Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Thursday 13 March 1930, page 12


.MUSICIANS.

Refuse Offer of Work. FOR TALKING FILM.

MELBOURNE, Wednesday.

Owing to the decision of musicians not to play for talking pictures, producers of Aus-tralian talking films have been placed at a .serious disadvantage. The three McDonagh

ulsters, producers of several Australian mi_.\

are unable to procure a professional orchestra for their talking version of "The Cheaters." which has already been made in silent form.

The Musicians" Union has announced that it must maintain its fight against "canned" music, and refuses to allow unemployed mem-bers of the union to take this work. Both ver-sions of "The Cheaters" were to have been entered for the Commonwealth prize. Only tour audible sequences were planned, as there was not time to complete an entire talking ver-sion by March 31, when entries close.

Miss Paulette McDonagh, author of "The Cheaters' and dlrectoress of the picture, and her sister, Isabel, who acts under the name of Marie Lorraine, reached Melbourne on Mon-day, when they applied to Mr. C. Trevelyan (general secretary of the Musicians' Union) for an orchestra. They were informed that no member of the union was permitted to play lor talking pictures. The work of the pro-ducers of "The Cheaters" is now held up tem-porarily, but it is hoped to overcome the diffi-culty in time to allow the picture to be com-pleted by March 31.