Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad (Paramount Pictures) (1967)

COLUMN ITEMS “SPLOBING” IT UP! Rosalind Russell and Hugh Griffith engage in a new game called SPLOBING for their starring roles in “Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You In The Closet And I’m Feelin’ So Sad,” a Seven Arts presentation for Paramount Pictures release, opening Ruane tee AUGONEL «. saininesio Lneatre: The nasty nocturnal sport, which takes its name from the Society for Preventing Lovemaking on Beaches, entails kicking sand over any amorous couples found on the beach. Luckily, there is no indication that the game will spread beyond the film frames of the bizarre comedy. “Oh Wadi EOOr. WAG .n sireus, Richard Quine production in Technicolor. WHAT A MIND! Director Richard Quine’s pet passion for props, gadgets and ‘way-out’ bits of business, exhausts the imagination with a closet full of tricks in “Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You In The Closet And I’m Feelin’ So Sad,” a Seven Arts presentation in Technicolor for Paramount Pictures release, opening ........ at thence s aes Theatre. Quine begins the zany proceeding with the film’s wild mamma and son arriving in a golden jeep with a rose-patterned awning, followed by trailer-loads of one-armed bandits. piranha fish, man-eating plants and a coffin on wheels complete with taillights and tasteful black-fringed awning, and keeps it zany throughout the madcap comedy. “Oh Dad, Poor Dad” was produced by Ray Stark and Stanley Rubin, and stars Rosalind Russell, Robert Morse, Hugh Griffith and Jonathan Winters. DOWN WITH ‘DEAR OL’ MOM’ —‘Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You In The Closet And I’m Feelin’ So Sad,” a Seven Arts presentation in Technicolor for Paramount Pictures release opening Fae hee St: GNO. <a oie. oeeeneatre, takes farcical aim, exploding with uproarious precision, on ‘Dear ol’ Mom’. In a wildly irreverent, bizarre blast at ‘mamma’ and the sliver cord of solid steel, the new film defies imitation as it puts the comic cap on one of society’s most cherished institutions. “Oh Dad, Poor Dad,” a Richard Quine Technicolor production, stars Rosalind Russell, Robert Morse, Barbara Harris, Hugh Griffith and Jonathan Winters. QUEER REVERSAL? Producer Ray Stark reversed an old Hollywood success formula in the Seven Arts presentation of the Ray StarkRichard Quine production, “Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You In The Closet And I’m Feelin’ So Sad,” a Paramount Pictures release in Technicolor, opening .... at the .... Theatre. Stark asked star Barbara Harris to put on fifteen pounds and elaborated, “The quality needed is adolescent plumpness — _ baby-fat.” When filming started, Barbara was bursting from her sweet little “baby doll’? dress. “Oh Dad, Poor Dad... ,” directed by Quine, also stars Rosalind Russell, Robert Morse, Hugh Griffith and Jonathan Winters. WAY-OUT AND WAY-UP—Star Barbara Harris, who has recreated the role she originally portrayed onstage for the Seven Arts presentation, “Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You In The Closet And I’m Feelin’ So Sad,” a Paramount Pictures release opening ....... at TN Gav chaccregstcs Theatre, couldn’t rest on her laurels for the zany new film. The actress was greeted by director Richard Quine on her first day of shooting with the words, “Nothing much in the first scene— you just hang by your feet from a 20-foot baleony and wave ‘Hi there’ ae “Oh Dad, Poor Dad ...,” a Richard Quine production in Technicolor, also stars Rosalind Russell, Robert Morse, Hugh Griffith and Jonathan Winters. ONE STEP BEYOND! Jonathan Winters discovered you can _ be wickedly mischievous and get away with it—if you’re dead—in the bizarre new comedy, “Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You In The Closet And I’m Feelin’ So Sad,” a Seven Arts presentation for Paramount Pictures release, opening ice eens at the 2 .i4..).«. Dheatre. Winters thoroughly enjoyed himself as the active corpse, ‘Dad’ of the title. His deviltry hits ‘wayway-out’ when he falls from a closet on top of fellow stars Robert Morse and Barbara Harris during a violent seduction scene. “Oh Dad, Poor Dad ...,” a Richard Quine production in Technicolor, also stars Rosalind Russell and Hugh Griffith. Still #20026/125 Mat 2E THE WORLDLY WISE MEETS AN UNTAINTED CHALLENGE— It’s Barbara Harris as a seductive charmer with Robert Morse, portraying a 25-year old infant, in Seven Arts’ wild and very weird new comedy, “Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You In The Closet And I’m Feelin’ So Sad,” Produced by Ray Stark and Stanley Rubin in Technicolor for Paramount Pictures, the film also stars Rosalind Russell, Hugh Griffith and Jonathan Winters, and Opens) ic... wes at the ... RAT Theatre. Still #OD/SPEC/3 MAMMA AS INTERPRETED BY TALENTED ROZ RUSSELL—It’s versatile Rosalind Russell as she appears with Robert Morse, Barbara Harris, Hugh Griffith and Jonathan Winters in Seven Arts’ wild and weird new Technicolor comedy “‘Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You In the Closet And I’m Feelin’ So Sad.” Produced by Ray Stark and Stanley Rubin, and directed by Richard Quine, The Paramount Picture opens ........ AEM the co, ead chs portrait of one domineering mother and her 25-year-old infant son, both of whom have their strange ways of dealing with the cruel, cruel world. Still #OD/SPEC/4 UP-SIDE-DOWN IN THE STRANGELY SLANTED WORLD OF “OH DAD, POOR DAD”—The world is wild and weird for Rosalind Russell, Robert Morse, Barbara Harris, Hugh Griffith and Jonathan Winters as they appear in Seven Arts’ hilarious new Technicolor comedy, “Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You In The Closet And I’m Feelin’ So Sad,’ which opens ALINE cess Theatre. Produced by Ray Stark and Stanley Rubin, and directed by Richard Quine, the film explores the world of a domineering mother and her 25-year-old infant son as they deal oddly, with the realities of everyday life. Richard Quine Flipped for Mad “Oh Dad, Poor Dad...” Richard Quine, director of “Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You In The Closet And I’m Feelin’ So Sad,” the Seven Arts Technicolor presentation for Paramount Pictures opening ...... ic ieee Theater, is doing his first “black comedy.” Many of his previous films, including the recent “How To Murder Your Wife” and “Sex and the Single Girl’ have been comedies but without the savage edge of his current assignment. “When I saw Kopit’s play I flipped,” Quine recalls. “But I felt it needed expanding. It was a brilliant exercise but not a finished work. I was terribly excited about doing it as a film. And I think without obscuring the meaning I’ve gone beyond the limits of the play. If anything, this version is wilder, kookier than the original. The screenwriter Ian Bernard and I worked long and hard to clarify the relationships so that there would be no doubt who is doing what to whom and why. This is a savage indictment of Momism. The boy, Jonathan, tries desperately to liberate himself from mama’s hold but the silver chord is made of pure steel and he fails. The subject matter is deadly serious but our treatment of it is farcical. What I hope Theatre. It provides a zany Mat 3B Mat 8C to achieve is a tragicomedy. I know, that’s a large order but that’s my aim. “When I first knew I would be directing Rosalind Russell I confess I had some qualms. I’ve known and loved her over the years, In fact, as a neophite actor I played with her in ‘My Sister Eileen’ in which she starred. But the thought of directing someone with her credentials was a bit subduing. You can’t imagine what a wonderful experience this has been. She is so quick, so responsive and co-operative, an absolute joy to work with. As for Hugh Griffith, he’s a dear, sweet man, the last of the true eccentrics. There’s not a phony bone in his body. I couldn’t have been luckier with my cast. “T’ve inserted many bits of business. That’s a passion of mine that goes back to the days when I was just beginning as a director in Hollywood. Blake Edwards and I worked together, he as writer and I as director. We always loved routines, bits and sight gags. At that point, with a bargain basement budget we could afford to go wild. Films like “Drive a Crooked Road” with Mickey Rooney. “In fact, Blake and I kept a note book of bits we had worked out. To this day we swap routines. I'll call him in Los Angeles and say, ‘Remember that thing with the tennis ball’ and he’ll say, ‘You mean #345’ and I say, ‘Yeah, that’s the one’ and he says ‘Sure’ and ‘I’m glad you phoned because I think I’d like to borrow the bit with the fortune cookies for the film I’m doing.’ That’s how it is with us and we’re on our third notebook. “One of the most important features of this film was finding the right layout. I scouted locations for months until I came upon Round Hill Hotel. The moment I saw it I knew it was the ideal place for the story. It had just the right combination of elegance and primitive isolation. “Then we had to hunt up a yacht. You’d be surprised at how few elegant yachts there are in the world. There’s the ‘Christina’ and a few others but most of them were too large. We finally found ‘The Edgewood’ in Miami and chartered it. Look at it out there. I’ve been looking at it for eight weeks and right now it begins to look like a flat, a cut-out. It’s too perfect to be real. “The layout here is so magnificent, yet after all these weeks we have become jaded. I keep looking around at other people’s cottages and comparing. Robert Morse’s swimming pool is oval-shaped. Why don’t I have one like that? At the same time Bobby is looking at my pad and thinking ‘Quine has a mango tree out front. How come I don’t?’ “Believe it or not I’ve moved three times. We all play musical cottages. I started as a cliff hanger, overlooking the sea and worked my way uphill into the woods. Griffith did the opposite. He’s now in my old place, having sampled three other cottages on the way down. It’s absolutely mad. It’s status symbol time in Jamaica, but I know when we return to the studio we’re all going to look back on this lush set-up and wish we were working again.” 5