Born Free (Columbia Pictures) (1966)

HOW “BORN FREE” WAS MADE ‘‘Born Free’’ was filmed in Kenya, where the events depicted actually happened to Joy Adamson, her husband, George, and a lion cub named Elsa. Every effort was made to maintain the engaging spirit and factual accuracy of Mrs. Adamson’s book; close to 100 million feaders in some 21 languages w>re concerned. The book itself had been an international best-seller, as popular in Scandinavia and in Japan as it was in the United States; it had been seralized in newspapers and magazines in Germany, France and Italy, and it had been translated into Hebrew. “Born Free,’’ the picture, just had to be right... .. AND THE PEOPLE WHO MADE IT manager and then a producers He moved from film-making. to the handling of talent, managing such stars as Humphrey Bogart, Frederic March, David Niven, Lauren Bacall and others, and then returned to film-making. Paul Radin, Jaffe’s partner, was film chief of the OWI in the Middle East during World War II, later becoming active in television. He was Yul Brynner’s partner and chief production executive on such films as ‘‘The Journey,’’ ‘‘Solomon and Sheba,’’ ‘‘Once More, With Feeling,’”’ ‘‘Surprise Package’’ and ‘‘The Magnificent Seven.’’ James Hill, director of ‘“Born Free,’’ won a 1962 Academy Award for a documentary, ‘‘Giuseppina’’ and, in 1964, a Berlin Film Festival Award for his. ““‘Home-Made Car.’’ His feature films include ‘The Kitchen,” ‘Dock Brief’ and ““Every Day’s a Holiday.” The role of Elsa is played in the film by a Kenya lioness named Girl, who also had been ‘*Born Free,’’ but there were more than a dozen other cub and adult lions involved in the film, three of whom had been given to the production company by Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia. The animals -along with such miscellaneous companions as a three-year old elephant, two cheetahs, two dozen donkeys, 125 goats, three warthogs and two hyrax -lived at Camp Simba, their private ‘‘village’’ about a half a mile from main location headquarters. A complete African village was built a quarter mile in the other direction to house the 125 native laborers needed for the film. Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers, playing Joy and George Adamson, recognized the need for complete authenticity. To win the trust of the lions in the film, they fed them. . .played with them. . .took them on long walks and on automobile trips. What Joy Adamson had done with Elsa, the acting team managed to duplicate with the lions of “Born Free.” Virginia McKenna is one of Britain’s foremost stage and screen stars, an actress of unusual beauty and talent. She won the British Film Academy Award for her performance in ‘‘A Town Like Alice.’’ Bill Travers, with whom Miss McKenna has appeared in a number of films, enlisted in a British parachute regiment when he was 18; he emerged from World War Il a majors Among his films have been ‘‘The Browning Version,” ‘‘Wee Geordie,’’ ‘‘The Barretts of Wimpole Street’’ and ‘'Bwana Junction.’ Carl Foreman, executive producer of ‘‘Born Free,’’ penned the screenplays. for such films as ‘‘Champion,’’ ‘‘Home of the Brave,’’ ‘‘The Men,”’ ‘‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ and ‘‘High Noon.”’ He wrote and produced ‘‘The Key” and ‘‘The Guns of Navarone,’’ presented ‘‘The Mouse That Roared’’ and wrote, produced and directed ‘‘The Victors.’’ Sam Jaffe, producer with Paul Radin of ‘‘Born Free,’’ started as an office boy -._in the New York offices of a film company; ultimately became a Hollywood studio BUILD YOUR BOX OFFICE WITH THESE _ TABLOID NEWSPAPER HERALDS IMPRINTI SHIPPING = 00 | eel Shh esd Large orders by Motor Freight. 7 @ Per Thousand (F.0.8. Plant) : ry 100g esch, eae Extra copy 40¢ a 4” Ii Small orders by parcel post First 1,000 $6.00 special. We prepay and bill you | WE IMPRINT FOR YOU...One day service to Imprint & Ship Added thousands Imprinting cost extra... see prices in box at right. for shipping charges. Please send check ormoney order with your order unless you have | R IMPRIN p HERE established credit with us. Specify Whether You Wish Imprinting Or Not But Send Playdates For Our Information. TERE |S PLENTY OF ROOM In This Imprint Space FOR A MERCHANT'S AD To Help You Defray Cost of These Heralds or To Give A Merchant In Exchange For Distribution Rush Your Orders Direct To Harry K. Mc Williams Associates, Inc. 405 Broome St. New York, N.Y. 10013 : | Phone 212 CA nal 6-3335 For Rush Orders Si . UNION i ULL A Publication for! Columbia Pictures, Produced by Harry K. McWilliams Associates, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited. nS . i i i i i i i oe ee we i i, a i ai a i. oe ei li i ee