Anthony Adverse (Warner Bros.) (1936)

inmree thousand technical experts, researcn men, customers, artists and mechanics worked months before cameras turned on 98 principal actors and 2550 bit players and extras required by film. ? ACTORS’ WORLD SEARCHED FOR TYPES Hundreds of faces studied to find players who would fit the characteriza tions of the chief figures of the novel. By FRED E. RUSLANDER Staff Feature Writer of the ............ (newspaper ) VERY great literary achievement, like every great motion picture, not only establishes new precedents, but smashes a vast horde of preconceived and generally accepted notions. ‘‘Anthony Adverse,’’ Hervey Allen’s monumental best-selling novel has a record of illusion destroying almost as great as that of Mr. Allen himself. For Allen is literature’s prize wrecker of beliefs in things that are not so. Up to 1933 when ‘‘Anthony Adverse’’ was published as a single volume of 1224 pages, the belief was prevalent that no ‘‘long’’ book could be successful. People had stopped reading Dickens, it was declared, because his stories were ‘‘too long.’’ It was also believed that the day of the historical novel had passed, and that the American public was no longer interested in what were sneeringly called ‘‘costume stories.’’ There were many other beliefs. Among them were the ideas that real literature is the progeny of suffering and the result of an author’s indignation against the wrongs of humanity; that real poetry must be written in dark garrets on a diet of dry crusts, and that poets rolled their eyes in fine frenzy. It was also frequently stated that the classics couldn’t be filmed, that it was impossible to transfer Shakespeare to the screen and that, when an author saw a picture made from his book or story, he was unable to recognize it as his own brain creation. Born to Smash Theories Hervey Allen, who wrote ‘‘ Anthony Adverse’’ the longest and best selling novel of the generation and which, as a Warner Bros. production will open at the ON ME iiss ine aunt <odaes , seems horn to knock all such theories into the proverbial cocked hat. In the first place, ‘‘ Anthony Adverse’’ was not intended to right any wrongs, nor was it the product of suffering. It was not dashed off in the frenzy of inspiration. On the contrary, Mr. Allen retired to a beautiful family plantation in the Bermudas, where he lived with his wife and two small daughters for the four years it took him to write the book. And before that, the author had spent several years ‘‘thinking out’’ the story, which he ‘‘plotted’’ while recuperating from a nearly fatal operation. Mr. Allen was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., December 8, 1889. His parents were wellto-do folk of long settled American-English stock. He attended various schools until 1909, when he was appointed to the United States Naval Academy. An injury due to overstrain in athletics forced him to resign from the navy and he matriculated at the University of Pittsburgh from which he graduated with high honors as a Bachelor of Science in Economies in 1915. Then he got a job in the publicity department of the Bell Telephone Company and joined the National Guard. Fortunately for literature, Mr. Allen did not long remain a press agent. About that time, the United States government sent Gen. Pershing to the Mexican border with orders to catch Pancho Villa and hang him; and Hervey Allen, National Guardsman, went along. Everyone knows that Villa thumbed his nose at the United States army for many a long month. Many readers of verse also know that during that time a young soldier named Hervey Allen wrote a book of poems called ‘‘Ballads of the Border,’’ which was published in 1916, and won most favorable reviews. That surely was an unorthodox background for a poet — honor graduates in economies are supposed to write deep and dull tomes on finance, not the robust, rowdy songs of soldiers. The Call to Arms Then came the World War and young Allen went to France. As a First Lieutenant of Infantry he was wounded in the fighting around Fismis, and invalided again during the Argonne-Meuse drive. After the Armistice, he returned to the United States, and settled in Charleston, S. C., where he became a teacher of English in the high schools of that city. Volume after volume of excellent poems came from his pen. There were six in all, one in collaboration with DuBose Hayward, and each one received high praise. He also completed his war diary ‘‘Toward the Flame,’’ recognized as one of the most vivid accounts of active service in France. minded college professor, who was also a trained economist, should be the weird poet who represented everything that Hervey Allen assured was not. Even more strange is the fact that the oe OO ee ed oe BS drug driven poet was the actual inspiration of Anthony Adverse. From Vassar, Prof. Allen went to Columbia University, where he taught English for several years. But all this time, the idea of the novel was taking root in his mind. It must be conceded that Allen owes a real debt to Edgar Allen Poe. Back in his imagination was the image of a hero who resembled that unhappy bard. But it refused to take tangible form. Then Hervey Allen had a dream, in which he met an old Scotch Jacobite whose name was Bonnyfeather. The next morning Anthony Adverse was born. Long Years of Reading For years’ Hervey Allen read and studied. He made a few notes and character sketches, but the narrative thread, unbroken, remained in his mind. During the next few years he examined hundreds of pictures and prints, waded through Italian books with the aid of a dictionary. He prepared a chronology for his story, and then, in the Autumn of 1927 took his wife and two small daughters to Felicity Hall in the Bermudas. He took also several thousand volumes, among then a chest of old books that had belonged to a great uncle, a steamboat captain, who had kept voluminous diaries. Among them was ‘‘Captain Canot; or Twenty Years of an African Slaver.’’ He also read Vincent Nolte’s book, part of which greatly influenced his own work. In May, 1929, Allen wrote out the narrative of the novel, and then occurred his nearly fatal illness. It took him weeks to re cover but during his convalescence he thought out the story in all its detail. The effort that went into the writing of the book is best realized when it is remembered that the entire scheme for ‘‘ Anthony Adverse’’ and the narrative of the plot had been delivered to Allen’s publishers four years before the book was completed. The novel was to have been delivered in two years — it took four to complete. The book became an immediate literary sensation. Month after month, year after year, it remained a ‘‘best seller,’’ being translated into a dozen different languages. Naturally, the novel attracted the attention of motion picture producers. Many efforts were made to acquire the film rights, but Allen was not at all interested. He too, believed some of the things he had heard about Hollywood. Nothing could convince him, for a long time, that it was possible to film’his novel. Finally, however, Warner Bros. reached an agreement with him. Two Years for a Picture It had taken Hervey Allen two years to plan and four years to write the novel — six years in all, not counting several additional years in which he was dreaming about, and thinking about the plot and the characters. Warner Bros., one of the biggest film producers in the world, worked on the screen adaptation for nearly two years before the cameras turned on a single scene. First was the tremendous job of preparing an adequate screen play. A motion picture cannot be seen as a book may be read, at moments of leisure. The spectator wants the complete story in one evening — and not too long an evening. To Sheridan Gibney, one of the company’s ace scenarists was assigned the task of writing the film play. This alone took months. Then came another tremendous task — the casting. There are four principal characters in the book that caused great difficulty. First there was ‘‘Denis,’’ the romantic young father of ‘‘Anthony’’ who lost his life before the boy was born. Second, there was the boy Anthony, whose grandfather, ‘‘ Bonnyfeather’’ recognized him by a vague resemblance to his mother and an even greater one to the father. Then there was ‘‘ Anthony Adverse’’ himself, as a man, who must retain some resemblance to the boy, and fourth there was the son of Anthony who must not look unlike his father. Fredric March had been selected for the role of Anthony, and ER aD / | ET WEA we a zs every phase of the novel. UOSTUMES ANG CUSLUMIS, anew) manners and morals of five countries in three continents covering a period of 25 years were studied. Ev ery character in the book Was analyzed and careful charts made of his age, his nationality, his characteristics. Designers worked on costumes, and experts planned the enormous sets. Finally, after two years, the 98 actors who have the principal roles had been selected, the 131 sets constructed, the 2500 hand props made. Then Director Mervyn LeRoy was ready to begin the months of labor required to bring “‘ Anthony Adverse’’ and those who loved him and helped him out of the covers of a book to live on the theatre screens of the world. And when it was finally completed, Hervey Allen smashed another tradition. In a letter to Jack L. Warner, vice president in charge of production of the Warner Bros. studios, he said: “‘The first view of the film was, for all of us who have seen Anthony Adverse through so many stages, and for me in particular, a peculiarly moving occasion. I want to thank you for the opportunity of the preview. It is quite impossible for me to express adequately my delight and relief at finding that the novel has been given such a magnificent screen version. No one knows better than I the tremendous task that confronted you and the far more than ordinary difficulties which you have triumphantly surmounted in transferring ‘‘ Anthony Adverse’’ from page to film. ‘‘T cannot at this time, as I hope to later, congratulate and thank all those whose hard work, understanding, and cooperation brought about the present splendid result. I must, however, remark even in brief upon Mr. Mervyn LeRoy’s sensitive and imaginative direction of the whole picture, so that not only the narrative but the spirit and atmosphere in which the story lives is so remarkably conveyed. The greatest possible compliment I can pay to all of the actors in the cast is that they have sustained Mr. LeRoy’s direction in particular and in general. The young Anthony is superb. You have in him the best boy actor I have ever seen. The transition from the adult part is a sheer piece of stage magic. Maria, Angela, Faith, and Neleta, to me at least, seemed to walk out of the pages of the book. I could devote a page here to each, and then not fully express myself. It is difficult to pick any scene from the film as being ‘better’ than others where all are so vivid. Personally, I felt that the FREDRIC MARCH Star of the Warner Bros. production “Anthony Adverse” in which he portrays the title role. SCOTTY BECKETT As the son of “Anthony Adverse.” scene in the Casa da Bonnyfeather and in particular the mob scenes at the winning of the lottery were surpassingly done. The last is one of the greatest scenes I have ever seen on the stage anywhere.”’ The World Premiere Then, on July 29, the world premiere of “Anthony Adverse” was held at the Carthay Cirele Theatre in Los Angeles. According to newspaper announcements the next day, it was the greatest opening ever held in the film capital. The huge theatre was jammed to the door with a brilliant outpouring of Hollywood folk, while thousands of others lined the approaches and even purchased standing room on adjoining roofs just to see the celebrities. Hollywood expected a‘great deal. They knew that Warner Bros. had made the first successful talking pictures; that they had created the film musical. They knew that Warner Bros. had actually brought Shakespeare to the screen with the Max Reinhardt production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and had also opened a new field of combined education and entertainment with the first film biography “The Story of Louis Pasteur.” More recently the same company had filmed Mare Connelly’s Pulitzer Prize winning play “The Green Pastures” to the acclaim of the erities of the world. And these Hollywood folk knew that Warner Bros. had left nothing undone, had spared neither money nor effort to make “Anthony Adverse” as great a picture as it was a book. Warner Bros. had smashed quite a few taboos and “it can’t be done” ideas themselves, and Hollywood, in common with the theatre-going public of the nation was agog with interest. Where was Hervey Allen during all this excitement? Certainly one would think he would wish to at least share a little in the triumph of his brain children. Allen passed the evening in his study on his farm at Cazenovia, near Syracuse, N.Y. He was at work on another novel, and was so engrossed in his new character that Anthony Adverse, his trials, his tribulations, his loves, his triumphs and his tragedies which swept through one of history’s most glamorous periods were entirely forgotten. Finally the author’s telephone bell rang. It was a long distance call from Hollywood, telling him that another record had been broken — that the premiere of the filmization of his novel was the greatest ever seen in Los Angeles. Hervey Allen listened and smiled. “That’s fine,” he declared. “I’m delighted/” And he returned to the novel of the civil war on which he is new engaged. Special Sunday Feature Available Complete in Mat Form. Can Also Be Used in Lobby Frame. — Order Mat No. 801-80c