The Happiest Millionaire (Disney) (1967)

Lesley Ann Warren And John Davidson Teamed For Romance In Two bright talents from Broadway and television, Lesley Ann Warren and John Davidson, are introduced to motion picture audiences in the Walt Disney musical, ‘The Happiest Millionaire,” starring Fred MacMurray, Tommy Steele, Greer Garson and Geraldine Page. In their roles as Cordelia Drexel Biddle and Angier Buchanan Duke, the youths sing and dance their way through a romance symbolized not so much by valentines and candy as by boxing gloves. The 20-year-old Miss Warren began her professional career portraying the ingenue lead in the musical, “110 in the Shade.” She appeared on Broadway for ten months, later crisscrossing the nation in the show’s road company. Lesley Ann was chosen over some 300 applicants for the title role in Rogers and Hammerstein’s 90-minute musical version of “Cinderella” for CBS-TV. Guest appearances in ‘“‘For the People,” “Dr. Kildare” and “Gunsmoke,” as well as critically acclaimed leading roles in two unsuccessful Broadwaybound plays, helped to prepare Lesley Ann for her debut at Walt Disney Studios. She first started dancing when she was three-years-old and continued with ballet training through most of her childhood. When in her early teens, she studied acting and singing. “T wasn’t pushed at all by my parents. In fact, they wouldn’t let me go into the business until I had graduated from high school.” Besides the singing and strenuous dancing she does in “Millionaire,” Lesley Ann had to learn the art of boxing and how to handle live alligators. “My father in the story, Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, was very eccentric. He was an amateur boxing champion and also kept alligators in the house for pets. I was scared to death when I found out I had to hold one of them for a scene. But the trainers were right on hand. Once I got used to the idea it was fun — very exciting.” Lesley Ann is a confirmed admirer of the new mod styles. In contrast to the 1916 costumes she wears in the Disney film, almost her entire wardrobe is contemporary, including slack suits, mini skirts, boots and other mod habit. © 1967 Walt Disney Productions Mat HAP 1-M (1 col. width — coarse screen) Page 8 Disney Musical Although John Davidson is under contract to ABC-TV, Bob Banner Associates, and Columbia Records, his biggest assignment thus far has come on NBC-TV. He was star and host of the 1966 “Kraft Summer Music Hall,” vacation replacement for the “Andy Williams” and “Perry Como” specials. “T got the go-ahead for that show during the same week Disney cast me in ‘Millionaire’,” offers John. “I was really elated. I need all the experience I can get, and what better way is there than through network exposure and a Disney role? Ever since college I’ve been anxious to try everything in entertainment. When you are starting in this business you need to work all you can for seasoning.” Davidson began his theatrical career in New York.with an audition before David Merrick. As much to John’s surprise as anyone’s, he immediately won the juvenile lead in the Broadway production of “Foxy,” Bert Lahr’s last musical. There he was seen by producer Bob Banner and signed to a long-term contract, which included appearances on the Banner-produced CBS-TV weekly series, “The Entertainers.” Just before coming to the Disney Studios, Davidson won critical, as well as box office acclaim for his portrayal of Curly in the New York City Center revival of “Oklahoma.” During weekends while filming “The Happiest Millionaire,” Davidson recorded his first aloum for Columbia Records, aptly entitled ‘‘The Time of My Life.” Upon completion of his role in “‘Millionaire,” John took his night club act on a six-month tour of the United States, which included an engagement with Jack Benny at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. “There’s terrific excitement in being able to work more than one field of entertainment,” says John. “But self discipline can be a problem. At times I have to force myself to work at only one facet of my career, almost forgetting about the others.” A bachelor, John owns a 2-1/3 acre ranch in Hidden Hills, California, where he lives with two horses, a dog, and his own cooking. “I’m in no great hurry to get married,” he laughs. “If the right girl comes my way, then, of course, there will be wedding bells. But if that doesn’t happen for three or four years yet, I won’t mind.” During the Spring of 1967, Lesley Ann Warren and John Davidson were re-teamed by Walt Disney Productions for their second motion picture appearance. This time in “The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band,”’ starring Walter Brennan, Buddy Ebsen, Janet Blair and Kurt Russell. It’s the third original screen musical to be written for the Studio by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman. Production was completed in June, 1967. Filmed in Technicolor, “The Happiest Millionaire” was directed by Norman Tokar from a screenplay by A J Carothers. Mat HAP 2-Q (Available in standard 2 col. width and coarse screen) © 1967 Walt Disney Productions New romantic team, John Davidson and Lesley Ann Warren make their motion picture debuts in the romantic leads of Walt Disney’s musical comedy, “The Happiest Millionaire.” Filmed in brilliant Technicolor, the film stars Fred MacMurray, Tommy Steele, Greer Garson and Geraldine Page. Another Famous Name Is Added To The Greer Garson Tradition In the tradition of an era when she was hailed as ‘‘Metro’s Glorified Mrs.?’ Academy Award-winning actress, Miss Greer Garson, portrays still another famous lady in the Walt Disney musical, ‘The Happiest Millionaire.” Starring with Fred MacMurray, Tommy Steele and Geraldine Page, she portrays the wife of Philadelphia’s Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, whose eccentricities have sparked a book, a Broadway play and now a $5 million film musical. Since her spectacular motion picture debut in “Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” Miss Garson has been nominated seven times for an Academy Award. She won the coveted Oscar for her performance as “Mrs. Miniver,” the most popular of her famous lady portrayals. Then came films like ‘‘Madame Curie,” “Mrs. Parkington,” “Julia Misbehaves,’’ ‘‘Random Harvest,”’ “That Forsythe Woman,” “Strange Lady in Town,” “Julius Caesar,” and the memorable ‘“‘Sunrise at Campobello” in which she essayed Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt. Before her assignment in ‘Millionaire,’ Miss Garson guest starred as the Mother Superior in “The Singing Nun.” As Mrs. Biddle in the Disney film, Miss Garson plays a quiet, understanding wife and mother who might be described as the calm at the center of a hurricane. In this case, the storm is her blustering, energetic, boxing, Singing, dancing husband, Anthony, played by Fred MacMurray. Off-stage, Greer Garson enjoys a high-spirited and many-sided life as the wife of businessman E. E. (Buddy) Fogelson. On any given day, “Ma Fogelson” (as she loves to call herself) might be found riding her horse, “Ho-Hum Silver,” across their magnificently scenic “Forked Lightning Ranch” near Pecos, New Mexico. The 30,000-acre ranch, where the Fogelsons raise purebred Santa Gertrudis cattle, is nestled in the picturesque Sangre de Cristo mountain range. They also maintain residences in Bel-Air, California, and Dallas, Texas, where Miss Garson serves on the Board of the Dallas Theatre Center and the Dallas Symphony and Museum. The highlights of Garsoniana are endless. Greer is in Mme. Tussaud’s Wax Museum in London. She was recently adopted into the Kiowan Indian tribe as a princess. She is an Honorary Colonel and Governor’s aide in New Mexico. The modern center for the performing arts at the College of Santa Fe, formerly St. Michael’s Col © alt Disney Productions Mat HAP 1-L (1 col. width — coarse screen) lege, was recently dedicated as the Greer Garson Theatre, and she has established a scholarship program there for drama students. She is a sheriff’s deputy and a member of the posse in both Santa Fe and San Miguel Counties, New Mexico, and she holds an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Rollins College, Florida. While she deplores hunting, Miss Garson is adept at skeet shooting, trout fishing, interior decoration and Southwestern archeology. She loves the contrasts of her busy life and enjoys wearing blue jeans and Navajo dresses in the country, and romantic clothes in town. “T want to be right in the heart of the city where the action is, or far out in the country on a deserted mountain top,” she says. “I never mess with Mr. Inbetween.”