20th Century-Fox Dynamo (August 5, 1939)

12 NEW DYNAMO “HOTEL” AND NEW STAR GET EXHIBS’ HUZZAHS! Only Proper, Sensational Exploitation Of First Cosmopolitan K-7 Special Needed To Get It Off To Record-Smashing Start—“Will Be The Talk Of Every Man’s Town” If “Elsa Maxwell’s Hotel for Women’’ is not one of the sensational box office hits of the year, it will not be because the studio has not delivered one of the most sensa- tional screen stories this industry has seen If “Elsa Maxwell’s Hotel for Women” does not open to sensational business every- where it will be because showmen have not capitalized its unlimited exploitation possi- bilities, for here is the most amazing glamour girl story transferred to the screen since “Flaming Youth.” On those two points everybody who has been privileged to see “Elsa Max- well’s Hotel for Women” in advance of national release are certainly agreed. Here is a production that is definitely “different” from any Zanuck has produced for this company. That much is agreed by exhibitors. However, the contents of the Story are so sensational that only through sensational, vigor- ous exploitation can the studio’s magnificent efforts be fully capi- talized. The studio has handed the trade a gold-mine and on a gold-plate. That “Elsa Maxwell’s Hotel for Women” will be the talk of every community where it is shown is a foregone conclusion, but it deserves to open sensa- tionally—and it will open in that manner provided it is given the substantially ballyhoo it is en- titled to get. In many ways, “Elsa Max- well’s Hotel for Women” is out- standing. It is important, too, because it furnishes this company and its 11,000 exhibitors with a new star —Linda Darnell. Even before the picture was released she was the rave of ex- hibitors who saw her at screen- ings of her first vehicle. As John Hamrick, ace North- west circuit magnate puts it, “Linda Darnell is the most beau- tiful thing I have ever seen and she can act!” He, like other showmen, liken Zanuck’s discovery of Linda Dar- nell to that of Tyrone Power. Take it from a preview audi- ence which reacted with super enthusiasm, and press represen- tatives who went overboard with raves, this company has a smash hit in this production and a sen- sational, new star in Miss Dar- nell. “Elsa Maxwell’s Hotel for Women” was previewed the other night at the Village the- atre in suburban Westwood, reg- istering even greater impress as a surefire box office natural than the reception given this lavish Cosmopolitan production at a “sneak preview” at Pasadena several week ago. The press event drew uproari- ous applause and laughter and edge-of-seat suspense as new personalities and time-proven luminaries unfolded the story of youth and pulchritude in gay Manhattan. Voted a star over night, Miss Darnell’s charm, refreshing beauty and naturalness in one of the year’s acting plums proved a revelation. Scores of Hollywood’s biggest names turned out to pay homage to a great picture and greet a new screen discovery. Two thousand fans assembled outside the Village Theatre to lend a gala atmosphere to “Elsa Maxwell’s Hotel for Women.” Sharing acting laurels were two other new screen personali- IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE RIGHT! I Here is an interesting window display used to exploit Vyvyan Donner’s fourth K-6 Fashion Forecast release in New York. This is the window of the famous Worth & Worth store; note that the concentration here is on the men’s styles introduced in that Technicolor featurette. I ties—Elsa Maxwell herself and lovely Katharine Aldridge—and a host of Hollywood favorites— Ann Sothern, Jean Rogers, Lynn Bari, June Gale, James Ellison, Joyce Compton, John Halliday, Alan Dinehart and Sidney Black- mer—giving the finest perform- ances of their careers. Gregory Ratoff’s direction, Raymond Griffith’s grand job as associate producer, and all other creative and technical phases came in for unstinted praise. “IT IS A SOCKO!” The Hollywood Reporter head- lined “A Socko” and then raved: “Yi-pi! Here’s one for the book. “A glamor picture if there ever was one. Glamor title, glamor story, a glamorous cast and with settings that mount it all in as glamorous a piece of sock entertainment as has been delivered in quite a while. “There are plenty of sensa- tions. First and foremost Linda Darnell, a new face—and what a face, doing her first picture, dis- playing an ability that stamps her as the find of the year. Then there’s the story created by Elsa Maxwell and “Kitty” Scola with the screen play by “Kitty” and Darrell Ware, both sensational; and then, several other perform- ances that rate ‘sensation’ in any rave ; that of Lynn Bari, of John Halliday, of Ann Sothern. And the rest of the supporting cast of boys and girls, men and women, all excellent—and then Elsa Maxwell herself, who stood out like a sore thumb. She’s a bet. “The best thing about the picture from a general in- dustry point of view is the big cast of young people and all of them given opportu- nity. “Linda Darnell! What a beauty, what a trouper—a star over night. She has everything it takes, and how she does give, in this, her first screen performance. She was in fast company with Ann Sothern. And Lynn Bari, really given something up her alley. She, too, has everything it takes. Jean Rogers, another beauty that grabs your eye in almost every scene. And June Gale, really good, and she has plenty of looks, too. “Audiences should go out talk- ing about ‘Elsa Maxwell’s Hotel for Women.’ The picture should hang up swell grosses, returning 20th Century-Fox plenty of dough. But better than the dough, 20th has some great new young players that will pay off a lot of pictures for a long time to come.” DAILY VARIETY Daily Variety enthused: “A picture of exceptional charm and vivid entertainment qualities, capable of a cleanup in the metropolitan first runs and a show which will fascinate women audiences down to the remotest hamlet. Fresh and novel in treatment and in its combination of subject matter, superlatively played and di- rected, smart and scintillating in dialogue and situation, it also has many potent exploitation angles. “Linda Darnell shines with her fresh and vivid allure, her buoy- ant personality, fine, rich voice and capacity for delicate shad- ing of varying moods. “Ann Sothern socks the con- ! HERE'S A SENSATIONAL STORY THAT I SHOULD BE SENSATIONALLY EXPLOITED | * Below are two views from “Stanley And Livingstone”. A ! | more daring undertaking no studio ever ventured. Nothing | j tame about this story, nor about its creation. And there I I should be nothing tame about the exploitation of this dra- * j matization of one of civilization’s most romantic and thrilling j j adventure. Here is a sensational story that should be sensa- { j tionally exploited. To fully capitalize its unlimited box office ! I possibilities, none should feel that an elaborate newspaper I j display advertising campaign alone will serve the purpose, i * Here is a production that should be ballyhooed—and in the f I goo*! old-fashioned, two-fisted, stunt fashion that brought ( I millions of ticket-buyers to motion picture theatres in past I years. “Stanley and Livingstone” has 100 and one ex- ! | ploitable angles, each carrying an exploitation sock that will t j bring out every type of theatregoer. . trasting role. James Ellison plays with convincing emphasis. Jean Rogers makes striking im- pression. Elsa Maxwell, playing her own character, proves quite a trouper. Gregory Ratoff again confirms he is established in the ranks of elite directors. “Raymond Griffith, as associ- ate producer under Darryl F. Zanuck, turns out one of the smartest pieces of audience en- tertainment on the studio pro- gram. Picture is gorgeously pre- sented.” Louella O. Parsons in the Los Angeles Examiner rhapsodized over the picture and hailed the new personalities. “Linda Darnell is so beautiful that it is a joy just to look at her,” said the Examiner story on the preview. “Linda has a beauty that is as breath-taking and glamorous as Hedy La Marr’s when she first appeared in an American movie. I look to see the little Darnell girl soar to the top after she has had more experience.”