I Met My Love Again (United Artists) (1938)

■PUBLICITY BIOGRAPHICAL FEATURES > AND ADVANCE SHORTS ...» Fonda Aimed to be Reporter But Editors Made Him Actor Unable to Break into Newspaper Work, Hank Tried Stage and Soared to Fame (BIOGRAPHICAL FEATURE) Not so many years ago handsome Henry Fonda was a Nebraska schooboy with a terrific yen to be a newspaper man. He never gave acting a thought. Today he is co-starring opposite Joan Bennett at the.Theatre in Walter Wanger's "I Met My Love Again” and is one of the screen's most popular stars. It was a chance visit to the Community Playhouse, a new Omaha enterprise, which changed the whole course of Fonda's life. Born in the little Nebraska city of Grand Island on May 16, 1908, Henry grew up in Omaha. He enrolled in the University of Min¬ nesota, concentrating on journalism with the idea of becoming a reporter. The city editors of the Omaha dailies had other ideas, however. It was then that he chanced to visit the Omaha Community Playhouse and was persuaded to join the movement. He was one of its leaders for three years. Completely sold on the superiority of acting over news-chasing as a career, Fonda packed his trunks and headed for Broadway. He made an unimposing enough start as extra and general understudy for the New York Theatre Guild. Their produc¬ tion of "New Faces" marked the first time his name appeared on the program. Another lean period ensued, broken by his signing for the role of the tutor in a stock presentation of "The Swan." Then things began to happen. June Walker, wife of Geoffrey Kerr, star of the play, saw in Fonda the ideal actor for the male lead opposite her in "The Farmer Takes A Wife," for which she had been cast. Fonda got the part and was "made" overnight. Walter Wanger signed him to a film contract and loaned him out for the screen version of the play and he rocketed to film fame in this one role. He was loaned out again for "Way Down East" and "I Dream Too Much" be¬ fore beginning work on the home lot in "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine." Then he went to England to make "Wings of the Morning" for a British studio and re¬ turned to make "You Only Live Once," Wanger's first production for release through United Artists. Upon completion of "I Met My Love Again," Fonda re¬ turned to New York to appear on the Broadway stage in "Blow Ye Winds." His preferences are for good books, good music, sports, comfortable clothes, open cars and a simple life. He stands one inch over six feet, weighs 170 pounds and has black hair and blue eyes. Frances Seymour Brokaw, New York socialite, is the second Mrs. Fonda. He was previously married to Margaret Sullavan. Henry Fonda 7A—One Col. Star Head (Mat . 15 ; Cut . 25 ) SHORTS Freezing Hot Bundled in fur coals, Joan Bennett and Henry Fonda shivered convin¬ cingly as they trudged their way through a Hollywood snowstorm to a cabin hideout in a scene from “I Met My Love Again,” the Walter Wanger film in which they are co- starring at the . Theatre on . Actually, they were doing a swell bit of acting as they really were ready to drop from the intense heat of the studio lights. “I Met My Love Again” is based on the Allene Corliss novel, “Sum¬ mer Lightning.” The production is released through United Artists. Art — With Catsup Hollywood property men get used to strange requests, but the strangest "Props" Tommy Plews ever received was a call for a "utilitarian" painting for a Paris Bohemian Colony scene in Walter Wanger's "I Met My Love Again," which co-stars Joan Bennett and Henry Fonda at the.Theatre on. The 'painting' in question was a very important item in the story, for it is his criticism of it that causes handsome Alan Marshal to be fatally embroiled in a duel. The script described it as "an abstract painting in which a 'new technique' is employed." But just how new Plews never knew until he read further. In the story, Joan Bennett and Marshal, who plays her husband, inspect the painting and comment that they smell catsup. As well they might, for the 'painting’ in question is actually made of spinach, meat sauce, catsup and other foodstuffs! It took the Hollywood-seasoned Plews only a minute to recover from the shock. Then he got down to business, dis¬ patched an assistant to a food market across the street, carried his purchases to the art department and begged the indulgence of a scenic designer. Half an hour later, he delivered the catsup, meat sauce, spinach masterpiece to the set, where directors Arthur Ripley and Joshua Logan discovered he had added a radish Bunset out of sheer inspiration. "I Met My Love Again" is released through United Artists. Eatless Days Lovely Louise Platt, the Walter Wanger discovery who makes her screen debut in “I Met My Love Againstarring Joan Bennett and Henry Fonda at the . Theatre on .. had such a hard struggle getting established in the theatre that she once had nothing to eat for six days. Nothing daunted, she rose at her customary early hour each morning, drank two glasses of water and made the rounds of the agents’ and producers’ offices. “f Met My Love Again” is released through United Artists. His First Love Hollywood’s first major star to re¬ turn to his first love — the stage — is Henry Fonda, who was granted an indefinite leave of absence by Walter Wanger upon completion of “I Met .My Love Again,” to star on Broad¬ way in Arthur Hopkins’ production “Blow Ye Winds.” This marks Fonda’s first stage work since Wanger discovered him in the New York production of “The Farmer Takes a Wife.” Since then Fonda has attained stellar rating op¬ posite such stars as Sylvia Sidney, Bette Davis and Joan Bennett. It is Miss Bennett with whom he is co-starred in “I Met My Love Again,” the romantic drama which is currently unreeling on the screen of the .Theatre. The pro¬ duction is released through United Artists. Page Eight Big Demand for Films 9 Fastest Female Talker Joan Spurned Bennett Fame And Went Out After Her Own Florence Lake Gets More Roles Than She Can Handle Plucky Blonde Beauty Faced Hardship But Refused Family’s Assistance (ADVANCE FEATURE) (BIOGRAPHICAL FEATURE) The success story of Joan Bennett is the saga of a plucky girl who refused to trade on a famous family name and insisted on making good on her own. Watching the Joan Bennett of today on the set of Walter Wanger's "I Met My Love Again,” which co-stars her with Henry Fonda at the.Theatre on.. one would never suspect that this glamorous star who looks like a girl in her teens, had In filmdom the mousetrap-building adage takes many strange twists. Flor¬ ence Lake finds paths beaten to her door in the Hollywoods because she can talk faster than any other feminine personality. The champion screen chatterer is offered more roles than she possibly can fill, so it's a question of accepting the ones she has the most fun playing. Recently the studios wished she had been quintuplets. Five of them wanted her at one time. Miss Lake studied the assortment of scripts and chose the role of Henry Fonda's snoopy, garrulous sis¬ ter in Walter Wanger's romantic drama, "I Met My Lov& Again," which co-stars Fonda with Joan Bennett at the. .Theatre on . Florence's machine-gun like delivery is at the rate of 325 understandable words a minute — and she never "blows" her lines. Hours of practice on every piece of dialogue is the secret of her flawless technique. She does all her rehearsing the night before important pictures are to be filmed, and literally talks herself to sleep. Once on the set, she never utters a word until a scene starts. Her ordinary conversation is at normal speed, but when she goes into action before the cameras she frequently continues her lightning talk for a minute or so after the director yells "cut," until she can brake her language flow to a stop. A professional actress since childhood, Miss Lake has played everything from tragedy to broadest comedy on the screen and stage. A native of Charleston, S. C., she became a stock company star while still in her teens, touring the South and East. A heroine of "westerns" in silent picture days, she thwarted count¬ less villains and was rescued by most of Hollywood's hard-riding stars. When talking pictures arrived her stage train¬ ing won her many important assign¬ ments, but it was not until a few years ago that she began capitalizing on her rapid-talking ability. Now the acting plums are handed to her faster than she can handle them. In "I Met My Love Again" she helps Dame May Whitty, Alan Marshal, Louise Platt, Alan Baxter and Tim Holt support the stars. The film was adapted by David Hertz from Allene Corliss' novel, "Summer Lightning". It was directed by Arthur Ripley and Joshua Logan for re¬ lease through United Artists. Joan Bennett 6 A—One Col. Star Head (Mat . 15 ; Cut . 25 ) Have a Doughnut Dame May Whitty made lifelong friends of the studio workers during the film¬ ing of Walter Wanger's "I Met My Love Again," the romantic drama co-starring Joan Bennett and Henry Fonda at the .Theatre on .. which casts her as Joan's New England aunt — a kindly aunt who is properly proud of her doughnut-making prowess. The distinguished British actress in¬ sisted on keeping the electricians and other workers supplied with doughnuts. "Perhaps the boys just ate them to please me," she said, "but if they did, they put on a good show. One chap told me the crullers were terrific. I suppose in Hollywood that means they were at least good." "I Met My Love Again" is released through United Artists. experienced plenty of bad breaks and surmounted many obstacles to reach the Hollywood heights. Joan was bom in Palisades, New Jersey, on February 27. 1910 — a Bennett of the Bennetts of stage and screen fame — actors for nearly ten generations. She was the third daughter of Richard Bennett and Adrienne Morrison, stage celebrities and parents of Constance and Barbara. The youngest Bennett was tutored privately in New York until she was eight and her inherited talent for the theatre cropped out as soon as she could walk and talk. The girls were placed in St. Margaret's Boarding School at Water- bury, Connecticut, and when she was 15, Joan's family sent her to L'Ermitage finishing school at Versailles, France. On shipboard she met John Martin Fox, en route to a London school. They were married a year later, but the marriage was dissolved by divorce. When Joan returned to the United States, she refused offers to go on the stage, as she planned to go in for interior decoration. Her plans never materialized, however. The next chapter of Joan's life story is not generally known. Refusing to trade on the Bennett name, she determined to show the world that she could make her own way. Too proud to ask her father for financial assistance, she moved to Los Angeles with her baby, Diana, and spent weeks trudging from studio to studio seeking extra roles. Hollywood paid no attention to her. When her famous father heard what she was about, he insisted that she accept a role in a Broadway play, "Jarnegan." She sold her furniture to buy transportation to New York. Joan made her professional debut in "Jarnegan" and received critical raves and numerous stage offers. But it was the screen, which had suddenly found its voice, that claimed her. Returning to Hollywood, she won overnight fame opposite Ronald Colman in "Bulldog Drummond." From then on, the climb to stardom was a steady one. Her film successes include "Private Worlds," "Disraeli," "Little Women," "The Pursuit of Hap¬ piness," "Wild Girl," "Two for Tonight," "She Couldn't Take It," "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo," "13 Hours By Air," "Big Brown Eyes," "Walter Wanger's Vogues of 1938," in which she made her Technicolor debut, and now, "I Met My Love Again," which was also produced by Wanger for re¬ lease through United Artists. She likes to play golf and tennis, to swim and ride. She's mildly supersti¬ tious. Likes classical literature and the lighter operas. Green and blue are her favorite colors. Her hair is golden blonde, her eyes are blue and she stands 5 feet 3 and weighs 110 pounds. High Cost of Visitors Film fans who wonder why they are not welcomed on the Hollywood sets during the shooting of pictures will be interested in the explanation of a cinema executive to the effect that "the cost of visitors can conservatively be estimated at $500 a head, due to unintentional in¬ terference with the complicated machin¬ ery necessary to filming scenes." Catching a company on location re¬ mains the fans' only hope and just how eager they are to watch their favorites emote in the flesh was proved by the experience of the Walter Wanger unit, headed by Joan Bennett and Henry Fonda, shooting scenes for 'I Met My Love Again" in the rugged Franklin Canyon country not far from Hollywood. No less than 1400 persons turned up in one day to watch the actors make scenes for the film which is currently unreeling at the . Theatre. "I Met My Love Again" is released through United Artists. Baxter Gets Chance to Reform Hollywood has finally given Alan Baxter a chance to reform. Baxter is the mild-mannered, imagin¬ ative young Broadway "find" intro¬ duced by Walter Wanger in "Mary Burns — Fugitive," who created a new type of screen heavy — a killer who didn't look or act like a killer, but whose Freudian aura raised goose- pimples on audi¬ ences whenever he appeared. Now, after nearly a dozen roles requiring assorted brands of deviltry, he lays aside his homicidal com¬ plexes to portray a strait-laced, in¬ hibited New Englander in Wanger's "I Met My Love Again," which co-stars Joan Bennett and Henry Fonda at the. Theatre An only child of a prominent Cleve¬ land, Ohio, banking family, Baxter went to Williams College, became keenly in¬ terested in "Little Theatre" activities and was elected president of the Cap and Bells, the leading dramatic society. After being graduated from Williams, he took post-graduate work at Yale Uni¬ versity and studied the drama in Profes¬ sor Baker's famous "37 Workshop". Baxter started in the New York "Group Theatre" as an apprentice. Re¬ solved to pay his own way, he posed for artists and wrote stage "blackouts". A number of these were bought for "Life Begins at 8:40," "Calling All Stars", "Thumbs Up" and other Broad¬ way hits. He made his professional acting debut as the lead in "Lone Valley". It was Baxter's work in "The Black Pit" that brought him to the attention of Wanger. Following his screen debut in "Mary Burns — Fugitive," he ap¬ peared in "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine," "The Case Against Mrs. Ames," "Big Brown Eyes," "13 Hours by Air," "Men In Exile," "Breezing Home," "Night Key," "Parole," "It Could Hap¬ pen to You," and now "I Met My Love Again," which Wanger produced for release through United Artists. Baxter is 6 feet tall, weighs 165 pounds and has light brown hair and brown eyes. He plays golf in the 80's, is an expert rider and can run 100 yards in 10.2. Keeps in condition by wrestling, playing handball and swim¬ ming. His hobbies are clay modeling and sketching. # # m