Ring of Fire (MGM) (1961)

DETERMINED TO BE NOTICED, GORSHIN BECAME AN ACTOR! When an autograph seeker mistook Frank Gorshin for one of The Four Lads, she unknowingly provided the spark that launched the young actorcomedian ona career that is now capped with a co-starring role in MetroGoldwyn-Mayer’s “Ring of Fire.” “It was the first time in my life that anyone took any particular notice of me,” Gorshin explains. At the time of the mistaken identity incident, which took place in Gorshin’s home town, Pittsburgh, Pa., he was working in the pajama department of a general store. “T immediately gave up pajamas, figuratively speaking,” he says, “and enrolled in the drama department of Carnegie Tech.” Gorshin’s studies were interrupted, as in the case of many others, by a letter from Uncle Sam inviting him to a tour of duty. It turned out that the Army proved a blessing in disguise, for service-sponsored shows gave him an opportunity to develop his talents as a singer and mimic. After one of his USO performances, a member of the audience who was a talent agent in civilian life told Gorshin to look him up when both were out of the service. He did and immediately began the New York night club, television and stage career that in a few years led him to Hollywood. His television credits include the Steve AHen Show, Climax, Mr. Lucky, Millionaire, Robert Taylor Detectives, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, G. E. Theatre, Navy Log, Wire Service, Frontier Doctor and many more. Although basically a comedian, Gorshin plays a “heavy” in “Ring of Fire.” He is seen as the leader of a trio of young hoodlums who kidnap a deputy sheriff (David Janssen) and force him to lead them through police roadblocks. “Ring of Fire” is Gorshin’s third picture at MGM in a row, following on “Bells Are Ringing” and “Where the Boys Are.” His current ambition is to have one of The Four Lads mistaken for Frank Gorshin by an autograph seeker ! Lovely Joyce Taylor plays the feminine lead opposite David Janssen in ‘Ring of Fire,”’ new Andrew and Virginia Stone suspense-drama for MetroGoldwyn-Mayer. Story of a man-and-girl hunt, filmed in color on locations in the Pacific Northwest, the picture is highlighted by such thrilling episodes as a spectacular forest fire and the toppling of a locomotive and coaches from a 200-foot high trestle into a raging river. Still 5037-104 Ring of Fire Mat 1-E REPRESENT OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE LAW Although they represent opposite sides of the law, a romance develops between deputy sheriff David Janssen and his prisoner, Joyce Taylor, in ‘*Ring of Fire,’? new Andrew and Virginia Stone suspense-drama for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Story of a man hunt, filmed in color on locations in the Pacific Northwest, the picture is highlighted by such thrilling episodes as a spectacular forest fire and the toppling of a locomotive and coaches from a 200-foot high trestle into a raging river. Still 5037-14 Ring of Fire Mat 2-C IT WAS A CASE OF THREE TIMES AND “IN FOR FILM NEWCOMER JOYCE TAYLOR It took diminutive Joyce Taylor three tries to reach stardom at MetroGoldwyn-Mayer. The successful attempt was the one in which she had least faith, Joyce, who co-stars with David Janssen and Frank Gorshin in MGM’s new Andrew and Virginia Stone suspense-drama, “Ring of Fire,” first tried to make the grade a few years back with “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.” “They wanted a singer and a dancer,” she said, “and I was certain I could qualify for both. But I was sixteen then and possessed more confidence than sense. First they had me sing and everyone seemed satisfied. Then they wanted to know if I could dance. I told them, of course I could. After all, ’'d been taking dancing lessons in my home town of Taylorsville, Illinois, for ten years.” Joyce said she first began to worry when she arrived at a rehearsal hall and discovered she was expected to dance ballet with a male partner. “All I’d ever done was tap dancing but I still felt certain I could get by. But I was awful. My feet got tangled up and my partner and I both fell to the floor. So that was that.” Two years later, she again was tested at MGM and would have been Film Job Gave Infantry Practice in Camouflage A Washington National Guard company from Tacoma held a field exercise in camouflage during filming of MGM’s new Andrew and Virginia Stone suspense-drama, “Ring of Fire,” starring David Janssen, Joyce Taylor and Frank Gorshin. One of the picture’s spectacular scenes called for toppling a real locomotive and two passenger cars over a 420-foot-long, 200-foot-high railroad trestle. The scene was photographed both by ground cameras and by Mitchell cameras operated from two Washington Air National Guard helicopters. To avoid the aerial cameras from ruining their shots by picking up the ground crew, the latter were camouflaged under a screen of pine boughs and ferns. That’s where the Infantry company got its practice. given a film role. But RKO Studios, to whom she was then under contract, would not approve the loan-out. So it was 1960, when George Pal © was casting the female lead for “Atlantis, the Lost Continent,’ before Joyce Taylor finally went to work at MGM. She was so _ successful in “Atlantis” that she was placed under contract and two weeks after finishing that picture, was given the feminine lead in “Ring of Fire.” | : “T don’t have to dance in ‘Atlantis’ or ‘Ring of Fire,’ Joyce said, “but just between us I’ve been taking dancing lessons, ballet as well as modern this time, to avoid another debacle like the ‘Seven Brides’ test.” ; Although she started in show business as a television and night club vocalist and was under contract to Mercury Records for five years, Miss Taylor still has to sing her first note in a motion picture. NO STUNT DOUBLES FOR DAVID JANSSEN IN TOUGH SCENES; HE LIKES REALISM David Janssen, starring in “Ring of Fire,” new Andrew and_ Virginia Stone suspense-drama for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, may be one of Hollywood’s youngest actors but don’t let that boyish grim deceive you. He’s a veteran of 20 years before the cameras, starting as a boy in a couple of ‘“Tarzan”’ flickers. Janssen is a third generation actor, following his mother and grandmother, who had careers in vaudeville and musical comedy. His grandmother, once a beauty contest winner, toured the oldtime vaudeville circuits. His mother, who started as a Ziegfeld Follies girl, is still active in motion pictures as a character actress. David played his first grown-up movie role in 1951 in “Yankee Buccaneer” and appeared in more than a dozen pictures before being selected by producer-actor Dick Powell for the title role in the TV series, “Richard Diamond.” This proved the turning point in his career. He portrayed the debonair private investigator for four seasons, and returns to the air as the star of a new show, ‘‘Macao.” However, it was ‘Diamond’ which won him a wide following and resulted in starring roles in “Hell to Eternity” and “Dondi,” followed by “Ring of Fire.” In the new suspense-film, he portrays a deputy sheriff who is kidnapped by a gang of teen-agers. “I’m sort of a square,” he says. “Because I’m too much of a gentleman to frisk the girl member of the gang (Joyce Taylor) Duane Eddy Wrote “Ring of Fire’’ Title Song Popular guitarist and recording artist Duane Eddy wrote the title song for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “Ring of Fire’ and also plays the song under the film’s main opening titles. Apart from this, the new Andrew and Virginia Stone suspensedrama uses natural sound effects instead of an orthodox musical score. Featured are such sounds as those made by a train plunging from a trestle, a forest fire and a burning lumber mill as they take place in the spine-tingling drama. David Janssen, Joyce Taylor and Frank Gorshin head the cast of “Ring of Fire,” which was filmed in color entirely on location in the Pacific northwest. Gang leader Frank Gorshin warns deputy sheriff David Janssen that he will kill him if he makes one false move. Joyce Taylor, female member of the gang, looks on in approval. The scene is from ‘‘Ring of Fire,” new Andrew and Virginia Stone suspensedrama for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Story of a man hunt, filmed in color on locations in the Pacific Northwest, the picture is highlighted by some of the most thrilling scenes ever photographed, including a spectacular forest fire and the toppling of a locomotive and coaches from a 200-foot high trestle into a raging river. Still 5037-13 Ring of Fire Mat 2-A David Janssen as the deputy sheriff involved in a dangerous man hunt in ‘“‘Ring of Fire,”’ new Andrew and Virginia Stone suspense-drama for MetroGoldwyn-Mayer. Joyce Taylor and Frank Gorshin also star in the excitement-packed picture, filmed in color on locations in the Pacific Northwest and climaxed by a spectacular forest fire. Still 5037-86 Ring of Fire Mat 1-A the tables are turned on me when she pulls a gun.” Filmed in true Andrew and Virginia Stone tradition, “Ring of Fire” represents the epitome of realism. Janssen and his co-stars had to weather such dangerous scenes as a burning lumber mill, a forest fire and the toppling of a real locomotive and two coaches over a 200-foot-high railroad trestle. “What am I doing here?” he kept asking himself, Yet, the fact remains that he learned to operate a locomotive and ran it along a track paralleling a huge lumber mill which had been set afire. For another scene, in which the principals had to deploy along a cliff with a 400-foot drop, Janssen disdained a stunt double and did every foot of film on his own. “Movie realism, of course, can be taken to an extreme,” he says, “but in ‘Ring of Fire’ I feel it was justified. This was a unique picture in that there could be no retakes. Why strive for realism if you’re going to double the actors in every difficult shot?” “RING OF FIRE” STARS ALL GRADUATES OF TV Television players make the grade in motion pictures every so often but Metro Goldwyn Mayer’s “Ring of Fire” sets a new record. All three of the stars of this Andrew and Virginia Stone production are graduates of the sitting-room screen. David Janssen has made his greatest public impact so far as TV’s “Richard Diamond.” Now alternating between the two mediums, he is working on “The Insider,” a projected hour-long TV series for his own company. Joyce Taylor is a youthful veteran of many top television shows and was particularly impressive opposite Bill Lundigan in “Man Into Space.” She made her film debut in MGM’s “Atlantis, the Lost Continent.” Frank Gorshin got his start in show business as a mimic and comedian on television. This led to comedy roles in “Bells Are Ringing” and “Where the Boys Are.” The youthful trio have strong dramatic roles in “Ring of Fire,” suspenseful drama of a deputy sheriff held hostage by three hoodlums who are eventually trapped by a spectacular forest fire.