A Global Affair (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios) (1964)

FRENCH CHARMER LOVES HOLLYWOOD Paris, long renowned for its gaiety, is sad these days. Hollywood is a much happier place. At least that’s the opinion of Michele Mercier, raven-haired French beauty who made her first trip to America to play the romantic lead opposite 30b Hope in “A Global Affair” at Metro-GoldwynMayer. “People in Hollywood seem to enjoy life like they do in the south of France,” avers Miss Mercier, who was born in Nice. “France has changed. In Nice, vacationers have a wonderful time. But alterations have come even there. My father’s pharmacy recently was bombed yy political agitators for no reason at all. For the past few years, the political upheaval has caused all sorts of trouble. t is getting better but France isn’t as carefree as it was several s ago.” Speaking of Nice, Michele recalls 1ow she became a screen star by accident. It is a “discovery” story in the vest traditions of Hollywood. “T started as a ‘little mouse’ in the vallet at the Nice Opera when I was only eight,” she said. “Then, eight years ater, | went to Paris and was able to yecome a premiere danseuse. I had offers to appear in the cinema but I was shy and afraid to talk. You don’t have ines to speak in ballet. Glamorous French star Michele Mercier makes her Hollywood debut opposite Bob Hope in “‘A Global Affair” in the role of a United Nations guide who comes to his rescue when he is made the reluctant custodian of an abandoned baby. Miss Mercier is one of a bevy of international beauties who volunteer to baby-sit for Hlope for patriotic as well as romantic reasons in the MGMSeven Arts presentation. A Global Affair Still Mercier 9379-E Mat 1-E “A year or so after going to Paris, I returned to Nice for a vacation. As it happened, the film director Denys de la Patelliere was there on location, For more than a month he had been looking for a girl for a certain role in his new film. One day he had a really big headache and came to my father’s pharmacy for some aspirin. I was helping behind the drug counter and after he talked to me a bit he offered me the movie role. We left the shop together for the studio, He said his headache was gone and he didn’t buy the aspirin!” That first picture was “Return to Manivelle,” with Michele Morgan. It launched Miss Mercier on a new carecr and the ballet was abandoned. “A Global Affair’ is her 20th motion picture. In this Hall Bartlett-Seven Arts production she plays a United Nations guide who discovers an abandoned baby. Bob Hope, a UN employee interested in child welfare, is put in charge of the infant, who soon causes an international furor, with each of the 111 nations claiming her. Michele was starred in her second film, appropriately titled “Give Me My Chance,” then appeared in a succession of French pictures. An English picture, “Bury at Smuggler’s Bay” brought her to the attention of English-speaking audiences, after which this global actress became an established star on the Italian screen. Producer Hall Bartlett first saw her in an Italian film and decided to bring her to Hollywood. Following her American debut in “A Global Affair,” the actress hopes to make more pictures in this country. When she does, her career will truly be a global affair, A TASTE OF JAPANESE HOSPITALITY A somewhat apprehensive Bob Hope has his back scrubbed by Miiko Taka in one of the hilarious scenes of the MGM-Seven Arts presentation, “A Global Affair.” The comedy casts Hope as a man who experiments with the customs of various nationalities in order to find the ideal foster-home (and country) for a baby abandoned at the United Nations Building. Still 1809-86 A Global Affair Mat 2-B FAST-RIDING LILO PULVER ONLY MOVIE ACTRESS TO HOLD A JOCKEY’S LICENSE Lilo Pulver boasts a distinction no other movie star can match. She is the only actress to hold a jockey’s license. She is also dedicated to her career and believes that the importance of a role should be judged by its intrinsic value rather than its length. The two statements are related only in that they shed light on how Miss Pulver handles both her private and professional interests, Swiss-born Lilo recently added her glamour to Hollywood when she played a Russian genetics expert in Bob Hope's latést comedy, “A Global Affair,” Hall 3artlett-Seven Arts production released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. When she isn’t appearing before the cameras, the blue-eyed blonde can usually be found at the racetrack. She owns a two-horse stable on her Lake Geneva estate above Lausanne, where she lives with actor-husband Helmut Schmid and their year-old son, Marc Tell. ; f “One of our horses is named Shakespeare,” she relates. “We bought him because we were intrigued by his name but he has turned out to be a winner at 1600 meters and, particularly, on the hurdles. He jumps well in the steeplechase. The other, Punta Arenas, is a mare. She’s very fast, I’ve ridden her on a mile track at about 35 miles an hour. It’s easier to ride a fast horse on the flat instead of taking the hurdles at a slower pace. : “Tn order to do a professional job, | obtained my jockey’s license. I haven't entered a race as yet but I want to ride Producer and Director Won Early Recognition Both the producer and director of Bob Hope’s new comedy, “A Global Affair,” released by M-G-M, won Academy Award nominations for their first film efforts. Producer Hall Bartlett won his nomination for “Navajo,” produced in 1961, which also garnered him the Edinburgh Film Festival Medal and 27 other awards. Director Jack Arnold received his nomination before he had even set foot in a Hollywood motion picture studio. He achieved the: distinction in New York City in 1951, when he produced and directed the distinguished documentary, “With These Hands,” for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. in real competition at least once to see how I'll do under those conditions. In the meantime, I'll continue to supervise the horses’ workouts.” Going back to the other part of her life, acting, Miss Pulver says, “I really don’t care whether a part is long or short, just so it’s good. I'd rather have two strong scenes than to show up in every sequence if my appearance doesn’t mean anything.” Lilo has starred in some 40 pictures abroad, but on occasion has been willing to take on a small role. She points to Billy Wilder’s “One, Two, Three” as an example, “The part I had in that picture was a small one, but it had guts,” Lilo’s real name is Liselotte and that is how she is billed in her European films. Her name was shortened for her first Hollywood movie, “A Time to Love anda Time to Die.” “T don’t care for farce if it is just limited to farce,” she s: “T prefer what might be called serious comedy in which something is going on below the laughs, That is why I enjoyed working in ‘A Global A ffair.’” PRODUCER HALL BARTLETT HAS OWN WAY OF ANSWERING PLEA FOR “NEW FACES” ee Although there is a constant cry for “new faces” on the screen, successful independent producer Hall Bartlett doesn't believe in gambling on totally new players. He feels he has found a happy compromise with “A Global A flair.” In this comedy, starring Bob Hope, Bartlett introduces three European beauties—Lilo Pulver from Switzerland, Michele Mercier from France, and German-born Elga Andersen, who lives in Paris. All of them are top actresses on the continent but only one has been seen in this country previously. She is Lilo Pulver, known to American moviegoers as the result of her delightful performance in “One, Two, Three.” “T selected the other two after screening countless foreign-made pictures,” Bartlett stated, “I’m a great believer in the star system and these girls are stars. But they also have the added advantage of being new personalities to U.S.A. audiences.” Each of the girls plays a logical and important part in “A Global Affair” in which Hope, as a United Nations employee interested in child welfare, must decide the future home of a baby abandoned at the UN Building, Each member nation wants to claim the infant and sends a feminine charmer to persuade Hope of the merit of their respective countries. This leads to amusing situations, but the picture’s underlying theme is a serious one, stating that the hope for a future better world must come through the children of today. “T am interested in important themes,” Bartlett declared. “It is pointless to make a picture which in itself has no point. This is a different kind of comedy. There is more emphasis on sentiment than slapstick.” The producer’s past pictures prove his premise. A Phi Beta Kappa from Yale, he came to Hollywood to become an actor but soon found he was more interested in producing and directing His first film, “Navajo,” starring an Indian boy, won an Academy nomination and 27 other honors. He followed with “Crazylegs,” the first sports picture ever to win an Academy nomination. His next was “Unchained,” dealing with the world’s largest honor prison, which won the National Conference of Christians and Jews and Parents Magazine awards. “All the Young Men,” starring Sidney Poitier, dealt with the problem of desegregation in the armed forces during the Korean War. And the picture he made prior to “A Global Affair” was “The Caretakers,” a drama about mental health. Bartlett is dedicated to teamwork and, as an independent producer, this Bob Hope, as a United Nations employee, and Lilo Pulver, as a Russian gentics authority, exchange a toast in this scene from **4 Global Affair.”* The hilarious MGM-Seven Arts presentation re lves about Hope’s guardianship of a baby abandoned at the UN Building and a bevy of international beauties who lay claim to the infant for their respective countries. Still 1809-94 A Global Affair Mat 2-C Beautiful Elga Andersen was born in Germany, lives in Paris and makes her American screen debut with Bob Hope in the MGM-Seven Arts presentation, “4 Global Affair,” really adding a global touch to this hilarious comedy with a United Nations background. Elga is one of a bevy of international beauties in the film who want their respective countries to adopt a foundling abandoned at the UN Building and “‘fathered”’ by Hope. A Global Affair Still Andersen 9206-E Mat 1-C means working together from the front office to the grips. “A Global Affair,” as an example of corporate interlocking, is a Hall Bartlett Production in association with Seven Arts for MetroGoldwyn-Mayer release As he does with his stars, Bartlett uses great care in selecting the actors who portray co-starring roles. In “A Global A ffair’’ he rounded out the cast with such players as Robert Sterling, Jacques Bergerac and Yvonne DeCarlo, among others. “In today’s competitive motion picture market you can’t afford to take unnecessary chances in putting together acast,” he declared. “TI believe in studying everyone's track record. Put them together as a team and the odds are going for you that you'll have a winner,” ELGA I$ TRULY AN INTERNATIONAL STAR Elga Andersen is a German beauty who has adopted France as her home and has a Scandinavian name although her real name is Greek. With that international flavoring, it is appropriate that Elga makes her Hollywood motion picture debut as one of Bob Hope's pulchritudinous co-stars in “A Global Affair,” a film with a United Nations setting It should also be noted that Elga speaks and reads six languages (German, French, English, Italian, Spanish and Swedish) because of preparations she made early in life for a career as an interpreter. To report that she plays an interpreter in “A Global Affair” might seem to be stretching a point, but that’s just what she portrays. “The turning point in my life occurred on my 21st birthday,” Elga recalls, “when my mother took me on a vacation to Spain as a birthday present. On the way back we stopped off in Paris and I fell in love with the city When it was time to leave, Mother couldn’t budge me. She finally went back to Germany, but I stayed on in the apartment of a girl friend.” Elga hoped to find work as an interpreter but kept running into a series of technical obstacles while trying to obtain a work permit, Her girl friend was a photographer’s model, so Elga decided to try modeling, too, especially since no work permit was required, Soon her classic beauty was appearing on magazine covers throughout Europe. “Otto Preminger saw me on one of these covers and called me for an interview,” Elga said, “and this won me my first motion picture role, a small part in ‘Bonjour Tristesse.’”