A Child Is Born (Warner Bros.) (1939)

ADVANCE PUBLICITY — "A CHILD IS BORN' Mat 201—30c NEW STAR ON HOLLYWOOD HORIZON —is Geraldine Fitzgerald, Irish beauty who won wide acclaim for her roles in "Dark Victory'’ and ‘Wuthering Heights." Her new film, "A Child Is Born,"' opens at the Strand Friday. Miss Fitzgerald of Ireland Takes Hollywood by Storm! Lovely Star of 'A Child Is Born’ ~ Conforms To Her Own Pattern Hollywood may yearn for new faces— But when a new personality arrives nothing short of an earthquake could disturb hidebound filmland more. Geraldine Fitzgerald has learned — much to her dismay. Geraldine is the auburnhaired, green-eyed Irish beauty who came from her native Dublin a little over a year ago to appear on Broadway in Orson Welles production of George Bernard Shaw’s “Heartbreak House.” All the studios wanted her. Warner Bros. was the lucky one to win her. She scored immediately in “Dark Victory,” in which she appeared as Bette Davis’ companion and friend. She triumphed again in Sam Goldwyn’s “Wuthering Heights” and then returned to Warner Bros. for “A Child Is Born,’”’ which opens next Friday at the Strand Theatre. Geraldine learned much about Hollywood during those busy first six months. She learned that Hollywood welcomes new faces but there are certain things a new face must do. Hollywood wants its newcomer to be a Hepburn or a Garbo or anything but herself. Life is very real and earnest to Geraldine, however, and she won’t even try to change herself to conform to any pattern. She subscribes entirely to the theory that if a thing is worth doing at all it is worth doing well. That’s why, when she accepted the role of the convicted murderess paroled from prison to have her baby in “A Child Is Born,” she lived the part from the time production started on the picture until it ended. One day a photographer made some group pictures of Geraldine, Gladys George and Jean Sharon. When Geraldine _ remained sombre faced while Gladys and Jean smiled, the photographer asked her to smile. She refused, saying it would not be in character. Geraldine was right, as the photographer admitted. A writer heard of this incident, misunderstood and placed an entirely different meaning on it, as she accused Geraldine of being temperamental and hard to handle. Geraldine cried when she read that and until she was assured that studio workers did not share this opinion. Geraldine has a dazzling, winning personality but she is extremely shy. Those who are most completely convinced that she is haughty and aloof are immediately won over by her charm upon meeting her. During the filming of “A Child Is Born,’ May Robson celebrated her seventy-fifth birthday. Geraldine attended a birthday luncheon in her honor but did not meet the grand old lady of stage and screen. Instead she timidly left a box of flowers in Miss Robson’s car as her greeting. “T’ve never met her,” Geraldine explained, “ and I don’t want to intrude on these old friends.” This small incident is a perfect illustration of the sort of person Hollywood’s newest star really is. Ambitious and hardworking, she regards her present film success as part of her job, simply and honestly. But she does not care to avail herself of the privileges and adulation that in Hollywood are often considered an integral part of screen stardom. Director Bacon Suits His Method To Story and Cast Every trick of known and applied psychology enters into the direction of the modern motion picture. And it is not only the job but also the duty of the directors to know the trick, approach and method best suited to bring out the greatest dramatic talents of the cast. A breezy and light story requires one type of director; a wistful, appealing story requires another. And so on through the dozens of story types. Each director has his own formula for bringing out the “best”? in his cast. Lloyd Bacon is an example of directorial understanding. In his recently released picture, “A Child is Born,” the Warner Bros. production coming to the Strand Theatre next Friday, this director was faced with the problem of bringing out the feelings and emotions of the patients in a hospital maternity ward. Tenderness, sweetness and a peaceful feeling were necessary in most of. the scenes. And to get the required effects Bacon brought out these reactions from Gale Page, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Gladys George with a suave, kindly and patient explanation of each scene. There were no ranting, tearing of hair or loud and impasioned pleas. Quietly he rehearsed each part in each scene until he felt the actress—or actor—had the same feeling he had. Then he was ready to start action— and, in most cases these quietly rehearsed and interpreted scenes went off without a retake. CEO IO OS ‘CHILD IS BORN’ CAST ALL WEAR WEDDING RINGS Never in the history of Hollywood were there as many wedding rings displayed on the beautiful fingers of movie stars as could be seen on the Warner Bros. lot recently. And there was good reason for it, as Sound Stage One was the scene of one of the largest hospital sets ever constructed. But it was more than just a hospital scene that brought out the epidemic of wedding rings— it was the great maternity ward set used in the picture, “A Child is Born,” which opens next Friday at the Strand Theatre. Not only stars but extras who appeared in the maternity ward scenes were abundantly supplied with the gold, platinum and even diamond set bands that mean so much—especially in a maternity ward. “A Child is Born” has in the important feminine roles: Geraldine Fitzgerald, Gladys George, Gale Page, Spring Byington, Eve Arden, Gloria Holden, Jean Sharon and Nanette Fabares. The masculine list for the picture includes Jeffrey Lynn, L, J. Heydt, Johnny Downs and Henry O’Neill. And it is Director Lloyd Bacon who worried from hour to hour as he inspected feminine hands to be sure the significant bands were readily discernible before the all-seeing camera started recording the true-to-life human scenes. It is such small but important details as these which make for the vivid realism that is so vital a part of a truly fine calibre film production. Jeffrey Lynn Is Fussy About Pipes —Fussier About Girls Jeffrey Lynn is very definite in his opinions concerning pipes and women. Not that he wants his pipes strong and his women weak. That’s a couple of other fellows. He would travel hundreds of miles to pick up a good pipe. He proved that when he took advantage of a free weekend while filming “‘A Child is Born,” the Warner Bros. picture opening Friday at the Strand Theatre, to run down to Tia Juana, Mexico, a distance of some 300odd miles round trip, just to pick up a pipe. He wouldn’t travel that far just to pick up a woman. In fact he wouldn’t travel any distance to pick up a woman, because women who can be picked up just don’t come into his ken. Jeffrey Lynn is the _ picturesque, pipe-smoker type. Tall, handsome, romantic looking, his enjoyment of pipe smoking is quickly apparent. A pipe is a part of his personality. He coddles and nurses them as if they were human and is as particular about the tobacco he smokes in them as a mother is about her baby’s diet. He never smokes a single pipe longer than a day at a time and has nearly two hundred pipes in his collection. He hasn’t started collecting women yet. He is as particular about women as he is about his pipes. And that, as any confirmed pipe smoker will tell you, is something. Women, to appeal to Jeffrey Lynn, must be as God made them. A girl who was born a brunette won’t have a chance with him if she becomes a blonde before she meets him. If a titian-haired beauty excites Jeffrey’s interest, he wants to know definitely that nature, and not a bottle, endowed her with her flaming tresses. Lynn is athletic, he is courageous. He proved the latter by defying the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce by saying he thought no girl could be glamorous or interesting unless she had a New York background. He cast an appreciative eye on Gale Page and Geraldine Fitzgerald who strolled by just then, arm in arm. “T don’t agree with Kipling that a woman is only a woman but a cigar is a good smoke,” he said. “But like a pipe they should be selected with care so they’ll mellow with age.” Taught Actresses How to Make Beds Miss Evelyn Shepherd, R.N., is a pleasant-featured brownhaired, competent-looking girl of 26 whose regular profession is that of a registered nurse at Hollywood Hospital. For five weeks recently, Miss Shepherd served as technical adviser at the Warner Bros. Studio on “A Child is Born,” now playing at the Strand Theatre, which features Geraldine Fitzgerald, Gale Page, Gladys George, Gloria Holden, Spring Byington, Eve Arden, Jean Sharon and Nanette Fabares as patients and attendants in hospital wards. When Miss Shepherd reported for duty she spent her first two days on the job doing nothing but teaching the untutored glamor girls how to make a bed. 14-Day Age Limit Set for 20 Babies Who Make Debuts in'A Child Is Born’ Speaking of pampered babies— How would you like Lois Horn’s job? Lois is the school teacher and welfare worker at the Warner Bros. Studio. In that capacity she was required to find twenty babies not more than fourteen days old for the picture, “A Child Is Born,” now playing at the Strand Theatre. The requirements of the assignment forced her to work fast. She couldn’t spend months, weeks or even many days in finding the babies. They had to be found right before they passed the age limit for their film debut. Lois first consulted official records to determine the names and addresses of recent births. She found, of course, that the babies were scattered all over the city. She made out a list and then in a studio car and with a studio driver, she hurried to view each baby and interview each mother. In most cases, of course, the mother was not averse to her baby working in pictures. This was mainly because the baby would receive $75 per day, a sum stipulated by law, which would more than pay the expenses of the birth. Finally after traveling nearly 1,000 miles in two days, the sixteen babies and four substitutes had been found. But the task was far from completed. The day of work arrived for the babies. A studio car was sent for each of the babies. In cases where the mother couldn’t accompany the baby, nurses were sent, one to each baby. En route to the studio the cars stopped at the Board of Education, where each baby was given a thorough examination by physicians and permits to work. A studio casting representative already had given imposing [15 ] Mat 204—30c BABY HEYDAY — Featured in "A Child Is Born,"’ coming to the Strand, are 20 new born infants. Here adult cast members Jeffrey Lynn, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Johnnie Davis and Gale Page peep into the hospital nursery. looking contracts to the mothers. The contract carefully stipulated that the studio assumed all responsibility for the care and safety of the infants at the studio. It stated that each baby could be under the lights for no more than thirty seconds at a time, and that of the two hours the baby could be at the studio in one day a total of not more than twenty minutes could be spent under the light. In another clause the studio agreed to accept all responsibility for any eye ailment which was developed by the infant and could be traced to working under the lights, for a period of six months after the working date. While the babies were at the studio, Lois watched carefully to make sure no part of the contract was violated. When the babies’ two hours were finished she rushed them all back to the Board of Education for another physical examination and then to their homes. By that time Lois practically was ready for a physician’s attention herself. The babies? They spent most of the time they were working sleeping, or merely lying in their hospital bassinettes relaxed with their eyes closed in the manner of all babies their age. For the scenes in which they appeared in the film, they were alowed to do just as they pleased. If they wanted to wail, they wailed. If they wanted to sleep, they slept. All that was required of them was that they be natural, and it’s almost impossible for an infant to be anything else — even when they’re in the movies.