36 Hours (MGM) (1964)

* x PERLBERG-SEATON «xx “Jack Spratt could eat no fat. His wife could eat no lean. And so between the two of them, they licked the platter clean.” No two individuals in the realm of show business are as unlike as William Perlberg and George Seaton but in their 25-year association they have, like Jack Spratt and his contrary wife, “licked the platter clean.” With “36 Hours,” starring James Garner, Eva Marie Saint and Rod Taylor, their third film under a multiple contract at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the team of Perlberg-Seaton celebates its Silver Anniversary, a unique achievement in a community noted for short memories and professional feuds. Perlberg, square-built, brusque beetle-browed, is the producer-business executive. Seaton, tall, gentle-spoken, is the writer-director. “Bill takes a load off my shoulders by being the ‘heavy,’ ” Seaton declared. “As the director, I remain neutral and let him be the tough one.” “Oh, we’re not so different,” shrugged Perlberg. “We fight all the time,” Seaton contradicted. “We may have a disagreement or two on story points,” conceded Perlberg. “How about politics, Bill?” asked Seaton. (Perlberg is a staunch, active Republican; Seaton a dedicated and even more active Democrat. ) Seaton vacations at the seashore. Perlberg owns a Palm Springs desert home, During the Yosemite location for “36 Hours,” Seaton lived in a spacious cabin two miles from the main hotel where Perlberg enjoyed room and bath a step from the crowded lobby. Predawn mornings found Seaton fishing with Rod Taylor, Perlberg spent evenings on the golf course out-driving James Garner. Seaton, eleven years Perlberg’s junior, started writing for the producer on “The Doctor Takes a Wife” after Perlberg had seen some of Seaton’s comedies, including the Marx Brothers hits, “A Night at the Opera” and “A Day at the Races.” “When I told Bill that I didn’t want to write any more comedy scripts, he merely said, ‘Just keep writing funny answers.’ ” After producing four comedies in a row, Perlberg was assigned by 20th Century Fox to “Song of Bernadette.” He gave the writing assignment to Seaton, which immediately brought down the wrath of studio heads. “T out-screamed them,” said Perlberg, “and what happened? George won an Oscar nomination!” The picture also won an Academy Award for a young newcomer, Jennifer Jones. Two Academy Awards Perlberg’s judgement was further justified when “Miracle on 34th Street” won Seaton an Academy Award for best screen play. “The Country Girl,” which Seaton also directed, brought him his second Oscar and an Academy Award for its star, the present Princess Grace (Kelly). Their “Bridges of Toko-Ri” won a citation from the Department of the Navy; “The Big Lift” an equivalent award from the Department of the Air Force; and such films as “Claudia,” “State Fair,” “Apartment for Peggy,” “Teacher’s Pet” and “Counterfeit Traitor” hit the box-office jackpot and delighted audiences all over the world. They also present a united front in sharing professionl and civic interests. Perlberg is founding president of the Screen Producers Guild. Seaton is a three-term president of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences and former president and vice-presi dent, respectively, of the Screen Writers and Screen Directors Guild. Their names appear on the founders’ list of the Motion Picture Industry Council and each is active in campaigns on behalf of the Motion Picture Country Home. Ranking with these posts is the Perlberg-Seaton cooperative training program for university students majoring in theatrical arts. First of its kind in the country, the program now is in its tenth year and six to eight students monitor each Perlberg-Seaton production from inception to release. Perlberg holds a faculty post at UCLA and Seaton serves on the Beverly Hills City Board of Education. In July of 1961, Perlberg was selected by the State Department as a U.S. delegate to the Moscow Film Festival. A year earlier, Seaton became the recipient of an Honorary Life Membership in the National ParentTeachers Association. He also holds the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Perlberg was born in New York City and graduated from Cornell University. Seaton is a native of South Bend, Indiana, and an Exeter man. Perlberg : a baseball fan. Seaton prefers football. Last year, shortly after Seaton underwent surgery, Perlberg followed him in the hospital. They recuperated in different parts of the world—Perlberg in Paris, Seaton in Malibu, They met six weeks later on the sound stages at MGM to start “36 Hours,” based on a true espionage incident they had uncovered during the filming of ‘“Counterfeit Traitor” in Europe. Eva Marie Saint shows James Garner the identification number tattooed on her arm in a Nazi concentration camp in this scene from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s ‘‘36 Hours.”’? The powerful drama of intrigue and suspense also stars Rod Taylor. Still 1826-13 36 Hours Mat 2-B TRY MEMORIZING THESE TONGUE-TWISTERS A blotting-paper memory is essential to any actor, but Rod Taylor was given a memory assignment almost beyond the call of duty for his role as a psychoanalyst in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s suspenseful drama, “36 hours,’ costarring. James Garner and Eva Marie Saint. In one sequence in which he attempts to explain Garner’s supposed amnesia, Taylor found himself wallowing in the labyrinth of such _ psychoanalytical terms as “functional hysterical,” “expedient of complete nihilism’ and “syhygmonamometer.” The last term was the straw that broke the camel’s back. After Taylor had stumbled on the word in four rehearsals Director George Seaton relented. Much to the relief of a by this time 4 tongue-tied Taylor, the director substituted the shorter word, “traumatic” ! Composer-conductor Dimitri Tiomkin, who created the music for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “36 Hours,”’ starring James Garner, Eva Marie Saint and Rod Taylor, has garnered more awards than any other Hollywood composer. Tiomkin has won four Academy Awards, two for “High Noon” and one each for “The High and the Mighty” and “‘The Old Man and the Sea.” In addition, he has been nominated for the “Oscar” twenty-four times. “36 Hours,” a William Perlberg-George Seaton production, marks the composer’s 30th anniversary in the motion picture music field and his 125th feature film. HOME COOKING! First day’s filming on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “36 Hours,” starring James Garner, Eva Marie Saint and Rod Taylor, proved to be a picnic for Miss Saint and Garner, For the al fresco sequence, the actress and Garner munched on fried chicken, watercress sandwiches and pop. Moreover, the studio’s catering department was spared the job of providing the eatables. Miss Saint had prepared all the food herself in the morning and brought it to the set neatly wrapped in a cardboard box. If she had to spend the next several hours eating, she was determined that it would be food she liked. There were no complaints from co-star Garner, who enjoys home cooking as much as anyone else. EVA'S BACKYARD AN AMATEUR Z00 Eva Marie Saint’s Brentwood home in California is fast becoming a Hollywood farmyard. Already on the premises are Theodore, the guinea pig, a cottontail rabbit answering to the name of Robert, a lizard called Chuck and the Labrador dog, Prince, with a recent addition being nine hens—nameless. However, Miss Saint explained to James Garner, her co-star in MetroGoldwyn-Mayer’s “36 Hours,” her young son, Darrell, is now becoming a financial genius. He sells the eggs contributed by the nine hens for fiftycents a dozen and estimates that his year’s income will approximate $100. On her return home that night, the actress found another addition to the barnyard, She was greeted by a honking goose — compliments of James Garner ! THE ADDITIONAL SCENE AND PLAYER MATS, SHOWN IN THE COMPLETE CAMPAIGN MAT ON ANOTHER PAGE, MAY BE ORDERED SINGLY. Gestapo agent Werner Peters confronts captured American Intelligence officer James Garner with a cyanide tablet as nurse Eva Marie Saint looks on in this scene from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s ‘*36 Hours.’? Rod Taylor also stars in the tense drama of thirty-six suspenseful hours in which World War II history might have had a different ending. Still 1826-36 36 Hours Mat 2-D ROD TAYLOR ACQUIRES OR LOSES ACCENT TO MEET EXIGENCIES OF VARIOUS ROLES Every time Rod Taylor opens his mounth—a new accent comes out ! When the actor originally arrived in Hollywood from his native Australia, he spent much of his time trying to lose his “down-under” accent. Later he had to re-acquire it for his role as the Australian business tycoon in “The WAP sa? Now he plays the part of a German officer who “speaks like an American” in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s exciting new drama, “36 Hours,” in which he co-stars with James Garner and Eva Marie Saint. Could he put humanity before duty to country? That is the question faced by Rod Taylor as the Nazi doctor asked to perform a unique experiment on captured American Intelligence officer James Garner in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “36 Hours.’? Eva Marie Saint also stars in the exciting drama. Still 1826-65 36 Hours Mat 1-E And, on completion of this picture, Taylor went directly into “Young Cassidy,” in which he plays the title role in the story of Ireland’s Sean O’Casey as a youth. Nothing less than an Irish brogue would do for this part. “T was so excited at the thought of working in this picture that I telephoned its director, Jack Cardiff, as soon as I learned that I’d been selected for the part,’ declared Taylor. “But I was struck dumb when Cardiff, in an effort to reassure me, said, ‘Don’t worry, son, we'll get along fine. After all, you’re IRISH, aren’t you?’ ” Now, how does a broth of a lad from Australia get around that one? In a steady rise of popularity and stature since arriving in Hollywood less than ten years ago (Taylor won a plane ticket to London as part of a newspaper critics award for his acting, stopped off in California on the way, and remained there) this fast-rising actor has provided the answer to those who bewail the dearth of new stars. “The kookie period of Hollywood is passing,” he states. “Big pictures and stars have come back. My ambition is some day to measure up in a small way to the talent of Spencer Tracy, and I am trying to learn all phases of the film business. When I read a script, I approach it from not only an actor’s point of view but from that of a director. Knew His Man “Before we started ‘36 Hours,’ our director, George Seaton, gave each of us—James Garner, Miss Saint, Werner Peters and myself—a detailed biography of the respective characters we were to play. As Gerber, the German doctor more interested in scientific research than in being a good Nazi, I had a full outline of the man—where and when he was born, his background and education, his likes and dislikes. I knew Gerber before I stepped in front of the cameras.” Taylor refuses to tag this as method acting. “It’s knowing your subject,” he says. I don’t believe in self-indulgence at the expense of the audience. Seaton gave each of us motivation by helping us to know the character we were to portray, but his first emphasis was on the story. “The picture is in the best tradition of escape entertainment. Based .on a true incident, it tells of a fantastic Nazi plot during World War II, when an American Intelligence Officer (Garner), who knows the time and place of the planned D-Day invasion, is almost duped into giving up this vital information. I can tell you, the suspense is really something !” Busy with one film after another, his popularity skyrocketing after his success in the “Hong Kong” television series and such pictures as “Sunday in New York” and “The Birds,” this has been quite a year for Rod Taylor. He and former New York model, Mary Hilem, celebrated their first wedding anniversary on the romantic Yosemite Big Trees location for “36 Hours.” “Only one thing bothered my wife,” says Taylor. “She wondered why I insisted on talking to her with an Irish brogue !”