April in Paris (Warner Bros.) (1952)

DORIS DAY PLAYS FIERY’ SCENE IN NEW MUSICAL Doris Day has a word of caution for those amateur cooks who yearn to try a hand at flame cookery, a current fad in the American household. Doris came up against flame cookery in a spectacular way for her latest Warner Bros. musical, “April in Paris,” the Technicolor film which bows locally at ther ieaca Theatre on ............ Flaming duck, which in French flame cookery is caneton flambe, was the fiery dish that revealed to Doris the hazards of making an open fire at the table of the food. Claude Dauphin, French stage and screen star, making his American comedy debut in this picture in which Doris co-stars with Ray Bolger, played the waiter who set off the brandied conflagration at a table on a set representing the luxurious dining salon of a French liner on the last and gala night of a trans-Atlantic crossing. Dauphin, who isn’t really a waiter in the story but a Paris music-hall idol who went broke in America and is working his passage home, is supposed to have helped himself liberally to the fuel before he touched it off with a match under the duck. In his simulated alcoholic befuddlement he drips brandy all over the table cloth and the flame spread like a forest fire. When the Technicolor camera had caught enough of the inferno studio firemen stepped in and doused the blaze.” “See what I mean?” said Doris to Dauphin, who lost his eyebrows and lashes while leaning over the flaming duck pyre, “if youre going in for flame cookery, be swre the fire department is handy.” PORTRAYS BIGWIGS FOR 20 YEARS Hollywood is barking up the wrong tree when its clamor for new faces is extended to character actors, according to Paul Harvey, dean of filmville thespians with 52 years of screen and stage service behind him. Recently returned from a “Movies Are Better Than Ever” tour of the midwest, Harvey has a featured role in “April in Paris,” the Doris Day-Ray Bolger Technicolor starrer for Warner Bros. which opens ............ at Re Re Theatre. Harvey, who worked his first movie in 1908 but didn’t take the new entertainment medium seriously until talkies were wellestablished, has appeared in more than 200 pictures in the last 20 years. His face, if not his name, is as well known as members of their own families to countless thousands of moviegoers. Tall, white-haired, with a dignified face complemented by a commanding resonant voice, Harvey on the screen has never been anything but a man of distinction. He is invariably the spokesman for the board of directors when tycoons in any business enter a picture, or the president of railroads, banks, colleges, the imposing’ scientist, the eminent surgeon, or the gruff father of the beautiful heiress. For “April in Paris,’ Harvey is a high state department official and the prospective fatherin-law of Ray Bolger, with Eve Miller as his haughty daughter. “April in Paris” was directed by David Butler. 18 Publicity Material for Warner Bros.” ‘April in Paris’ (Lead Story) Doris Day, Ray Bolger Headline Cast of Warners’ ‘April in Paris’ “April in Paris,” Warner Bros.’ big new Technicolor musical, begins its local engagement at the Theatre on beckett , with Doris Day and Ray Bolger, two of the screen’s top exponents in song and dance. Set against the colorful backgrounds of a trans-Atlantic liner and gay Paris boulevards, the story has Bolger, a State Department employee, mistakenly inviting Miss Day, a Broadway chorus girl, to represent the American theatre in an international festival of arts in Paris. Although engagéd to the daughter of his boss, Ray falls in love with Doris aboard the luxury liner carrying the delegation to Europe. Doris returns his affection and they are “married” at sea by an inebriated waiter posing as the ship’s captain. It is then that the humorous complications arise when a dapper Frenchman pays court to Doris and Ray’s fiancee appears on the scene. Miss Day, one of the nation’s favorite songstresses demonstrates her great talents which in a few short years have put her on the top rung of Hollywood’s stardom ladder. Bolger follows his success in “Where’s Charley?” with a series of unique dancing exhibitions, while Claude Dauphin, star of the French stage and screen, makes his American comedy debut as the “other man” in the story. The production itself is said to be Warner Bros.’ most ambitious of the year, with huge dance numbers, Paris’ back grounds, night club scenes and an ocean liner’s salons, filmed in Technicolor for the nation’s musical comedy film fans. Nine original songs, written by famed songsmiths Sammy Cahn and Vernon Duke, provide the rich musical setting for the singers and dancers. “‘April in Paris” was directed by David Butler for Warners. French Film Star Makes Comedy Debut In WB's Technicolor ‘April in Paris’ Considered by critics “the greatest gift from France since the Statue of Liberty,” Claude Dauphin essays a leading role in Warner Bros.’ new Technicolor musical drama, “April in Paris.” Doris Day and Ray Bolger co-star in the film which opens at the Theatre on Dauphin, a slight, blue-eyed dynamo of 150 pounds, is everything in Gallic temperament that Americans expect a Frenchman to be. He is gay, volatile, friendly, intelligent, witty and uninhibited. Like Bogart, Gable, Pinza and other female heart-throbs on the mature side, he doesn’t pretend to be the perennial juvenile. His thinning hair is at the salt-andpepper stage and he leaves it that way. He was born in 1903 and although he is full of bounce, sparkle and joie de vivre he is not embarrassed when he puts on glasses to read six-point type at close range. Although established in his native France, whose cause he served in the army and in the resistance during World War II, as a serious dramatic actor, he is delightedly carving out in America a new career as a song-and-dance comedian. This career was launched on the New York stage in “The Happy Time,” where he had his second English-speaking role. He was in that show when Warner scouts spotted him. A screen test led to his present assignment. In “April in Paris,’ Claude portrays a French music hall idol who goes broke in America and has to work his way back to France as a waiter on board a luxury liner. David Butler directed “April in Paris” for Warners. ” Eve Miller Models Latest Gowns In Lavish Warner Bros. Musical Actress Eve Miller, as the backwoods pioneer girl of “The Big Trees,” wore the same severely functional dress all through the film. But the lovely Eve undergoes a change of pace for “April in Paris” by wearing some of the most elegant sartorial confections ever designed by Leah Rhodes, outstanding Hollywood costume _ designer. Doris Day and Ray Bolger star in Warner Bros.’ new Technicolor musical which opens ............ Tale aetna Theatre. Playing the role of a diplomat’s daughter and Washington socialite, Eve, five-feet seven and 125 pounds equitably distributed by nature for the proper display of clothes, was provided with six exciting changes of wardrobe to match her rarified status. The outfits included three tailored suits, an evening dress, a navy blue taffeta afternoon dress and a bewitching negligee in her favorite color, scarlet. The evening dress was of a Famed Parisian Landmarks In New Technicolor Film More than a score of worldfamous Paris landmarks have been telescoped into a single impressionistic montage set for a sequence of “April in Paris,” Warner Bros. Technicolor musical starring Doris Day and Ray Bolger, due at the Po tater Theatre. Appearing in juxtaposition to the Gare du Nord and _ seen through the Are de Triomphe are the Eiffel Tower, churches of La Madeleine and Sacre Coeur, the Place de l’Opera, the Tuile ries, Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, Les Invalides, bookstalls on the Seine, Grand Boulevards, Champs Elysee, Rue de la Paix and many celebrated cafes. All of the points of interest are tied together by elaborate cues and introduced in the number “That’s What Makes Paris Paree” by Miss Day and Claude Dauphin, French screen and stage star making his American comedy debut in a featured role of the film which David Butler directed for Warners. tricky material which reflected the colors of its surroundings. One of the suits was of mantailored severity, the other two were distinctly of feminine persuasion. In commenting on her new ensemble, Eve remarked, “A woman’s hea@ shouldn’t be turned by clothes, but a man’s should.” Claude Dauphin, the noted French actor, has an important role in “April in Paris,” directed by David Butler for Warners. Doris Day Starrer Opening Locally Doris Day and Ray Bolger combine musically and romantically for “April in Paris,” Warner Bros.’ song festival in color by Technicolor which opens today at theier...2=.: Theatre. Set in gay Paree, the new film tells of the romance between two Americans enroute to an art jamboree, and a debonair Frenchman who tries to come between them. Claude Dauphin, popular French actor, has a leading role in ‘April in Paris.” EMPHASIZE COMEDY IN DANCING ROLE, SAYS RAY BOLGER Nothing pleases Ray Bolger more than being called a dancing comedian rather than a comedy dancer. Starring opposite Doris Day in Warner Bros.” “April in Paris,” Bolger, although admitting he owes his present eminence largely to his nimble feet, prefers to believe that in the light of his experience and study, his dancing is a secondary accomplishment. Claude Dauphin, popular French actor, has a leading role in the Technicolor musical which bows into the ............ Theatre on Not one to belittle terpsichore as an entertainment medium, Bolger says “the frustrating thing about being a dancer with my outlook is that no matter how much you have to give besides dancing, the additional offerings are either dismissed lightly or completely overlooked. “T have been in show business at least 20 years and have always worked as hard to perfect my comedy as I have my dancing. “Comedy involves the timing and usage of the eyes, mouth, voice, hands, even individual fingers and thumbs, as well as the torso as a unit, while dancing involves only the feet. “This sort of inequality makes it only natural that I feel slighted when my efforts at comedy are overlooked in favor of my dancing.” VOCALIST LIVES CHORINE’S LIFE Doris Day, who lived a chorus girl’s life for her starring role opposite Ray Bolger in “April in Paris,” recently resumed the ballet lessons she abandoned as a teen-ager back in Cincinnati. The Warner Bros. Technicolor film, due at the also headlines Claude Dauphin, debonair French actor, in his American comedy bow. To be a plausible chorus girl, such as the explosive “Dynamite Jackson,” the one she portrays, Doris says she had to train like a prizefighter and be as near perfect in wind, limb and muscle. Chorus routines in the movies are tough and tiring, being done over and over as the camera records them from various angles. Although her dancing is a secondary matter in “April in Paris,” Doris decided that it would have to maintain a class and polish on a par with her vocal and acting efforts. David Butler directed “April in Paris” for Warners. Studio Dyes Dogs For ‘Paris’ Film What will probably go down in the history of Hollywood animal actors is the appearance of eight French poodles for a musical sequence in Warner Bros.’ Technicolor film “April in Paris,” the Doris Day-Ray starrer at the To match the colorful costumes worn by the dancing girls in the “That’s What Makes Paris Paree” production number, the canine thesps were dyed blue, chartreuse, yellow, cerise, red, teal, aquamarine and lavender. Bolger