The Pink Panther (United Artists) (1964)

Publicity Material Edwards Supervises, Directs And Writes The Pink Panther’ Ordinarily it is the custom to assign a writer to create the story, hand the story to a producer who gets the actors and technicians together, and once this “package” is assembled, hands it over to the director who sees it through the cameras and into “the can’’—and that’s how motion pictures are born. But in the case of Blake Edwards, he did the assigning, writing and directing for the high comedy of high jinx among the international set, “The Pink Panther,” a Mirisch Company presentation in Technicolor and Technirama, openIN VOr gaa Neate atcines. = fone Theatre under United Artists release. Edwards wrote the story in collaboration with Maurice Richlin, who also worked with him on the script for the enormously successful “Operation Petticoat.” To get “The Pink Panther” into production — meaning to assemble an adequate cast, choose the locations and to perform the thousand-andone other details which go into the making of a motion picture, he chose Martin Jurow, whose production of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “The Fugitive Kind” and “The Hanging Tree” had impressed him so favorably. As the producer, it fell largely to Jurow to select the cast for “The Pink Panther” and it is largely to his credit that such names as David Niven, Peter Sellers, Robert Wagner, Capucine, Brenda De Banzie, Colin Gordon, Claudia Cardinale and that of a newcomer from whom great things are expected, Fran Jeffries, are among the credits for “The Pink Panther.” His music was composed by Academy Award winner Henry Mancini. It also fell largely to Jurow to select the sets for the picture and he went directly to the Italian Riviera, playground of the international set known as “La Dolce Vita Crowd,” for locations. When everything was in readiness for the cameras, Edwards himself took the figurative megaphone, and in due time “The Pink Panther” became a motion picture. Edwards, a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the son of veteran motion picture production manager Jack McEdwards, was doing nicely himself as a production manager, actor and director in pictures until television beckoned. But pictures are his first love and Mirisch, one of the largest of the independent Hollywood motion picture pro Sull TP-51 ducing organizations, have great plans for him in the future, and largely because of his triple-threat job with “The Pink Panther.” Oscar Winner’s Music Heard In ‘Pink Panther’ Two Academy-Award Winner Henry Mancini the music man, felt right at home on the set where the Mirisch Company’s presentation of Blake Edwards’ Technicolor-Technirama production for United Artists release “The Pink Panther,” opening RENE oe x Theatre with David Niven, Peter Sellers, Robert Wagner, Capucine and Claudia Cardinale in the leading comedy roles, was made. That’s because he was working with Edwards, who also directed and wrote the story, and Martin Jurow who produced it. Both Edwards and Jurow held similar chores with “Breakfast at Tifany’s” for which Mancini composed the Oscar-Winning score. That score included the song, “Moon River,” which was given the Oscar for the best song from a motion picture, thus chalking up two awards in one picture. Mancini wrote a new song called “Meglio Stasera” (“It Had Better Be Tonight”) for “The Pink Panther” which many have already called of top hit quality. It is one of several in the hilarious comedy of high jinx among the international set on the Italian Riviera generally referred to as “The La Dolce Vita Crowd.” Mancini also worked with Edwards in creating an off-beat type of music for the latter’s television series “Peter Gunn” and “Mr. Lucky.” His music was also heard in Edwards’ film “Experiment in Terror.” se ee wees ? Mat 2E Handsome Robert Wagner moves into the field of sly comedy with David Niven, Peter Sellers, Capucine and a host of others in the Mirisch Company’s romp “The Pink Panther,” Blake Edwards Technicolor-Technirama production for United Artists release opening ...... at the ...... Theatre. PAGE 8 Still TP-28 Mat 2C Capucine looks askance at a shivering David Niven in one of the many hilarious scenes from “The Pink Panther,”’ a Blake Edwards production for the Mirisch Company. The Technicolor-Technirama picture is a United Artists release. Lovely Capucine Slyest of ‘Panther's Sly Characters The Mirisch Company’s presentation of Blake Edward’s “The Pink Panther,” the Technicolor-Technirama comedy of high doings among the playboys and playgirls of the Italian Riviera under United Artists release and opening ........... at BHC Wer vets caer Theatre, is described as pretty sly stuff. They’re all pretty sly characters and slyest of all is Madame Simone Clouseau, described as “elegantly beautiful,” and whose interests lie with an international jewel thief played by sly David Niven, and a French cop played by England’s comic Peter Sellers. So if you’re looking for a sly beauty, who better than Capucine, one of the slickest of the slick? Blake Edwards, who wrote the story in collaboration with Maurice Richlin, and who directed it, couldn’t say, and neither could Martin Jurow, producer whose job it was to assemble the cast for “The Pink Panther.” So Capucine it was, and into the cast she went. The impressive cast is completed by Robert Wagner, Brenda De Banzie, Colin Gordon, Fran Jeffries and Claudia Cardi nale. The daughter of a prominent French industrialist, | Capucine, whose real name is Germaine Lefebvre, came to pictures via the most roundabout of fashions. In a horse and buggy. It happened while she was on a tour of provincial France shortly after her graduation from college at Sammer, France, where she had earned her Bachelor of Arts degree. A commercial photographer saw her in the horse and buggy and was impressed. He persuaded her that she was beautiful enough to become a photographer’s model so she decided to try it. She was an instant success and soon became one of France’s most highly paid models. Seeking larger fields she came to New York. There she was seen by talent scouts and it wasn’t long before she was in Hollywood. Her debut in “Song Without End” impressed. Her appearance in “North of Alaska’ convinced, and her portrayal in “A Walk on the Wild Side” proved her not only one of the most beautiful women to face a motion picture camera, but one of the most talented as well. ‘Steel’ Almost Steals Robert Wagner From Movie Stardom Maybe it was bad luck and maybe it wasn’t, but when it happened it was a bitter disappointment to the high school kid who wanted to be a movie actor. A strike at one of Hollywood’s largest studios put an end to his screen tests and sent him back to high school. But it didn’t kill his ambitions, and Robert Wagner is a top star today, and not an important man in the steel industry, which was what his father had in mind for him. Currently he shares top billing with David Niven, Peter Sellers, Capucine and Claudia Cardinale in Mirisch Company’s presentation of Blake Edward’s TechnicolorTechnirama production “The Pink Panther,” which was produced by Martin Jurow, opening beet h, ctmecte Theatre. It is a United Artists release. Others in the impressive cast are Britain’s famous Brenda De Banzie, Colin Gordon and Fran Jeffries. Maurice Richlin collaborated with Edwards in writing the comedy, described as a hilarious romp with the international set on the Italian Riviera. Papa Wagner, a steel man, wanted his son Robert to be a steel man like himself. But just before graduating from high school, Robert got a chance to see the head of talent at the Warner lot. The head was impressed and told him to keep in touch, he had a couple of bits coming up. But the strike came along and Robert never got a chance with the bits. Instead it was back to high school for him. Upon graduation, the elder Wagner made a deal with Robert. He would give him one year to get into show business. He would help him in this in every way he could. But, if, at the end of the year Robert didn’t get in, then he was to live up to his part of the bargain by going into the steel business. Before the year was out, the younger Wagner snared a part in “The Happy Years.” There was a long wait and, just as the year was about to run out, he made it. In “The Halls of Montezuma.” That started it. “The Frogmen,” “Let's Make It Legal,” “With a Song in my Heart” followed. There were 22 others in all, and Wagner found himself a top star. Suave David Niven a Natural For The Pink Panther’ Role “He’s charming, he’s cultured, he’s beautifully mannered and he’s an impeccable dresser.” When Producer Martin Jurow began casting with Blake Edwards for the latter’s production “The Pink Panther,” a hilarious romp with the international set on Italy’s Riviera opening ..... at thee ea: Theatre, that’s what the requirements for the actor who was to play a pretty slick international jewel thief, read. Well, they asked themselves, who’s charming, cultured, beautifully mannered and an impeccable dresser for the Mirisch Company presentation and United Artists release? David Niven, of course. Which is why it came about that Niven is in the cast of “The Pink Panther” which also boasts of Peter Sellers, Robert Wagner, Capucine, Brenda De Banzie, Colin Gordon, Fran Jeffries and Claudia Cardinale in the Technicolor-Technirama spoof, which was written by Edwards in collaboration with Maurice Richlin (who also did “Operation Petticoat” with him). Edwards directed the picture. Best known for his smooth performances in “Separate Tables” which won him an Academy Award, “Around The World in 80 Days” and “Guns of Navarone,” and for his hosting on television for his own David Niven Theatre, Niven’s suave and cultured manner comes to him naturally. The son of the British peeress Lady Comyn-Platt and William Graham Niven, he is the product of England’s finest schools, and the British Navy and Army. But there is also an earthier side to him. He was a lumberjack and newspaperman in Canada. He came to pictures after knocking around rather intensively at all sorts of jobs and his name began to appear on the screen in such productions as “The Dawn Patrol,” “Bachelor Mother” and “Wuthering Heights.” There was a hitch in the army during the war, and then a role in “Stairway to Heaven.” But he didn’t make the big time until his memorable role as Phineas Fogg in “Around The World in 80 Days,” and then he ballooned to fame in a manner of speaking. He soared straight to top stardom in “Bonjour Tristesse,” “Separate Tables,” “Anniversary Waltz,” “Happy Anniversary,” “Guns of Navarone,” “Best of Enemies,” “Act of Mercy,” “Captive City,” “50 Days at Peking,” and now in “The Pink Panther.” And in all of them he was charming, cultured, beautifully-mannered, and—in most at least—impeccably dressed. Still TP-55 ‘Panther’ a Jewel It isn’t a TV underworld mastermind and it isn’t a phantom sleuth of some kind, this Pink Panther which gives its name to the Mirisch Company’s presentation of Blake Edwards’ Technicolor-Technirama comedy “The Pink Panther’ openNNR ere at the Theatre under United Artists release. It’s a diamond—a whopper of a one as large as a grapefruit—and the now-they’ve-got-it, now-theyhaven’t which goes on around it with the assistance of David Niven, Peter Sellers, Robert Wagner, Capucine and Claudia Cardinale among others, is what makes for the riotous comedy in this Mariin Jurow produced and Blake Edwards directed spoof. Claudia Cardinale Goes Easy on Sexy Roles In Films Although she is conceded to be one of the most highly gifted of Italy’s movie queens when it comes to physical endowment, gorgeous Claudia Cardinale is not what one might call a “sex queen” in pictures. Her roles run to the amusing, dramatic, historic and realistic. That’s because she wants it that way. And that’s the way it is for her in Mirisch Company’s presentation of Blake Edwards’ Technicolor-Technirama production “The Pink Panther,” hilarious romp with the international set on the Italian Riviera, opening at the sin ba est Tage Theatre, a United Artists release. In this gay comedy, directed by Edwards and produced by Martin Jurow, Miss Cardinale plays the role of a mysterious princess from the orient who owns the fabulous diamond which gives the picture its name, and in the role she proves herself the mistress of comedy, drama and realism while awfully good to look at withal. “The Pink Panther” cast is headed by David Niven, Peter Sellers, Robert Wagner and Capucine. Its music is by Henry Mancini, twotime Academy Award Winner. woot ese eaes Mat 2F She’s lovely, she’s gorgeous. she’s Claudia Cardinale and she’s delightful in Mirisch Company’s Blake Edwards TechnicolorTechnirama production “The Pink Panther,’ comedy also starring David Niven and Robert Wagner, and opening.........at thE cis holes Theatre as a United Artists release.