How to Murder Your Wife (United Artists) (1965)

Jack Lemmon Comedy Tells ‘How to Murder Your Wife’ (General Production Story) The motion picture camera has shown us how empires are created and crumble; how distant stars are reached and how the abysmal depths of oceans are plumbed. Now it reaches its pinnacle by showing us — how to murder one’s wife! That’s right; how to murder your wife! It’s all a great, big spoof of course, and it’s great fun too, according to those who have already seen it. It’s the new, rollicking, merry Jack Lemmon-Virna Lisi comedy co-starrer “How to Murder Your Wife,” in Technicolor, which opens Si ies at thes<:7..00... Lneatre: The United Artists release also includes in its impressive cast Claire Trevor, Broadway Funnyman Eddie Mayehoff, and England’s gift to the gaiety of nations, Terry-Thomas. It was written and produced by George Axelrod and directed by Richard Quine under the Executive Producership of Gordon Carroll. With its outdoor scenes filmed almost entirely on location in the heart of glittering New York’s nightlife center, “How to Murder Your Wife” brings Jack Lemmon back to movie audiences after a series of film triumphs which have made him the undisputed reigning comedy-romance champ of the world. His role in “How to Murder Your Wife,” that of an enormously wealthy newspaper comic strip artist who wants above all else to remain single, is said to fit him like the proverbial glove. His leading lady, the green-eyed Virna Lisi, who upsets his .plans by surprisingly waking up besides him one morning as his lawfullywedded wife, has a wide reputation in Europe but makes her American debut in the present opus. A student in a technical college in her native Ancona, Italy, and without previous dramatic training, she proved a_ natural actress and an instant hit. Often a lucky chance in pictures. Terry-Thomas, of course, needs no introduction to American students and lovers of high comedy. He became a star with Americans for his role in “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,” but was previously seen—and impressed widely—in “I’m All Right, Jack” and “The Mouse on the Moon.” Another famed funnyman who is well-known to American audiences of radio, television, the stage and films, is, of course, veteran actor Eddie Mayehoff, who’s Jack Lemmon’s lawyer in “How to Murder Your Wife.” Eddie has been the beloved of movie goers since his appearance in the Martin & Lewis comedies, and his TV show “The Adventures of Fenimore J. Mayehoff,” is down in history as TV’s first (and first successful) variety show. For Richard Quine, who directed “How to Murder Your Wife,” the film is his second association with Axelrod. He has been directing, and has had a hand in making pictures since his “Babes on Broadway,” co-starring Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney, and his hits include such impressive contenders as “My Sister Eileen,” “Command Decision,” and “No Sad Songs for Me.” Comic Strippers Spoofed in Film Some of our leading newspaper comic strip “secret agents” and their creators come in for a little spoofing in the George Axelrod original “How to Murder Your Wife,” United Artists release in -Technicolor opening. ................ at the 2 Theatre. Cast as the creator of Bash Brannigan comic strip character, Jack Lemmon plays the wealthy cartoonist who becomes emotionally involved with Virna Lisi through the machinations of his characters. Also in the cast are Claire Trevor, Eddie Mayehoff and Terry-Thomas. Richard Quine directed and Gordon Carroll was executive Producer. Mayehoff Cast With Lemmon In Axelrod Comedy Radio-screen-film-stage comedian Eddie Mayehoff is said to play one of the funniest roles in his long career as a comic in George Axelrod’s hilarious screenplay “How to Murder Your Wife,” Opening? aca BONG oases. Theatre. The United Artists release, in Technicolor stars Jack Lemmon, Virna Lisi, Claire Trevor and England’s famed comic Terry-Thomas. Eddie’s career as an entertainer goes away back to the time when his father hired him as a shirt salesman and both father and son lost their shirts. He tried emceeing at nightclubs and was an immediate hit. He has been one ever since, Eddie is perhaps best remembered for his TV show “The Adventures of Fenimore J. Mayehoff” which was the first comedy variety show ever put on TV. He is also fondly recalled for his roles with Bob Hope, Martin and Lewis, and other famed comedians. It was the Martin and Lewis comedies, by the way, which got him into pictures. He has also been seen widely in Broadway stage productions. In “How to Murder Your Wife” Eddie plays Jack Lemmon’s lawyer, and the latter really needs one after involving himself in a goofy plot which is said to be pure and authentic Jack Lemmon. Claire Trevor, screen great of an earlier era, plays Eddie’s wife in the spoof, “How to Murder Your Wife” was directed by Richard Quine and its executive producer was Gordon Carroll. Neal Hefti, well known to the pop jazz aficionadi, wrote and conducted its music, described as “clef hanging.” § i Still MI-37 Eddie Mayehoff is Jack Lem mon’s defense lawyer in hilarious “How to Murder Your Wife,” United Artists release in Technicolor opening .......... at the Theatre. eter ee eeeee Hotel Starred In Film Comedy A hotel under construction on New York’s Avenue of the Americas at 54th Street plays a starring role in the George Axelrod original screen comedy “How to Murder Your Wife,’ Technicolor United Artists release opening atone at the ............ Theatre. Co-starred with the hotel, where much of the film’s zany action takes place, are Jack Lemmon, Virna Lisi, Claire Trevor, Eddie Mayehoff and Terry Thomas. Richard Quine directed and Gordon Carroll was executive producer. Still MI-32 Mat 2B Italy’s gorgeous film star Virna Lisi makes her American film debut opposite Jack Lemmon in the George Axelrod original “How to Murder Your Wife,” hilarious spoof in Technicolor at the opening release. Theatre under United Artists Comedian Jack Lemmon Gets New (And Sexy) Leading Lady One of the notable tributes to the acting talents of Jack Lemmon is a simple listing of the accomplished and beautiful ladies of the screen who have played opposite him. The list reads like the “Who’s Who of Great Actresses” — Judy Holliday, Marge Champion, Betty Grable, Janet Leigh, Betty Garrett, June Allyson, Rita Hayworth, Kathy Grant, Kim Novak, Doris Day, Marilyn Monroe, Lee Remick, Shirley MacLaine, Carol Lynley and Romy Schneider. And now comes an utter unknown (in America at least; she’s famous in Europe) to join this august company. She’s beautiful Virna Lisi, and she co-stars with him in United Artists’ * hilarious “How to Murder Your Wife,” in Technicolor, opening. ................ at the seas Theatre. It’s a great chance for Virna and great things are expected from this fortunate casting, which also includes Claire Trevor, Eddie Mayehoff and Terry-Thomas. For Lemmon stands today, the unchallenged and most beloved comedy-romance box office champ of the world. Thrice nominated in four years for a Best Actor Academy Award, for “Some Like It Hot,” “The Apartment” and “The Days of Wine and Roses,” he is equally proficient in comedy and dramatic portrayals. Son of a well-known amateur performer in Boston, Jack made his debut at four with his father in “Gold in Them Thar Hills.” It proved his undoing. He decided there and then to become an actor. Lemmon was educated at New England’s best schools, including Harvard University, and was identified with dramatics at all. He was president of Harvard’s dramatic society, the Hasty Pudding Club. Jack “made” Hollywood, in a comedy role opposite Judy Holliday in “It Could Happen to You,” and he was an instant success. He played for a while but his appearance in “Mr. Roberts” won him an Academy Award and _ international fame. He continued to play comedy and it was this medium which lifted him to his present eminence, Following completion of Columbia’s “The Notorious Landlady” opposite Kim Novak in late 1961, Jack flew to London to star in Sam Spiegel’s “The Dangerous Silence”. When this project was delayed, Jack returned to the U. S. to costar with Lee Remick in the Martin Manlius production of “Days of Wine and Roses” at Warner’s. When the final scene of his most dramatic role in films was completed, Lemmon flew to Paris for exterior filming of Billy Wilder’s “Irma La Douce” opposite Shirley MacLaine. Following that he filmed “Under the Yum Yum Tree” and “Good Neighbor Sam”, Lemmon and actress Felicia Farr were married in Paris on August 17, 1962. They live in a Normandy style home on a two-acre wooded hillside in Beverly Hills. Return Engagement Claire Trevor, famed screen dramatic actress of yesteryear, returns to the screen as a comedienne in “How to Murder Your Wife,” a George Axelrod original directed by Richard Quine and co-starring Jack Lemmon, Virna Lisi, Eddie Mayehoff, Terry-Thomas and Miss Trevor, opening at the ee Theatre in Technicolor and under United Artists release. Still MI-47 Terry-Thomas as Jack Lemmon’s TERRY THOMAS TOO FUNNY FOR MEAT BUSINESS When Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens was a meat salesman for a cold storage company in England he came to work one day in a green porkpie hat, a silver-tipped Malacca walking stick and a long ivory cigarette holder. And that, in the main, is why he is an actor today—a famous one called Terry-Thomas. You see, the cold storage people didn’t like It. The odd get-up that led to his downfall as a meat salesman was what the famed comedian, one of the big hits of Stanley Kramer’s recent “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” called “a compulsion to act in a funny manner.” It made an actor of him. In fact, one of England’s leading funny men, and he'll be on view again in the hilarious “How to Murder Your Wife,” United Artists release in Technicolor, opening epee eee: at the ............ Theatre. Terry-Thomas is co-starred in the George Axelrod original with Jack Lemmon, Italy’s famed Virna Lisi, Claire Trevor and Eddie Mayehoff. Terry-Thomas came to the entertainment world after leaving the cold storage business, via the vaudeville route. From this he went to playing bits in movies and then the radio. After the war, in which he served with the Royal Corps of Signals, he got into pictures and made good immediately as a very funny man. But it wasn’t until 1956 that he was first seen in America, and then in “Private Progress,” that he became world famous. Stil MI-7 Mat 1A Terry-Thomas shares stellar honors with Jack Lemmon, Virna Lisi, Claire Trevor and Eddie Mayehoff in “How to Murder Your Wife,” hilarious comedy in Technicolor opening ........ at the ........ Theatre. A George Axelrod original, the United Artists release was directed by Richard Quine. Mat 2C “oentleman’s gentleman,” Virna Lisi as Jack’s wife and a scene-stealer in George Axelrod’s original comedy “How to Murder Your Wife, United Artists release opening > Technicolor at the .. Theatre.