That Funny Feeling (Universal Pictures) (1965)

Bobby Darin, Co-Star Of ‘Funny Feeling, Wants To Be Typed In Pictures (Advance) Bobby Darin is one Hollywood performer—perhaps the only one—who wants to be typed. To date, he is anything but. He will soon be seen at the ES Site en eee at Se Pe Theatre playing light romantic comedy opposite Sandra Dee in the Dee Darin Donald O’Connor starrer, Universal’s “That Funny Feeling,” photographed in Technicolor. It is a big switch from Bobby’s taut dramatic role in “Captain Newman,” the performance of which won him cherished recognition in the form of an Academy nomination. Yet it may win him just as much applause in another area. But it is just such big switches that Bobby hopes to eliminate at some time in the foreseeable future, in the interest of his professional advancement. He seeks an image—an undiffused one, one that does not depend on his remarkable versatility as nightclub entertainer, composer, dramatic actor, popular song stylist, light comedian, song writer, etc. With all these capabilities, Bobby can go any way — given the right vehicle. And since he has shucked nightclub entertaining, and declines to do routine television shows, he would 1 ke to progress as an actor—comedic or dramatic, but preferably not both —and with music as a sideline. “What I'd like,’ he says, “is typification. I am not a star,” he says, with modesty of self-analysis. “Jerry Lewis is, and Frank Sinatra, and Elvis Presley—each in his own way. They have achieved typification. I haven’t.” A prime example of what he means is John Wayne, who has become wealthy and popular by playing variations of the “John Wayne” type in successive pictures. The very opposite is epitomized by Laurence Olivier, revered by other troupers as “the actors’ Bobby Darin, who won an Academy Award nomination for his dramatic role in “Captain Newman,” changes pace to light romantic comedy for the zany Universal picture in Technicolor, “That Funny Feeling.” (Still No. 1956-91) actor,’ for great success in an infinite variety of roles. Bobby Darin wants to go neither the way of John Wayne nor of Laurence Olivier; nor of Jerry Lewis, Frank Sinatra or Elvis Presley. He wants to go the way of Bobby Darin, to have roles written especially for him as the one best able to perform them. When this happens, Bobby Darin will admit he is a star. Sandra Dee Cooks A Duck In U's ‘That Funny Feeling;~ Hilarious Sequence Results (Advance) It is always a disaster area when Sandra Dee sets out to cook a bird. This has no bearing on the fact that, in real life, Miss Dee is a competent housewife and mother, and burns the toast no oftener than the next bride of recent date. The tradition of destructive fowl cookery applies only to Sandra’s movie culinary efforts. In Universal’s Technicolor comedy, “That Funny Feeling,” comince? cae to-thesiic22 eee Theatre, she enhanced the tradition by roasting a duck for her actor-husband (and co-star) Bobby Darin, in a harrowing scene. Donald O’Connor also costars. Sandra has help from Nita Talbot in her fore-doomed roast duck catastrophe. Just when the bird is sizzling nicely in the roasting pan, Nita bastes it with 100-proof brandy, lights a cigarette, and tosses the match toward a plate on the oven. The match goes INTO the oven instead, and bird and oven are at once engulfed in flames. Sandra races to the rescue with a pan full of sudsy dish water, and duck and dish water end up together—an unpalatable mess. In an ensuing scene, the girls send out to a restaurant for a duck to go, and that is the duck Sandra serves Bobby. * It was like that, only more so, when Sandra helped Andy Williams to barbecue a chicken in her previous picture, “I’d Rather Be Rich.” The bird had surreptitiously been stuffed with a rocket by a jealous suitor, Robert Goulet, and was supposed to shoot off into the wild blue yonder when warmed by the glowing coals. It did so in trial runs, but when the camera turned on the scene, the chicken exploded in Sandra’s and Andy’s faces, inflicting painful burns. After these two traumatic experiences in the cooking of Sandra Dee has another hilarious experience with cooking and with animals in her latest Universal romantic comedy in Technicolor, “That Funny Feeling.” (Still No. 1956-83 ) ornithological specimens, it is small wonder that Sandra now views with disdain and repugnance any culinary involvement with members of the winged species. But such is the sadism of screenwriters, and such is the devotion of Sandra to the trouper creed that the show must go on, there is every likelihood that in her future film vehicles she will be called upon again and again to cook birds of one type or another. And will do so. But never in her own household. After all, it is a free country. Fowl Play Indicated (Current) Mindful of what happened to Sandra Dee the last time she essayed to cook a fowl for a movie scene—the stuffed chicken exploded in her face— Universal took extraordinary precautions to protect Sandra AND the studio, as she pre pared to roast a duck in a scene for ‘That Funny Fooling,” the Technicolor romantic comedy now at the Theatre. There were explosive possibilities in the fact that Sandra had to baste the bird with 100proof brandy, so that it would flame prettily. As two _ uniformed county firemen stood by with their extinguishers at the ready, the scene was completed without incident. Step On Finger Not As Bad As On Line (Current) The Greenwich Village coldwater flat that Sandra Dee and Nita Talbot share in Universal’s “That Funny Feeling,” with Bobby Darin and Donald O’Connor as Sandra’s co-stars, is tiny beyond belief. The romantic comedy photographed in Technicolor NOW S SUG CIC le eee a sees Theatre. So when Sandra emerged from the bathroom in one scene, the swinging door knocked neighbor Larry Storch off-balance to the floor, and then Sandra added injury to insult by accidentally stepping on a finger of his left hand. Larry managed to conceal his pain as he said his line from the script: “Mind if I have a cup of coffee ?”’ “Help yourself,” Sandra replied. Then director Richard Thorpe ended the action — and Larry quickly put his bruised finger to his mouth. “Did you know you stepped on my finger?” he asked Sandra. “Oh, you poor dear she purred. “Of course I didn’t.” “Actually, it wasn’t much,” he said. “It’s stopped hurting already.” Sandra looked relieved at this assurance. ‘‘Anyway, as an actor, Larry,’ she offered, ‘‘you should be glad it was only your finger I stepped on—not on your line.” While the film action is briefly in the peanut-size apartment, as soon as a masquerade and all its complications gets underway it moves—and the players move with it—to very luxurious surroundings. Player's Salary Would Be Tremendous If — (Advance) Tracy Butler is the kind of a girl who works in a movie for $27million an hour, which is very much more than the stars earn. It is also more, much more, than the $45 an hour which was Tracy’s normal wage as a top New York photographic model and actress in television commercials, before she switched to Hollywood. Tracy set her new pay scale by a brief, but important, scene with Bobby Darin in the Sandra DeeDarin-Donald O’Connor starring romantic comedy in Technicolor for Universal, ‘That Funny FeelANOS COMM Ore so eeet ces eee arene to the DET ST oo eA erees Theatre. Tracy’s performance consisted of posing with Bobby Darin for one cabaret-type photo. It took one-fiftieth of a second to shoot it and the resultant print showing Darin’s arm around Tracy, serves to make Sanda jealous. Tracy got her regular pay— $150 before deductions—for her fiftieth of a second work before the camera. Fringe benefits included the two-hour glamour hairdo and makeup she received in advance. At $150 for a fiftieth of a second, a full second of Tracy’s time would bring her $7,500, and a minute would be $450 thousand. Sixty times that makes an hour $27 million, and a normal eight hour day, $216 million. But that figure holds only if she gets the same rate of pay for every 50th of a second. Page 3 ‘That Funny Feeling” Role Marks Donald O Connor's Return After Ten Years (Current) When Donald O’Connor returned to his former studio after an absence of 10 years to co-star with Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin in Universal’s Technicolor romantic comedy, ‘That ” Funny Feeling, now at the... si las ee at an eo rea Theatre, the first thing he got was — a sock on the jaw! No, someone wasn’t evening a grudge; it’s just that the script called for it. And when Larry Storch, also in the film, knocks Donald cold, it’s merely a case of mistaken identity. He really was supposed to knock out Bobby Darin — who doesn’t deserve it either. It is such things that make comedies zany, aS Donald O’Connor knows very well. He’s been in show business almost since his birth in Chicago in 1926. His father died a few months after and his widowed mother continued The O’Connor’s, a family vaudeville act, which Donald joined when he was 13 months old doing a dance routine. Late in the 1930’s, he appeared in a benefit at the Los Angeles Biltmore Theatre, was seen by a talent scout, and signed for the role of Bing Crosby’s kid brother in “Sing You Sinners.” He made 11 additional pictures for Paramount, then moved to Warner Brothers for a picture after which he hit the road for a four-week theater tour which extended into two years. Universal brought him back to Hollywood from Chicago to appear in “What’s Cooking?” and in 1941, signed him to a contract. He made as many as 12 films a year, including six of the famous “Francis” — the talking mule films. In the ten years since he left Universal, he has done a number of films, had his own television series and innumerable television roles, done the night club circuit, "THAT FUNNY FEELING" (2) After 10 years absence, Donald O’Connor returned to Universal pictures for a leading role in the hilarious comedy in Technicolor, “That Funny Feeling,” directed by Richard Thorpe. (Still No. 1956-93 ) has appeared on the legitimate stage and has composed both light and serious music—some of the latter having been recorded by the Brussels Symphonic Orchestra. But since Donald O’Connor’s longest stay at one place in his very active career was Universal Studios—to him, it is almost like home. Donald O’Connor tries to get his friend and employee Bobby Darin to marry his (O’Connor’s) ex-wife, thus cutting alimony and property settlement costs in the Universal romantic comedy in Technicolor, ‘““That Funny Feeling.” Sandra Dee co-stars. (Still No. 1956-56) In the climax of the hilarious story, Donald O’Connor rescues his valuable paintings while surrounded by a bevy of beautiful girls, while all are on their way to the police station in Universal’s zany romantic comedy, “That Funny Feeling,” photographed in Tech nicolor. (Still No. 1956-65)