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

They All Knew Him When He Played The Sticks Star of ‘“‘Three Men On A Horse’ Has Played Nearly Every Town On The Map There is one thing almost all Hollywood movie actors, who come to pictures from the stage, have in common. They all knew Frank McHugh ‘‘when.”’ Some of them knew him when he was playing with his family — his mother, father, sister, and two brothers — in one night stands of ‘‘For Her Children’s Sake’’ and ‘‘Human Hearts’’ about the New England countryside. Others knew him when he played child roles in Pittsburgh with the Harry Davis Stock Co., and for two years more when he toured with small companies in that same district, still playing child roles. At seventeen he was graduated from these and became a juvenile and also stage manager for the Marguerite Bryant Players at the Empire Theatre in Pittsburgh. Guy Kibbee was a Pittsburgh favorite and, though still a pink and plump young man, he was usually assigned character roles. He and McHugh worked together in many plays. A year later Frank joined the Sherman Kelly Stock Co., and he toured the Middle West in repertoire. During these early years McHugh played some part in almost’ every well remembered play of those times — and sometimes two or thrée parts. He was in ‘‘Thorns in Orange Blossoms,’’ ‘‘Tempest and Sunshine,’’? ‘‘Sappho,’’ ‘‘Camille,’’ ‘‘Ten Nights in a Bar Room,”’’ ‘‘Unele Tom’s Cabin,’’ ‘The Two Orphans,’’ ‘‘East Lynne,’’ and ‘‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.’’ Two years of work on the Orpheum and Keith vaudeville circuits followed and then McHugh joined resident stock companies at Waterbury, and later at Bridgeport, Conn. He was still playing juveniles but leaning more and more to comedy. After three years of stock company work in New England, he moved on west with other resident stock companies in various cities. He was in Des Moines in 192425 when Pat O’ Brien was playing there with a road show and he introduced Pat to the stock company’s leading lady, Eloise Taylor. A little later Pat married Miss Taylor and he and Frank have been close friends since that time. Robert Armstrong was also a member of the Des Moines stock company. Frank played stock in Baltimore with Spencer Tracy. He went to London as understudy for the ‘‘Is Zat So’’ company with James Gleason. He also played with Gleason in ‘‘The Fall Guy’? and Joseph King, now a Warner Bros. contract player, was with the same troupe. Later McHugh worked with Frank Morgan in ‘‘ Tenth Avenue’? and with Miriam Hopkins in ‘‘Excess Baggage.’’ In 1929 he was at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York, appearing in ‘‘Show Girl’? and Ruby Keeler was the leading lady in that. When any stage player of considerable experience arrives in Hollywood to start work in pictures, Frank McHugh is usually one of the first people he calls. McHugh has been in pictures now for a little more than five years, playing comedy roles of increas ing importance with each year. Now he is starred in the Warner Bros. picture, ‘‘Three Men on a Horse,’’? which Mervyn LeRoy directed and produced, and which Opens: ab the ites ss. see. Theatre OMe eee It is the opportunity for which Frank has been waiting twenty years and in which he has justified the faith of all those other stars who passed him in the race for sereen stardom. Nine tenths of Hollywood’s favorite sons knew McHugh ‘when.’ Now that he has reached the goal he set for himself, he’ll not forget them. From Bad To Verse Teddy Hart (left) discusses a matter of money and greeting poems with Frank ‘‘Oiwin’’? McHugh much to the delight of all spectators in the funniest film Warner Bros. ever made. It’s ‘‘Three Men on a Horse,’’ the First National picturization of the Broadway comedy that has kept the world roaring with laughter for two years. It opens at the ................. Theatre on eecccesceccvsccceecenr® Mat No. 223—20¢ Page Thirty Longfellow Was All Wrong About Life, Joan Thinks Feminine Lead In “Three Men On A Horse’”’ Won’t Take It Too Seriously That solemn old poet who stroked his beard and earnestly penned the words of ‘‘Life is real, life is earnest,’’ had never been a vaudeville trouper. Such, at least, is the way gay Joan Blondell, First National star playing the leading feminine role in ‘‘Three Men on a Horse,’’ now showing at the ..........000........... Theatre, feels about it. “Y’m darned sure,” grins Joan, “that making pictures isn’t truly serious, even when producers are in deadly earnest about them. And stage life, as I learned it from the bottom up, certainly wasn’t real.” Miss Blondell, still the madeap in spite of a maturity of marriage and motherhood which might have stilled a_ less-bubbling nature, offers her own parody on the late Mr. Longfellow’s “Psalm of Life.” Joan’s poem follows: Life is phoney with baloney, From the start until it’s done; Gold or tatters, neither matters For the strife.of life is fun! Miss Blondell, her bright blue eyes glowing with mischief, her blonde hair glinting in the light, rattled off her philosophical quatrain as she stretched her pajama-elad legs to a more comfortable position with her feet on a desk and lit a cigarette. Sometimes on Top “T’ve seen ‘em both, gold and tatters,” she explained. “Right now I’m not exactly worrying as to where my next meal is coming from. But this is by no means the first time in my life that I’ve enjoyed the golden things of life, for I remember many times in my youth when my parents had so much money they didn’t know what to do with it. But I also remember days when they had none at all. “T remember, too, certain times when I, as a young job-seeking actress, had nothing but a quarter between me and starvation— when all my rings were hocked and my trunk was being held for room rent. “So what! That was life—this is life. There’s no use in getting all earnest and grave about it. It is, and always has been, a lot of fun.” Joan Blondell’s life since birth, has really been a carnival-like existence. Her babyhood was enlivened by travel to Europe, with birthdays. occuring in varied countries. Her schooldays were literally city-to-city jumps, and she could boast of a record number of alma maters if she could “The Play’s The Thing” Maintains Movie Director. Mervyn LeRoy Adds Many Movie Touches To ‘Three Men On A Horse’”’ Film Before talking pictures were weaned, it was a simple matter to film a successful stage play. The director, figuratively speaking, went into the theatre, put the camera in front of the footlights, raised the curtain and let it stay up while he photographed the play. It’s a different matter these days. play off the stage and makes a motion picture out of it, meanwhile retaining the spirit of the piece. That’s what Director Mervyn LeRoy did with “Three Men on a Horse,” a First National picture now showing at the .........0.00.... Theatre, and the most successfu! stage comedy in years. Before the first scene was shot, Scenarist Laird Doyle took the play apart and made a_ shooting seript out of it. He added scenes and changed sequences. He wrote it so the action was not confined within the three walls of a stage. He changed it from a stage play into a screen play, and there’s a great difference between the two. Then Director LeRoy took the script and from it he made a picture that moves. For the role of Erwin Trowbridge, the writer of greetng cards who had an uneanny knack of picking horse race winners, Director LeRoy selected Frank McHugh. Carol Hughes was chosen to play Audrey, Erwin’s wife. Joan Blondell got the part of Mabel, Patsy’s girl. Teddy Hart, who played Patsy on Broadway, was brought out here for the film. Allen Jenkins won the part of Charlie and Edgar Kennedy beeame Harry, the barkeep. Art Director Robert Haas designed the sets for the production. Only three sets were needed—the Trowbridge home, inter A director takes the ior and exterior, the saloon in the Lavalliere hotel, and a room in the same hotel. But the action isn’t confined to these settings. There are shots of the street where the Trowbridge home stands, shots of the paddock, shots of Erwin getting on and off a bus and shots of Erwin riding on a bus. According to Director LeRoy, those who saw the play will not find it materially changed. But they won’t get the feeling that the director has photographed a stage play with the curtain up. “With dolly shots, and other camera technique, we have surmounted the diffiulties presented by the limited number of sets,” he said. “We wanted to retain the spirit of the play so we did not go wild and build scores of elaborate settings. They weren’t necessary. After all, the play’s the thing. All we have done is make a motion picture of it.” Those who have watched MeHugh, as Erwin, say he did the best work of his career. The part offers him the biggest opportunity he has ever had on the screen and he made the most of it. Miss Blondell, as the hard-boiled but sentimental Mabel, is a new person, Director LeRoy says. “Three Men on a Horse” is a riotous comedy based on the stage hit by John Cecil Holm and George Abbott. The Girl Friend Certainly she’s Joan Blondell, but she’s Mabel, the girl who causes Frank McHugh so much trouble and picture fans so much fun in **Three Men on a Horse,’’ the First National filming of Broad way’s record breaking comedy which comes t0 thé ..........cccccccseeeese Theatre: On see ee Mat No. 112—10e only remember how many schools she attended. “I actually spent a week in a school in every key city on the major American circuits,’ explained Joan. “That lasted from the time I was ten years old, until high school days. Even when I was fifteen or sixteen years old, I had to jump from one high school to another.” As Joan grew older, she began to take part in her parents’ act. Her brother and her sister, too, became old enough to act, so that all five of them formed the “Company” of “Eddie Blondell & Company.” Broke, in Denton, Texas, the Blondells opened a_ dress-shop across the street from a girls’ school. “Dad,” she says, “would hand our customers some gags. My sister would sing ’em a song. I’d do a tap: routine in the middle of the store. Then, while the school girls looked on in wonder, mother would sell them more dresses than they needed.” Broadway is Kind Then in 1929—at least she thinks it was in 1929—Broadway opened up its arms to her. Here’s how it happened—in her own words. “I was trying to get in to see a producer,” she says, “and there was a terrific crowd in the outer office. I was being jammed against the wall, when a young red-headed fellow with a quiet smile took pity on me and used his influence to get me up among the first to be interviewed. “I got in, saw the producer— it was George Kelly—and as I came out, I grinned at the redheaded fellow and told him: ‘T got it.’ “Good!” he said, as though he meant it. “The next day I found that the red-head was none other than a successful young actor named Cagney, and that I had to do the part opposite him in the play, ‘Maggie the Magnificent.’ Next we worked together in ‘Penny Areade.’ That was the time—and the opportunity—that good old Fate had been storing up for me. “First National scouts liked the play—and they liked Jimmy and me. They brought us out to Hollywood and our play was released as ‘Sinner’s Holiday.’ The rest is history.” “Three Men on a Horse,” is a rollicking comedy based on the famous stage play by John Cecil Holm and George Abbott.