Image of the Six Sheet from
The US Thirteenth Hour pressbook. |
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Driving Car Like Old Times for Dix
Richard Dix is happy to have his hands on the steering wheel of a car once again in the movies,
and to tear licketysplit down a highway in an effort to circumvent the villains.
Dix fans who are out of knickers and bobby sox will be happy too,
for they will recall the days when Richard was the hero of the popular auto racing picture,
"The Lucky Devil,"
in which he drove to fame and fortune and won the hand of pretty, blonde Esther Ralston.
The star isn't playing an auto racer in his newest Columbia melodrama,
"The Thirteenth Hour," but he does get a chance to do some swift and fancy driving anyway.
His role in the film is that of a stalwart truckman, who gets mixed up with a mysterious cache of diamonds,
several murders and the inevitable girl.
The girl, in this particular case, is attractive Karen Morley. "The part is more dramatic than the ones
I used to do at Goldwyn's and Paramount. Then, I played devil-may-care, brassy boys who were strong
on wisecracks, and back in some of those early films I made the jokes via printed titles," grinned Dix.
As a matter of fact Dix looks much as he did in the era before sound movies and in the early days of the
talkies, when he starred in such unforgettable films as
"Cimmaron." Dix is just as muscular, just as brisk.
And he is quite as quick as ever with his fists, if one is to judge by the rough and tumble bout he has with
Jim Bannon in "The Thirteenth Hour." "Yes, movies have changed a lot since, as a youngster, I deserted the
stage and started working in Hollywood," Dix said.
Three Sheet Image from
The US 13th Hour pressbook. |
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"The old, ramshackle studios have been replaced by mod-
ern sound-proofed affairs. Cameras have been improved, lighting is better. But one thing is just the
same as ever." At this point, Dix paused and laughed. "I'm talking about this axle grease I've got
smeared over my face, arms and hands. It's just as sticky and smells about as bad as it did in the old days
when I seemed to spend most of my time before the cameras driving a racing car like a bat out of helldorado."
Dix Gets Rare Film
Screen star Richard Dix has one of the most extensive libraries of 16 mm films in Hollywood.
But one picture, "The Christian," in which he appeared with Mae Busch many years ago,
continued to elude him although he searched for it over ten years.
One day on the set of Columbia's "The Thirteenth Hour," Dix received a print of the film from
a fan whose father had formerly managed a theatre and who
had found it stored away in the family garage!
Meet Richard Dix - 'Heap Big Chief'
Richard Dix is known as "Heap Big Chief" around the Columbia studio these
days.
Recently, Princess Konnewe-ho, of the Navajo tribe, visited Dix on the set of "The Thirteenth Hour."
While chatting with Karen Morley, the princess revealed that the Navajos had made Dix an honorary
chieftain of the tribe several years ago, because of his tribute to the American Indian in such of
his earlier starring films as "Redskin" and
"The Vanishing American."
Karen told the members of the Columbia company about Dix's royal title after the princess had left
the lot and it has been "Heap Big Chief" for Richard ever since.
Insert
One Sheet
Title Lobby Card
The small-time trucker refuses to be
Friends fall out as mounting murders
The killer forget his glove...
This image came from
Note the slight differences between the A (left) & B (right) style Half Sheets.