Miss Annie Rooney (United Artists) (1942)

SET IN QUADRUPLICATE SOLVES BIG PROBLEMS Big Four-Way Set Provides Short-Cut To Learning for Lively Juveniles (Advance Feature ) A set in quadruplicate was the answer of Producer Edward Small to the school problem in making the new Shirley Temple starring vehicle, “Miss Annie Rooney,” which starts a run at the.Theatre on. That problem, incidentally, is a producer’s biggest headache in shooting a film which features youngsters of school age. Small had to figure out the time William Gargan achieves fatherhood in “Miss Annie Rooney.” 16A—One Col. Head (Mat .15; Cut .25) Falcon Trainer Dickie Moore, who plays one of Shirley Temple's boy friends in her new picture, “Miss Annie Rooney,” which will start a run at . Theatre on ., has one of Hollywood’s most unusual hobbies. The sixteen-year-old actor trains falcons. Instead of playing football or baseball or jitterbugging on his free days, Dickie and Bill Lasky, son of Jesse Lasky, cart half a dozen hawks out into the wilds and spend hours training them. Shirley almost got one of the hawks from Dickie as a token of his pleasure in working with her. He offered, she accepted — and Shir¬ ley’s mother said d firm “NO!” problem not only for Shirley but also for Dickie Moore and Roland Du Pree, featured juveniles, and some twenty other children used as extras. So, before the picture started, Small came up with the idea for a four-way set which would save every possible minute between shots. Scenes for the picture were to be made variously on Park Ave¬ nue, on the east side of New York, in Central Park and in a swank penthouse apartment. A set was built which stretched from wall to wall of a sound stage 200 feet long and 65 feet wide. In the center was a glistening black pavement of macadam. On one side of the street were shabby walk-up apartments and on the other side palatial marble-fronted apartment hotels. At one end of the sound stage avenue were trees and lawns repre¬ senting Central Park in the spring and at the other end was a com¬ plete penthouse apartment. Jitterbug Extras Win Top Plaudits The usual situation of the extras envying the stars was reversed on the set of “Miss Annie Rooney,” coming on.to the .Theatre. The picture used a dozen young jitterbugging couples for dance se¬ quences with Shirley Temple and Dickie Moore and during the shots, established players like William Gargan, Guy Kibbee, Jonathan Hale and Gloria Holden, stood around and envied the ability of the kids to “hit the stratosphere.” Between shots Gargan and Miss Holden cornered Nick Castle, Shir¬ ley’s dance director, and took les¬ sons behind the set. If the picture had a month longer to run, Gargan claimed, he would have qualified for an evening at the Palladium. William Gargan discusses his woes with Guy Kibbee in this scene from the new Shirley Temple opus, Edward Small’s “Miss Annie Rooney,” the comedy romance slated for its premiere at the Theatre on.. 76— Two Col. Scene (Mat .30; Cut .50) Guy Kibbee, Shirley Temple and William Gargan comprise the famous Rooney family in the new Edward Small comedy romance, “Miss Annie Rooney,” current attraction at the.Theatre thru United Artiste release. 6B—Two Col. Scene (Mat .30; Cut .50) DANCERS “TOSS A PANIC” AND SET JIGGLES MADLY {Advance Feature) Not since the 1933 earthquake jiggled Hollywood have the sound stages at the Edward Small lot palpitated as they did during the panic tossed for Shirley Temple’s new picture, “Miss Annie Rooney,” which opens at the.Theatre on.To toss a panic, it should be explained, is to gather a group of young and enthusiastic jitterbugs, supply them with jive music and then just let nature take its course. That’s what happened in a scene for “Miss Annie Rooney.” There were five couples on the set rehears¬ ing the swing-out, swing-in, off-to- the-stratosphere steps they were to do for the camera. There were three more couples back of the portable dressing rooms, engaged in a jam session, which means they were in¬ venting new steps. There was an¬ other couple, showing still another couple a snazzy evolution they picked up at the Palladium last night. “Fun, eh?” said Director Ed Mar¬ in with a slightly haunted look in his eye. “Only trouble is I can start them but nobody can make them stop. Watch.” He shouted, “Whoa!” and the five couples on the set slowed down but they didn’t stop. Marin talked two minutes, telling them just where he Star’s First Kiss Causes Furore It’s Shirley Temple’s first kiss from a “boy friend.” It’s Dickie Moore’s first chance to kiss the girl who has been the country’s sweet¬ heart since she was five. In other words, it’s a big and ro¬ mantic moment on the set of “Miss Annie Rooney,” Shirley’s Edward Small picture coming on . to the.Theatre. Everybody is thrilled and expectant. Mrs. Tem¬ ple is nervous as any mother would be about her daughter’s first ro¬ mance, even if it’s only a camera romance. Director Ed Marin is tense. Shirley’s hairdresser is starry-eyed and the grips and juic¬ ers and the rest of the crew are hushed and respectful. So Dickie kisses Shirley on the cheek. He puts his arm around her. They gaze at each other a raptur¬ ous instant. The camera stops and the assistant director calls, “Lunch!” Shirley and Dickie spring apart as though stuck with pins. Shirley trots to her dressing room. Dickie heads for a double-decker. What’s romance to teen-age kids compared with a hamburger? wanted them to cut the rug, and then spent another two minutes, getting Shirley placed with Dickie Moore. But all that time the jitter¬ bugs kept right on jittering, quietly but with determination. Even Shir¬ ley and Dickie Moore were jiggling. “You kids,” said Marin, “have to do a lot of dancing, scenes today. Don’t tire yourselves out.” “Aw, we never get tired of this,” one red-headed ’gator assured him. The scene finally started. It was one in which Shirley, an accom¬ plished jitterbug, was supposed to be teaching the steps' to Dickie Moore, who plays a slightly corny young son of a socialite family. The take ran a couple of minutes and Marin yelled “Cut.” The cam¬ era stopped. The music stopped. The arcs went out. Everything stopped but the jitterbugs. They went right on, stepping on the gas. Actor Gets Break Via Broken Bones Talking of getting the breaks in Hollywood, broken bones have twice opened the door of movie opportu¬ nity to Roland Du Pree, who plays one of Shirley Temple’s boy friends in “Miss Annie Rooney,” coming on .to the.Theatre. Young Du Pree, who is 16, stepped into the part after Dickie Jones, the original choice for the role, broke his leg in a high-school initiation. He had been in several films as a specialty dancer but had never done any acting. After view¬ ing the first two weeks’ rushes, Di¬ rector Ed Marin and Producer Edward Small hailed him as a comedy find and predicted that his dancing will be second to an acting career from now on. It came out then that his danc¬ ing talent was also discovered as the result of broken bones. Injured in an automobile accident in Fall River, Mass., his parents had him take up tap dancing to strengthen his legs and he turned out to be such a phenomenon that inside of two years he was in Hollywood, do¬ ing specialties. GOOD PAIR Gloria Holden and Jonathan Hale, who play a married couple in Shirley Temple’s new starrer, “Miss Annie Rooney,” now at the Theatre, decided they ought to be a good pair in real life, at least for the duration. Miss Holden never uses sugar. And Hale has four new retreads and a serviceable spare. NO DIPLOMAS During production of “Miss Annie Rooney,” now at the. Theatre, Edward Small used from ten to fifteen youngsters of high school age in this Shirley Temple picture and figures show that Small dished out 120 hours of education during shooting. DOLL BIZ When Shirley Temple arrived { with a doll on the set of “Miss Annie Rooney,” coming on. to the Theatre, she gave Director Ed Marin a shock. But Shirley gave him an explanation that was reassuring — it seems that Shirley was nearing the end of her Red Cross first aid course and had brought the doll as a subject for bandaging practice. SWING RECORDS Peggy Ryan, the “girl friend” of Shirley Temple in the Edward Small film, “Miss Annie Rooney,” cur¬ rently on view at the Theatre, has one of the best collec¬ tion of swing phonograph records in Hollywood, but it is more than just a hobby. She uses the collection in her practice of the swing and jitter¬ bug routines for which she is noted on the screen. Shirley Temple plays a semi-grown¬ up role in “Miss Annie Rooney.” 13A—One Col. Scene (Mat .15; Cut. 25) ODD SIDELINE Gloria Holden, the “Park ‘Avenue matron” of Shirley Temple’s pic¬ ture, “Miss Annie Rooney,” coming onto the Theatre, has Hollywood’s oddest business sideline. She finances com- merical shark-fishing expeditions, which now pay big returns for the vitamin-rich shark liver. NEW TALENT Roland Du Pree, 16-year-old dancer and actor, added a new talent to his list as the result of playing Shirley Temple’s school chum in the Edward Small production, “Miss Annie Rooney,” which will start a run at the. Theatre on . He had to portray a youngster whose pas¬ sion was doing hot licks on the snare drum and trap drum. It took him a month of practice to do it properly for one scene in the film. Page Twelve