Alcatraz Island (Warner Bros.) (1937)

Page Four PUBL oh: aaron ees I RRC CRO nO NG Pe NECN oe a ERTS i Re Nea Ue eT me THE STORY Gat Brady (John Litel) is a big shot racketeer who has made a great success of taking money away from people without resorting to murder. He incurs the enmity of Red Carroll (Ben Welden) when he refuses to help Red’s brother to escape the chair after committing a paid murder. Fred MacClane (Addison Richards), Gat’s attorney, secures Gat’s acquittal on extortion charges by buying a member of the jury. George Drake (Gordon Oliver), assistant district attorney whom Gat admires, good naturedly loses the case but says he will put Gat behind the bars before long. Gat, forced by notoriety to remove her from an exclusive school, sees his daughter for the first time in six years. He takes her to New York, engages Miss Tolliver (Peggy Bates) as tutor and governess for the 15-year-old Ann, gives up racketeering, and makes plans for an extended tour of Europe with them. However, he is arrested for Federal income tax evasion and sentenced to five years in Leavenworth. When Ann and Miss Tolliver return from Europe, Red attempts to kidnap Ann and is sentenced to Leavenworth. There, in a fight, Gat breaks Red’s arm and is transferred to Aleatraz as an incorrigible. At Aleatraz Gat’s intimates are Harp Santell (Dick Purcell), the Flying Dutchman (Vladimir Sokoloff) and Tough Tony Burke (George E. Stone). Ann contrives to meet Drake, interests him in working for her father and unwillingly falls in love with him. When Red learns Drake is working for Gat and that Gat soon may be paroled, he contrives to be transferred to Alcatraz so he can ruin Gat’s good behavior record. Gat, Red, Santell, the Flying Dutchman and Tough Tony are working in the prison shoe factory. Red is mysteriously stabbed with Gat’s knife. Before Red dies he falsely swears Gat did it. Flo, Ann and Drake arrive for the trial. Apparently nothing can save Gat from the hangman’s noose, yet before the jury can bring in its verdict of guilty, the story takes a sensational twist to go into a smashing climax that straightens matters out. CAST OF CHARACTERS Flo Allen............ 2 ages pO ies cae are nats Ann Sheridan “Gat” Brady ............ Dad ek ae Be ee ee .... John Litel UMNO RIOR a on ON aria bls Ca ee Mary Maguire George Drake .... 1... 0... nes .Gordon Oliver “Harp”? Santell .. 6.0. tes .Dick Pureell “The Flying Dutchman” .............. Vladimir Sokoloff ~ Fred MacClane ...............000055 .Addisen Richards | EGR” CaPNGU ois wi eo .....Ben Welden “Tough Tony” Burke .............---+5.5 George E. Stone Nites Tolliver... 6.06. jk ee i ee ees ... Peggy Bates Miss Marquand ............. 000+ ee eee ... Doris Lloyd “Whitey” Edwards ................4.. . Anderson Lawlor Warden Jackson ................-4. Charles Trowbridge Sally Carruthers ..............--055 .....Ellen Claney The Med Wea 66 oi i ie Ge eS ... Veda Ann Borg PO ee a ee axe caw enaca eS ee EL ....Matty Fain ean ee ionic te scgee bc Nee a eee .Edward Keane Federal Judge .. 1... ce eee eee .. Walter Young U. S. Attorney .............-.. SVG Sete yee is ...Ed Stanley Federal Officer ....................... Lane Chandler PRODUCTION STAFF ...... William MeGann .. Crane Wilbur .Lu O’Connell, A.S.C. .....Frank Dewar Harry Seymour .. Esdras Hartley Sound by ............ ...... Francis J. Scheid Gowns by sia rato .....Howard Shoup Director Screen Play by Photography by Film Editor .. Dialogue Director Art Director ... Petite Mary Maguire Knows No Kangaroos Called The “Mary Pickford of Australia,”’ She Gives A Warner Staff Writer Real Interview By Carlisle Jones A young woman was running down the hall, her black eurls flying in her wake, her tiny shoes almost invisible under the wide cuffs of her dark slacks. At the publicity door she paused one breathless moment, gasped out a ‘‘hello’’ and dove into a big, leather-covered chair where she tucked her feet under her knees and her knees under her chin and turned a pair of guileless black eyes toward her tormenter. “Perhaps we should have an introduction,” suggested the mutual friend, who had arranged the interview. “This is the Mary Maguire who stole that name from her younger sister. She was a misplaced sprig of Shamrock in Australia before she came to Hollywood. She’s been here a year. Her real name is Helen Terese Maguire.” “T wasn’t misplaced,” snapped Mary. “I was born there.” “T wish you luck with your story,” continued the friend, unabashed. “She’s a brat of the first water.” “Nice people these Hollywood folks,” said Mary. “Someday Vl tell you what I think of you.” “A beautiful brat though,” said our friend as he ducked out of the door. “T suppose you’re going to ask me about kangaroos and duckbilled platypusses,”’ said Mary. “Nearly everyone does. But I don’t know much about them. I have a Kaola bear though. He’s stuffed. I sleep with him every night. That’s been published too.” “Let’s start at the beginning,” we suggested. “How did you happen to come to Hollywood?” “T had made pictures in Australia,’ said Mary quickly, “but I knew better ones were being made in Hollywood. So when we had the chance, my father and I eame to America. I had a letter from Charles Farrell too, a sort of letter of recommendation. And then I got a job here at Warner Bros. and that’s all that’s happened to me.” “Were you called the ‘Mary Pickford of Australia?’ ” “Some newspaper writers called me that. But here in America now we don’t mention it. I have to stand on my own feet here, anyway, you know.” She stuck out two small, beautifully shod extremities. “We know,’ we said. “We’ve read about them. They’re supposed to be the smallest feet in Hollywood. Number one, aren’t they ?” By way of an answer Miss Maguire stuck out her tongue and retracted her feet. “I’m afraid I’m not going to like you,” she said. We changed the subject—quickly. “Your mother and sisters have just come from Australia, haven’t they? Are there any more actresses like you among them?” “It’s much more economical for us to be together,’ she hedged. “When they were ‘down under’ and I was up here I spent all my money on telephone calls. It is 28,000 miles by telephone and it costs a lot. Once I spent $128 on a single eall. That was when I Mat 104—10c Mary Maguire, new arrival from “down under,” who has established her claim to stardom through her outstanding work in Alcatraz island.” was homesick. Altogether I telephoned home sixteen times. It is much more economical now that we are all here.” “That’s better,’ we suggested. “Tell us some more about yourself.” “Well,” said Mary, curling herself even more tightly into a knot in the leather chair, “I want most of all to go to New York. I read poetry but don’t write it. Wish I could. I never wore slacks until I came to America. Now I love ?em. I’m trying very hard to learn to talk ‘American’—without the accent, you know. Is that what you want?” She paused for breath. “I’m eighteen,” she added lamely, “and I still like dolls. Isn’t that silly?” We agreed that it was. “And I have tea every afternoon,” she said as though daring anyone to dispute her. “I had it even when I was playing in ‘AIeatraz Island.’ (That’s the Cosmopolitan-Warner Bros. picture which opens next Friday at the Strand Theatre). “There isn’t much more. I have a Commonwealth Credential given me by the Australian government which entitles me to transportation back to Australia from any place if I ever get stranded. ’n told that only five people not ac tually connected with the government, have them.” “What pictures did you make in Australia?” “Diggers in Blighty’ was the first. I was twelve years old but just as big as I am now. Then I was in ‘Heritage’ which won the Commonwealth prize and ‘The Flying Doctor’ and others. Then I came to Hollywood.” Country of origin U. S. A. Copyright 1937 Vitagraph, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright is waived to magazines and newspapers.