Alcatraz Island (Warner Bros.) (1937)

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PUBL ClTY Press And Program Re eee CLEVER STUDENT Mary Maguire, featured in the CosmopolitanWarner Bros. melodrama, “Alcatraz Island,” makes a dictograph recording of her lines when studying a script and then listens to the “nlayback” to correct diction and histrionie faults. “Alcatraz Island” comes to the Strand Theatre next Friday. ANN’S WAGON WHEEL Ann Sheridan, leading woman in “Alcatraz Island,” the sensational Cosmopolitan-Warner Bros. melodrama, has received from a goldprospector fan the wheel of a covered wagon wrecked in Death Valley more than 75 years ago. The ancient piece will be used as a decorative feature of her Monterey home in the San Fernando Valley “Aleatraz Island” opens next Friday at the Strand Theatre. TOUGH LUCK, JOHN John Litel, featured in the thrilling Cosmopolitan-Warner Bros. drama, “Aleatraz Island,” gave up selling life insurance when he saw his biggest sale—a $150,000 annuity—vanish into thin air. The prospect had just signified his intention of buying more policies of equally large amounts when a nurse appeared and said he was a psychopathic ease with delusions of wealth but harmless. John will be seen in “Aleatraz Island” next Friday at the Strand Theatre. MAGAZINE BOYS WELCOMED HERE Dick Purcell, leading man in the Cosmopolitan-Warner Bros. melodrama, “Alcatraz Island,” is an easy prey for magazine salesmen who are working their way through something or other. Once a magazine salesman himself, Dick knows what it is to have doors slammed in his face and so he subscribes and subscribes and has the magazines sent to his friends. He will be seen in “Alcatraz Island” at the Strand Theatre on Friday. WHAT A NERVE! : Ann Sheridan, leading woman in “Alcatraz Island,” the sensational Cosmopolitan-Warner Bros. melodrama of life in the famous federal penitentiary, recently received a long distance telephone call, with charges reversed, from a fan in Atlanta, Ga., who merely wanted to know the exact color of her eyes. (They’re blue-gray). She’ll be seen in “Alcatraz Island” next Friday at the Strand Theatre. OLIVER, BIRD FANCIER Gordon Oliver, who plays a featured role in Cosmopolitan-Warner Bros. melodrama of prison life, “Aleatraz Island,” is building an elaborate aviary at his home and plans to raise love birds as a hobby. “Aleatraz Island” comes to the Strand Theatre next Friday. FAR FROM HOME When Mary Maguire, featured in the Cosmopolitan melodrama, ‘“Aleatraz Island,” produced for Warner Bros., left Australia for Hollywood, it was her first trip away from her native land. The Maguires have been in Australia for four generations. Mary will be seen in “Alcatraz Island” at the Strand Theatre next Friday. Page Six Mat 301—30c JUST SUNNING—a favorite pastime of pretty Mary Maguire, the up-and-coming young starlet who has a featured role in “Alcatraz Island,” coming to the Strand Theatre next week. (Advance Feature) ACTORS BECOME REAL PRISONERS Eating lunch in a prison cell with the temperature at 93 degrees is an experience a number of prominent film players have no desire to repeat. John Litel, Dick Purcell, Vladimir Sokoloff and George E. Stone were locked in their cells one day during the filming of the sensational Cosmopolitan-Warner Bros. melodrama of prison life, “Alcatraz Island,” when lunch-time was ealled. The set was a faithful reproduction of the federal penal institution, and had been constructed on a hill in an isolated section of the San Fernando Valley. Authentic in every detail, the cells were locked with an electric locking system. When lunch-time arrived a switch was thrown to open the doors, but nothing happened. Electricians hurriedly went to work in search of the trouble, but an hour passed by and their work was unsuccessful. During that time a wind machine was rigged to bring some comfort to the actors. Director William McGann ordered lunch served in the cells and after lunch filming of the picture continued. It was not until late in the afternoon that the electricians located the trouble and repaired it. “Aleatraz Island,” said to be the first screen representation of life on the “Big Rock” in San Francisco Bay, opens next Friday at the Strand Theatre. The leading women are Ann Sheridan and Mary Maguire. PLAYWRIGHT AT 6! When Vladimir Sokoloff, Warner Bros. player featured in the Cosmopolitan melodrama, “Aleatraz Island,” was six years old, he wrote a play which was staged by his school in his native Moseow and in which he played the leading role. He will be seen in “Aleatraz Island” next Friday at the Strand Theatre. Litel Says Good Looks Are Hard On Careers Actor Star of “‘Aleatraz Island’’ Feels That Handsome Men Have Limited Scope in Pictures ““T don’t want to be a good-lookin’ guy,’’ said handsome Litel. ‘‘Not in sereen plays.”’ He said it emphatically. Meant it, too. And that was a funny thing, for back on Broadway he used to be a schoolgirl’s rave in such stage hits as “Room Service,” “Ceiling Zero,” “First Legion,” “Lilly Turner,’ “Sweet Aloes” and “Ladies of Creation,” to name just a few. And as guest star playing with the leading stock companies of America—in Washington, Atlanta, Kansas City, Des Moines, Denver, New Orleans, San Francisco and Los Angeles—he was a matinee idol for years. So why? “Pm serious about it,’ went on Litel. “It’s this way— “The actor who capitalizes on his youthful good looks has a limited career in pictures. “The studio plugs him heavily as the young romantic hero of every girl’s dream. “And, boy, does he have to work at it? To begin with, if he is married, he has to keep it a deep dark secret. How much romance could dreaming girls spin about him if they know he is married—and happily married, at that? “Now I am happily married. Have been for fifteen years. I have no desire to keep it a secret. Fact is, I brag about it.” He paused to roll a cigarette. He has that man’s-man habit popularized by every he-man of the screen from Bill Hart to Dick Foran—on the screen. But Litel does it in private life, has done it ever since he began to smoke. Then with cigarette going in the corner of a wide genial mouth, he ran a hand through crinkly dark waves of hair and grinned disarmingly. “Look here,” he said, patting his stomach. It looked like a lean enough stomach. So what? “Oh, it'll do,” he said. “But, listen; what I mean is, I don’t have to worry about putting on weight. Now, if I were a goodlookin’ guy, a romantic screen hero—well, it would be on my conscience all the time. “Just to show you what I mean. While I was playing the role of ‘Gat? Brady, the racketeer king, in ‘Aleatraz Island,’ I let myself go. Why, I ate what I pleased and put on eight pounds. It didn’t matter. Everybody expected ‘Gat’ to be that kind of a guy.” The role of “Gat” Brady in the Warner Bros.-Cosmopolitan picture, “Aleatraz Island,” is that of a Capone-like ruler of the underworld who finally gets his comeuppance. The picture, a Cosmopolitan melodrama, will be seen next Friday at the Strand Theatre. “T liked that role,’ said Litel reflectively. “Was that because, not being a romantic part, it placed no handicaps on eating?” He grinned. “Not exactly,” he said. “But that’s a part of it. “What I mean by not wanting to be a good-lookin’ screen guy is easy enough to see, if you look around you. “The good-lookin’ guys have their little day and then they’re done, finished, through. Because suddenly the day arrives when slenderness departs, faces become lined, hair turns white. You can’t beat Old Man Age. Then the audiences clamor for a younger man, and the studios have to yield. What happens to the matinee idol? “He goes out and opens a grocery or a hamburger joint or a dress shop. There’s no place for him on the screen. No, there’s no place for him because he had only one thing to sell. “Me, I’ll play character roles. That’s something lasting. It’s something around which a man can build his career. The goodlookin’ guy just withers. But the character actor seasons and mel John Litel Mat 106—10c lows as he grows older. He becomes a better actor, more and more in demand. He doesn’t die with his youth.” Litel has red-haired Ann Sheridan for his leading woman in “Aleatraz Island.” Mary Maguire, Dick Purcell, Vladimir Sokoloff, George E. Stone and Ellen Clancy have important parts. William MeGann directed the picture. NO KANGAROOS? Favorite hobby of Mary Maguire, one of the leading women in the Cosmopolitan-Warner Bros. melodrama, “Aleatraz Island,” is the collection of sea-shells, pearls from the South Seas and carved kangaroos. Though a _ native daughter of “Down Under,” the only live kangaroos she ever saw were in a zoo. Mary will be seen when “Alcatraz Island” opens at the Strand Theatre next Friday. CHANCES INTO FILMS John Litel, leading man in the Cosmopolitan-Warner Bros. picture called “Aleatraz Island,” went to Hollywood with no thought of entering pictures, but merely to visit his mother. Studio scouts heard the well-known New York stage actor was in town, offered him a part in “Fugitive in the Sky,” and he has been here ever since. He will be seen in “Aleatraz Island” at the Strand Theatre next Friday.