Ads and Oddities #10

 

Ad/Odds: Rudy Remembered, 3-D Early Arrives, and Cleveland Gets Showboat

VALENTINO FOR ALWAYS? --- They promised we’d treasure Rudolph Valentino forever, part-true for at least me and lots reading, but 1926 was then, as in near a century, and I’m wondering what successors were bred off mobs stood hours to get in Campbell’s NY parlor for glimpse of Rudy at rest. This was what gripped me tightest of Irving Schulman’s Valentino bio in 1967. And to think many of those waiting were still with us at the time, while of Rudy wives, Natascha Rambova had but lately passed (1966), and Jean Acker would stay eleven more years, till 1978. Re mass of humanity lining approach to Campbell’s, this being August, and likely hot. So many had to be passed through, and fast. Did even epic mourner Pola Negri get a bum’s rush? If Valentino had such massive following as suggested here, why did The Eagle underperform? He was on the right track for putting humor in his latter films. Tearful line was understood to be mostly women. I’ll assume men present were to escort wives, sisters, mothers even (but try keeping Kenneth Anger away, him born but months after the event). I’ve never waited so long for anything as did these folks. New Yorkers had patience though, for look at lines routinely stood outside Radio City Music Hall, lots knowing admission would be for the show before the one they were lured for. Will movies or stars appearing in them ever command such fealty again? Speaking of distractions along cortege way, observe up-the-street Capitol Theatre, its attraction Buster Keaton in Battling Butler. Were I a standee on that sweltering street, this would tempt me. Why not duck in for a show, especially a Buster show. Not like that choking crowd is going anywhere for a next few hours, and it’s presumably cooler inside. But was it? Did the Capitol have air conditioning in 1926? Fans blowing over ice perhaps to supply “refrigerated air”? Shade alone would make things cooler inside, but keep in mind vacuum sealing crowd you’d be among and rethink it. Looks like I’m well along a time-drift back.

Rudy montages here are again fruit of collector scrapbooks dated back to the idol’s life, then death. I like ripped and raw quality of fan-kept treasure. You took what images were found, be it magazines, newspapers, flyers from theatres. Nothing you’d buy or find was sacred, nor to be kept intact. A Photoplay cover of Valentino was fair game for scissors, job to remove print referring to other subjects so as not to deface your creation with players sub to Rudy. Post-death captioning was rife with we-knew-all-alongs. Plenty claimed clairvoyance after fact of his passing was known. Yes, it was “abetted by overwork,” stills of the Sheik reflecting “terrific strain,” but was there any industry toiler not overworked? The Sheik was where “the silver sheet became the burning sands of Rudy’s greatest triumph,” a straight line and to be admired for being that. Soon enough the late and Latin lover would be camped up by clips of “old-time movie” sort for shorts, needled by irony that was Paramount’s re-selling of The Sheik in 1938, then independents doing as much for The Eagle and Son of the Sheik, the three noteworthy for being among few occasions for silent features to be relevant, if left-handedly so. For that matter, we’d enjoy better his final two if only prints were up to snuff like pristine silent survivors Wings, The Big Parade, limited others. Look how close the scrapbook keeper clips round text. Specimen I show were not yet pasted in albums, being removed from original context, trimmed accordingly, and made ready for book placement, which for whatever reason, did not happen. It was for me to gather up slivers to lay upon scan glass and do my own conception of updated tribute. The caricature of Valentino stood out for being an only such I came across. Was he too much revered to be object of even mild kidding during a brief lifetime? “Cinema-goers … always will revere his romantic memory” says caption, and so I ask, how long did reverence last? The lady in black who stood anniversary vigil at his grave kept coming for decades after 1926, and lest I’m in error, there are still ceremonies in recognition of August 23.

AUDIOSCOPIKS, WHATEVER THEY ARE --- Is half-arse 3-D better than none? Probably no, and I’ve corneal scars to prove it, squint through seventies-eighties effort to convey depth, but too seldom getting it right, or even tolerable. A collector in New York found elements of a Metro “Audioscopik” short and had prints made on red/green stock, plus glasses, for others of us to acquire and enjoy. I ran mine to no little disappointment of most, concluding remark like a chorus, No wonder 3-D died! Who needed stereo views in 1935 outside Grandma’s parlor? There were evidently three Audioscopiks made, the third being one I had, Murder in 3-D (1941), being novel for having a Frankenstein monster designed after model that was Karloff at Universal. Did Leo ask permission? I’m guessing not, cause why would Uni allow a rival to exploit their patented creation? The short itself was entertaining and some of depth effects worked, so all was not lost. It was more/less like flipping through a 60’s comic book or magazine sold with same red/green specs. Remarkable how fast boredom came of those, same now as when I was ten and giving from twelve to thirty-five cents for them. One could ask why Warners hasn’t issued the Audioscopiks on disc, or have they? Were there more than mere three it might work as a set, but how to justify a Blu-ray release, with glasses, for less than thirty minutes of content? Besides, Universal might suddenly awaken to long-ago poach, block release, and launch a million(s) dollar infringement claim. I like how this trade ad anticipates “the next step in box-office history,” if two decades early doing so, no denying Bwana Devil made its own history in 1952 with others to follow. How many more 3-D epochs might we expect? I still burn for TV manufacturers quitting sale of depth sets. What for --- perceived lack of interest? Just wait till 3-D makes yet another comeback …

WHERE THE PLAY’S THE THING --- Ponder please the meaning of truly hard work or define it shorthand by pondering this 1933 Cleveland ad for Showboat road landing on tab terms for what Broadway would still call hinterland play, though no way you’d discount Helen Morgan (above with Irene Dunne) headlining “110 artists including 75 Glorified Ziegfeld Girls.” Picture houses situated well enough, and owned by sufficiently monolithic interests (like Loew’s here), could front a show that for “popular prices” offered entertainment beyond any rival’s capacity. What was Broadway then but feeder to wider patronage that never saw dark of Gotham legit and frankly did not need to so long as companies could be assembled and sent trainward like vaudeville of old. Trouping on Main Stem stage was never like this, Showboat oarsfolk expected to perform four shows on the same day as Cleveland arrival, first of bows not till 2:00, so imagine exhaustion by the time quitting bells rang. Vets of vaude could rise to worse circumstance, but this wasn’t a couple song numbers or skit, Showboat even if shortened a real commitment, the more so with all and sundry compressed. Patrons knew and expected highlights of the musical, and woe betide if favorite moments went missing. I’d assume much of drama was sacrificed to revue aspect of comedy and above all, music. Showboat if anything was spectacular bonus to the featured movie ordinarily traded for price of admission, though I suspect Hot Pepper was more/less a chaser, considering junior placement on the State’s ad and excitement surrounding Showboat. Here was where management, certainly Loew’s booker, would insist on flat rental, Showboat an expensive proposition and whatever percentage was paid going to the play’s ownership. Who knows but what Showboat pleased better on ninety or so minute basis, scheduled times as announced in the ad a little over three hours apart, with Hot Pepper running 76 minutes for total to rest comfortably within time allowed. Factoring a newsreel, shorts, overtures, etc. would be added, these flexible, even disposable due to specialness of Showboat.