Home of the Brave (United Artists) (1949)

Biographical Features on Edwards, Bridges, Corey A BOYHOOD FRIENDSHIP between teammates on a high school basketball squad, James Edwards and Lloyd Bridges, comes to a tragic break by death on a Japanese-held Pacific island in Stanley Kramer’s much-discussed motion picture, “Home of the Brave”, due at the Theatre. Still No. SP-39 MAT (2E) LLOYD BRIDGES WON SILVER CUP AS AMERICA’S FATTEST BABY BOY (Biographical Feature.) From his present lean, muscular appearance, audiences would never guess that actor Lloyd Bridges first tasted fame when he won a silver cup, presented by ex-president William Howard Taft, for being America’s fattest baby boy. Bridges, currently appearing in “Home of the Brave,” a Stanley Kramer pro¬ duction which will be shown at the Theatre on .through United Artists release, has since developed in talent what he has lost in avoirdu¬ pois. One of Hollywood’s most de¬ pendable performers, producers count heavily upon his ability when they seek solid performances for their pictures. In “Home of the Brave,” Bridges plays Finch, one of five GI’s who volunteer for a dangerous South Pacific mission. To his role, Amer¬ ica’s erstwhile champion fat-boy brings depth and understanding, creating a counterpoint to the dar¬ ing theme of the film. Bridges was born in San Leandro, California, and lived during the first years of his boyhood in the Valley of the Moon country at Bogas Springs. Since his father owned a motion picture theatre in San Leandro, young Lloyd was able to see all the latest films, remain¬ ing for at least four performances of each. This early introduction into an enchanted world first aroused his interest in acting and propelled him to the dramatic courses when he matriculated at the University of California. Playwright Sidney Howard saw him in a college production of his play, “Yellow jack,” and offered him a role in his latest work, “Paths of Glory.” When that stir¬ ring war drama closed, Bridges joined a traveling stock company, then came to Broadway in a pro¬ duction of “Othello” starring Walter Huston and Brian Aherne. He followed that with a long succession of Broadway appear¬ ances in such plays as “The In¬ fernal Machine,” “Night Must Fall.” “Post Road,” “Stage Door,” “Death Takes a Holiday,” “A Doll’s House,’ “The Animal Kingdom,” and “One Sunday Afternoon.” Bridges has appeared in a suc¬ cession of important films, includ¬ ing “Sahara,” “Daring Young Man,” “Moonrise,” “Red Canyon,” and “Calamity Jane and Sam Bass.” JEFF COREY HAS BEDSIDE MANNER Hollywood’s Jeff Corey has the secret of the bedside manner, a secret which the medical profes¬ sion prefers to keep to itself. In a wide variety of films, he has looked and acted more like a doctor than the best stethoscope strategist in the business. Corey is a doctor again in his latest screen effort, Stanley Kram¬ er’s “Home of the Brave,” which United Artists will release at the Theatre on . Vari¬ ous scenes in the picture which deals with the drama of men in the South Pacific, show him trying to coax a battle casualty back to health. Even the technical expert on the picture—himself an M.D.— could find nothing wrong with Corey’s performance as a doctor. “I got the training early in my stage career,” Corey says. “In my first play, ‘Yellow Jack,’ I was given the part of a hospital patient. I had no lines; I was just supposed to lie there to provide atmosphere. When I got sufficiently bored, I’d make faces at the poor guy playing the doctor. But he never broke up or missed a cue. “I asked him his secret and the answer stuck with me. ‘When I play thal scene with you night after night,’ he said, ‘I just imagine that you’re the world’s worst ham and that I’m trying to keep you from making a fool of yourself.’ ” James Edwards Makes Terrific Hit In Key Role of “Home of the Brave” (Biographical Feature) Hollywood, like the stage, has its greal traditions — and chief among these is the newcomer who is made into an overnight star with one role — his or her first. James Edwards, one of America’s leading Negro players, with a Broadway and little theatre background, is the latest to move into this tradition in his role as Mossy in Screen Plays’ “Home of the Brave,” the Stanley Kramer production which opens at the Theatre on through United Artists release. Jimmy Edwards was horn in Muncie, Indiana. At the age of five, the family moved to Hammond, Indiana, which was to remain the hometown of the ten Edwardses — eight brothers and sisters. After graduating from Hammond High, Edwards matriculated at Indiana University and then transferred to Knoxville College in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he majored in psychology and psychiatry, gradu¬ ating in 1938. During World War II, Edwards was moved from the Infantry to the Quarter Master’s Corps. He was sent to Officers’ Candidate School by the commanding officer of his outfit, was commissioned a second lieutenant and was later promoted to a first lieutenancy in the Signal Coips. He was dis¬ charged from duty in 1946. Before leaving the Army, Ed¬ wards was hospitalized in Chicago and at the suggestion of the medi¬ cal supervisor in charge, he inter¬ ested himself in the theatre and dramatic arts as part of his re¬ habilitation and reorientation course. Four days a week he was away from the hospital, during which time he entered North¬ western University under the GI Bill of Rights and studied speech and dramatics. He was associated for a time with the Skyloft Players, a Chicago Little Theatre. But his first legiti¬ mate theatre role came when he was called to New York to under¬ study the role of Charles Brett, the young Negro in “Deep Are the Roots,” a Broadway hit which toured the country with great suc¬ cess. He stepped from the under¬ study role to a starring one while the play was still in New York, and traveled with the company to Los Angeles, where he caught the attention of Producer Stanley Kramer. Following his role in “Deep Are the Roots,” Edwards shifted to stage managing and directing and was Assistant director of the Broad¬ way production, “Lady Passing Fair,” and then switched back to acting again in the lead of “Almost Faithful.” By this time Edwards had come to the attention of Hollywood scouts and was signed to small parts in “The Set Up” and “Man¬ handled.” He was, as they say in pictures, a “natural” for the role of the Negro GI, Mossy, in “Home of the Brave.” Producer Kramer realized this the moment he started casting the film. For Mossy, the GI of the South Pacific, who fights out cen¬ turies of hale and treachery alone on a South Pacific atoll, in the hands of James Edwards becomes one of the great dramatic interpre¬ tations of the screen. Experience As Salesman Opened TENSE CLIMAX of the sensation¬ al new production, “Home of the Brave”, now at the Theatre, comes when James Ed¬ wards breaks through the barrier of his psychological paralysis and successfullv walks again. Still No. SP-117 MAT (1A) Hollywood Doors to Jeff Corey (Biographical Feature) Previous experience as a sue- cesslul sewing machine salesman— the knock - on - any - door variety— facilitated actor Jeff Corey’s entry into Hollywood films. The most difficult problem for a tyro per¬ former is how to get past the front studio gate. Using the foot-in-the- door technique painfully acquired as a Singer selling agent, Corey was quickly able to overcome the chiel occupational hazard of the average movie-aspirant. One of Hollywood’s most actively- employed performers, as busy in radio and television as he is in pictures, Corey is now much in demand as a character actor. His latest film assignment was in Stanley Kramer’s production of “Home of the Brave,’ which United Artists will release at the Theatre on . Based on the prize Broadway play by Arthur Laurents, the film is the first of its kind ever to be made in this country. Corey feels that his role, that ol an Army doctor who, by therapeutic methods, nurses a war casualty hack to sanity, is the most impressive he’s ever played. A leering Mephisto in a high school musical version of Goethe’s “Faust” was his introduction to the world of grease paint. The Ben Greet Players, touring the country in Shakespearean rep¬ ertory, was the first professional company to risk hiring the eager apprentice. One night stands with the Clare Tree Major Children’s Theatre followed, then came his great opportunity to appear on Broadway—as a spear carrier in Leslie Howard’s “Hamlet.” Advancing rapidly to a small role in George Sklars’s “Life and Death of a Salesman,” Corey decided he would spread his wings and en¬ trained for Hollywood. There, his selling experience got him past contemptuous doormen, blase sec¬ retaries and jaded casting directors and into a part in “Third Finger, Left Hand,” A Myrna Loy-Melvyn Douglas starring vehicle. A suces- sion of minute roles helped him pay the grocery bills until he at- JEFF COREY, gifted stage and screen actor, has the important role of an army psychiatrist in Stanley Kramer’s daring film, “Home of the Brave,” which pre¬ mieres at the Theatre next through United Artists release. Still No. MAT (1C) traded attention with a vivid per¬ formance as Tom Sharps in Stephan Vincent Benet’s “All That Money Can Buy.” Some of his outstanding recent roles have been in “Brute Force”; as the convict Schwartzmiller in “Canon City”; the guard in “Joan of Arc”; the detective in “City Across The River”; and the sym¬ pathetic Army doctor in “Home of the Brave.” Jeff Corey is also distinguished in Hollywood because he has joined the long line of actors who have suc¬ cumbed to the temptation to play Abraham Lincoln. He played the role of Honest Abe in the famed Actors Lab presentation of “Abe Lincoln in Illinois.” Just as the company was about to go on the road with the play, Corey was offered the featured role of the Army psychiatrist in “Home of the Brave.” JAMES EDWARDS A TRIPLE-THREAT TO OTHER ACTORS ( Feature ) “Triple-threat” James Edwards, as he is known in Hollywood, con¬ ducts nightly classes in acting tech¬ nique at the Los Angeles School of Dramatics that bears his name. He is also editing a version of “Othello” which he hopes to pro¬ duce some day, with himself in the. title role. And, in what amounted practically to his spare time, he recently finished portray¬ ing the leading role in “Home of the Brave,” Stanley Kramer pro¬ duction which will be shown at the Theatre on ., through United Artists release. In the film, the first on its dar¬ ing theme ever to be produced in the United States, Edwards has the part of “Mossy,” a Negro surveyor who volunteers with three white soldiers for a dangerous mission on a Coral Sea atoll. He is brought back from the mission a victim of shock paralysis. In trying to find the causes of his affliction, the Army doctor digs into Mossy’s past and uncovers his story. Based on the prize Broadway play by Arthur Laurents, “Home of the Brave” provided Edwards with the sort of part known in the movie industry as a career-maker. The performance is all the more remarkable since this is Edward’s first major appearance on the screen. Formerly a director of in¬ dustrial personnel, he first became interested in dramatics when he at¬ tended courses in Speech and Act¬ ing at Northwestern University. When he left college, he joined a little theatre stock company in Chicago and got his first stage opportunity when he was hired to play the leading role in the West Coast Company of “Deep Are The Roots.” Following his impressive job in “Home of the Brave,” he received offers from most of the major Hollywood studios. Page Twenty