Since You Went Away (United Artists) (1944)

Selznick Discoveries Launched in New Film In addition to the imposing array of seven top-flight Holly¬ wood stars appearing in his great emotional drama, “Since You Went Away,” David 0. Selznick utilized this production, his first since the spectacular “Gone With The Wind,” to intro¬ duce to film audiences some of the new players he has under contract. For most of them, this was a first-time experience before the camera, and they eagerly welcomed the unusual opportunity of working with such finished performers as Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Shirley Temple, Monty Woolley, Lionel Barrymore and Robert Walker who play the leads in “Since You Went Away,” which is currently running at the .... Theatre through United Art¬ ists release. In order to put the youngsters more at their ease, Selznick signed up Helena Sorell, who is an au¬ thority on dramatic training, to provide them with a background in acting technique and to train them in the use of the voice. Miss Sorell schooled such stars as Ve¬ ronica Lake and Robert Stack. She says: “The new year—1944—will see the development of more new stars than in any similar period in movie history! War years are always a challenge to youth.” Among the young fortunates who got their chance in “Since You Went Away” is Rhonda Fleming, a native Californian who got her first professional breaks through the “Gateway to Hollywood” pro¬ gram and by singing at the Bilt- more Bowl. She also appeared in Ken Murray’s “Blackouts.” With green eyes and titian hair, 21 year old Miss Fleming is an arresting beauty .... Vicki Styles is the daughter of the well known vaudevillian, Hal Styles. Selznick saw her photo¬ graph in the newspaper and sent for her to have an interview. A contract followed. Willard Jillson, handsome Ken¬ tucky-born six-footer, never thought of films as a career. He once oper¬ ated a tractor in Central America during the construction of a high¬ way. He is the son of a geologist and is the first of his family to follow the greasepaint trail, and this happened only through the ac¬ cident of meeting a Hollywood agent who brought him to Selz- nick’s attention. Christopher Adams and Eric Sinclair, like Jillson, received their histrionic baptism in “Since You Went Away.” Adams has a partic¬ ularly interesting human interest story. In service with the United States Coast Guards, he was as¬ signed to pose for military posters. His youthful, vital good looks in the photograph attracted the atten¬ tion of Selznick, who signed him to a post-war term contract. Sin¬ clair also owes his crack at films to the observant eye of talent scouts. Dorothy Mann, a 16 year old, found herself with a movie con¬ tract as a result of winning “the most beautiful back” contest. She has an arresting singing voice and a face that can easily be her for¬ tune. Last comes 22 year old Guy Madison, who was once a lineman with the telephone company. He also is with the Coast Guard and has been promised a film career when the war ends. Selznick has great faith in these young players, and while he does not expect to unearth a Jen- nifer Jones every year, his theory is that you never can tell what a youngster can do until given a good chance. Dance Is Tribute to Selznick Showmanship After David 0. Selznick staged the burning of Atlanta in his great production, “Gone With The Wind,” the phrase “master of bold and spectacular showmanship” was on the tip of everyone’s tongue when this producer’s name was mentioned in Hollywood. For this marvelous scene eclipsed in mag¬ nitude and sustained thrills any¬ thing previously recorded in films. Again Selznick’s magic has been given full play—this time in his current production, “Since You Went Away,” the dramatic pan¬ orama of the American home front in the grip of a global war that has been held over for another week at the .... Theatre through United Artists release. One of the high spots in the film, so far as spectacular effects are concerned, is the “Hangar Dance” given for enlisted men of the U. S. Army. It marks the first time, too, that an event like this on the stage or screen has been filmed in any army aviation han¬ gar — a perfect reproduction of which was set up on two combined stages at the Selznick Culver City studio. The stage covered more than 20,000 square feet of floor space, required more than 200 sep¬ arate pieces of lighting equipment and a crew of 100 electricians to illuminate the scene. More than 700 Southern Cali¬ fornia college boys and girls took part as soldiers and hostesses, among them many young men who have been trained as members of the army and navy R.O.T.C. on the campuses of USC and UCLA. The climax of the dance was a whirl¬ wind Conga line in which some of the stars of this magnificent pro¬ duction took part, including Clau¬ dette Colbert, Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten. Also, starring in “Since You Went Away” are Shir¬ ley Temple, Monty Woolley, Lio¬ nel Barrymore and Robert Walker, with such well-known players as Agnes Moorehead, Hattie McDan-. iel, Albert Basserman and Alla^ Nazimova in important supporting* roles. ® Behind-Scenes Experts Assure Movie Reality The general public has become largely familiar with those “little people” behind the scenes of a Hollywood production who play so important a part in the beautifying of the various stars and featured players in a film. Such names as Dolly Tree, Wally Westmore, Adrian, etc., have become almost as widely known as those of your favorite stars. But there is a whole group of behind-the-scenes experts about whom the public rarely hears and whose work is easily as important and dramatic as that of the makeup man, the dressmaker, the hairdresser. They are the artists and production men. It lies within the province of the work of these men to create the realistic illusions of depth, of change and of background which combine to make a motion picture so realistically a representation of life. The importance of the work of the artists and production men is clearly recognized and appreciated by the makers of films—the pro¬ ducers and directors. They know of the skill, the patience and the technical genius which goes into something even as simple as a scene of a bike-ride through the country. And when a producer is attempting to capture both the mood and physical aspect of all America then he leans most heav¬ ily on the technicians who will ac¬ complish the task. To men like these then, goes a great amount of the credit for the success and over-all technical per¬ fection of David O. Selznick’s sweeping drama of the home front, “Since You Went Away” playing at the ... . Theatre through United Artists release. For in this film about the folks at home, the Selznick production staff has cap¬ tured in their backgrounds and sets the very face of America in the changing seasons. Chief production designer for Selznick productions was William Pereira, an expert city planner and architect whose aid on govern¬ ment city planning projects proved invaluable. Working directly with Mr. Pereira was Mark-Lee Kirk, art director. Mr. Kirk, an archi¬ tect of wide repute was long as¬ sociated with Paramount, RKO- Radio and Twentieth Century-Fox. With a full art staff, Pereira and Kirk designed and executed the construction of three giant di¬ oramas on a scale never before at¬ tempted. Dioramas, the giant painted backdrops which form backgrounds for motion picture scenes, are rarely accorded the special treatment given by the Selznick staff. The ’drops were painted in full color, thus giving a three dimensional effect, and in¬ dividually spread 30 feet high by 180 feet long. The dioramas re¬ quired several thousand square feet of canvas, but they were so skillfully executed that all of this material will be, for the motion picture audience, a real and liv¬ able street, changing its aspect with every change of season. Another setting which proved a challenge to the technical genius of the Selznick production staff was the construction of the Hilton house. They were so successful in the building of the home which houses Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Shirley Temple and Monty Woolley, four of the seven stars of the film, that the members of the cast of “Since You Went Away” eyed the substantial domi¬ cile hungrily. They still have a housing shortage in Hollywood. Next time you go to the movies, take a good look at the things in the background. They sometimes offer as much drama as the histri¬ onics going on in the foreground. f --- > Sweet Peace! Claudette Colbert and Rob¬ ert Walker are two stars in “Since You Went Away” David O. Selznick’s great production now at the .... Theatre through United Art¬ ists release, who have special reason for being happy with their parts. In their two most recent films, “So Proudly We Hail” for Miss Colbert and “Ba¬ taan” for Walker, the two players had to brave shell¬ fire and bombs and the sav¬ agery of the Japs in the sim¬ ulated horror of war. In “Since You Went Away” they appear on the American home front, which, relatively speaking, remains a pretty clean and peaceful place. Famed Troop Train Now Luxury Liner The Atlanta Special rides again! The famed troop train of “Gone With The Wind,” the old wooden coaches and high-wheeler engine that carried Confederate soldiers to battle in the Civil War epic, are being reconstructed for service in David O. Selznick’s “Since You Went Away” the heart-warming drama of the home front currently at the .... Theatre through United Artists release. With railroad rolling stock tied up by the government and impos¬ sible to rent or borrow, the Selz¬ nick studio is reclaiming the train which thrilled movie fans the world over. When next it appears on the screen it will be streamlined inside and out—a complete luxury liner. Film Family Looks Like Real Family Any resemblance among mehi- bers of families in films, as any casting director will cheerfully ad¬ mit, is purely coincidental. It really doesn’t matter, since it happens in the best of families, whether mother and daughter, sisters and brothers and other kin are lqok- alikes for purposes of the camera. When David O. Selznick en¬ gaged his stars, all seven of theip, for “Since You Went Away,” he looked for stars to fit the parts and, in some cases, parts to fit the stars. This was without regard for appearances, although nobody’s throwing rocks at his three lead¬ ing ladies—the Misses Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones and Shir¬ ley Temple. It is therefore pure coincidence that Claudette who plays Anne Hilton in the film, and Jennifer and Shirley who play her daugh¬ ters, Jane, 18, and Brig, 15, have some of the same facial character¬ istics. At least that’s what Ste- phanoff, the Macedonian makeup man on the “Since You Went Away” set, claims. Stephanoff is one of the best in his craft, hav¬ ing abandoned his slapstick com¬ edy career to slap grease-paint on the stars of “Ben-Hur,” way back in 1926, and he’s been at the pan¬ cake front ever since. Stephanoff can give you three good reasons why these particular stars look alike. First, they all have high cheek bones; second, the eyes are the focal part of the face; third, they all have mobile mouths —by which he means very expres¬ sive. * t- Page Eight