TWO FAVOURITES

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 151, 23 December 1929, Page 15

TWO FAVOURITES

Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks have been in London, staying, at Brook House, Park Lane, with Lord and Lady Louis Mountbatten, writes the London correspondent of the "Australasian." Their visit has passed almost unnoticed, and yet, only a fewyears ago, when they came here for the first time, enormous crowds followed them wherever they went; they had to appear on the balcony of their hotel, like Koyalty, to acknowledge the vociferous greetings of the hundreds of people who blocked the traffic in defiance of all regulations; they never went anywhere without creating a furore of excitement. The quietness of their present visit is therefore rather remarkable. Perhaps it is because Mary Pickford has cut off her famous curls, although everyone agrees that she looks charming with a shingle. She and Her husband were present, with Lord and Lady Louis Mountbatten, at the first night of Frederick Lonsdalo's new comedy, "Canaries Sometimes Sing," and, curiously enough, Mary Pickford and Lady Louis had both chosen similar frocks and coats, since they wore short white ermine coats over long dresses of black net, and Mary Pickford was heard to complain, in the interval, that long skirts "took some getting used to," and that she was always falling over her flounces! While she was in London Mary Pickford made a British "talkie," surely the shortest on record, for it lasted only two minutes. She went out to Elstrce with her husband and tested the new Blattnerphouc, which may revolutionise the "talkie" film of the future. This invention gives instantaneous sound reproduction, and Douglas Fairbanks was so impressed by it that ho ordered an apparatus to be sent to his Hollywood studios as soon as possible. Mary Pickford recited a short passage from her "talkie" film "Coquette," and heard it reproduced only a few seconds later, instead of waiting all day, as happens in the ordinary way with a talkie film. Although she has made two talkies," Mary Pickford does not like them. She says she has to make them because she is at the mercy of her public; but she declares that acting in a "talkie" is "far too slow and deadening." She admits, though that the "talkies" are still in their infancy, and great mechanical improvements may be made in the future. She and Douglas Fairbanks have just completed a "talkie" film of "The Taming of the Shrew," which is shortly to be produced in London, and it is expected that the two famous film stars will return to London for the first night of the film. It is, according to present plan, to be shown at the London Pavilion, and the first night will probably be a social event of some distinction.