3 Men on a Horse (Warner Bros.) (1936)

MEET THE REAL FRANK McHUGH If you have been using the “Hollywood After Hours’’ series you know that edit ors have gladly welcomed it as a Sunday or magazine feature. It tells what the fans want to know about their favorites and the stories are written by newspaper reporters who know their Hollywood. Illustration can be run without the story if preferred. Complete with two heading mats. Order Mat No. 403—40c. Every movie-goer has come to know Frank McHugh as an ace comedian. His screen record is one long epic of “scene-stealing’”’ — because audiences are so busy laughing at his nonsense that they forget to watch the stars. But when Frank leaves the Warner Brothers lot, he drops his silly little giggle and becomes one of Hollywood’s most serious citizens. eo Pd *% Off -the screen, Frank’s whole life centers around his family. Maybe it’s because he had so little family life in his own childhood—he’s been on the stage since he was nine years old, and he used to play little girl roles until his voice changed. But at the McHugh home “‘shop’’—which of course means the movies—is never. discussed. The three children, Peter, Susan, and Michael, are being brought up just the way they would be if Papa were a banker in Little Rock, Arkansas. He goes to all the Parent-Teachers meetings at the schools they attend, and he and Mrs. McHugh never miss a program in which the children take part. ® *® * Frank, who has been elevated to stardom now with his role as “Oiwin” in “Three Men on a Horse,” the fastest and funniest comedy of the last ten years, based on the stage play that has kept Broadway laughing for the last two years, and which opens at. ... Théatre on Sot Re ee >» is Hollywood’s “Family Man No. 1.” He sings in his church choir at Christmas and Easter, and at least one night a week he listens to political speeches on the radio, and takes notes on them. Moreover, he knows the exact state of his bank balance at all times, makes out his own income tax returns, and, like the average man, worries about the electricity bill — which has turned him into a light turner-offer. * * * His favorite outdoor sports are ones in which the children can join him — croquet and swimming. He has an old-fashioned string hammock swung up between two trees in the garden, and he likes to lie there and ‘‘ just think,’’ as he puts it. Loves to shop in the dime store — because he adores useless little gadgets, and that’s a grand place to find them. Likes rainy weather, too, and the sound of wind howling through the trees. And his favorite occupation on a rainy evening is a game of check ers. And -apropos of rain — he believes implicitly in weather forecasts —with the result that the McHugh children go to school with rubbers on four days out of every week. * * * Furniture auctions fascinate both Mr. and Mrs. McHugh so on the rare days when Frank doesn’t have to report to the studio, they put the whole family in the car — with a substantial lunch basket — and go off on a combined picnic and auctionhunting jaunt. Their attic is full of antique “mistakes” — but every now and then they pick up a really fine piece, and then Frank has a marvelous time “restoring” it. * & * CROQUET is one of Frank MeHugh’s favorite athletic activities. He likes it because his whole family can play it with him. Cross-word puzzles keep him occupied for hours — and he has a complete library of encyclopedia and dictionaries to help him along over difficult spots. Reads a lot, too — although not nearly as much as he would like to. RAILROADING is ahobby of Frank Hugh’s so he built a miniature system on which the Mc.Hugh youngsters take many a wild ride. * * * He’s red-headed, and is generously endowed with freckles. Very serious about his work — he has never been known to fall Page Twenty down on his lines — due, he says, to his long training in stock with a new part to memorize ev ery week. During the filming of “Three Men on a Horse,” he confounded Director Mervyn LeRoy with the ease with which he mastered his lengthy role. Frank got a big kick out of the role, too — he thinks that “Oiwin,” the meek, little writer of greeting card verse who could pick the winning horse in every race, is a grand person. “I wish that I could have learned his secret while I was playing him,” Frank says. “Then I could lie in my hammock out under the elms all day, and just let the money roll in.” s J * Despite his pre-eminence as a family man, McHugh is not always to be found at home during his Hollywood ‘‘ After Hours.’’ His closest friends are Pat: O’Brien and Spencer Tracy, which means “<3 Men on a Horse”’ ‘which comes to the Oe Peete Theatre on pe >» but at ‘home he’s “Daddy” Frank McHugh. ‘Here is the entire! fs may be a star in that when there are prize fights around, Frank will be there. Also at football and basketball games. # * * McHugh makes no claim to being an athlete. He has been too busy acting to indulge himself in much recreation. But he is a keen judge of sports and a follower of them. He doesn’t say much about it, but he rather hopes his boys will excel in games and make a couple of teams when they go to college. * * * Frank McHugh has considerable talent as an artist, and likes to make bookplates for his friends— usually grotesque ones that require real skill. If he were not an actor, he could have qualified as a newspaper sketch artist, a gift he conceals, unlike the late Enrico Caruso who used to love to make caricatures of dining companions. He is @ musician of sorts, too, and a & constant reader of current litera ture. He prefers biographies. * * * All in all, it would appear that McHugh’s life journey takes him along pleasant paths. Suecessful in his profession, true to, and beloved by, his friends, the head of happy, congenial and co-operative family, he does his work gladly and increasingly skilfully. Recognized for years as an outstanding comedian, his work in “A Midsummer Night's Dream” established him as a real star. Now he has his big opportunity in a role sought for by the leading comedians in Hollywood. He’s “Oiwin,” the meek and humble writer of greeting card poems in “Three Men on a Horse” the First National comedy based on_ the stage play that has kept Broadway in roars for two years, and which opens at the ................ Theatre on ...............ccccecceee BUBBLES — Frank McHugh blows them for his youngsters when he’s not making the world laugh in Warner Bros. films.