The Happy Time (Columbia Pictures) (1952)

"Happy Time" Mat 2-D; Still No. 143 LOUIS JOURDAN IS ON THE VERGE of that well-known urge, with Linda Christian in Columbia Pictures’ "The Happy Time," Stanley Kramer comedy starring Charles Boyer and Jourdan at the Theatre. Jourdan Has ‘Happy Time’ Collecting Girls’ Garters When a man wears a garter, it’s to keep his socks up. When a lady wears a garter, that’s something else again! Back through the centuries, ladies’ garters have always been a source of attraction for healthy men. During the 1300’s, a British order of knighthood, The Most Noble Order of the Garter, was established by Edward III when a Countess dropped her garter while dancing at a state ball. The gallant King, noticing the excited reaction of the male guests, decided then and there that the garter should be glorified. In modern times, probably the most famous garter was the one worn by glamorous Marlene Dietrich in the movie, “Blue Angel.” Now, film producer Stanley Kramer in his delightful version of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s frank and funny Broadway stage success, ‘The Happy Time,” starring Charles Boyer and Louis Jourdan at the es. Theatre, features a collection of garters that tops them all. In the Columbia picture, Jourdan, as a girl-chasing philanderer, displays his accumulation of garters, or trophies d’amour. His collection includes Page 4 garters for boudoir, cocktails, dinner and dancing, ranging from a demure peach and green rosette job called Morning Glory, to the Merry Widow, done up in black satin and lace and ermine tails. Other garter labels are: Dewdrops, Bridal Shower, Stop and Go, and Frou-Frou. An interesting little number is of fuschia satin and black lace, with a coy “No” smug above one knee and a golden “Yes” above the other. Conversation Piece, is its name. Strange Relations Hollywood makes for strange family relationships, actors Charles Boyer and Marcel Dalio have discovered. Dalio currently plays Boyer’s father in Stanley Kramer’s delightful production for Columbia Pictures of “The Happy Time,” the diverting comedy at thes. uence Theatre starring Boyer and Louis Jourdan and based on Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s frank and funny Broadway hit. But many years ago, reminisces Boyer, Dalio and he usually played brothers or rivals in love, while studying together at the Paris Conservetory. ‘Happy Time’ Role Proves Marsha Hunt’s Versatility The day of the “one part,” personality type of actor is over, according to Marsha Hunt who is featured in Stanley Kramer’s production of “The Happy Time,” the delightful Columbia comedy starring Charles Boyer and Louis JoOunaanvat thew ae Theatre. “Time was when an actress could be successful in the movies playing nothing but wide-eyed ingenues. Or she could carve a lucrative career just playing slinky vamps,” says Marsha. “Today, however, producers and audiences both demand greater versatility and freshness in a performer. And if audiences don’t get it, they soon tire of facile tricks and turn their attention elsewhere.” Marsha likes variety in her roles. “I don’t care what the part is, as long as it is unlike anything I’ve played before. In ‘The Happy Time,’ I play a prim Scottish wife in a French-Canadian family who mildly deplores the amorous proclivities of the family’s males. As the mother of an adolescent son whose growing-up problems form one of the pivots of the comedy, I have a role totally unlike any I’ve played in the past. “T like to experiment in acting. And I think audiences like the unexpected, too.” “The Happy Time,” a very delightful comedy on a very delicate subject, also features, in support of Boyer and Jourdan, Kurt Kasznar, Linda Christian, Mar ’ cel Dalio, Richard Erdman and Bobby Driscoll. Earl Felton wrote the screen play, based on the play by Samuel A. Taylor, produced on the stage by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, and the book by Robert Fontaine. “The Happy Time” was directed by Richard Fleischer. Dimitri Tiomkin composed and directed the music while Felton also served as associate producer. Bibulous Uncle In ‘Happy Time’ Kurt Kasznar kiddingly insists that he is going to Alcoholics Anonymous now that he has completed his role of the bibulous Uncle Louis in Stanley Kramer’s production of “The Happy Time,” the delightful comedy starring Charles Boyer and Louis Jourdan at then. iene: Theatre. Kurt portrays a lush in the comedy, and in most of the scenes he is seen drinking wine. “I must have drunk 300 quarts of the stuff during the shooting of the picture—and if that isn’t enough to make a fella climb on the wagon, I don’t know what is.” Other members of the supporting cast of “The Happy Time,” in addition to Kasznar, are Marsha Hunt, Linda Christian, Marcel Dalio, Richard Erdman and Bobby Driscoll. "Happy Time" Mat 2-B; Still No. 73 COLUMBIA PICTURES' "THE HAPPY TIME," Stanley Kramer comedy at the Theatre, stars Charles Boyer, right, and Louis Jourdan. Also in the film are Marsha Hunt, Bobby Driscoll, center, and Kurt Kasznar. Mat I-F; Still No. 67 CHARLES BOYER Marsha Hunt, stars with Louis Jourdan shown here with in Columbia Pictures’ "The Happy Time." The Stanley Kramer comedy based on Rodgers and Hammerstein's stage hit, is now at the .......... Theatre. Insists on Expert For Cut-Up Role When Linda Christian learned she had to be sawed in half, for a scene in Columbia Pictures’ “The Happy Time,” she insisted it be done by an expert. Linda plays the assistant to a stage magician in Stanley Kramer’s new comedy, “The Happy Time,” starring Charles Boyer and Louis Jourdan at the ...... Theatre, and during the vaudeville act she is supposed to be sawed in half. Maurice Marsac plays the thaumaturgist, or worker of wonders, but Linda insisted she wanted a good magician—not just a good actor—when she underwent peril-by-hacksaw. So Columbia hired “The Great Rolando,” internationally known magician and escape artist, as technical assistant on the scene and Linda was as happy as could be expected when Marsac, coached by an expert, took saw in hand and the cameras began to turn. It’s Stull L’Amour Young Bobby Driscoll took French lessons to perfect his accent for the role of Bibi, the French-Canadian boy, in Columbia Pictures’ “The Happy Time,” the Stanley Kramer’s romantic comedy. at the)... 2). Theatre. Bobby had two of Hollywood’s top French instructors, Charles Boyer and Louis Jourdan, who star in the film as his father and uncle, respectively. ‘Happy Time’ Youngster Wonders About Big Girls At the age of 15, Bobby Driscoll wonders whether he has missed one of a boy’s biggest thrills, his first pair of long trousers. As Bibi, the lovable adolescent in Stanley Kramer’s romantic production for Columbia Pictures of The -Happy, Lime;’.at the ..2.=: Theatre starring Charles Boyer and Louis Jourdan, Bobby hits his emotional pinnacle when he discards knickers and puts on his first pair of long trousers. The trouble is that Bobby himself, at the age of two, was placed in miniature long trousers. Since then, he’s worn nothing else. As he grew taller, the trousers lengthened. “I never wore knickers,’ admits the young actor. “And now I’m beginning to wonder whether I missed some big kick, like that Bibi gets in ‘The Happy Time’.” As Bobby reasons, American boys today slide gradually from childhood to adolescence to maturity. “Just recently, I’ve been reading some of Booth Tarkington’s books like ‘Penrod’ and ‘Seventeen’,” he discloses. “They are laid in the mid-west, and I guess the time is about the first World War. Both Penrod and Willie Baxter are pants-conscious, and consider longies as a sign that they’re real grown-up.” Bobby Driscoll can’t help wondering whether he wasn’t cheated out of something: donning “longies,” male symbol of an adolescent’s coming of age, when in his teens and not at a very premature two. “The Happy Time’ reportedly is the delightful comedy in which a boy discovers that the world is full of beautiful things—all women. The film features a large supporting cast that includes, besides Driscoll, Marsha Hunt, Kurt Kasznar, Linda Christian, Marcel Dalio and Richard Erdman. Earl Felton, who served as associate producer, wrote the screen play which is based on the play by Samuel A. Taylor as produced on the stage by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, and the book by Robert Fontaine. Dimitri Tiomkin composed and directed the music. Richard Fleischer directed. Took Dance Lessons Louis Jourdan, starred with Charles Boyer in Columbia Pictures’ “The Happy Time,” Stanley Kramer’s delightful production of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s frank and funny Broadway hit, now at the cf ae ta Theatre, although an expert dancer, had to take dancing lessons for his role in the comedy. Both he and Linda Christian, with whom he executes a few turns, had to learn the “Grapevine” and the “Canadian Walk,” two popular dances in 1924 in Ottawa, Canada, the comedy’s time and locale. "Happy Time’ Mat 2-C; Still No. 127 THE BOY WHO GROWS UP, in Columbia Pictures’ new Stanley Kramer comedy, "The Happy Time," starring Charles Boyer and Louis Jourdan at the... Theatre, is Bobby Driscoll. Linda Christian is the girl getting kissed.