Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1934)

MOTION PICTURE DAILY Monday, February 5, 1924 Warners 9 'Wonder Bar 9 Cast Sets Multiple Star Record With the largest cast of stars, featured players, and chorus beauties ever gathered in the Warner Bros.First National studios, "Wonder Bar" stacks up as the most overwhelming screen spectacle yet attempted by the company that stood the industry on Kay Francis As She Appears in "Wonder Bar" its collective ear with "Footlight Parade," "Gold Diggers," and "42nd Street." i M Precedent Broken With "make it different" the studio byword, Warner Bros, started building box-office values immediately upon purchase of the story. The studio aimed to break precedent and set records in all departments, as a result of which the talent division comprises a 'Who's Who" of Hollywood's greatest. Kay Francis appears as the glamorous, capricious, amorous Parisian wife ; Al Jolson as the night club entertainer ; Dolores Del Rio as Inez, the exotically alluring night club dancer ; Ricardo Cortez as Inez's partner, "matinee" idol and gigolo; Dick Powell as the young singing band leader; Hal LeRoy as the kid hoofing marvel ; And Ruth Donnelly, Guy Kibbee, Hugh Herbert, Fifi d'Orsay, Kathryn Sergava, Henry O'Neill, Merna Kennedy, Henry Kolker, Mia Ichioka, Pat Wing, Clay Clement and many others in varying dramatic and comedy parts. Chorus Doubled In addition to the marquee personalities, Warners commissioned Busby Berkeley to double his quota of beautiful girls for the ensemble spectacles. Instead of the gorgeous group of two hundred used in "42nd Street," "Gold Diggers of 1933," "Footlight Parade" and "Fashions of 1934," Berkeley put four hundred to work in "Wonder Bar's" imaginative chorus sequences. Warners' fortification of "Wonder Bar" with a long list of selected stars is regarded in Hollywood as indicative of specially keen business foresight, the trade holding that the picture's sale to the public is facilitated for the exhibitor, giving him the greatest opportunity in film history to use the fine art of ballyhoo. Wonder Bar' WorldFamous as Stage Hit "Wonder Bar," Warner Bros, extravaganza to exceed its own successful extravaganzas, was one of the most successful of this century's stage plays in this country, with a two-year road tour, plus a solid sell-out year in New York, behind it. In Europe, "Wonder Bar" set enviable records in Vienna, Paris, Berlin, and London. Director Of "42d Street" Scores Again Lloyd Bacon's record of "box-office champions" is due for an addition, according to preview reports on "Wonder Bar" from Hollywood. Bacon directed "42nd Street," one of 1933's "Ten Best" in the FILM DAILY Poll and a champion for two successive months in MOTION PICTURE HERALD's national box-office survey. Bacon also dilloyd bacon rected "Footlight Parade," which achieved similar "best b. o." renown. In addition to directing two of the industry's most successful musical extravaganzas, Bacon has directed a half dozen of the money-making Joe E. Brown films. 'Wonder Bar' Tango Is New Dance Craze "The Gaucho," something new in the way of dances, is introduced on the screen in "Wonder Bar," Warner musical, by the stellar team of Dolores Del Rio and Ricardo Cortez. Representing a blend of the famous Apache dance of Paris and the Tango of the Argentine, "The Gaucho" is danced to the "Tango Del Rio," a Dubin-Warren melody dedicated tc the beautiful star. Jose Fernandez, coach of the ballet for the Holly wood Bowl's presentation of Ravel'; "Bolero," directed Miss Del Rio ant Cortez. Coast dancing masters are ea thusiastic over the possibilities of thi routine for popular ball-room dancing Mammy J One ton of black grease paint was used by Warner Bros, for the "Goin' To Heaven On A Mule" number of "Wonder Bar." Number marks Al Jolson's return to blackface. New High For Magnificence In 'Wonder Bar9 Settings Film set construction reached a record high during the filming of "Wonder Bar" at Warner Brothers' Burbank studios. The largest indoor construction yet attempted in Hollywood, covering an area equal to two city blocks, was built to house the Busby Berkeley chorus conceptions. The largest set, representing the enormous Parisian night club in which the action of the story transpires, required enough lighting to illuminate a city of twenty thousand people. All four walls of the cafe were constructed in order that cameras might "pan" around to cover the richly dressed patrons as they danced and dined. Five weeks were needed for the shooting of the "Wonder Bar" story sequences. Five additional weeks were taken in filming the elaborately imaginative Berkeley spectacles. All phases of such a night club as the "Wonder Bar" were built into the set, including fifteen rooms, main bar, dance floor, orchestra platform, foyer, kitchens, business offices and dressinj rooms. The art department decorate" the set in modern style and the furni ture was especially created for th picture, even to the seventy-five ba' chairs. The night club set was almos equalled in size by the sets constructe for Busby Berkeley's "Goin' T Heaven On A Mule" and "Hall c Mirrors" ensembles, all the sets fo the picture covering 40 per cent of th affiliated Warner and First Nationi studios' stage space. Special Material for "Bar" A 10-day newspaper fictionization c "Wonder Bar," complete with illu; tration, is being made available i mat form by Warners. Orders ar being accepted at the home office nov Also available is a 10, 15, 20 or 3 minute radio sketch. advertisement advertisement