Born to be Bad (United Artists) (1934)

This Hard Boiled Little Beauty Was Born To Be Bad THE TRIAL Loretta Young, Jackie Kelk, Harry Green and Henry Travers in “Born to be Bad” 2 —Two Col. Scene (Mat .10; Cut .40) Loretta Young Justifies Zanuck’s Faith in Her First Stellar Role Are You Beautiful\ Brainy or Both? Here’s Darryl Zanuck’s Estimate of What You’d Be Worth to Hollywood (ADVANCE FEATURE) One dollar an hour for beauty! That is all it is worth by itself, in the opinion of Darryl Francis Zanuck, the man selected by Joseph M. Schenck to guide the producing business of 20th Century Pictures, releas¬ ing through United Artists. WON MOVIE OFFER WITHOUT EFFORT Harry Green Was Vacationing In Hollywood When Chance Came (BIOGRAPHICAL FEATURE) To the countless thousands of movie-struck girls who have ham¬ mered on the gates of Hollywood without receiving so much as a ghost of an answer, it will come as some¬ thing of a shock to learn that Harry Green, celebrated Hebrew comedian, featured in 20th Century’s “Born to be Bad,” showing . at the . Theatre, found his way into films with no effort at all. A native New Yorker, Creen com¬ pleted his education at New York University and began his theatrical career in vaudeville. He won fame in the characterization of ‘George Washington Cohen,’ and later ap¬ peared in such memorable dramatic successes as “Welcome Stranger,” “Give and Take,” “The Music Master” and “Is Zat So?” He toured England, Australia and South Africa, and it was while on a vacation from the last named place that he visited Hollywood in search of recreation — and found, instead, a contract with Paramount. Green’s first role under this con¬ tract was that of the theatrical man¬ ager in “Close Harmony.” Subsequent films included “Why Bring That Up,” “The Kibitzer,” “Paramount on Parade,” “True to the Navy,” “The Spoilers,” and “Sea Legs.” Green recently returned from a sojourn in England where he was fea¬ tured with Renate Muller in the Gaumont-British screen musical “Marry Me.” In “Born to be Bad,” his most re¬ cent American film, a Joseph M. Schenck-Darryl F. Zanuck presenta¬ tion released through United Artists, he is featured in support of Loretta Young and Cary Grant. Boy Actor Got First Taste of Theatre in Dad’s Lodge Shows (BIOGRAPHICAL FEATURE) It was through his father that Jackie Kelk, promising boy actor who makes his first appearance in a full length film in support of Loretta Young and Cary Grant in “Born to be Bad,” the 20th Century picture at the Theatre, got his first taste of theatrical life. The senior Kelk, a well-known Brooklyn broker and prominent mem¬ ber of several large fraternal organiza¬ tions, took the boy to various enter¬ tainments produced by his lodges. Jackie developed a fine soprano voice, and came to be called upon whenever a lodge show was under way. He was offered a scholarship in one of the better schools, but the father declined, feeling that the child was not yet ready for such an offer. The radio finally won Jackie. He appeared with Fannie Brice, Bert Lahr and Fred Allen on various pro¬ grams over the air. Theatrical en¬ gagements followed and the boy ‘stole the show’ in “Bridal Wise,” with Madge Kennedy, in “Goodbye Again,” and with Fay Bainter in “The Perfect Marriage.” He also had a prominent role in “No More Frontiers.” Jackie has appeared in several Booth Tarkington juvenile comedies for the screen. He is an accomplished dancer, and a studious, conscientious boy. “Born to be Bad” is a Joseph M. Schenck-Darryl F. Zanuck presenta¬ tion, directed by Lowell Sherman and released through United Artists. Jackie Kelk in “Born to be Bad” 7 —One Col. Player Head (Mat .05; Cut .20) (REVIEW) In the difficult role of a hard- boiled ‘customer’s girl,’ lovely Loretta Young more than justifies the faith which prompted producer Darryl Zanuck to elevate her to stardom in his new 20th Century picture, “Born to be Bad,” which had its local pre¬ miere at the . Theatre yesterday. For Hollywood’s youngest adult star does the finest work of her career as Letty Strong, victim of life’s cruelties, who lolls in the shoddy luxury of a rundown Park Avenue apartment, supporting her equally hard-boiled little son, Mickey, by seductively modelling seductive gowns to impressionable out-of-town buyers. And Loretta looks lovelier than ever in a magnificent wardrobe especially designed for the role. Unscrupulous to a degree, she at¬ tempts to shake down the handsome Malcolm Trevor, (played by Cary Grant, who shares stellar honors with Loretta), owner of a huge milk com¬ pany when one of his trucks grazes the boy. A quack doctor and an ‘ambulance chasing’ lawyer, the latter hilariously played by Harry Green, Stagestruck? — Lend an Ear to Travers (BIOGRAPHICAL FEATURE) Stagestruck girls take note. Henry Travers, veteran of the English and American stage, offers some gratuitous advice to young per¬ sons who harbor stage aspirations, and Travers’ own brilliant success would indicate that he knows where¬ of he speaks. “First,” suggests this distinguished actor, “take a two-year course in a good dramatic school. “Next, spend a season with a stock company in order that you may ac¬ quire stage experience and confi¬ dence. “Third, make a choice between the stage and screen as the ultimate re¬ cipient of your histrionic talents. — I believe that specialization is as im¬ portant to the dramatic student as it is to the engineering student who has had a couple of years ground¬ work in the university.” Henry Travers makes his first ap¬ pearance in a 20th Century Picture supporting Loretta Young and Cary Grant in “Born to be Bad,” which cofries to the . Theatre .. His previous screen successes include “Re¬ union in Vienna,” “Another Lang¬ uage,” “My Weakness” and “The Invisible Man.” Travers was born at Berwick-on- Tweed on the Scottish-English border. After playing in the provinces and in leading roles in the Garrick Theatre in London, he came to New York in 1918. For fifteen years the New York Theatre Guild featured him in vari¬ ous roles. His last part with the Theatre Guild was that of the old father in the dramatization of Pearl Buck’s novel “The Good Earth.” He arrived in Hollywood in May build up a beautiful case, but Trevor’s lawyers cause its collapse with a sen¬ sational ‘surprise witness.’ Mickey is sent to an orphanage, and Letty uses the affection of Trevor, who has fallen in love with her, to her own ends, allowing him and his childless wife to adopt the boy so he will be available when she is ready to carry him off. She is finally ensnared in her own net, when she attempts to victimize Trevor by luring him into confessing his love in the presence of a dicta¬ phone. The nobility of the man and his devoted wife, who stands ready to re¬ lease him to the woman who can give him the ‘son’ he has always craved, shames Letty into a complete realization of her own tawdry, shal¬ low character, and she makes a ter¬ rific sacrifice by leaving Trevor to his wife and Mickey to them both, and rushing back to the fatherly old Fuzzy, who had befriended her at another critical moment in her life. Cary Grant does his usuail com¬ petent work as Trevor in this Joseph M. Schenck presentation, and Jackie Kelk, a new child star of great prom¬ ise, gives an incredibly fine and in¬ telligent performance as Mickey. Henry Travers will touch your heart as old Fuzzy, while others who con¬ tribute to the film’s success are Paul Harvey, Russell Hopton, Andrew Tombes and Marion Burns. Lowell Sherman directed Ralph Graves’ story with imagination and the ingenuity for which he is noted, blending pathos, comedy and a dash of melodrama with consummate skill. The finished product, as released by United Artists, is sure to satisfy and delight any cinemagoer. Dragon Into Crocodile “It’s like one of those honky-tonk shows in a carnival where the front advertises a fire-spitting dragon and when you get inside you find a croco¬ dile with his nostrils painted red!” This colorful simile was inspired by Loretta Young’s discovery, upon her arrival home from a recent New York vacation, that, through a little mis¬ understanding, her interior decorator, who had very little English, had some¬ how managed to decorate the interior of her lovely Colonial house in the best Viennese manner. Loretta was fairly disconsolate un¬ til Darryl Zanuck elevated her to stardom opposite Cary Grant in “Born to be Bad,” produced by Zanuck and Joseph M. Schenck’s 20th Century Pictures Company, released by United Artists and currently showing at the .Theatre. Then the world looked rosy again. 1933 and hasn’t had an idle mo¬ ment since. In “Born to be Bad,” a United Ar¬ tists release, he has the very sympa¬ thetic role of a kindly old book dealer who befriends Loretta Young at the most critical moment of her rocky existence. Lowell Sherman directed this Joseph M. Schenck-Darryl F. Zanuck presentation from a story by Ralph Graves. Although feminine beauty is greatly in demand now in the film studios because of the popularity of musical pictures and the lull in Broadway pro¬ ductions, Zanuck, who is always on the alert for the combination of beauty and brains that makes star material for the screen, rates beauty lowest in importance. In dollars and cents here is Zan¬ uck’s rating: Beauty: $8 per day. Brains: $100 per day. Beauty plus brains: $1,000 per day. It is Zanuck’s claim that, since the advent of talking pictures, not a single actress has become a star on the strength of beauty alone. “The most beautiful actress in the world is not worth more than $50 a week without brains and talent,” Zanuck said. “We have them by the hundreds in the dance choruses of our musical films. Occasionally they have brains, and those few are bound to emerge from the chorus to stardom, as in the case of Joan Crawford. But beauty alone cannot bring its own weight in dollars a week. “Helen Hayes is an example of an actress who climbed to the heights by brains alone, but if she had to depend on beauty alone, she would not be able to break into the ranks of a studio dance ensemble. “The success of Marie Dressier was a case of brains triumphing over New Film Casts Star As ‘Customer’s Girl’ (PLAY DATE READER) An illuminating revelation of fem¬ inine psychology is offered by Loretta Young in “Born to be Bad,” the new 20th Century Picture which began a . day run at the . Theatre today. As an unscrupulous ‘customer’s girl’ in the cloak and suit trade, she uses her feminine wiles to lure out- of-town buyers whom she entertains into ordering recklessly. On the surface she appears hard and all too knowing. Underneath she is all churning bitterness. She is deceitful and a born actress, changing her mood, her point of view and her That Young Clan Is Movie - Minded Loretta’s Father, Brother and Two Sisters All Have Had Studio Connections (BIOGRAPHICAL FEATURE) Loretta Young, who makes her first appearance as a star in Joseph M. Schenck and Darryl F. Zanuck’s 20th Century Picture, “Born to be Bad,” the current United Artists release at the . Theatre, comes of a movie-minded family. When she was four the Youngs moved from Salt Lake City, Utah, her birthplace, to Hollywood, where her father acted as business manager for George Melford, the film director. Loretta’s brother Jack was the first member of the Young family to be¬ come interested in the acting end and appeared in several films with Wallace Reid before he grew tired of pictures and studied to be a lawyer. Polly Ann Young was the next to try screen work, and it was through Polly Ann that Loretta, quite by acci¬ dent, got her first opportunity to ap¬ pear in pictures. Loretta early evinced a distaste for school. Her parents sent her to Ramona Convent in Los Angeles, where she was tutored by Mrs. Car¬ men Holiday, who devoted her entire time to educating the child. In the meantime, Loretta’s second sister had made her screen debut under the name of Sally Blane. Then, one day director Mervyn Le Roy called the Young home in an effort to get Polly Ann to come to the studio for a test. Jack answered and told the director that Polly Ann was working in another picture, but that her sister Loretta was the same type. Le Roy requested that Loretta come to the studio. She did and was given a part in “Naughty but Nice,” starring Colleen Moore. Miss Moore was so deeply impressed with the girl’s unusual beauty and ability that she persuaded studio officials to give her a contract. It was Loretta’s big opportunity. Previous to this she had appeared as a dancer on the stage with Mae Murray and had appeared on numerous occasions with the Ernest Belcher Ballet, having studied dancing in the Belcher School. In 1929 she and Sally were both selected as Wampas Baby Stars. Loretta’s favorite form of enter¬ tainment is pictures. She goes to the movies every evening she has free and studies the work of other players. Lillian Gish is her favorite actress. She keeps an elaborate scrap book and reads every line that is written about herself and her films. She is very fond of dancing and loves good music. She dislikes swim¬ ming, but likes horseback riding and adores speedboating. Loretta is five feet three inches tall and weighs around 105 pounds. She prefers highly emotional roles. Outstanding among her recent suc¬ cesses were “Midnight Mary,” “Man’s Castle,” “Zoo in Budapest” and “The House of Rothschild.” reactions according to the man she is trying to beguile. Eventually, however, through an accident to her hard-boiled little il¬ legitimate son, Mickey, she meets Malcolm Trevor, a wealthy married man who falls in love with her and whom she attempts to victimize. The consequences of this attempt to wantonly wreck his marriage and his life reveal her to herself for what she really is and cause her to make a sacrifice of which many nobler characters would find themselves in¬ capable. Cary Grant is co-starred with Loretta in the role of Trevor in this Joseph M. Schenck-Darryl F. Zanuck production. Jackie Kelk, promising child star, plays Mickey. Harry Green, Henry Travers and Paul Harvey are featured in the supporting cast. Lowell Sherman directed “Born to be Bad” from an original story by Ralph Graves, for release through United Artists.