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

How To Become Comedian In Ten Easy Lessons Frank McHugh, Star In “Three Men On A Horse,”’ Offers Suggestions By HARRY NEIMEYER ‘‘A comedian should be a married man. After all, you’re only as funny as your wife thinks you are, and she’s the best person in the world on which to try your jokes. If she thinks they’re funny they’ll be a.sure fire success in your next picture. On the other hand, if you get the old dead pan from your better half after having pulled a nifty, better drop it entirely. That’s my system.”’ The speaker was Frank Me Hugh, who has the leading role in the First National sereen picturization of the record-breaking stage hit, “Three Men on a Horse,” now showing at the . Theatre. “You'll get the dead pan a lot more often than you will a laugh,” continued McHugh, “but when your wife does break down and crack a feeble smile at one of your witticisms, you can bet your life that it will knock the cash customers out of their seats when you use it in a picture.” With Mrs. McHugh’s collaboration, Frank is now authoring a complete home-study correspondence course in the art of being funny.. Upon its completion if will be offered to amateur comedians throughout the country. All branches of comedy will be included from the broad field of pie-throwing to the more delicate art of pun-twisting. “A fun-loving youth who is ambitious and willing to learn will be able to complete the course in ten weeks,” announced MeHugh. “When he has finished he will get a diploma, a false nose and my best wishes.” Frank took us over to his Toluca Lake home and showed us the rough draft of his comedy correspondence course. He beamed with pride and self-satisfaetion as he showed us the typewritten pages which made up the first chapter. It was headed: “The First Step—Physical Training.” We peered over his shoulder and read the first paragraph: “A comedian, above all other things, should be able to ‘take it.’ There is no telling when an over-ripe tomato may come sailing across the footlights and hit you neatly on the proboscis. This, of course, applies to stage comedians only. “They can’t throw things at you if your chosen field is radio or the movies. The best they can do is to turn the dial to another station or get their money back at the box-office. So if you are going to take your talents to the stage, and are fortunate enough to have a wife, train her to wake you up every morning by rubbing your face with a tomato. Teddy Hart, who makes his film debut in the same role he played for nearly two years on Broadway in ‘Three Men on a Horse’’ which comes to thé ..........0..-..:008 ERCOWE: Os, ..c8iea-issvisse Mat No. 129—10¢e Page Thirty-two Genius At Work If you had to write 50 original Mothers’ Day poems by noon today you’d know the reason for the pensive look in Oiwin’s eyes, and why he can’t concentrate on picking winning nags for his pals. All Frank McHlugh (above) needed to get into the Oiwin mood was to try to write one poem. Anyway, it’s all told in ‘‘ Three Men on a Horse’’ which opens at Ud Stee eee PUREGUTCCON: 22-285. cece Mat No. 1054—10e “Tf she hasn’t one handy, a cold storage egg will do. If you haven’t got a wife, hire the little boy next door. He’ll be glad to get the job.” We pass on to the next chapter. It was headed: “The Radio Comedian.” “The first problem confronting radio comedians,” it began, “is to find suitable material for a half-hour broadeast. The best place to look for this material is in old copies of “Life” and “Judge” which you’ll find in your dentist’s office. If your dentist ean’t supply you, Ill be glad to mail you my own set which has been in use in the MeHugh family since Grandpa Wilfred Me Hugh played straight for Weber and Fields. “Other sources of material include antiquated joke books, bush-leagne vaudeville theatres, booking offices and other radio comedians’ programs. This last source is probably the best.” We skipped to Chapter Three. It was titled: “The Use of Animals as Stooges.” “T would advise every amateur comedian to acquire an animal of some kind for use in the act,” it began, “Personally, I have never needed one; but, after all, I’m writing this course, not you. Frank McHugh Has Trouble Recalling Acquaintances Varied Experiences On Stage And Screen Makes For Difficulty By FRANK McHUGH (Star of the First National comedy, ‘‘Three Men on a Horse,’’ which comes to the .......-..c0..... ee TP heatver0n i ee ie) Sometimes I’m sorry I’m not ‘‘ Addison Sims’’ of Seattle. Seattle is a fine city and ‘‘Addison’’ was, according to all the tales told about him, a remarkable man. He must have been. So many people seem to have remembered him and where they had first met him and what he was doing and saying at the time. I’d make a good stand-in for him, however. I don’t remember Addison Sims of Seattle or any one of a thousand other people whose names I should remember. So, when I meet a person and that person opens up with, ‘‘Weren’t you the fat juvenile in ‘Thorns in Orange Blossoms,’’ when it played in my home town years ago?’’ I always say $¢Vesg,?? The chances are about four to one that I was the juvenile in that or in any one of a hundred other splendid old melodramas, in his home town — or yours. I’ve been at it since I turned nine, and my family was doing it before me. After twenty-odd years on the stage, with traveling stock companies, vaudeville circuits, tent shows, barnstorming troupes and New York and London companies, I never doubt anybody when he tells me that he ‘‘knew me when.’’ It seemed to me, during my first year in Hollywood, that every fifth actor I met would say, ‘‘ MeHugh? Let me see; McHugh? Oh, yes, I remember. You were one of the MeHugh boys. I remember You were in my company in Podunk one year. And were you terrible! ’’ Well, I wasn’t sure whether I had been terrible that particular summer in Podunk or not, but I nearly always managed to swallow the insult and agree. Then he would generally grin, apologize and we’d be friends: Guy Kibbee, whose dressing room at Warner Bros. is close by mine, ‘‘knew me when’? I was struggling with my first straight juvenile roles, just coming out of the child actor elass. He was a young man then, apple cheeked and plump and convinced that he would never get very far in his chosen eareer. How wrong he was! Spencer Tracy ‘‘ knew me when’’ we played together in stock in Baltimore. And Pat O’Brien remembers and he says he does, that he met me in Des Moines when I was managing a stock company there in which Eloise Taylor, who is now Mrs, O’Brien, was a featured member of almost every cast. I worked with Ralph Bellamy then, too. Robert Armstrong was another actor who knew me in Des Moines and who has, generously enough, never failed’ to remember it. When you consider all the roles I’ve played and all the players I’ve worked with, you should be able to forgive my failing to recall old-time acquaintances. My early experiences include some time in London where 1 worked with James Gleason in several plays, including ‘‘Is Zat So’’ and ‘‘The Fall Guy.’’ I was stage director at the Apollo Theatre in London, too, for the Ernest ‘Truex production of ‘‘The Fall Guy.’’ I worked with Miriam Hopkins in ‘*Exeess Baggage’’ and with Ruby Keeler in ‘‘Show Girl.’? Ru by was so in love with Al Jolson that the rest of us walked on tip toe when we passed her dressing room. Frank Morgan remembers me in ‘*Tenth Avenue’’ and he never fails to remind me that he does. : Like Erwin Trowbridge, the verse-writing character I play in ‘“Three Men on a Horse,’’ I will, when pressed to hard, become a Actor Kisses Girl Who Throws Him Down Stairs She Thought Film Player In “Three Men On A Horse”? Was His Brother There are a great many Harts in America. There is the Hart of Hart, Schaffner and Marx, and Moss Hart, who wrote ‘‘Once in a Lifetime’? and Larry Hart, the song writer of ‘On Your Toes’’ fame, and then there is Teddy Hart, who has a leading role in the First National picture, ‘‘Three Men on a Horse, ’’ Teddy is not related to the clothing merchant, or the author of “Once in a Lifetime.” Larry, the songwriter, however, is Teddy’s brother. Teddy and Larry are both little men. Teddy stands five feet two without his shoes and Larry is a bit shorter than that, but they can wear the same coats, shirts, undershirts, and shoes, “Larry can’t wear my pants because my waistline is a little larger,” Teddy says. Having a famous brother has its advantages and disadvantages, Teddy will tell you if you corner him. Teddy was one of the three men on the horse on Broadway and he was brought out here for the same role. He is easy to corner because he likes to see his name in print. “Just spell it right,” he says. “T don’t care what you say about me. which comes to the .... > aa Theatre on =... esa This isn’t the first time Teddy has been in Hollywood. “T was here three or four years ago looking for work,” he says. “My brother is a big shot so I went around to the studio where he works and told them who I was. They wouldn’t let me through the gate. Maybe they thought that one member of the Hart family was enough.” Teddy says that people are always getting him mixed up with Larry. “We look alike when we aren’t together,” he says. “I was doing a vaudeville act in Chicago. Larry was pretty well known at the time because he had written a song called ‘My Heart Stood Still’ “One night I was invited to a party. I didn’t know the people Home Romance? Frank McHugh and Carol Hughes battle through many scenes as Mr. and Mrs. in the film’s funniest comedy ‘‘Three Men on a Horse,’’ First National’s film version of Broadway’s biggest hit which opens at the ECGU CONS esis soe Mat No. 130—10e turned worm. Sometime, I think, when some old acquaintance, ‘‘ Ad dison Sims,’’? reminds me Of somes thing in my past career which I am trying to forget, I’ll turn on him. He probably will never know until then that one of my secret ambitions as a boy was to play the title roles in ‘‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.’? : ‘«Three Men on a Horse’? is a riotous comedy taken from the famous Broadway play by. John Cecil Holm and George Abbott. Others in the cast include Joan Blondell, Guy Kibbee, Carol Hughes, Allen Jenkins, Sam Levene, Teddy Hart and Edgar Kennedy. The picture is a Mervyn LeRoy production, from a sereen play by Laird Doyle. but a party is a party so I went. They treated me swell. Then right in the middle of it a woman walks up to me and asks me to sing my beautiful song.” He says he sang the song and they threw him out. The time he was most embarrassed was when Larry took him to a party in New York. “There was a lovely lady there who had something to do with the theatre,” Teddy says. “I hadn’t been doing so well because I had quit show business to run a furniture store and that wasn’t so hot. I didn’t even have a fire. So I was looking for work. “Larry told me play up to the woman, that it might do me some good. I did. And I finally took her home. At the door I put my arms around her and kissed her. She looked down into my eyes and said, ‘Larry, vou’re wonderful,’ “T was hurt. ‘I’m Teddy,’ I told her. The next thing I knew I was lying on the pavement at the bottom of the stairs.” “Three Men on a Horse” is a rollicking comedy based on the famous stage play by John Cecil Holm and George Abbott. Besides Teddy Hart, the cast includes Frank McHugh, Joan Blondell, Guy Kibbee, Carol Hughes, Allen Jenkins, and Sam Levene. The picture was directed by Mervyn LeRoy from the screen play by Laird Doyle.