The Sentinel, v.125 no. 07, 1942

              February 12, 1942. THE SENTINEL
Hollywood-
This week . . . let's Meet the People
behind the Glamor:
In a tiny office on the back lot of
the Goldwyn Studio, amidst debris of
paper walls and backless houses, you'll
meet Irving Sindler, the most famous
prop man in Hollywood. He's the fel-low
who consistently smuggles his
name into every picture he props. That
is now his trade-mark.
Sam Goldwyn, who himself likes a
name display in letters not more than
a foot high, was moved to exclaim,
"Migod. This fellow is everywhere!
Am I featuring Sindler or Goldwyn
pictures?" But he didn't mean it. He
has a soft spot for the man who has.
been with him since 1926. Once, when
a vice-president was resigning, Gold-wyn
said, "We can always spare a vice-president,
but Sindler-without him I
would have to shut down."
Sindler is an unassuming person,
stocky, with a florid complexion and
iron gray hair. But to his brother Mor-ris,
he is a Big Shot. ° Writes Morris:
"Our whole family and all our friends
in New York talk about you. They
say, 'What a great success Irving
makes!' But Irving, couldn't you-for
once-put my name in pictures?"
The fact is-it all started on ac-count
of Morris. Working in a Mary
Pickford silent back in 1925, Irving
noted how a store front on the set
resembled his brotler's business place
in New York. Quick as a flash he
painted the window, "I. Sindler & Com-pany,
Buckles, Buttons, and Braids."
From then ,on it became a game-how
to "sindlerize" every picture.
It is now a contest of wits against
blitz, with the Art staff trying the
blackouts. For instance, in "Raffles"
most of the scenes were indoors-no
place to plaster his label. "Ah!"
laughed the Art boys, "Sindler is
stymied!" Came the last close-up. Raf-fles
picks up his hat. Under it lies a
newspaper . . . the headlines retort,
"Lord Sindler and Son Return from
the South Seas."
When he propped "Adam Had Four
Sons," Gregory Ratoff declared there
would be no "sindlering" with his pic-ture.
Weeks of shooting went by.
Ratoff chuckled, "Well, you wouldn't
get your name in this time, I bet you!"
Sindler shrugged . . . "he hadn't given
it a thought." Comes the last minutes
of the last shot of the last day. Ratoff
is placing his actors. Sindler suggests
moving one of the men three feet to
the right. He is moved, exposing a bill-board
with the glaring wvord, "Reld-nis."
It was Sindler spelled backwards.
Working on "Long Voyage Home,"
Director Ford asserted, "We'll have
no Sindler sign in this epic !" And it
looked as though he was right until
the last fade-out focussed on a news-paper
floating in the oily waters. The
caption read, "Sindler Wins Again."
"Wuthering Heights" was a stickler
-no streets, no stores, billboards-not
a spot. Only one chance-the
cemetery. He hesitated-a bit super-stitious.
"This time Sindler is out!"
the company was snickering. So he
stole into the cemetery one night.
When the "rushes" were run off, the
startled execs saw:
Irving Sindler
1798-1832
He Was a Good Man
Life Magazine printed a spread on
this incident with subsequent reper-cussions.
Sindler, driving home one
evening, bumped another car. Fenders
dented . . . the other driver got angry
. . . threatened reprisals. Sindler of-fered
payment . . . thought his duty
done. Several weeks later Mrs. Sin-ler
was surprised to find the man of
the accident at the door, excitedly wav-ing
a copy of Life. "I'm terribly sorry,
Mrs. Sindler. He was a fine man .. ,,
I shouldn't have been so harsh . . "
She managed to calm him . . . pointed
to the dates on the photo of the tomb-stone
. . . advised him to read the
article.
The "Sindler & Company" became
"& Son" six years ago when his boy
was born. The newer mark appears
most conspicuously on a jeweler's
truck in "Ball of Fire." That, he con-sidered,
was a masterpiece of strategy.
II OUR FILM FOLK
By HELEN ZIGMOND
He gave "Ma Sindler, Homecooking"
credit in "The Westerner." The only
time he is foiled is on the cutting-room
floor . . . but that seldom occurs since
he invariably wedges into an important
spot in the celluloid.
All this, however, is only the lighter
side. History is often a headache. A
period picture means hours of search-ing.
For a recent film tobacco of the
1870's was needed. He supplied Bull
Durham. The actor refused to use it,
declaring it wasn't authentic. Sindler
finally proved that Bull Durham was
first advertised in 1857. For "The
Little Foxes" he had to dig up a Sat-urday
Evening Post and a Ladies Home
Journal of 1895. For a Barbary Coast
setting he had to secure the cards and
chips used in those days. It is his re-sponsibility
to check every article on
the set.
One script called for two London
airline tickets. He tried to find out
what they looked like from English
people, but memories were vague . .
The nearest he got was "something
like theater tickets.' He cabled Lon-don.
Time went on . . . the company
approached the airplane sequence. All
he had for props were a couple of
faked theater tickets. Morning of the
day . . . only an hour left till shooting
time . . . and the package arrivel. The
"tickets" turned out to be little square
books. They cost him a hundred dol-lars
each, but it was worth it to get
the genuine article.
It's also Sindler's job to "bring 'em
back alive." For "Dead End" he had
to find cockroaches, the oversized juicy
ones that photograph clearly. For days
he hunted on ships, around wharfs.
At last he found them in a restaurant,
the name of which he won't divulge.
He put glue on the insects' legs to
make them adhere to walls and slip-pery
surfaces. Between "takes" he
gathered them up like precious'
chickens, and guarded them until all
the needed "shots" wer completed.
Another time he was sent on a po-tato
bug chase. He wandered over
the country-side . . . had most of the
Jap gardeners searching. Five days
and five nights . . . and not a potato
bug in sight. Morning on the sixth
day . . . Eureka! . . . he found it.
Rushing back to the studio, he ex-
(Continued on page 27)