Topper Returns (United Artists) (1941)

/ ♦ * Program and Publicity Shorts FISH DIET Slicker, the Seal, who is seen in some uproariously funny scenes with Eddie (Rochester) Anderson in Hal Roach’s new mystery-com¬ edy, “Topper Returns,” which is slated for its local premiere at the .... Theatre on .... , ate about ten pounds of fish during the first three hours he worked with Ander¬ son. That is just about par in any seal’s diet, and Eddie was delighted to learn that seals prefer fish to meat. VACATION Billie Burke says she was de¬ lighted to be signed again to ap¬ pear as Mrs. Topper opposite Ro¬ land Young’s Mr. Topper in the new Hal Roach mystery-comedy, “Topper Returns,” the current at¬ traction at the .... Theatre, because playing the role of a kind- hearted, fluttery woman who is not quite bright is like taking a vaca¬ tion from the serious business of living. FILM HISTORY “Topper Returns,” the mystery- comedy now on view at the .... Theatre, is the third of the famous “Topper” stories filmed. Its pre¬ decessors were “Topper” and “Top¬ per Takes a Trip.” All were pro¬ duced by Hal Roach, the screen godfather of the late Thorne Smith. “Topper Returns” is an original story by Jonathan Latimer and Gordon Douglas, in which the char¬ acters created by Smith, Cosmo and Mrs. Topper, are perpetuated. NOT FOR FUN The dangerous chandelier scene in Hal Roach’s “Topper Returns,” which comes on .... to the .... Theatre, emphasizes the fact that the life of a so-called glamour girl can be pretty hazardous. It has always been that way with Carole Landis in her motion picture work. As a cave woman in her first star¬ ring picture, she had to clamber from rock to rock and flee from a pair of elephants. In “Turnabout,” Dennis O’Keefe in “Topper Returns.” 16 A—One Col Head (Mat .15; Cut .25) she climbed a flagpole and in “Road Show” she hobnobbed with lions. “It’s a living,” says Miss Landis. OFF-STAGE SCREAM Character actress Rafaela Otti- ano’s last chore in “Topper Re¬ turns,” which starts a run at the .... Theatre on .... , was an off-stage scream in the dark, heard a moment before she mysteriously disappeared from a locked, guarded room. For her convenience, since no actress is at her best with her mouth wide open, Director Roy Del Ruth had the lights turned out. A moment later there was a spine- chilling scream that electrified the crew. When the set was safely lit up, Del Ruth ungrudgingly told Miss Ottiano she had produced the best movie scream he had ever heard. “Really?” she asked with surprise. “You know. I’ve never screamed before in my life.” MAGICIAN’S CONVENTION The wizards of the Hal Roach prop and special effects depart¬ ments worked overtime in “Topper Returns,” now at the .... Theatre, and so amazing were their results that even members of the cast were dumbfounded. There was no re¬ laxing on any of the sets; it was like attending a magician’s con¬ vention. There were footprints that appeared in the sand without bene¬ fit of a maker; pillows that de¬ pressed with nobody lying on them; and a boat rowed by an un¬ seen oarsman. Humorous Confessions By Glamour Girl Joan After the first hundred pictures, a new screen role for a star is somewhat like another set of water pipes to a plumber. In¬ teresting, lucrative, amusing, but nothing to write home about. That’s not the case with Joan Blondell’s latest role, however. It’s the leading part in Hal Roach’s mystery-comedy, “Topper Returns,” coming on .... to the .... Theatre, and it’s going to change her life. The third of the hilarious Thorne Smith <$>- Joan Blondell and Roland Young are respectively a fun-loving spirit and a banker-detective in the Hal Roach mystery-comedy, “Topper Returns,” now playing an engagement at the .... Theatre thru United Artists release. IB—Two Col. Scene (Mat .30; Cut .50) How Slicker the Seal Goes Winsome on Set! One of the hammiest performers in Hollywood, one of the most tireless “lens lice” in motion picture work is Slicker, a seal. “You cannot push him away from in front of the camera,” says his trainer-owner, H. W. Winston. “He knows what it’s all about.” Slicker’s latest picture is the Hal Roach mystery comedy, <♦>- “Topper” pictures to be filmed, it features, besides Miss Blondell, Roland Young, Carole Landis and Billie Burke. “I can honestly say,” Miss Blon¬ dell confided, “that ‘Topper Re¬ turns’ is going to revolutionize my family life. For the first time it’s going to convince my 6 year old son, Norman, that I’m an actress!” Up until now, Joan explains, Norman has recognized only one actor in the family, his father Dick Powell. That’s because Dick usually appears in slam-bang parts, sometimes in costume, and to Norman, that’s acting! “But he can’t figure me out,” Joan says. “When he saw my first picture, he sat there in silence for a while, then when there wasn’t a sound in the theatre, piped up, ‘Mommy, is this why you get up so early in the morning?’ ” More Confessions “I didn’t do much better on my next picture. It was a comedy. After a half-hour of dead-panning, he turned to me and asked, ‘When do you start getting funny?* ” In fact, Joan recalls, only once did her son ever half-way acknowl¬ edge she wasn’t wasting her time in pictures. That was when he saw a film in which she drove a car through a fence. “That was keen,” Norman commented. But that was a long time ago, and they don’t talk about her screen career any¬ more. “And that’s why I’m so happy to be in ‘Topper Returns,’ ” she says. “I play a ghost in it. I get mur¬ dered. I materialize and dematerial- ize. I chase the murderer. I even get funny. It’s great fun playing the role. As my severest critic would say, ‘It’s super!’ And it’s going to be a great relief not to have to slink out of the house in the morning,” sighs Joan. Eggs a La Mode Provide Suspense When you see the Hal Roach picture, “Topper Returns,” at the .... Theatre on .... , observe carefully the scene in which the cops, backed up by the principals in the story, find Cosmo Topper, played by Roland Young, hiding in an ice-box. Note, especially, the look of tense anxiety achieved by Carole Landis, in the role of Ann Car¬ rington, as Sgt. Roberts quizzes Topper about a murder which has been committed. The expression is just what Di¬ rector Roy Del Ruth wanted be¬ cause the situation is a nasty one. But Carole had some help in doing it. Just before the scene was filmed, Dennis O’Keefe filched an egg from a basket standing on the nearby kitchen table. And just be¬ fore the order to “roll ’em” was given, O’Keefe, who plays the ro¬ mantic male lead of Bob opposite Miss Landis, slipped the egg in her hand. There was nothing Carole could do about it. She had to hold the egg, tenderly but firmly, through the long scene. It had quite a bit to do with the stricken look she wears during the sequence. When the director said “cut,” Carole emitted a huge sigh of relief, and the egg fell to the floor with a “splat.” “We’ll print that one,” said Del Ruth,” even if it did lay an egg.” “Topper Returns,” which is slated for its premiere at the .... Thea¬ tre on ... . and in which he de¬ velops a powerful affection for Eddie (Rochester) Anderson. He plays with him in the water, finally plants a wet, whiskery kiss on his face. Slicker is one of the highest- salaried animal stars in films, and he hasn’t reached his peak. He is really only a child actor, being but five years old. “I think a seal is the most intelligent, easily trained animal there is,” declared Winston. “A seal is smarter than a dog, in my opinion. They are great per¬ formers because they are so hammy, especially Slicker. They are exhibitionists. They love an audience.” Winston admitted that they also love fish, with which they are re¬ warded after every little trick. Slicker, technically, is not a seal, but a California sea lion, as are all of the beasts in Winston’s troupe of trained “seals.” “I don’t know what there is about me that suggests the Perils of Pauline,” she says, “but I’ve had quite a time staying in one piece.” Carole is underestimating the case. In her last three pictures, she (1) was chased by a prehistoric woolly mammoth, (2) climbed a flagpole and (3) got chummy with a cage-full of lions. And now, in her current pro¬ duction, the Hal Roach mystery- comedy “Topper Returns,” at the .... Theatre, she is the target for a falling 250 pound chandelier. Of course, elaborate precautions were taken to insure the success of the scene. After all, there is only one Carole Landis, and even $800 crystal' chandeliers don’t grow on palm trees, not even in Hollywood. Roy Del Ruth, who directed the third of the “Topper” series, with a cast featuring Joan Blondell, Ro¬ land Young and Carole Landis, devoted three hours of minute preparation for the split second scene. It went off without a hitch. There was the tinkle of crystal, a wrenching sound, a crash, and then the lights went out. When they went on, a moment later, there was Carole Landis, her legs partially covered with debris. She took out a cigarette from her purse and asked, “Anybody got a match?” Later in the day, she revealed that the only thought passing through her mind at the time was: And all the king’s horses and all the* king’s men, couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again. Rafaela Ottiano in “Topper Returns.” 19A—One Col. Head (Mat .15; Cut .25) Page Thirteen