Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1940)

Page 34 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW October 12, 1940 Dales Shown Are Release Dates This department is primarily intended to convey" im portant information regarding product on which no press book or ad material are available.. Showmen who run pictures pre-release will find it . j> • valuable source. Listings will appear but once. TIN PAN ALLEY 20th Century-Fox Musical Not Set Selling Names: Alice Faye, Betty Grable, Jack Oakie, John Payne, Allen Jenkins, Ben Carter. Director: Walter Lang. Assoc. Producer: Kenneth Macgowan. Story Idea: John Payne and Jack Oakie are aspiring song writers. They meet Alice Faye and Betty Grable, a sister act in vaudeville, and prevail upon them to sing some; of their songs. In this way their songs become famous. Then Payne and Alice fall in love with each other, but the two girls have to leave for a part in a new show in Chicago. Betty and Alice are in London when War breaks out. Payne and Oakie enlist over here and joins the girls just before they cross the channel to France. Catchline: "Romance of the nation's music publishing center." MEET THE MISSUS Republic Comedy Nov. I I Selling Names: Roscoe Karns, Ruth Donnelly, George Ernest, Lois Ranson, Polly Moran, Spencer Charters. Director: Mai St. Clair. Assoc. Producer: Robert North. Story Idea: Roscoe Karns tries to borrow money to save his son, George Ernest from going to jail when he loses the bonds entrusted to him, but he lands in jail himself. Spencer Charters, the grandfather, tries to help by "selling himself" to the rich widow, Polly Moran and getting the money that way. The entire family encounter many difficulties before the lost bonds are recovered, Karns is freed and Polly agrees to let Charters alone. Catchline: 'Among the missing . . . because he didn't want her." DEBUTANTE, INC. RKO-Radio Drama Not Set Selling Names: Kay Francis, James Ellison, Mildred Coles, Nigel Bruce. Director: Frank Woodruff. Producer: Cliff Reid. Story Idea: Kay Francis has lived by her wits for many years, prying money out of millionaires by threats of breach of promise suits. She takes Mildrpd Coles, a starving young girl with unusual beauty and charm, under her wing to use her as bait for wealthy men. Mildred meets James Ellison and they fall in love, but rather than take his money, she runs away. Ellison's mother, Katharine Alexander, brings the young folks together again and promises to find a rich husband for Kav. Catchline: "She found new bait for her wealthy playboys." SANTA FE TRAIL Warner Brothers Drama Not Set Selling Names: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Raymond Massey, Ronald Reagan, Alan Hale, Guinn Williams. Director: Michael Curtiz. Assoc. Producer: Robert Fellows. Storv Idea: After their graduation from West Point, Errol Flynn and his friends are sent to "bloody" Kansas territory to begin their active army service. On the train they meet Henry O'Neill and his daughter, Olivia de Havilland, owners of the great wagon freight lines over the Santa Fe Trail. The fanatical Kansas abolitionist, Raymond Massey, and his followers, have been stealing rifles and causing plenty of bloodshed. Flynn is captured by them and about to be hung, when Olivia's two foremen, Alan Hale and Guinn Williams, bring the soldiers to his rescue. Catchline: "Linking the East and the West by rail." KITTY FOYLE RKO-Radio Drama Nov. 22 Selling Names: Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan, James Craig, Ernest Cossart. Director: Sam Wood. Producer: David Hemptead. Story Idea: Ginger Rogers lives with her father, Ernest Cossart, in a humble Philadelphia district. She meets Dennis Morgan, social big wig; they fall in love and marry. "The family" decrees that Ginger must be groomed and polished and then introduced into the inner circle. Unable to combat all the tradition, Ginger leaves, goes to New York, and there gets an annulment of the marriage. She becomes a successful business woman and eventually marries James Craig, a doctor. Catchline: "The natural history of a woman." SOUTH OF SUEZ Warner Brothers Drama Nov. 16 Selling Names: George Tobias, Lee Patrick, George Brent, Brenda Marshall. Director: Lewis Seiler. Assoc. Producer: William Jacobs. Story Idea: George Tobias, owner of a diamond mine in Central Africa, frames George Brent, his foreman, for the murder of Miles Mander, another mine owner, because of his jealousv of Lee Patrick, his wife. Brent escapes to England with the famous "Star of Africa" diamond, which Tobias is seeking, because there he hopes to deliver it to Brenda Marshall, Mander's daughter. He transfers all his papers of identification to a vagrant's body, hoping thus to escape the police. A weak link in the chain of testimony saves him from being hanged for his own murder. Catchline: "Destined to die for his own murder ... a weak link in the testimony saves him." BURY ME NOT ON THE LONE PRAIRIE Universal Western Not Set Selling Names: Johnny Mack Brown, Fuzzy Knight, Nell O'Day, Kathryn Adams. Director: Ray Taylor. Assoc. Producer: Joseph G. Sanford. Story Idea: Johnny Mack Brown, mining engineer, learns of the killing of his brother and a friend near their gold strike, and sets out to find the killers. Learning of Brown's mission, the killers trail him determined to get him, but Fuzzy Knight, ex-Civil War rookie, is captured instead. Brown sends Kathryn Adams for a posse, while he follows the trail to the hideout and there he holds the killers at bay until the sheriff arrives. Catchline: "He went into action when the killers appeared." PHANTOM OF CHINATOWN Monogram Mystery Oct. 25 Selling Names: Keye Luke, Lotus Long, Grant Withers, Charles Miller. Director: Phil Rosen. Producer: Paul Malvern. Story Idea: Charles Miller, famous explorer, dies when he drinks from the water bottle standing on his lecture table during his talk on his recent expedition. Keye Luke, Chinese detective, learns from Lotus Long, Miller's secretary, that the doctor had found a famous scroll telling of a large oil deposit. Since no outsiders had been informed of the discovery, Luke has to trick one of the members of Miller's company into a confession. Catchline: "Wholesale murder for liquid gold." LOVE THY NEIGHBOR Paramount Comedy Dec. 27 Selling Names: Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Mary Martin, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Theresa Harris. ProducerDirector: Mark Sandrich. Story Idea: Jack Benny and Fred Allen meet when their cars collide, causing a traffic tieup and landing them both in jail — so the feud continues. But Benny has met Mary Martin, Allen's niece, without either one knowing the other's identity. When she finds out who he is, she refuses to see him, but Benny finds ways and means of seeing her in spite of Allen. Helping him are Eddie "Rochester" Anderson and Theresa Harris, Mary's maid. The feud ends when Benny becomes Allen's nephew. Catchline: "The old feud winds up in a blaze of 'gory'." REMEDY FOR RICHES RKO-Radio Drama Nov. 15 Selling Names: Jean Hersholt, Dorothy Lovett, Robert Baldwin, Warren Hull. Director: Erie C. Kenton. Producer: William Stephens. Story Idea: Jean Hersholt saves the people of River's End from investing their savings in a "fake" oil proposition. Being trusting and honest people themselves, they are impressed by the fast-talking Warren Hull, so Hersholt asks Barry Macollum, a friend and expert geologist, to come to the town to confirm the oil findings. Hersholt exposes Hull at the community's bazaar and prevents his escape with all the funds. Catchline: "Dr. Christian's wisdom wins the plaudits of the townspeople." WHO KILLED AUNT MAGGIE? Republic Mystery Oct. 28 Selling Names: John Hubbard, Wendy Barrie, Walter Abel, Mona Barrie, Elizabeth Patterson, Willie Best. Director: Arthur Lubin. Assoc. Producer: Albert J. Cohen. Story Idea: John Hubbard, New York radio advertising man, is called south by a message warning him of his fiancee, Wendy Barrie's danger. She had gone south to visit her aunt, Elizabeth Patterson. When he arrives he„ finds there have been two murders committed and that Wendy is being held by the murderer, in a secret room in the house. Hubbard finds the outer entrance to the room and arrives in time to save Wendy. Catchl^e: "A whodunit that will keep you guessing."