Kitten With a Whip (Universal Pictures) (1964)

New’ Ann-Margret More A Tigress Than A Girl Next Door (Advance) The movie pendulum appears to have swung away from “the girl next door” to — Ann-Margret. In her new role as the alleycat heroine of Universal’s ‘“‘Kitten With a Whip,” coming..............--..-to tHe ec ee Theatre, until now a sugar-and-spice-and-everything-nice type of person, scratches and slaps leading man John Forsythe, and smashes a whiskey bottle over the head of actor James Ward. The films haven’t ever seen so much an angry tigress on the loose, as Ann-Margret in this. It even frightens Ann-Margret, a little. But then she remembers that she was chosen for the part from all the leading ladies in films, any one of whom would have given her right arm for the role in this stark and sexy melodrama. And Ann-Margret is once again content. Except for one thing — what it does to the men. Forsythe’s welts and nail scratches that Ann-Margret inflicted in the heat of her performance, will heal with time. But think of the mental anguish he must have suffered. And Ward will never trust a whiskey bottle again, when wielded by a girl. After his head was patched and he was released from the hospital, the vow he took was not to stay off the bottle, but from under it. Ann-Margret was painfully upset after doing these injuries to the men in her movie life. Her sympathy for each was boundless — afterward. “T became so involved with the part that I failed to foresee any danger,” she explained. This may well be, but it no longer applies to the Messrs. Forsythe and Ward. They will each view with real apprehension any future physical entanglements with the young lady. "KITTEN WITH A WHIP" (1-A) Kitten — but in this story, more Alley Cat—Ann-Margret bares her claws in the starkly dramatic Universal picture, “‘Kitten With a Whip,” directed by Douglas Heyes and produced by Harry Keller. (Still No. 1937-142 ) Emotional Role Has Ann-Margret Figure Move With Emotions (Current) While Universal’s “Kitten With a Whip” allows Ann-Margret unprecedented opportunity to display her acting ability in a serious role, the star’s lovely figure “moves” as much as it ever has in any of her musical films. The demanding part of a highly emotional and unpredictable delinquent calls for the full range of emotions which are as exhausting as any of her dance sequences in “Bye, Bye Birdie” and ‘Viva Las Vegas.” Director Douglas Heyes was well aware of the beauty of her walk when he cast her in the title role, and, consequently, very few scenes have the explosive AnnMargret sitting or standing still. From the very beginning, as the panic-strickent Juvenile Hall runaway, to the suspensful end when she races a car in a do-or-die chase, the star is on the move. After four very successful musical films, Ann-Margret gives a many shaded performance in Universal’s “Kitten With a Whip,” and adds a new facet to her career. She must now be reckoned with as a splendid dramatic actress. Co-star is John Forsythe. The stark melodrama was produced by Harry Keller and directed by Douglas Heyes. (Still No. 1937-111) Ann-Margret Needs Month Of Rest After Tormenting John Forsythe For Two (Advance) Ask Ann-Margret, film star, what it takes to recover from tormenting a man through two months, and she replies that it will take HER all of the next month. What it will take the man, actor John Forsythe, is another story; that’s his problem. The two were paired in doing a stark and sexy melodrama, “Kitten With a Whip,” under the guidance of scenarist-director Douglas Heyes, for producer Harry Keller and Universal. “Kitten Withea Whip .cOMeSs. «<5. {Hola bl 0X = free ee eds Theatre. To refer to Ann-Margret as the “Kitten” of the title, is an understatement. Alley cat would be a better description. Without any initiative on his part, Ann-Margret proceeds to tear to tatters the life, reputation and political prospects of good citizen Forsythe. But by one of the paradoxes peculiar to the female animal, the ordeal seems now to have been mostly Ann-Margret’s. It tore her to shreds emotionally while Forsythe, man-like, never lost a night’s sleep. “T wouldn’t want to go through that again soon,” says Ann-Margret now. “It tore me apart every day.” (Again, it is pertinent to note that it was Forsythe’s role, too, to be torn apart every day, but that he is yet to complain.) “Did I feel sorry for the man?” Ann-Margret continues. “Of course. The girl herself did, toward the end.’ (The “girl” to whom she refers is Jody, fugitive juvenile delinquent who has inflicted critical stab wounds on a matron who tried to stop her, and who is ready to claw any man in her way.) Ann-Margret is really shook by her experience, even though she freely identifies herself with the girl she played, except in the one important particular of that girl’s delinquency. “She is a loner, and so am I. While I was doing the picture, I stayed alone. I remained overnight in my studio dressing room, rather than be with people. When I did go home, I went right to my room rather than be with my family.” (She refers to her loving parents, Gustav and Anna Olson.) And the biggest sacrifice of all, perhaps: “I only dated twice throughout the picture schedule.” What better evidence could there be than this, of Ann-Margret’s intense preoccupation with her evil role? “T couldn’t do one stark drama like this after another. It’s too hard on me. That’s why I want to go back and forth, from one kind of a picture to another.” This appears to dispel as false any conclusion that Ann-Margret intends henceforth to devote herself to stark realism, rather than to the sweetness-and-light type of films at which she has so signally succeeded, (such as her role in “Bye, Bye, Birdie.’’) But as for prowling on and on as an alley cat, Ann-Margret has other ideas, like maybe doing a Brodway musical for a change. She would make the switch from alley cat to sex kitten — or back again ——with the greatest of pleasure. Page 3 A nn-Margret Hailed As Hollywood's New ‘Sex Kitten’—But What's That? (Current) Now that Hollywood has a new sex kitten, in the person of Ann-Margret, the question arises —what is a sex kitten? This A-M is a bundle of female, feline loveliness — 5’434”, 35-22-35, 115-lb., green eyes, dark brown hair (currently blonde), born in Sweden on April 28, 1941. Those are the statistics — but is it the girl? The questions are vexing, but the answers are embodied in AnnMargret, in her innate sensuality, and in the out-and-out alley cat type (but loveable) she plays as the tantalizing, tempestuous heroine of “Kitten With a Whip,” the first of her five movies to give full play to what might be regarded as her native inclinations. Co-starred with John Forsythe, she can be seen currently in the stark Universal melodrama at (Gist Ase eS eee Theatre. It is not a mere portrayal; it is an extension of self that she manifests as the young temptress who, by her unbidden presence, smashes the well-ordered world of the helpless male played by actor John Forsythe. Ann-Margret is not the first sex kitten on the movie scene, and may not be the last, but she is the sublimation of a small, select list that, down through the years, has been highlighted by such names as (at their peaks) Rita Hayworth, Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot and Elizabeth Taylor. The term sex kitten (but not the condition) gained currency a half-dozen years back with the ascendancy of Mlle. Bardot. She chanced then to be of the same age and approximate dimensions of the pregent Ann-Margret. And they both are girls — but there the resemblance ends. Ann-Margret, in and out of her current screen role, offers a whole new dimension in feline sex projection. And may well succeed where Brigitte did not—in getting the sex kitten term a dictionary acceptance. The dictionaries do come close, with such terms as sex pot, meaning a female whose appearance and personality are sexy; and sex job, as a woman one a man would like to possess. On the feline side, it is pertinent that a kitten is not only a young cat, but is also (Oxford English dictionary) applied to a young girl, with the implication of playfulness or skittishness. As for alley cat, it is the less socially-acceptable species of the family Felidae, of digitigrade cernivorous mamals, including the domestic. And further, the cat family is described as having a lithe body, very soft ... with claws. All of which applies in good measure to Ann-Margret’s inherent characteristics and equipment, and to its ultimate extension in her new screen role — a far cry from her earlier dalliance in such sweetness and light vehicles as the singing, dancing ingenue of “Bye, Bye Birdie.” Mingle the sex factor with the kitten factor and Ann-Margret comes up with a feline quality greater than the sum total of its parts. This is a quality that, in medicine, is referred to as synergistic — as when two antibiotics are mingled to greater total potency than that of the one added to the other. It is easy, then, to conclude that Ann-Margret is the synergistic sex kitten — the first of her kind. "KITTEN WITH A WHIP" (2-6) Ann-Margret who has been honored by the Theatre Owners of America as “Star of the Year,” switches from musicals to her first intense dramatic portrayal as a juvenile delinquent in Universal’s “Kitten With a Whip.” Her co-star is John Forsythe. (Still No. 1937-143) years.