Motion Picture Daily (Jan-Mar 1934)

unday, February 5, 1934 • MOTION PICTURE DAILY )ubin -Warren nines Already ire Radio Hits Al Dubin and Harry Warren, liters of the screen's most successsongs, collaborated again on the isical score of "Wonder Bar." turnX out six hits for Dick Powell, Kay ancis, Al Jolson, and the Busby rkeley chorus creations. A spelly-planned music campaign is es tablishing the numbers in a national advance build-up, with Guy Lombardo, Paul Whiteman, the Mills Brothers, and other first-raters plugging them. Looking for something different in melodies and lyrics, the writers of the "42nd Street" and "Gold Diggers of 1933" hits produced the title number. "Wonder Bar," as well as "Vive La France," "Don't Say Goodnight," "Goin' to Heaven on a Mule," "WinDo I Dream Those Dreams" and "Tango Del Rio," the latter dedicated to Dolores Del Rio, who dances the number with Ricardo Cortez. In addition to the studio-created tunes, Jolson sings the famous Russian air, "Dark Eyes." wewdek ike, named! Berkeley 's Lavish Spectacles for Wonder Bar StressNovelty 'Wonder Bar' Sets New Style In Screen Fare 1 TfflSh WB Plans Gigantic Easter Send-Off for 'Wonder Bar "Wonder Bar" is the first screen presentation of its type, according to Warner Bros. -First National, the producers. The story, described as "intimate," is said to introduce an entirely new technique in presentation, including the theatre audience as participants in the action. With Al Jolson, master of intimacy, pacing the show, the guests at the "Wonder Bar," a huge Parisian night club and popular rendezvous, sit in and watch the story unfold. It has, according to preview reports, the effect of "taking the audience where everything is happening." The story of DOLORES DEI BI° "Wonder Bar" is based on the famous international play by Karl Farczas and Geza Herczeg, which played in the leading capitals of Europe and was then imported to New York for a long run. Earl Baldwin, one of Hollywood's top-flight scenarists, wrote the screen adaptation of "Wonder Bar" for Warner Bros. Going one better on the imagination which created the spectacles of "42nd Street," "Gold Diggers of 1933," "Footlight Parade" and "Fashions of 1934," Busby Berkeley's innovations for "Wonder Bar's" augmented chorus of beautiful girls will inaugurate another series of "firsts on the screen." To tunes by Al Dubin and Harry Warren, the four hundred girls and one hundred boys in the Berkeley ensembles, together with the stars, do a highly unusual rendition of a modern negro spiritual, "Goin' to Heaven on a Mule" with the whole company in blackface. Berkeley turned out this number, with Al Jolson leading a singing chorus of two hundred voices, as a fitting climax to the picture and his successful stage and screen career. Runs 12 Minutes Also featured in this number is Hal LeRoy, famous young dancer of the "Ziegfeld Follies" and "Strike Me Pink" and the lead in WB's coming "Harold Teen." The "Mule" number Easter Week has been definitely set r Warners for nation-wide pre-release igagements of "Wonder Bar," ac)rding to home office announcement, id selected bookings for this period 'e now being accepted. Preceding lese dates there will be simultaneous orld premieres in New York, Paris, ondon and Vienna on February 21st, > part of a gigantic plan for an allme high in pre-release campaigns. The New York opening at the trand Theatre will be attended by the most elaborate ceremonies ever arranged for a stage or screen premiere. The maiority of the film's stars will come East for the occasion and a nation-wide broadcast from the stage of the Strand will be participated in by celebrities in the audience. Formal dress will be the order and Manhattan's social and theatrical elite will also participate. Seats for the New York opening are scaled at $5 top, with a share of the proceeds to charity. National Plugs To Sell 'Wonder' Film National exploitation tie-ups blanketing the country are now in process of completion by Warner Bros, as advance aids in selling "Wonder Bar" to the public. One of the first big blasts will be via Coca-Cola and its national coverage in dozens of large circulation publications. Other tie-ups will cover all the possibilities for giving exhibitors local coverage through national plugs. Full details will be included in the special merchandising plan now in work by Warners. By Request Kay Francis and Ricardo Cortez, appearing together in "Wonder Bar," are teamed for the third time in recent months. The combine has resulted in an increase of fan mail for both stars and has established them as one of the best-selling duos in pictures. One of the Many Sumptuous Sets in "Wonder Bar" runs for twelve minutes and is regarded as a new high for elegance in construction and imagination in conception. Another featured spectacle is the "Hall of Mirrors," in which the Berkeley beauties are multiplied sixteen times in number by the use of the largest plate glass mirrors ever constructed on the Coast. Berkeley's Reward Then there's the "Pillars of Song" number, with endless rows of huge, gleaming columns forming a stunningly simple setting for intricate chorus routines. Warner Bros, gave Berkeley carte blanche on "Wonder Bar" to exceed all past extravaganzas, and his work has already won for him his first solo directorial job, on "Dames," costarring Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. advertisement advertisement