Air Force (Warner Bros.) (1943)

FEATURES ABOUT THE PLAYERS Gig Young Has Background for ‘Air Foree’ Role Gig Young, Warner Bros. featured player currently enacting the role of co-pilot in “Air Force,” first film to depict accurately the hardships faced by our air arm in South Pacific waters, is playing his part with a vengeance. “Air Force” opens Friday at the Strand Theatre. Gig knows too well the tragic story of too little and too late. His father-in-law and close pal, James Beverly Stapler, is today a prisoner of war because of that dramatic condition among our far-flung outposts air fighters. Among First Prisoners Stapler, formerly a wealthy gold mine operator of Baguio, Philippine Islands, was among the very first prisoners taken by the Japanese. Except for the newspaper account listing him among war prisoners, not a word has been heard from him, either by Gig or Gig’s wife, the former Sheila Stapler. “If ‘Air Force’ helps hammer home the necessity for more and bigger bombers in the South Pacific,” Gig says, “then I will at least have helped to some degree in avenging Jimmie Stapler’s plight. I don’t know of a better way of bringing home the message than the stark, unadorned story of heroism shown by our airmen that It’s Home, Home On the Range For Harry Carey For those readers of the public gazettes who are under the impression that Hollywood swarms with swimming pools and glamour, a visit to the home of Harry Carey would be educational. Carey’s stamping ground, 40 miles from Hollywood, is a ranch of 1,750 acres in the vicinity of a whistle-stop town known as Saugus. The nearest thing to a swimming pool on the land is a watering-tank for the several hundred head of cattle that Carey raises. There is something that looks like a tennis court, but it has never been used for tennis. The Careys found that it came in handy for baking the dobe bricks out of which their home is built. In Movies 35 Years Although Carey has been a prominent figure in motion pictures for more than 35 years and is currently appearing in one of the most spectacular productions of his career, (and, incidentally, his 367th) ‘Air Force,” acting as a_ sergeant on a Boeing Flying Fortress in the company of John Garfield, George Tobias and Gig Young, Carey always has found time for his acres. The approach to Carey’s ranch leads through the majestic and mountainous countryside of San Fernando. The highway branches off into a gravel road and then into a dirt road as the ranch comes into view. It is a low, white, rambling structure. The ceiling beams are polished telephone poles. There is a hearth and there are rugs of Indian design on the floor. The furniture is rough-hewed and there are original sketches by Will James on the walls. Carey is no dude-rancher. He has been homesteading on his property since 1914. His daughter, Cappy, and son, Dobie, are excellent ranchers while his wife, Ollie, is a first-rate cook. Discussion of movies is tabu Still AF 606; Mat 103—15¢ GIG YOUNG plays a featured role in Warner Bros.’ “Air Force,” now at the Strand Theatre. ‘Air Force’ tells.” Young, who was discovered by his own studio through his work in “The Gay Sisters” is rated high among Hollywood newcomers. In “Air. Force” he shares billing with John Garfield, Harry Carey, George Tobias and Arthur Kennedy. Still AF 633; Mat 108—15¢ HARRY CAREY whose latest picture, Warner Bros.’ “Air Force,” now at the Strand Theatre, is No. 367 for this veteran actor. at the ranch. Harry, in spite of his many fine performances, disparages himself as an actor. He says that he isn’t acting, just playing himself or people he knows. He points out that his forte has always been Westerns. He was one of the screen’s original cowboys and appeared in countless cowboy and Indian epics. Hollywood seems far away on the Carey ranch. Agents, options, screenplays and the world of movie make-believe are remote from the secluded region surrounded by hills. Carey’s life is rooted in soil rather than celluloid and his children are carrying on the _ tradition. Carey’s great ambition now is to purchase an additional 15,000 acres and add them to his property so that his son and daughter will never have to make a living from anything but the land. “The land,” he says, “is always there.” John Garfield Feels ‘Air Force’ Role Ties in With His Home Front Work By self-appointment but with the complete approval of his studio, John Garfield has cast himself in a starring role in today’s all-important production, “The Home Front.” Garfield’s dual role is that of War Bond salesman deluxe and_ service camp entertainer. Since Pearl Harbor few Hollywood personalities have been as active as this screen star. Worthy of mention have been his speaking tours through the country’s war plants, enlisting the “soldiers of the home front” into the 10% War Bond Club, as well as his recent flying tour of the Caribbean area, appearing in service camp shows there. His latest activity is the Hollywood Canteen, comparable to New York’s famed Stage Door Canteen, in which he is co-starred with Bette Davis. Part of War Work And it was right in keeping with this war work that Garfield undertook a featured role in Warner Bros.’ forthcoming production, “Air Force.” The picture, opening Friday at the Strand Theatre, is the story of history in the making—of America’s part in the war over the Pacific and of the heroic feats of American flyers there. His role as a member of the Boeing B-17, “Mary Ann,” which goes through the Pearl Harbor bombing, the Wake Island battle and the Coral Sea Jap-slap, ties in directly with Garfield’s current endeavors. “By bringing before the eyes of the people the heroic work of our Air Force I feel I am a part, a small cog in the wheel of America’s all-out Victory effort,’ the actor commented. “It is pictures like these that make the people proud of their country and proud to be Americans. And when everybody has been keyed to the realization of this fact we shall have taken a long step towards the defeat of the Axis.” Born in New York John Garfield’s life has always been like that. He was born in one of the toughest sections of New York City— the lower East Side. His father was a tailor who was always on the move because he couldn’t pay his rent. His mother died when he was seven. He was expelled from a dozen schools and finally landed in Angelo Patri’s school for problem children. It was Patri who changed the course of Garfield’s life. The eminent educator took the boy when he was 18, taught him how to box so that he became a semi-finalist in a Golden Gloves tournament, gave him an interest in oratory so that he was a runner-up in a national speaking contest, lent him money so that he could attend Eva Le Gallienne’s dramatic school, lent him more money to get training under Ouspenskaya, and sent Featured in ‘Air Force’ Still AF 40*; Mat 202—30c John Garfield is cast as a gunner in the crew of the Boeing Flying Fortress, ““Mary Ann,” in Warner Bros.’ drama of air warfare in the Pacific, “Air Force.’ The picture opens Friday at the Strand Theatre. him out into the world with a disdain for wealth and the ambition to be a fine actor. He didn’t achieve his ambition at once. There were years of dish-washing jobs, summercamp jobs, nine months of hoboing all over the United States, working in the Nebraska wheat fields, doing six days for vagrancy in Austin, Texas, working as a fruit-picker in the San Joaquin Valley. Then there was the return to New York City, sick, hot and shaky and a bout with typhoid fever. “T walked out of the hospital feeling like a wraith,” he says. “And that first day I got my first real acting job—a bit in ‘Lost Boy’ at $25 a week. That got me the part of the office boy in the road company of ‘Counsellor at Law,’ and that got me the same part in the Broadway production of the same play with Paul Muni.” Joins Group Theatre It was while he was in “Counsellor at Law” that Garfield became interested in the Group Theatre. “It seemed to me that in the Group lay the future of American drama,” Garfield says. “So I joined it. Sometimes we didn’t have enough to eat, especially between shows. But we believed in what we were doing. I mean the social significance. We put on such plays as ‘Waiting for Lefty,’ ‘Johnny Johnson,’ ‘Awake and _ Sing,’ ‘Weep for the Virgins’ and ‘Peace on Earth’.” Odets had told Garfield about his play ‘Golden Boy” and Garfield had asked to have a part in it. But before Odets could put the play on, another producer offered Garfield the lead in “Having Wonderful Time” and Garfield took it. The play was a hit. In the middle of the run Odets started to cast “Golden Boy,” so Garfield quit his good job to play a bit. Garfield was only going to do one picture when he came to Hollywood for the part of Mickey in “Four Daughters.” But the part was so good that his fears were allayed. He went back to New York for a couple of months, then returned to the studio for keeps. What Garfield wants to do in pictures is something cutting in to the political, social or economic life of the people, he says. He wants to say lines he can believe in, wants to play characters that really live. That’s why he’s proud of his “Air Force” role. It’s No Use— Hopkins Won’t Talk Red-headed Arthur Kennedy is suddenly finding himself in the limelight, being talked about on the movie grapevine as one of the sure clicks of Warner Bros.’ “Air Force,” opening Friday at the Strand Theatre. But it wasn’t so long ago that he was just another kid desperately trying to find a break on Broadway. He tells a funny story about those days. On his regular rounds of the offices of the agents and producers, he always saw Arthur Hopkins, who in his time has put on scores of hits—and his share, too, of flops. Kennedy would walk in and say, “Good morning, Mr. Hopkins.” | Hopkins would nod. Kennedy would say, “AnyHopkins would thing for me.” silently shake , his head. This routine went on for months. It got so it was a fixation with Kennedy — he was going nuts not hearing the sound of Hopkins voice. He made up _ his mind to hear Fs ; E 3 3 f k i: 3 k by 3 ES _ Mat 105—15¢ it. Arthur Kennedy The next time he went up to the producer’s office, he said, “Good morning, Mr. Hopkins,” Hopkins nodded. Kennedy ask ed, “Anything for me?” Hop kins silently shook his head. Then Kennedy blurted, “Say, tell me, Mr. Hopkins, do you know what time it is?” He was sure he had the producer this time. But Hopkins took a long look at the youth. He lifted his watch out of his pczket, glanced at it, and then turned its face to Kennedy. Kennedy to this day has never heard the sound of Arthur Hopkins voice. It’s all part of the past, though, and today, Kennedy has established himself in Hollywood. Playing his first screen role in “City For Conquest,” which starred James Cagney, he has since appeared in such productions as “High Sierra,” “Bad Men of Missouri,” “They Died With Their Boots On” and “Desperate Journey.” 21