April in Paris (Warner Bros.) (1952)

ETT] HUI IU A TUL | IU HILAL HIATT El MA eR —ADDITIONAL PUBLICITY FEATURES FOR ‘APRIL IN PARIS’ (RAY BOLGER INTERVIEW) Every Movement Rehearsed, Says Dancing Ray Bolger Making a dance look spontaneous is something like doing the impossible, it takes a little longer, Ray Bolger says. The man whose flying feet and limber legs have carried him to top stardom of screen and stage regards the illusion of spontaneity as one of the most elusive factors in regard to the creation of a dance number. Now starring with Doris Day in the Warner Bros. Technicolor musical “April in Paris,” Ray faced the hard inescapable fact that all the dancing he does in this picture must look as if he thought it out on the spur of the moment. The film starts ................ ations. yoga ae, Theatre. The reason for this hurdle is the character he plays, a minor Washington diplomat of gelid deportment to whom the refinements of terpsichore would be incongruous except for contrived circumstances. If he were cast as a dancer, Ray says, a studied and formal performance would be a matter of course, but as a bureaucrat with a stuffed shirt full of weighty problems he must superficially regard dancing as a frivolous diversion unworthy of his notice. “Two persons dancing socially,” says Ray, “take the floor, dance whatever the music prescribes and that’s that. If they start a waltz, they finish a waltz. “But in ‘April in Paris’ I don’t step out of character until motivated by two forces, love and champagne. “As these forces combine and blend into my feet, I take Doris into my arms and begin dancing her around. “As a matter of fact, the more that spontaneity in a dance is simulated, the more carefully it has to be timed and routined, not only in regard to each other but in relation to setting, properties and movements. “To accomplish the spontaneity effect, we have to combine ballet, tap, waltz, two-step and other dance forms, changing from one to another like two persons actually in a_ similar situation would change their minds and moods. “One month’s rehearsal and we get two minutes of spontaneity on film.” VERNON DUKE’S MUSIC SUNG IN ‘APRIL IN PARIS’ Like the actor who doesn’t care what people say about him so long as they mention his name, Vernon Duke doesn’t care what his music is played on so long as it’s played. Hollywood recently arranged some of his music for playing on pots and pans, wine bottles, water glasses and other kitchen paraphernalia, but he didn’t flinch. The masters are full of precedents for such bizarre deviations. The highly-talented Duke, provided the music for Sammy Cahn’s lyrics in “April in Paris,” Warner Bros. Technicolor musical starring Doris Day and Ray Bolger. The film debuts locally Abit lew sees eeu Theatre on One of the team’s highestpowered numbers, _ especially fabricated for Miss Day’s indisputable distinctive talents, is “T’m Gonna Ring the Bell Tonight,” which is sung and danced in the galley of an ocean liner with the blonde songbird linked in terpsichore to Bolger and to the French screen and stage star, Claude Dauphin. An idol of the Paris theatre, Dauphin makes his American comedy debut in this tuneful comedy presentation which David Butler directed and William Jacobs produced for the Burbank studio. CHAMPAGNE GLASS TO BE ‘HEARD’ IN WARNER FILM By coming up with a musical arrangement for kitchen equipment, Ray Heindorf has crowded the fame of the composers who have utilized artillery, railroad equipment, typewriters, stamping presses and other unusual items for orchestral effects. For the number, “I’m Gonna Ring the Bell Tonight,” in the Warner Bros. Technicolor musical “April in Paris,” starring Doris Day and Ray Bolger, the head of the studio music department compiled an arrangement involving the use of scores of pots and pans, various-sized champagne and wine bottles, cocktail, beer and water glasses and practically every other dish and tool to be found in the main galley of a 1000-foot luxury liner, a simulation of which the studio built on a vast sound stage. The galley is the setting for a gay trans-Atlantic crossing party involving Miss Day,Bolger and Claude Dauphin, French screen and stage star in a featured role, and dozens of chefs, cooks, stewards, waiters and other members of the ship’s crew. David Butler directed “April in Paris” which begins its local engagement at the ....................05 WheatVe ON. cccenace (PRODUCTION STORY) Ocean Liner Galley Built For ‘April in Paris’ Scene The galley of a huge ocean liner capable of serving 1000 first-class passengers in one sitting was reproduced by technicians at Warner Bros. studio as a set for “April in Paris,” the new Technicolor musical starring Doris Day and Ray Bolger, and due .............. at the Theatre. Crowding every foot of one of the largest sound stages, the set, representing contributions of 28 different crafts, is 90 per cent practical in regard to electric power and fluorescent lighting, gas, hot and cold water, steam and refrigeration. Arranged in department for soups, salads, fowl, fish, roasting, frying, broiling and desserts, and staffed by 40 bit actors portraying high-hatted chefs, the galley provided a backdrop and locale for one of the big musical numbers of the picture, which David Butler directed and William Jacobs produced for the studio. Some 15,000 pieces of china in cups, saucers and plates in disparate categories represented just one segment of the equip ment and supplies marshalled to create a plausible simulation of the food department of the mythical French ship whose measurements would match the Queen Elizabeth’s. Also figuring in the dressing of the set were 25,000 pieces of silverware in various sizes and shapes of knives, forks, spoons and tongs; 2000 pots and pans; 120 silver water pitches; 400 bottles of sauces and condiments and eight chopping blocks for cleaver work. The set shows 8 practical steam tables, 4 walk-in refrigerators, 15 gleaming coffee urns; one 16-compartment, 6-valve soda fountain, and ice shaving machine for frappe dishes; four 100 gallon soup-stock kettles and a battery of working electric ranges each one 20 times larger than the ordinary household range. Corkscrews are the only item in short supply. Seems on a French ship these are considered waiters’ tools and only master chefs have access to them. ITEMS FOR COLUMNS, PROGRAMS, RADIO It took 10 years, but those 50-or-more letters, inadvertently dropped in a prop mailbox on the Warner lot, have finally been delivered. The letters were recently discovered in the regulation-type U. S. Mailbox, used as a prop on a New York street set for “April in Paris,” co-starring Doris Day and Ray Bolger. Doris Day, who dances in “April in Paris,” with eight white French poodles, dyed blue, red, yellow, chartreuse, green, aquamarine, cerise and teal blue, has her own French poodle at home; but that’s a dog of a different color. ““Smudgie,” Doris’ poodle, is just plain black. Doris Day turned back the clock for her role as a chorus girl in Warner Bros.’ Technicolor musical, “April in Paris.”? Doris resumed the ballet lessons she abandoned as a teen-ager in Cincinnati. Five years after he closed his kennel, William Jacobs held a reunion with Janie, his French poodle, on the set of Warner Bros.’ Technicolor musical, “‘April in Paris.”’ They were both employed on the picture— Jacobs as producer and Janie as an actress. Janie, now in the brood stock of another kennel, appeared with seven other poodles in a dance sequence with Doris Day. The Eiffel Tower has some competition in Warner Bros.’ “April in Paris.” Eight chorus girls appearing in a dance number with Doris Day and Claude Dauphin in the Technicolor musical, are all better than six feet tall. Doris Day and Eve Miller don’t hit it off on-screen like they used to. The girls were cast as devoted friends in “The Winning Team,” but in “April in Paris,” Miss Day and Miss Miller are required by Warner Bros. to claw each other in the best traditions of feline femininity. Doris Day’s dancing with Ray Bolger in Warner Bros.’ Technicolor musical, “April in Paris,” is, literally, miracle in motion. When she was just starting out as a dancer, Doris broke her leg and doctors feared she would never walk again. ULL = UTA ONC QUA LILA HA HUAN lite