Modern Screen (Jan-Nov 1944)

don't find de luxe dates Jf falling from trees ... So you make each one count . . . You wear your best dress, your slickest hairdo and jack up the feminine charm . . . Why not use the same common sense about Bob Pins? You can't count yours by the dozens, anymore than you can count your men that way — for a while, anyway. So use De£ow/ Bob Pins because they hold that line! They have a Stronger Qrip, a longer life— and when you can't have quantity, you've got to have Delong quality. Stronger Grip "Won't Slip Out Quality Manufacturers for Over 50 years BOB PINS HAIR PINS SAFETY PINS SNAP FASTENERS STRAIGHT PINS HOOKS a EYES HOOK a EYE TAPES SANITARY BELTS AMERICAN ROMANCE Do you believe in America? Of course you do, in a take-it-for-granted sort of way. But would you walk from New York City to Minnesota to prove your belief? That's what Steve Dangos, Czech immigrant, does in M-G-M's powerful Technicolor drama. Brian Donlevy plays Steve with all the dynamic vitality that the part demands. This is an imagination-stirring picture of America, land of opportunity. I know you'll like it. Steve lands at Ellis Island in 1893 with four dollars in his pocket. Ordinarily, the authorities demand that you have $25 for admittance, but they are impressed by Steve's faith in this new land. They let him in. Steve hikes all the way to Minnesota where his cousin Anton will get him a job as a miner. On the way he learns some broken English, is more convinced than ever that America is the country for him. He goes to work in the mine, but unlike most of the other miners, he has an intense curiosity about all its workings. "Where does the ore go from here?" he demands. "Chicago, me lad," an Irishman tells him. "Chee-car-go. Yah. I will go there some day," says Steve seriously. And go he does, leaving pretty Annie O'Rourke (Ann Richards) to follow later and become Mrs. Steve Dangos. By then Steve is foreman in a steel mill. He is making enough to rent a tiny cottage. Enough so that the five children who arrive in rapid succession can go to school and pursue the careers they want. Ambition drives Steve constantly, but he remains devoted to his family. It is a sad day when his oldest son is killed in World War I. But Steve squares his broad shoulders, and in memory of George, studies harder to become an American citizen. The day of the automobile has arrived, and Steve does some complicated experimenting in that direction with the help of Howard Clinton (Walter Abel). Together they evolve a car with a steel safety roof and a new body design. Soon they have their own company. Things have happened to the children, too. Abe has become a violinist as his father wished — but his act is a comic one, in vaudeville. Still, he's a success. Teddy — well, Teddy is a problem to Steve. He is on the side of the factory workers in the strike against his father. It takes Pearl Harbor to show Steve that his son may be right after all. — M-G-M. P. S. Brian Donlevy graciously offered to buy a small fire truck for the local Women's Defense Organization. Ladies were overjoyed— couldn't wait to try it out. Since no hydrant was available to them, they hooked the thing up to the Donlevy swimming pool — drained it completely dry . . . Brian, who loves to make like a painter, carpenter or plumber on his days off, spent time between scenes building and painting By Virginia Wilson Ann . . . Residents of Pomona, California, slowed down to a stop when they saw motorcycle officers stopping age-old relics for speeding at a reckless 20 miles per. Didn't know these were rebuilt replicas of the first automobiles built in this country, and that they were props being used for "American Romance" . . . Captain of these motorcyclemen, incidentally, turned out to be Captain V. M. Moffett, a World War I buddy of Brian's. Twenty-four years ago they had lain side by side in a French hospital — neither of them expected to live. Hadn't seen each other since then until they met quite accidentally in Pomona . . . Ann Richards spent her first birthday away from her family. Mrs. Richards is still in Australia, and Ann's brother is prisoner in a Jap concentration camp. Day before her birthday, Ann received a cake, baked by mama and shipped all the way across the Pacific . . . Another birthday celebrant was little Jackie Jenkins, who was six and thrilled at the thought of entering the Santa Monica Grammar school where his big brother is enrolled. Breathless moment occurred when King Vidor, returning to the set from lunch, found Jackie about to jump from a twelve-foot platform. He shouted a warning, but Jackie assured him it was all right. "I know how Superman does it, Mr. Vidor!" Mr. V. finally convinced him that Superman had powers far beyond those of Master Jenkins. JANIE Joyce Reynolds is a cute little chick who represents Warner Brothers' white hope for teen-age pictures. She gets off to a flying start in "Janie," as a sixteen-yearold heartbreaker. Clare Foley, who plays her kid sister, Elsbeth, provides most of the laughs. Elsbeth is terrific as a gagpuller, but if you had to live in the house with her, you'd probably commit murder. Someone asks her, "Why don't you run along and play with your little friends, Elsbeth?" "I have no friends," retorts the enfant terrible. "I'm anti-social." And she's not kidding. Janie has trouble enough with her parents, without having to cope with Elsbeth, too. You know parents. They're those people that always want to know where you're going or have to use the phone just as you're telling something terribly important to your best friend. Probably, Janie admits, hers are no worse than most. Except for that editorial Dad (Edward Arnold) wrote for the town paper about how you should keep your young daughter from going out with the soldiers at the camp nearby. It is a good thing Janie has a bachelor friend of Dad's (Robert Benchley) to help her out now and then. Janie 's current guy is a down-the-block product called "Scooper." Scooper is nice, but he's nobody's dream man, and when Janie meets a good-looking soldier in a custom-tailored uniform, the romance is over. The new heart is named Dick, he's a college man, and sometimes Janie has a feeling he's a little advanced for her experience. She promises to spend an eve