Modern Screen (Jan-Jun 1945)

stepdaughter gets a yen for the sculptor. The rest is catch-as-catch-can until the statue of Jonathan once more loses its head, and Anne loses her heart. — Col. P. S. Irene Dunne has learned to jitterbug! Claims she had the best teacher in the world — her own daughter, Mary Frances Griffin. . . . Requests from overseas servicemen often ask for records. Since it's impossible to send regular discs through the mails because of the breakage, Irene has been recording songs on cardboard discs which are just large enough for a verse and a chorus. . . . Irene has also turned composer and written a song for the WAVES titled ■ Long May They WAVE." She's the first Hollywood star to make U. S. servicewomen her personal concern. When she learned that they are not admitted to many of the canteens in the Celluloid City, she started inviting them to her home for a weekly tea when she is between pictures. THE FUGITIVE Gloria Jean has to cope with the difficult role of a blind girl with supernatural powers, in this new picture. She is more convincing than you might expect. The title role is played by Alan Curtis — a fugitive from the police throughout the picture. Frank Craven, Frank Fenton, Grace McDonald and Minna Gombell give him moral or immoral support, depending on which side of the law they're on. Cliff Banks (Alan Curtis) is a fugitive because he has been innocently involved in a bank robbery. The origin of the involvement dates back a few years to San Francisco. Cliff comes into a night club there, a fresh, cocky kid who thinks he knows all the answers. He falls for the singer, Phyllis (Vivian Austen), who introduces him to a bad hat named Sam Baker. Through Sam, Cliff gets mixed up in a safe cracking job, and after that the cops catch him and pop him into San Quentin for three years. When he comes out, he's determined to go straight. He goes to work in a factory and is leading an upright, if monotonous, existence when whom should he meet on the road to town one day but good old Sam! He gives him a lift to town. He isn't even suspicious when Sam asks him to wait in front of the bank while he cashes a check. It isn't until he hears shots that Cliff realizes he has once more been tricked into taking part in a robbery. The police are hot on his trail, and he's once more a fugitive. Cliff stops in his flight at the ranch of Clem Broderick and his daughter, Jane (Gloria Jean). Jane is blind, but nature has endowed her with senses the rest of us do not possess. Cliff is impressed by her lovely innocence. That night he dreams that he kills Clem and pursues Jane madly across the ranch. He wakes up shuddering and decides to leave before he succumbs to the temptation to make the dream come true. Does he go? Or does Jane's sweetness reform him? This department will be glad to hold the stakes if anyone would care to bet. — Univ. P. S. Gloria rehearsed for her scene, which co-stars a swarm of bees, garbed in netting and a long, tight-fitting robe. In actual shooting she had to brave the swarm with bare arms and legs. Strangely, she dAdn't suffer one sting. . . . Frank Craven celebrated his sixtieth year in the theater by stating he intends to die with his stage make-up on. He's one of America's outstanding collectors of theatrical keepsakes, and on his birthday he was presented with the stage door of the Boston Museum Theater— famous in the 1800's. HOLLYWOOD'S PAN-AMERICAN MUSICAL ROMANCE! Romance rides on the wings of melody and gaiety! Thrill to the new delights of an enchanted land abounding in exciting escapades of dashing vaqueros and dazzling senoritas. REPUBLIC PICTURE