Georgy Girl (Columbia Pictures) (1966)

(Mat 2A; Still No. 33) James Mason helps Lynn Redgrave as Geo Girl" to buy nursery new-baby equipment for her room mat's in ant daughter, in this scene from the contemporary romantic comedy released by Columbia Pictures. Also starred in "Georgy Girl" are Alan Bates and Charlotte Rampling. James Mason After 30 years in motion pictures, with top roles in over 75 films, James Mason is still none too sure how he came to his present position, starring with Alan Bates and Lynn Redgrave at the woo. «3 Theatre in “Georgy Girl,” a Columbia release. Born in Yorkshire, England, Mason started his adult life as a trained architect with two university degrees. He also had what he thought was a “passing” interest in the theater. Today he is in the ranks of firmly-established international box-office personalities. His current starring role, in the frank and contemporary “Georgy Girl,” is in complete contrast to the epics with which his name is usually associated. The distinguished Mason career was probably triggered by a joke perpetrated chiefly to relieve his boredom while he was a Cambridge University undergraduate. He answered an ad in a stage paper for a young actor to join the cast of a touring melodrama. He got the job, which led to a series of engag‘ements with a number of stock and touring groups, including the Noel Coward company. In 1933, Mason made his West End debut with a leading role in “Glorious Gallows,” which was followed by a season with the Old Vic. Two years later, in 1935, he made his first movie, and then embarked on a procession of major film roles. Like many British actors, Mason has periodically taken time out from his screen career to star in a stage play. Charlotte Rampling also stars in “Georgy Girl,” an Everglades production produced by Robert A. Goldston and Otto Plaschkes, and directed by Silvio Narizzano. Margaret Forster and Peter Nichols wrote the screenplay from her novel. Alan Bates Alan Bates is one of a new breed of British actors who, like Peter O’Toole and Albert Finney, has injected vigor and realism into the British theatre and into films like the frank and contemporary “Georgy Girl,” in which he stars at the ........ Theatre with James Mason and Lynn Redgrave. He plays Jos, an insolent 28-year-old who moves through life with detached coolness. Bates was 11 when he announced he was going to be an actor, and he was later allowed to leave school a year early to become a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1954, Bates joined the Royal Air Force for two years. On demobilization, he spent a few months with a repertory company and then auditioned at the Royal Court Theatre, London, where a young company was being formed to perform new plays. He was accepted and made his London debut in “The Mulberry Bush.” His next part was in John Osborne’s_ successful “Look Back In Anger,” and he went with the play to Broadway. He played Laurence Olivier’s pacifist brother in “The Entertainer,” a role he repeated in the film, and consolidated his success on the London stage in Harold Pinter’s “The Caretakers.” Bates made his film bow as a tramp who becomes identified by Hayley Mills with the Christ figure in “Whistle Down the Wind.” Bates starred in “A Kind of Loving,” and “The Running Man,” followed by a film version of “The Caretaker.” “Nothing But The Best” and the internationally-successful “Zorba the Greek” preceded “Georgy Girl.” Charlotte Rampling also stars in “Georgy Girl,” an Everglades Production. Review “Georgy Girl,” which opened yesterday at the ..... Theatre, is a lively and heart-warming ‘study of a girl who is plain, and plainly envious of her attractive, pleasure loving roommate. “Georgy Girl’ also is one of the finest, most exuberant and delightful, comedy frolics of the year. Marked by its superb performances, “Georgy Girl” obviously possesses that extra appeal which seems to come when a film’s players and crew understand and enjoy their work; they had a good time telling the story, and audiences everywhere are certain to have a good time watching it. Chief comedienne and chief heart-breaker, in view of the poignant appeal she possesses, is Lynn Redgrave, whose only previous screen appearances have been relatively minor roles in “Tom Jones” and “The Girl With Green Eyes.” But Miss Redgrave is a daughter of the distinguished Michael Redgrave, a sister of Vanessa, and a girl fully capable of doing justice to her illustrious theatrical heritage. More, she is an important member of Laurence Olivier’s redoubtable British National Theatre company; her performance in “Georgy Girl” is evidence enough of her talent and training. Co-starred with Miss Redgrave are James Mason and Alan Bates. Mason plays a wealthy, childless and loveless businessman who watched “Georgy Girl” grow up, the daughter of his own domestics, and long ago stopped considering himself a sort of “father”; he wants to make amorous overtures to the girl and does, bluntly and often, while she fends him off with wit and understanding. Bates is the breezy bank clerk who pursues Georgy’s roommate only to realize, when their baby is born, that he married the wrong girl. He, too, goes after Georgy. Also starred in “Georgy Girl” is sexy Charlotte Rampling, as the ice-cold, promiscuous roommate whose wedding and baby provide Georgy with her most radiant moments; selfish and self-assured, she gladly surrenders both baby and her husband to Georgy who, by now, is interested only in the infant. If Mason wants Georgy, he must also take the baby on their honeymoon. As told here, “Georgy Girl’ may seem to be fraught with high emotion and, in fact, it is. But that emotion is so covered up with humor, frivolity and wit that it emerges a thoroughly enjoyable comedy, light and amusing and frolicsome in the extreme. Silvio Narizzano directed “George Girl,” an Everglades production, from a screenplay by Margaret Forster and Peter Nichols based on a novel by Margaret Forster. Robert A. Gladston and Otto Plaschkes produced the film. Look At London Thanks to its producers, a movie’s entire action takes place in London without a _ single stereotyped view of Big Ben, Waterloo Bridge or Piccadilly Circus to serve as identification. Instead, “Georgy Girl,” a frank ultra-modern love story at the Pe dees Theatre, is set against backgrounds of today’s London rarely if ever seen on the screen. James Mason, Alan Bates and Lynn Redgrave co-star in the Columbia Pictures release. Co-producers Robert A. Goldston and Otto Plaschkes, stressing realism in both story content and setting, moved their cast and cameras out of the studio whenever possible, filming in actual buildings and areas of London not likely to be found on picture postcards or in travel folders. “Location filming in a city the size of London, with all its crowds and traffic congestion, is difficult and costly,” says producer Plaschkes. “We pulled together a tremendous amount of lightweight camera and lighting equipment. We even fitted out a mobile unit that is a traveling movie studio in itself. For just a few scenes, we spent three days at St. Charles Hospital, in a rather rundown section of North Kensington, shooting both inside and outside of the 85-year-old building. It was uncomfortable for the cast and crew, but the results are worth the trouble. One scene is in a maternity ward but we had to bring in our own newborn babies because the hospital doesn’t handle maternities.” “Georgy Girl” also spent another two days on location in one of London’s most fashionable residential districts, St. John’s Wood, photographing the exterior of what appears in the picture as.Mason’s elegant home. In actual fact, it is a 50-year-old mansion converted into a home for senior citizens. Three streets away, Lynn Redgrave and Mason were “married” in an elaborate scene at St. Mark’s Church. For still other sequences, movie audiences are treated to a ride down the River Thames on a riverbus plying between Westminster and Greenwich; given a look at Harrod’s, one of the world’s great department stores; visit a posh hairdressing salon in London’s luxurious Knightsbridge area; watch Alan Bates tear off his clothes in full public view on exclusive Park Lane; get a good look at “Little Venice,” a residential district with a canal running through it, which serves as background for the outside of Lynn Redgrave’s bohemian-type flat, attend a wedding between Alan Bates and Charlotte Rampling at Hampstead Town Hall, and even visit the ladies’ ‘convenience” of the Hyde Park subway station. Charlotte Rampling also stars in “Georgy Girl” which was directed by Silvio Narizzano from a screenplay by Margaret Forster and Peter Nichols. Direetea oy. THE CREDITS eee. gee Silvio Narizzano Screenplay by. ....... Margaret Forster and Peter Nichols Based on the novel 'Georgy Girl’ by Margaret Forster Title Song, 'Georgy Girl’ Music by Tom Springfield Lyrics by Jim Dale Sung by The Seekers Music Composed and Conducted by beet Alexander Faris Children's Dance Music Composed by ........ Brian Hunter Director of Photography .... Associate Producer ............. Editor Ken Higgins, B.S.C. George Pitcher John Bloom Production Manager ........... Camera Operator... Assistant Director COMTI ce cca se, Sound baer 6 2 ne. Wally Milner, Nolan Roberts Make-Up Artist 0.0000... Hairdresser Miss Rampling's Clothes by sellin ee Carl Mannin Pink “ee heeslees Jane Buck Ben Rayner Harold Fletcher Betty Glasow Mary Quant Dance and Movement for children by........ Marjory Sigley Produced by Robert A. Goldston Otto Plaschkes (Mat IB; Still No. 98) As "Georgy Girl," a plain-jane desperately seeking romance, Lynn Redgrave enviously considers a breathtaking new hairdo. It's a poignant scene from the Columbia comedy also starring James Mason and Alan Bates and costarring Charlotte Rampling. Lynn Redgrave For her first starring motion picture part—the title role of “Georgy Girl,” the Columbia Pictures release at the ......... Theatre, 23-year-old Lynn Redgrave has two leading men, James Mason and Alan Bates, and an offbeat relationship with both. She had minor roles in several other films, and went almost completely unrecognized by everyone except the acting world. Miss Redgrave’s acting career began only five years ago, but it’s right in the family tradition. Her father is distinguished actor Sir Michael Redgrave; her mother, actress Rachel Kempson, Her elder sister, actress Vanessa, is married to stage producer and film director Tony Richardson, and her 26-year-old brother, Corin, also is an actor soon to be seen with Paul Scofield in “A Man For All Seasons.” Lynn was born in 1943. At six, her one desire was to become a champion equestrienne. “As far as I can recollect, show-jumping and hours of riding were all I ever did until I was 16.” No family pressure was brought to bear on her; she changed her mind of her own volition, enrolling at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London while simultaneously studying cooking. Her first professional part was as Helena in. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Royal Court, followed by “Twelfth Night.” She toured in “Billy Liar,” and made her film debut as barmaid in “Tom Jones.” Shortly after this she was given the second lead to Rita Tushingham in “Girl with Green Eyes.” Lynn joined the English National Theatre Company under director Sir Laurence Olivier at its inception in October 1963, and has played a wide variety of roles since. She recently was on tour with the company. Charlotte Rampling also stars in Georgy Girl.” Family Affair When it come to urbanity, James Mason has more than his share. Still, he was a bit nervous about asking co-star Lynn Redgrave a certain question on the set of “Georgy Girl,” Columbia Pictures release, in which they Star-At THe 5 cans Theatre with Alan Bates. In the frank, modern love story, Mason plays a wealthy, middle-aged Londoner. His wife is played by Rachel Kempson who is, in real life, Miss Redgrave’s mother. Ready to appear in a passionate love scene with the 22-yearold Lynn, Mason asked if Miss Kempson was still around but there was no need for concern. An Everglades Production Lynn’s mother had already left the set diplomatically paving the way for Mason to ask her daughter to live with him. Tony Woollard A Columbia Pictures release