Motion Picture Herald (Sep-Oct 1943)

38 MOTION PICTURE HERALD October 2 3, 1943 THE HOLLYWOOD SCENE From HOLLYWOOD BUREAU An expanse of wordage displayed in this column of the September 25th edition and concerning MGM's development of a technique for using guest stars in films included the assertion, "Now 'Thousands Cheer' provides a pattern which any producer with a big list of contract players and an adroit writer can follow with relative ease and considerable assurance of success." "Thousands Cheer" opened directly thereafter in New York and demonstrated in terms of box office take and critics' praise that something new and indubitably potent in the field of musicals indeed had been wrought. Last week MGM followed its own lead in utilizing the pattern "which any producer can follow with relative ease and considerable assurance of success" by announcing the assignment of producer Joseph Pasternak and director George Sidney, responsible for "Thousands Cheer," to the production of "Anchors Aweigh," another Technicolor musical and another vehicle for Gene Kelly, the doughboy in "Thousands Cheer" and doubtless the sailor in "Anchors Aweigh." Another Stripteaser Will Try Pictures Ignoring the records in the matter of burlesque-to-screen transference of talents, Producer Jack Schwarz has engaged burlesque's Betty Rowland, billed long and loudly in these environs as "The Red Headed Ball of Fire," to star in "Manhattan Rhythm," which he's to produce for distribution by PRC. Her forte is stripping. Miss Rowland is as yet a stranger to pictures, if polite exception be made of slight appearances in those dime-machine quickies made for the cocktail-lounge trade, but not to the news about them. It was she who made the headlines with an assertion that Samuel Goldwyn was pilfering by christening his Barbara Stanwyck-Gary Cooper picture, "Ball of Fire." Miss Rowland is the fourth to be recruited to the screen from what might be called the distaff side of burlesque. (Recruits from the masculine side have done well enough to rate omission from this text). Gypsy Rose Lee walked through a couple of pictures, costumed in clothes and a nom de cinema, and went back to New York to write books between resumptions of her older profession (inclusive of that one in "Stage Door Canteen"). Margie Hart made one picture and abandoned Hollywood, with its consent and cooperation, to its own devices. Ann Corio, providing exception in proof of rule, has made two pictures without notable misadventure and is about to undertake a third. Miss Rowland's Career Not Placed in Jeopardy By and large, the record shows that stars of burlesque who set out to become stars of the screen have more strikes on them when they come to bat than crashers from any other field of expression. Conversely, the record in the case of Barbara Stanwyck's "Lady of Burlesque" shows that stars of the screen who set out to portray stars of burlesque must be prepared to cope with stiff pitching, clean fielding and decidely stern umpiring. That which has been variously termed the luck of the Warners, inside information, shrewd deduction and so on, failed the studio in the Zanuck Starts First Darryl F. Zanuck started shooting on "The Purple Heart," his first picture since his return to production, in a week that witnessed the rise of the production index from 46 to 48, with the start of nine features and the completion of seven. "The Purple Heart," directed by Lewis Milestone, presents Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, Donald Barry, Farley Granger, Kevin O'Shea, Sam Levene and others. Universal started three pictures. "Gypsy Wildcat," a Technicolor production by George Waggner, with R. William Neill directing, presents Maria Montez, Jon Hall, Peter Coe, Leo Carrillo, Gale Sondergaard, and many others. "Her Primitive Man," directed by Charles Lamont for producers Michael Fessier and Ernest Pagano, offers Louise Allbrifton, Robert Paige, Edward Everett Horton, Robert Benchley, and Helen Broderick. "Patrick the Great" is a Donald O'Connor vehicle, produced by Frank Ryan and directed by William Holland, with Peggy Ryan, Frances Dee, Donald Cook and Gavin Muir in the cast. Warners launched two. Mr. Skeffington" COMPLETED Columbia Klondike Kate Paramount Story of Dr. Wassell Navy Way Republic California Joe 20th-Fox Lodger UA Timber (Sherman) Universal Swingtime for Johnny STARTED Paramount When I Come Back RKO Radio Falcon in Texas 20th-Fox Purple Heart UA It Happened Tomorrow (Pressburger) Universal Gypsy Wildcat Patrick the Great Her Primitive Man Warners Mr. Skeffington Animal Kingdom SHOOTING Columbia Curly Ten Percent Woman Cover Girl None Shall Escape W. R. Frank Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels MGM Two Sisters and a Sailor Kismet Mr. Co-Ed Canterville Ghost Gaslight is a Bette Davis vehicle, directed by Vincent Sherman for producers Julius J. and Philip G. Epstein, with Claude Rains, Richard Waring, Walter Abel, Jerome Cowan and others supporting. "Animal Kingdom" includes Ann Sheridan, Dennis Morgan, Alexis Smith, Jack Carson, John Loder and Jane Wyman under the direction of Peter Godfrey for producer Henry Blanke. Paramount turned cameras upon the tentatively titled "When I Come Back," under producer-director Mark Sandrich, with Paulette Goddard, Sonny Tufts, Beulah Bondi, Frank Albertson and Marie McDonald. RKO Radio started "The Falcon in Texas," William Clemens directing for producer Maurice Geraghty, with Tom Conway in the title role and Barbara Hale, Rosemary LaPlanche, Richard Martin and many others in support. Arnold Pressburger began shooting "It Happened Tomorrow," a Rene Clair production, with Dick Powell, Linda Darnell, Jack Oakie, George Chandler and others. The studio week: Monogram Where Are My Children ? Return of the Ape Man Paramount Rainbow Island Going My Way Frenchman's Creek Our Hearts Were Young and Gay Man in Half-Moon Street Double Indemnity PRC Drifter* RKO Radio Tender Comrade Days of Glory Republic Fighting Seabees Casanova in Burlesque** 20th-Fox Sullivans Eve of St. Mark Home in Indiana Lifeboat UA Bridge of San Luis Rey (Bogeaus) Knickerbocker Holiday (PCA) Since You Went Away (Vanguard) Universal Phantom Lady When Ladies Fly Impostor Gung Ho Three Cheers for the Boys Warners Uncertain Glory Rhapsody in Blue Passage to Marseille Outward Bound *Formerly "Buster Crabbe No. 3 **Formerly "Return of Casanova" matter of Portugal's decision to array itself on the Allied side. It is not to be said that the potentialities of a picture about Portugal had not been realized, for the studio had in hand "The Conspirators," by Frederick Prokosch, which is precisely that kind of material; but the property had not been rushed into production in time to be ready when the spotlight fell on the nation it pertains. The day after the news broke, the studio assigned production of the film to Hal B. Wallis with instructions to expedite the enterprise. It's in the cards for Warner Brothers to be first on the screen with a picture about Portugal, but even that tidy score's a letdown for the organization which Hollywood has come to expect to see on-the-screen-with-the-news-beforeit-happens.