Luv (Columbia Pictures) (1967)

Elaine May When Elaine May and Mike Nichols amicably dissolved the partnership which had brought them, as a team, to spectacular success in radio, television, the theatre and night clubs, Nichols’ subsequent career as a stage and screen director was widely publicized. Now, Elaine May is emerging from her self-imposed seclusion. She currently is starred with Jack Lemmon and Peter Falk at the ....... Theatre in “Luv,” in Panavision and Eastman color, playing the intellectual wife in a wild spoof on marriage and divorce. She also is starred in the Carl Reiner comedy, “Enter Laughing,” with Jose Ferrer and Shelley Winters, as the amorous leading lady in a run-down theatre and acting school. ; The fact that she virtually dropped out of sight is “my own fault,” the actress said one day during the filming of the Martin Manulis’ production of “Luv.” “At the time, I not only didn’t know what I wanted to do, I didn’t even know what I didn’t want to do. It was quite a problem. But I never retired. In fact, I think retirement, especially mandatory retirement, is a terrible thing. There should be a law against it. It destroys people. In my own case, I quit acting only to plug away as a writer.” During the time she remained out of the public prints, she produced several short stories and a play. “When Carl Reiner called me up and asked if I’d like to make my film debut in the screen version of his Broadway play, ‘Enter Laughing,’ I thought, why not?” she went on. “After all, my typing finger needed a rest.” No sooner had Elaine completed work in Reiner’s picture, than she was offered the role of the neglected wife in “Luv,” based on Murray Schisgal’s funny look at modern marriage, a Broadway smash comedy hit produced on the stage by Claire Nichtern. Nina Wayne and Eddie Mayehoff also are co-starred in “Luv,” which Martin Manulis produced and Clive Donner directed. Gerry Mulligan wrote the music. Gordon Carroll served as executive producer. Manhattan Bridge Manhattan Bridge, connecting the island of Manhattan to the island known as Long, is one of several over the East River between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Queens. Most famous, until now, has been the Brooklyn Bridge. Now, however, Manhattan Bridge is one of the stars of “Luv,” the Columbia Pictures release in Eastman color and PanaviSION at the .. 40.54. % Theatre. Manhattan Bridge is the one Jack Lemmon chooses to jump from in his role as a bungling drifter who can’t hold a job or a girl. It is the bridge that Peter Falk and Elaine May, as Lemmon’s co-stars, hilariously manage to fall from when, in the course of the Martin Manulis production, they decide to “help” the incompetent Lemmon finally to achieve his ambition, and it is the bridge that lissome Nina Wayne dives from, to rescue Lemmon and to teach him life can be worth living. New York’s Mayor John Lindsay visited the Manhattan Bridge location, when “Luv” filming began. Construction of Manhattan Bridge was started in 1901, and the bridge was opened in 1909. The center span is 1470 feet long, and the “Luv” cast, in the course of their comic commentary on modern love and marriage, presumably fall or dive 135 feet into the water below. Advance Notice Jack Lemmon stars in the Martin Manulis production of “Luv,” the motion picture version of the Murray Schisgal stage comedy opening ...... avethes. set. wake Theatre. Co-starring Peter Falk, Elaine May, Nina Wayne and Eddie Mayehoff, the Columbia Pictures release was filmed in Panavision and Eastman color. Clive Donner directed “Luv” from Elliott Baker’s screenplay based on the stage success produced by Claire Nichtern. Martin Manulis produced and Gordon Carroll was executive producer. Gerry Mulligan wrote the music. Eddie Mayehoff Eddie Mayehoff belongs to a very special breed of actors: players who make a resounding impact on the screen despite the seeming handicap of a small role. Currently, Mayehoff does this as a sanctimonious lawyer supervising the property settlement in a divorce action in “Luv,” the Columbia Pictures’ release starring Jack Lemmon at the ......... Theatre in Panavision and Eastman color. Also co-starred with Lemmon in the Martin Manulis production are Peter Falk, Elaine May and Nina Wayne. A native of Baltimore, Mayehoff went to school in that city and later attended Yale University’s School of Music. He tried various selling jobs and also worked as an investment counselor on Wall Street, all without notable success. Too many of his customers seemed to prefer his patter to whatever he was trying to sell; they suggested that he try show business. Eventually, Eddie tried his hand as a master of ceremonies in hotels and nightclubs. He scored a great success with radio shows on CBS and Mutual and then starred in the first comedy variety show on television. On Broadway, he appeared in Wolcott Gibbs’ “Season in the Sun.” Following the close of the play, Eddie appeared in comedy films with such stars as Bob Hope and Martin and Lewis He was starred in the TV series, “That’s My Boy,” and then made a triumphant return to Broadway in Gore Vidal’s “Visit to a Small Planet.” His last film prior to “Luv” was in “How to Murder Your Wife,” which also starred Jack Lemmon. Written for the screen by Elliott Baker, “Luv” is based on Murray Schisgal’s Broadway comedy hit produced on the stage by Claire Nichtern. Gerry Mulligan wrote the music. Clive Donner directed and Gordon Carroll was executive producer. Mat 2A; Still No. 86 Jack Lemmon and Nina Wayne '‘discover" each other, and love, in "Luv," the Columbia Pictures comedy release also starring Peter Falk, Elaine May and Eddie Mayehoff. “Luy," in Panavision and Eastman color, is based on the Murray Schisgal stage success. Martin Manulis produced the film and Clive Donner di rected. EY ES TAL TTT TELE AEC) IEEE TI TET TE NE Mat 3A; Still No. 22 In “Luv,"' the honeymoon starts at Niagara Falls... and almost ends there. Testing his bride's love for him, Jack Lemmon throws Elaine May's mink coat into the swirling waters, and Elaine is all set to throw herself in after it! The Columbia Pictures comedy release is in Panavision and Eastman color. Peter Falk Peter Falk was Jack Lemmon’s partner in massive skulduggery, in “The Great Race.” Now, in “Luv,” the Columbia Pictures release at the ...... Theatre in Panavision and Eastman color, Lemmon is Falk’s hapless victim, a “born loser” who unhappily winds up with Falk’s wife, his home and, ultimately, his girl friend. He bungles his way through life, a sitting duck for the kind of sharpie whom Falk portrays. In “Luv,” Falk is a Wall Street broker, with a sideline in “antiques,” who finds life to be a plump and succulent oyster. There is only one flaw in his self-satisfied existence: his intellectual wife. He prefers a beautiful, blonde and thoroughly feminine young gym teacher. A born schemer, Falk plots to introduce his wife to his old college friend, now a despairing derelict, and pushes them into falling in love. Lemmon, of course, is Falk’s bewildered successor. Elaine May costars as the wife and Nina Wayne as the gym teacher, Falk’s girl friend. Falk’s acting style is considered a combination of fierceness and gentleness reminiscent of the late John Garfield. He was nominated for Academy Awards for his acting in both “Murder, Inc.” and “Pocketful of Miracles,” and television, too, has recognized Falk’s thespic skill. He walked off with an Emmy for the best performance of the year with his work in “The Price of Tomatoes,” on The Dick Powell Show, and his own television show, “Trials of O’Brien,’ won him additional acclaim. Elliott Baker wrote the screenplay for “Luv” based on the Murray Schisgal play produced on the stage by Claire Nichtern. The new comedy was produced by Martin Manulis and directed by Clive Donner. Gordon Carroll served as executive producer and Gerry Mulligan wrote the music. ‘Oscar’ Winner Jack Lemmon, who stars as a complete incompetent in the Martin Manulis production of “Luv,” Columbia Pictures’ release in Panavision and Eastman color at the ........ Theatre, is an Academy Award winner who also was nominated three other times for “Best Actor” Academy Awards. He’s one of filmdom’s most competent! Lemmon won his “Oscar” as best supporting actor for his Ensign Pulver portrayal in “Mister Roberts.” He received his three “Best Actor” nominations for “Days of Wine and Roses,” “Some Like It Hot” and “The Apartment.” Jack Lemmon When Jack Lemmon made “Days of Wine and Roses” for producer Martin Manulis, he brought a “new image” to the screen and, incidentally, won himself an Academy Award nomination for best actor of the year. Now, again under the aegis of producer Martin Manulis, there is another “new” Jack Lemmon, in “Luv,” his newest comedy success. “Luv,” the Columbia Pictures release at the ........ Theatre in Panavision and Eastman color, presents Lemmon as what only can be called “the born loser,” a man who can’t succeed in keeping a job, or a girl friend. He can’t even commit suicide, he’s so inept! To play the role, Lemmon says, “T went on a crash diet and dropped about twenty-five pounds,” he recalled, the other day. “Then I selected the damnedest wardrobe I could find, a frowsy brown shirt, baggy pants held up by a rope tied around my middle, and a pair of weatherbeaten sneakers. And finally, I worked out a set of downbeat mannerisms that pointed up the complete disillusionment of the character I play.” An hilarious spoof on life and love, “Luv” is a bizarre comedy of manners (or errors) and tells of the attempts of a bright-eyed schemer to palm off his wife on an old college classmate in order to be free to marry another girl. Co-starring are Peter Falk as the con man, Elaine May as his neglected wife, Nina Wayne as the girl of his dreams, and Eddie Mayehoff as a hand-rubbing lawyer who supervises the property settlement following a divorce. They all spell hilarious trouble for the fumbling Mr. Lemmon. “The picture is a wild, way-out gas,” Lemmon said. “I’ve never done anything even remotely like it in the past.” “Luv” was directed by Clive Donner, maker of “What’s New, Pussycat?” The screenplay by Elliott Baker was based on the play by Murray Schisgal, produced on the stage by Claire Nichtern. Gordon Carroll served as executive producer of the screen comedy. Gerry Mulligan wrote the music for the Martin Manulis production. All Wet! “Luv,” features the soggiest ending ever put on film. Jack Lemmon, Peter Falk, Elaine May and Nina Wayne, who star in the comedy with Eddie Mayehoff, are happily splashing about in the water at the film’s close, after diving, jumping, falling or being thrown from Manhattan Bridge into the East River far below. “Luv” was produced by Martin Manulis and directed by Clive Donner, maker of “What’s New Pussycat?” It was written for the screen by Elliott Baker, from the Murray Schisgal stage success. Pajama Game! The screen version of Murray Schisgal’s smash Broadway hit comedy, “Luv,” now at the ...... Theatre in Panavision and Eastman color, is the seventh film for Columbia Pictures release in which comedy star Jack Lemmon has appeared in pajamas. Others beside the new Martin Manulis production were “Good Neighbor Sam,” “Under the Yum Yum Tree,” “The Notorious Landlady,” “My Sister Eileen,” “Three for the Show,” and “Pant Co-starred with Lemmon in “Luv” are Peter Falk, Elaine May, Nina Wayne and Eddie Mayehoff. Page 13