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

EIEIO OZ O|O CURRENT PUBLICITY —'A CHILD IS BORN’ Mat 203—30c MOTHER TO MOTHER — Gladys George and Geraldine Fitzgerald in a woman-to-woman scene from the new Strand film, ''A Child Is Born". (Opening Day) GERALDINE FITZGERALD HEADS CAST OF ‘A CHILD 1S BORN’ AT STRAND Dramatic Discovery of ‘Dark Victory’ and ‘Wuthering Heights’ Elevated to Stardom “A Child Is Born,” the new Warner Bros. production with Geraldine Fitzgerald, sensational discovery of “Dark Victory” and ‘Wuthering Heights,” Jeffrey Lynn, Gladys George and Gale Page in the leading roles, opens at the Strand today. The setting for the film is the maternity ward of a city hospital. This does not mean, however, that the setting itself is the matter of main interest in the screen production. It was produced as a dramatic entertainment, and like any good piece of drama, its chief concern is with the fates of the various characters who people its story. It is really not so much one story as a group of stories given cleverly devised unity by the fact that they all run their course within the confines of the ma Actor Gets Huge Film Family And All Look Like Him To Steve Trilling, casting director at the Warner Bros. Studio, went the task of providing a family of six for Spring Byington and Hobart Cavanaugh to be mother and father in “A Child is Born,” the Warner Bros. picture now playing at the Strand Theatre. The family couldn’t just be any assortment of attractive movie children. They had _ to range in age from about two to seven. And they had to resemble both Spring and her cinema husband, Hobart. Trilling spent weeks in his hunt for the youngsters and was justly proud of his success. They reported. at the studio where they were to troop, with their mild-mannered and somewhat hen-pecked father, into the maternity ward of a hospital to see their mother, who had recently had another visit from the stork. The resemblance was amazing but Bacon wasn’t. satisfied, He said it wasn’t funny enough. So he told the prop man to supply each of the children with lensless horn-rimmed_ glasses such as Cavanaugh wears. The effect was amazing; they looked more than ever like their “father.” ternity ward of a big hospital and each depends for its drama upon the birth of a child. Of chief interest is the tragic tale of the devoted young couple depicted by Miss Fitzgerald and Jeffrey Lynn. The wife has been sentenced to a long term in prison for a murder of which she is legally though not ethically guilty, but she was an expectant mother at the time she was sentenced, and now she has been sent to the hospital to have her baby. All is not sadness or tragedy, however, in the maternity ward. There is plenty of humor traditionally associated with young couples going through their first experience as expectant mothers and fathers, and there is, in the person of a woman who has come to give birth to her seventh child, a beautiful depiction of serene and healthy motherhood. In addition to the players mentioned, the cast includes Spring Byington, Johnnie Davis, Henry O’Neill, John Litel, Gloria Holden, Johnny Downs, Eve Arden, Fay Helm, Louis Jean Heydt, Nanette Fabares, Jean Sharon and _ Hobart Cavanaugh. The screen play by Robert Rossen is an adaptation of a stage play by Mary McDougal Axelson. Lloyd Bacon directed. (Review) ‘A Child Is Born’ Is Heart-Stirring Film Drama—as Big as Life Itself Geraldine Fitzgerald, Jeffrey Lynn, Gladys George Head Brilliant Cast of Strand Theatre's New Film In a year that has seen the Warner Bros. Studio produce such outstanding screen entertainment as “The Old Maid,” “Dark Victory,” “Confessions of a Nazi Spy,” and “Juarez,” this wise and courageous studio has succeeded again in pointing the way to fine and engrossing screen entertainment along another path where others have feared to tread. The demonstration of the truth of that statement is the new Warner picture, “A Child Is Born,” which opened yesterday at the Strand Theatre with a cast headed by Geraldine Fitzgerald, Jeffrey Lynn, Gladys George, Gale Page, Spring Byington and Johnnie Davis. It seems ridiculous that the rich vein of drama, pathos and comedy that is provided by so important an event as the birth of a human being has never before been thoroughly mined, but such is the fact, and that is why the new Warner picture, “A Child Is Born,” can be regarded as a sort of “Grand Hotel” of the maternity wards, for it is a skillful weaving together of the individual stories of all the patients into one intensely human photoplay. The story of one young woman and the devoted youth who is her husband dominates all the other happenings in and about the ward, not only because of its intrinsic interest but also because of the consummate artistry with which the youthful couple is depicted by Geraldine Fitzgerald and Jeffrey Lynn. It is a tragic tale of a murderess who has been transferred from prison to the hospital to Hobby Is Gadgets Johnny Downs, who plays one of the expectant fathers in Warner Bros.’ “A Child Is Born,” at the Strand Theatre, lends a sympathetic ear, and often cash, to inventors of odd gadgets. His interest in inventions dates back to the days when he was playing in “Our Gang’ comedies and working the Rube Goldberg gadgets invented for the series. Starred At Eight Gladys George, featured in “A Child is Born,” the Warner Bros. picture at the Strand Theatre, got her first star billing at the age of eight. Mr. & Mrs. Specks And All The Little Specks Mai 205—30c JUST LIKE PAPA — Spring Byington and Hobart Cavanaugh regard their “bespecktacled' offspring with justifiable pride in this comedy scene from "A Child Is Born," which is currently showing at the Strand Theatre. [17] have her baby and of the agonizing dilemma presented to the faithful young husband when he is told that either his wife or the expected baby must be sacrificed if the other is to live. In view of the flair for emo Mat 109—15c Geraldine Fitzgerald and Jeffrey Lynn in "A Child Is Born" at the Strand. tional acting which Miss Fitzgerald displayed in “Dark Victory,” her superb performance in the new picture comes as no surprise. And the deep moving characterization which is given by Lynn immeasurably increases his stature as an actor. Gladys George is perfect in the role of a flashy vaudeville dancer to whom expectant motherhood is an altogether unwelcome experience, and Gale Page is at her charming and competent best as the head nurse of the ward. The very spirit of serene and healthy motherhood is incarnate in the depiction by Spring Byington of a woman who takes the birth of her seventh child as a normal and natural matter and who, by her very presence allays somewhat the always incipient hysteria of some of the younger women in the ward. Johnnie Davis provides most of the comedy relief in his role of the typical young husband who is to become a father for the first time and who, as is generally the case in real life, manages to make himself and his sufferings pretty much of a nuisance to everyone. Henry O’Neill and John Litel give their usual expert performances in the roles of surgeons, and others who contribute acting jobs that are above the level of mere competence include Gloria Holden, Johnny Downs, Eve Arden, Fay Helm, Louis Jean Heydt, Nanette Fabares, Jean Sharon, and Hobart Cavanaugh. The direction of Lloyd Bacon brought out with rare sympathy and understanding every value in the fine screen play written by Robert Rossen, who based it on an original stage play by Mary McDougal Axelson. Mrs. Axelson adapted her story from the diary she kept in the weeks following the birth of her own daughter, which undoubtedly accounts for the brilliant realism. GALE PAGE PROVES CAN SUCCEED VERY Gale Page should be a great inspiration to the timid persons who think their shyness. will forever prevent them from realizing an acting career. Gale was so frightened, so convinced that she was a failure after she finished her first motion picture, “Crime School,” that she hurried to her home at Spokane and it required all the eloquence of studio executives to convince her she was a success. That was less than two years ago. Now she has topped a series of successes with her role as the head nurse in Warner Bros.’ daring drama of maternity, “A Child Is Born,” at the Strand Theatre. Today she is a self-possessed young woman whose entrance into the studio commissary is always electrifying—an entrance that is not spoiled when she takes her shoes off as soon as she is seated. “When my feet are tired I’m tired all over,” she explains, “and I can’t think. If others rested their feet at frequent intervals, there should be fewer ruffled tempers and unnecessary quarrels.” But few could remove their shoes with the poise and charm of Gale Page. Her shyness and lack of selfassurance during that early period in Hollywood is entirely understandable. Though she came directly from the radio in Chicago and had had considerable stock experience before that, she had entered a new, THAT TIMID FOLKS WELL IN FILMS and for her, a strange realm. She was showered with ad vice, very little of it good, most of it bad and indifferent. She was Mat 102—15c GALE PAGE a willing listener, but talked little. There were many questions she wanted to ask but she was too shy to ask them. That’s why she was on the lot for weeks before she knew the studio maintained a cafe which made it unnecessary for her to leave the studio confines for lunch. But with each succeeding picture she made, more of her shyness left her and she acquired more self-confidence and poise.