How the Little People Are Responsible for the Success of M

Bidwell McCormick takes you behind the scenes in Hollywood. Many times you have gone to the theatre just as I have, and sat there waiting for the feature picture to come on. And you have probably been bored with the almost endless procession of subtitles, giving screen credits to this person, to that person, and you, like myself, have no doubt said, why don't

they get on with a picture and forget all this introduction. Well, it occurred to me that you might want to know something about these little people, who they are and how they are often just as important to the success of a motion picture as the stars themselves.

So today we are going to take you behind the scenes and tell you how two men were responsible for making certain scenes in a great motion picture fairly live and breathe. Such was the realism of the painted backgrounds they supervised.

Go ahead, Nathan Hale. Okay, Bidwell, I shall be happy to tell of these two men. One is a prominent city planner and the other a well-known architect. Well, in making of David O. Selznick since you went away, William Perry-era, one of the gentlemen and Markley Kirk the other, designed and supervised the construction of three giant

dioramas on a scale never before attempted. Now dioramas are the tremendous painted backdrops which form the background for motion pictures. They're made in the studios when suitable natural backgrounds are not available. These two men created the realistic illusions of depth, of change and of background, which make a motion picture as real as life.

And when a producer attempts to capture both the mood and physical aspect of all America, then you can see he leans heavily on the technicians who will accomplish the task. To men like these goes a great amount of credit for the success and overall technical perfection.