pay and went to jail for a day instead, and appealed the case. Rosher came out to Hollywood in 1911, part of the first wave of studios to do so. He was an Oscar winner for ‘Sunrise’ in 1929, and then one of the highest paid cinematographers. He was currently in the employ of WB. Actress Joan Marsh was 24 in 1938, and had been in films since she was nine months old. Her father had been the preferred cinematographer for Mary Pickford, for whom Joan also worked when she was a toddler. After three films in 1937, Joan had only one film in 1938, and being single at the time, perhaps she was in a bit of a bind].
Studio officials at RKO have changed their minds about bringing the huge Gunga Din unit back to the studio for interior work. The original idea was to pare down their numbers when back in town. Instead they will keep the unit in place at Lone Pine, and within the next two weeks they will add 400 more exras to take part in the planned battle scenes. The decision has added to the headaches of the company manager, Dewey Starkey, especially when it comes to the housing problem. As things stood then every hotel, camp and private room within a 60 mile radius was taken. [Curiously, although over two hundred miles from Los Angeles, they were still within the LA city limits. This was due to the desert land being purchased by the city for its water rights. Another article mentions that street names have been assigned to the area where extras were housed – for white extras, they are on Hollywood Blvd, Sunset and Vine. Native extras were placed on Olvera Street].
A four year old bull by the name of ‘Boots’ has been signed to appear in the next Joe E Brown production (possibly ‘Flirting with Fate’). He will earn $100 per day. ‘Boots’ recently had appeared with Martha Raye (in ’Tropic Holiday’).
Martha Raye cut short a personal appearance tour through the Midwest, joking that she got homesick for Hollywood. She returned with her fiance-accompanist Dave Rose.
Decisions about ‘The Wizard of Oz’ at MGM have been announced – W C Fields was no longer a candidate for the Wizard, and Frank Morgan, Hugh Herbert and Victor Moore were being considered. And Charley Grapewin has been added to the cast to portray Uncle Henry. Grapewin played in a stage version of The Wizard of Oz in 1908.
John “Scat” Davis was voted the best swing trumpeter in the country by the National Jitterbug Society. Davis is under contract to Warner Brothers.
Robert Whaley of Glendale was cleared today by a coroner’s jury of blame in the traffic death of Kenneth Snyder, 34, film stunt man known as Jack Long. The jury decided that Snyder’s death was caused by his own negligence. [See August 7].
Edward G Robinson has signed up for another stint by his studio Warner Brothers.
Jackie Coogan was denied a jury trial in his suit against his mother and step father. [See August 5].
