An Angel from Texas (Warner Bros.) (1940)

Mat 201—3% THAT'S EDDIE ALBERT WITH THE LONG HAIR in one of the funniest sequences in “An Angel From Texas” coming to the Strand next Friday. Rosemary Lane is the girl “acting up” w:th Eddie. The get-up is part of the fun. ‘‘An Angel From Texas”’ Stars ‘Bro. Rat’ Cast Romping through the gay Warner Bros. comedy, “An Angel From Texas,” which is coming to the Strand Theatre next Friday, is the gay trio of “Brother Rats’’—Eddie Albert, Wayne Morris and Ronald Reayan and their three comely girl friends—Rosemary Lane, Jane Wyman and Ruth Terry. The rollicking story of a couple of hicks from the Texas sticks is based on George 3. Kaufman's successful play “The Butter and Egg Man.” A novel sereen adaptation was done by Fred Niblo, Jr. and Bertram Millhauser, with the capable young director Ray Enright handling the production. As Lydia Weston, the pride of Lone Star, Texas, Rosemary Lane plays the stage-struck country girl. Eddie Albert is Peter, her boy friend, who is saving hix money to buy a hotel some day. Lydia leaves for New York, where she covers casting offices to no avail and failing to get a stage job, becomes secretary to two shoe string producers, Marty Allen and Mae McClure, played by Ronald Reagan and Wayne Morris. When Peter comes to New York with $20,000, looking for a hotel before he asks Lydia to marry him, Marty and Mae go to work on him. They need a backer and decide that Peter ix it. Complications set in when Lydia steps into the role Valerie Blayne, played by Ruth Terry, had been given. Valerie is a yvangster’s sweetheart and threatens trouble when her boy friend vets out of the stir. Rehearsals indicate that the show will lay the biggest Broadway egg of the season and Marty's wife Marge, played by Jane Wyman, determines to teach her husband a lesson for exploiting the unfortunate yokels. She helps Peter buy the show outright with her own money. When the — intended drama is accepted as a hilarious farce, Peter and Lydia are acclaimed the season's comets over Broadway. CAST OF CHARACTERS Peter Colman Lydia Weston EDDIE ALBERT ROSEMARY LANE Lydia “Remember When” Days Recalled On Set Of Strand Film The long unused Vitagraph lot of the Warner Bros. studios, with private roadways gutted by the rains, weeds crowding out the once carefully tended flower beds and buildings with cracked and peeling paint, came to life recently when Eddie Albert and Rosemary Lane headed a “location” company there, shooting scenes for Warners’ “An Angel From Texas,” the film coming to the Strand Friday. Whenever a company from Warner Bros. goes on location on the old Vitagraph grounds inevitably the old-timers go into their “remember whens.” Not the youngsters in the cast of “An Angel From Texas"—Albert and Miss Lane, Wayne Morris, Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman were in rompers in those days. But the gaffers, and the juicers, and some of the extras who have been doing walk-ons in terms of decades. There is, for instance, Johnny Hyams, who started as a grip 35 years ago. He smiles and rolls off names and dates and early triumphs.Like Maurice Costello, the great matinee idol, and the latter’s daughter, Dolores, who came upon the same stage years later wearing the crown of stardom he'd let slip. Like Larry Semon, ace comedian of a gone generation, whose two-reelers took two months to make—a full-length feature is made in that time today—and cost $100,000, but brought back $1,000,000 in profits. He remembers vividly John Barrymore starring in “Don Juan” 15 years ago. And he remembers when Tom Kennedy Tom, who is back for a part in “An Angel From Texas,” smiles appreciatively as he tells it— signed for a fat part in “The Better 'Ole” with Sidney Chaplin, only to do a burn on getting the script because he was to be a blacksmith who had to make love to a horse. He recalls later days. Days of Al Jolson and the talkie avalanche. Barrymore in “The Mad Genius” and “The Sea Beast.” William Dieterle, now the Academy director of pictures like “Dr. Ehrlich’s Magie Bullet,” then the star of the German version of “The Sea Beast.” What an album of memories. These and many, many more all enshrouded by a few old buildings and grounds. In regal splendor, the famous of the screen once rode past these portals in long, sleek limousines. Now these rusty gates are locked and barred. Before them stands a sign: “For sale.” SYNOPSIS (Not For Publication) Weston (Rosemary Lane!) (Opening Day) ‘‘An Angel From Texas”’ Opens At Strand Today “An Angel From Texas,’ the new film opening today at the Strand, serves to reunite one of the brightest groups of younger players in all of Hollywood. The film stars Eddie Albert, Rosemary Lane, Wayne Morris, Jane Wyman, Ronald Reagan and Ruth Terry, who comprise practically the same cast of funsters who first tickled your funnybones in thé memorable “Brother Rat” and “Brother Rat And A Baby.” This time they’re in a different setting, but the infectious air of gay hilarity still pervades. The film deals with two yokels from the Lone Star state who take Broadway and its sucker baiters by storm, and from all advance reports the new comedy will provide Strand audiences with one of the happiest experiences in a movie theatre. Charming Rosemary Lane is starred on her own merits, and we'll wager that this gifted member of the lovely Lane trio takes full advantage of her opportunity to play a sweet little country girl who wows hardened critics and jaded theatre-goers into coming back to see her show again and again. Eddie Albert portrays Miss Lane’s boy friend who is almost but not quite — the victim of ruthless theatrical promoters. The promoters in this case are Wayne Morris and Ronald Reagan, a slippery pair who think nothing of duping innocent yokels out of their hard earned cash, Jane Wyman, Ronald Reagan’s recent bride, plays opposite her husband as a clever wife with money of her own who sets out to teach hubby a lesson in honesty. After viewing many examples of the indomitable Wyman will, we are quite certain that blonde Jane succeeds! “An Angel From Texas” is adapted from George S. Kaufman’s popular comedy, “The Butter And Egg Man,” which had a lengthy run on Broadway. In view of this, the Strand’s new arrival promises to be one of the brightest hits of the year. Fred Niblo, Jr. and Bertram Millhauser wrote the screen play, while Ray Enright directed. B'way Chorines In New Strand Comedy According to a poll among 24 comely lasses supporting Eddie Albert and Rosemary Lane in Warner Bros.’ “An Angel From Texas,” which opens at the Strand Friday, there are 118 reasons—or some such round figure—why chorus girls should leave Broadway and head West. Former stage showgirl herself, lovely Nancy Preston, spokesman for the group, with a tilt of her turned-up nose, a toss of her auburn tresses, and a twinkle in her blue-green eyes, explained: “It’s Leap Year, so consider matrimony first. In New York the only men you meet are the kid who jerks the sodas in the corner drugstore and _ the brokers with enlarged middles and bald heads who act like the Rover. boys on the loose. “In Hollywood? Well, gosh, girls, just take your pick. “As for career, here you get a chance to do more than a few high-kicks, and you have to have more than a few curves in the right places. You’ve got to look all right for the cameras, and you have to show some acting ability. They aren't always looking at your legs. The result is you've always got a chance for a swell break. “On Broadway you can stay in the line until you’re a grandmother, all the good it'll do. That is, when you work—which usually averages about one week to every five between shows. “And the hours. Here you get that sunkissed complexion; there you tear your hair over a nightclub pallor. leaves boy friend Peter (Eddie Al WAYNE MORRIS bert) and small town in Texas to head JANE WYMAN for New York and success on the RONALD REAGAN stage. Failing to get employment, she obtains a job as secretary with RUTH TERRY two shoe string producers, Marty JOHN LITEL Allen (Ronald Reagan) and Mac HOBART CAVENAUGH McClure (Wayne Morris). The des ANN SHOEMAKER perate pair nabs Peter when he comes TOM KENNEDY Mac McClure Marge Allen Marty Allen Valerie Blayne Quigley Mr. Robelink Addie Lou Coleman Chopper to New York with $20,000 to buy a hotel and marry Lydia. They finally sell him a piece of the show, firing Valerie Blayne (Ruth Terry), the gangsters sweetheart who is incensed when Lydia takes over her role. Marge Allen (Jane Wyman) is Marty's wife with money of her own. Seeing that the yokels are being exploited by her husband and his slick partner, she helps Peter buy out the show. The dramatic play is unintentionally played for comedy, and Peter and Lydia are comets over Broadway PRODUCTION Directed by RAY ENRIGHT Screen Play by Fred Niblo, Jr. and Bertram Millhauser Based on a Play by George §. Kaufman: Associate Producer Robert Fellows: Director of Photography, Arthur L. Todd AS.C.; Art Director, Esdras Hartley; Film Ed tor Clarence Kolster; Dialogue Director, Hugh Cummings, Sound by Charles Lang; Makeup Artist, Perc Westmore: Gowns by Milo Anderson Mut 102—40 SO THIS 1S BROADWAY murmurs Eddie Albert while surrounded by an osculatory bevy of brunette beauty. That's what happens in An Angel From Texas, the new comedy film coming to the Strand Theatre next Friday. Material on Page Ten [Ss] Additional Publicity