20,000 Years in Sing Sing (Warner Bros.) (1932)

=e = Composite LI ane s cence eater (Current Story) Fe Se ee ee Are Sing Sing Prisoners Camera-Shy? Famous Penal Institution Warden Finds They’re Not Over 800 Prisoners Volunteered to Participate in Prison Scenes Filmed for Motion Picture By LEWIS BE. LAWES : Warden of Sing Sing Prison SENSATIONAL story was sent out over the press wires to the effect that an inmate of Sing Sing had fatally stabbed another inmate in the prison yard during a recreational period. Something of this tragic happening may have been in the minds of the Warner Bros. director, his assistants, as well as the actors, while filming scenes inside the prison walls for the screen adaptation of the book, ‘‘Twenty Thousand Years in Sing 99 Sing, Winch is now playing at the = .......05...c.ea.. Theatre with Spencer Tracy and Bette Davis heading the cast. The cameras for the first shot in this picture were set up to catch the men as they marched for their noon-day meal. The prison band played a stirring march step—the prisoners quickly assembled in march formation, and, directed by their leaders, stepped briskly out, arms swinging and heads erect, past the camera equipment and on, over the hill, to the mess hall. And the picture men were more concerned than were the prisoners. “No one looked at his picture in a newspaper or magazine with envy and admiration. He was an outcast, and he knew it. | Used to Publicity | “To-day, the papers play up a big-time gangster as they would a visiting potentate or a champion fighter. People look at his picture ~< There are in Sing Sing supposed = ly as hardened and desperate men as im any prison in the world. Yet their reaction to the presence of the cameras was that of interested children. There was none of the expected reluctance—the averting of faces, the casual passing of the hand across the face, as the machines rolled out their film. In fact, when the word went out —the night before—over the prison broadcast system, that volunteers were wanted the next morning, for a mass shot, actually eight hundred men responded. And it was not all for the cigarettes that were promised them. bezz~, F 1 Woucpnt't WANTA MEET DOSE GUYS ON A DARK STREET Cut No. 4 ° —% Rees te ronvicts with interest—mingling admiration, or dread, according to the make-up of the reader—but seldom, nowadays, with loathing or scorn. I put the question to several of the inmates: “ARE Sing Sing prisoners camera shy?” The result is interesting. “No, they are not,” one prisoner told me. The old-time crook had good reason to be camera shy; the fewer people who knew him, even by sight, the longer he could stay out of trouble. “So, why should a_ prisoner, whether a big shot or not, shrink from having his picture filmed, any more than the debutante or the politician?” Pretty good logic, I think you will agree, From another inmate came this reply: “Maybe, some of Sing Sing’s men are camera shy, but many really like the limelight, I am sure. People who like the limelight, may be found in all places. Sing Sing certainly is no exception. “While filming the book, “Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing,” the inmates were interested; it was something new. All men are really grown-up children. And, as a grown-up man will sit on the floor and play with mechanical toys with the children, so did the inmates of Sing Sing become interested children in the mechanics of motion picture making. “The inmates of Sing Sing, as a class, wanted to find out what it was all about. It was interesting, too. However, back of it all, it is certain that the prisoners are not happy over being confined, and many of us do not want to think about pictures being in existence that will remind loved ones at home of our plight.” That is a different answer, it will be noted. But I think it strikes the medium of the thoughts among the men in my charge. The inmate who replied to my question, as quoted in the foregoing paragraph, had in mind, I ar sure, that while the prisoners ¢ Sing Sing naturally are not hapr over their predicament, they a sume a happiness they really do ni feel, as several comedy happenin; will disclose. | Offered to Double | The picture director related to n~ the remark made by one of m charges, who naively queried: “Sa; Boss, don’t you want a double ft that guy who goes over the wall' No one goes over the wall in tk picture. It w The colored man quickly retorted. == “Mister Director, if I acted natch ural, I’d just natchurally sit on my ~~ pants until I gits callouses.” It may be added that Warner Bros. sent up a number of extra men to appear in the scene requiring close-ups. These men Were made up and were in prison uniform. One of the inmates, writing outside to a friend, said: “They are taking shots inside the prison walls for the Warden’s book, ‘I'wenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing,’ and you ought to see some of the actors. Gee, they are a tough of Gripping Scenes from “20.000 Years 18aeh Wathin easy eye dix Sk the pub 1¢ grandstand. — —— Sn looking lot of birds; I’d hate to meet one of them in the dark.” It might be well for folks in general to take this statement under careful consideration, if only to demonstrate that not all prison inmates are tough-looking men. Then, too, if we are to ask, “Are Sing Sing inmates camera-shy?” we might answer by pointing out the large number of outsiders who at WANT SomeGooy Willing to take the job without pay. Cut No. 3 _ tend the baseball and football games within the prison walls. Ours is a losure, t hundrr dq here can the more easily be dis _jnguished than if confined to the -snall limits of a motion picture film tame. “Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing,” which is prabably as different from any other prison picture “made, as could be, has a large cast headed by Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis, Lyle Talbot, Sheila Terry, Louis Calhern, Arthur Byron and Warren Hymer. Sing Sing prison, its life, its drabness. and its cell block after cell block have been faithfully reproduced under the direction of Michael Curtiz. Cuts No. 3 & 4 available in one piece. Cut. 30c, Mat 10c. in Sing Sings” Several of the highlights from First National’s vividly told film of prison life, written by Warden Lewis E. Lawes of Sing Sing. The ex citing sequences, as shown here, reveal the superb acting in this powerful drama. Tracy and Bette Davis, consisting of Arthur Byron, Sheila Terry, Louis Calhern and Lyle Talbot. Out No. 15 Out 60c Mat 20c An unusually strong cast of players support Spencer ie Page Five rue, but sy