Background to Danger (Warner Bros.) (1943)

Readers About the Players 2-Months-Old Message Still Has Interest George Raft secretly delivered a two-months-old message to Brenda Marshall from her soldier husband, Bill Holden, when the two stars of Warner Bros.’ ‘“Background to Danger,’ now at the Strand Theatre, met for the first time on the set during the filming of ~~ ee Mat 107 — 15c he had spent Brenda Marshall an evening with Holden in New York during his last trip East. Holden asked him to be sure and call Brenda when he returned to Hollywood. Raft made the call, but learned Miss Marshall herself was en route to New York. Since, Holden has spent a leave with his wife in Hollywood. ‘My message is old,’ said Raft when he and Brenda met on the set, “but I’ll bet it’s still good. Bill sends his love.” Kurt Katch Has Better Manners Several years ago, when he was acting in Warsaw, Poland, Kurt Katch saw the American picture, “Scarface,” and immediately conceived a_ tremendous admiration for George Raft. He met Raft for the first time on a Warner Bros. sound stage during the filming of “Background to Danger,” now at the Strand Theatre, and without time for formal introduction, they went directly into a rehearsal for a scene of the picture. Katch, playing a Nazi “hatchet man,” was to slap the tightly bound Raft in the face. When it came time to deliver the blow, he hesitated. “Go. ahead,” said Raft, “let me have it.” “T’ve been waiting for years to meet you and shake your hand,” replied Katch. “Now I meet you and have to slap your face. If you don’t mind, Id like to shake first.” insulted Hitler and Got Away With It Two actors who insulted Hitler, and lived to get out of Germany, were exchanging reminescences on the “Background to Danger” set at Warner Bros. They’re Hungarian born Peter Lorre and Russianborn Kurt Katch. Both were noted actors in Germany when Hitler, the Austrian paper hanger, was beginning his. drive to power. Lorre won international fame and was called to Hollywood before Hitler gained control of Germany. Later, the Nazis attempted to persuade him to return to Berlin and German pictures. Lorre, the screen killer, cabled back “there isn’t room in one country for two such murderers as Hitler and myself.” He heard no more from Naziland. Katch was a top-ranking actor in Munich during the days when Hitler, Hess and his other henchmen gathered in the beer halls to hatch their grandiose schemes. Few Germans took the paper hanger _ seriously but Katch was not among them. In “Background to Danger,” now at the Strand Theatre, Katch, the native Russian, plays a brutal Nazi. Lorre, the Hungarian-born actor, portrays a Russian undercover agent. Mat 108 — l5c Peter Lorre Citizenship Studies Came in Handy Osa Massen, who celebrated her first “birthday” as an American’ citizen recently, found that her citizenship studies came in handy for a scene of Warner Bros’ “Background to, Danger,” now at the Strand Theatre. The actress, who came to this country from Denmark five years ago, had to recite Lincoln’s Gettysburg address in a scene she played with George Raft. She spoke it through without a moment’s study. To the surprised director, Raoul Walsh, she explained she had memorized the address when preparing for her citizenship examination. Miss Massen has been in Hollywood since 1938 after an early career in her native land as a film cutter-actress. Mat 102 — l5c Osa Massen George Raft Packs A Mean Sweep George Raft, who swept plenty of sidewalks when he was a boy, still can wield a clean broom when the occasion demands it. Raft was watching a workman on the set of Warner Bros.’ “Background to Danger,” the Strand Theatre’s current attraction, sweep a dungeon floor. Suddenly, he asked for the broom, saying he loved to sweep floors. Even the cracks were whistle clean when he finished. “T’m going to be mauled and rolled around on that floor,’ he confided in an aside. “And I’m wearing my own suit—a brand new one.” scois CC het BS 4 dete bier GaOe | she BRENDA MARSHALL, currently featured in Warner Bros.’ ‘‘Background to Danger’ at the Strand Theatre has adopted the up-swept hair-do and enhances it with these exquisite flower arrangements. Left: Brenda selects a cluster of two large gardenias to top a summer formal. Right: A halo of white hyacinth forms a flattering arc behind the pompadour. Suitable for evening or afternoon wear. Order “BD Mat 301B” (art and type) —— Campaign Editor, 321 18 W. 44 St., New York 18, N. Y. Still BD 507; Mat 206 — 30c George Raft and Sydney Greenstreet, the screen's newest menace, are cast on opposite sides of the fence, G-Man vs. the Gestapo, in the Strand Theatre’s new drama of murder and international intrigue, “Background to Danger.” The Warner Bros. picture starts its engagement at the Strand Theatre on Friday. More Than 100 Hits If an attempt were made to approximate the number of millions of dollars that have been grossed by motion pictures directed by Raoul Walsh, the sum would be terrific and fantastic. For the famous Warner Bros. director’s record of more than 100 hits includes some of the largest grossers of all time. Among them are “The Cockeyed World,’ ‘What Price Glory,” “The Roaring Twenties,’ “They Drive by Night” and “They Died With Their Boots On.” Raoul Walsh’s earliest screen training came with the Biograph Company in the days when Mary Pickford was the Biograph Girl, known to the public by no other name. His first important role was for D. W. Griffith. He played John Wilkes Booth in “The Birth of a Nation,” for in those early days he served in the capacity of actor-director. Victim of Accident An injury, tragic and accidental, stopped Walsh from appearing on the screen and turned him to full-time directing. It happened during the filming of “In Old Arizona,” the first of the talking pictures to be made out of doors and Walsh was both directing and playing a part. <A_ rabbit jumped through the windshield of a car he was driving across the desert, causing a flying glass splinter to destroy the sight of his right eye. His black patch, held in place by a black band around his head, has become something of a trademark. Walsh ignores his handicap entirely. In fact, it is no handicap at all, except that he never, since that desert night, has so much as touched the wheel of a car. The director was born in New York City on March 11, 1892. He finished his schooling at Seton Hall, and for two years after finishing college he toured Europe. Upon his return to the United States in 1910 he went on the stage through arrangements made by his friend the late Paul Armstrong. Biograph films came two years later. There, in a capsule, is Walsh’s career. His latest achivement for Warner Bros. is “Background to Danger,’ starring George Raoul Walsh's Record Raft and Sydney Greenstreet, currently at the Strand Theatre, with Peter Lorre and Brenda Marshall leading the supporting cast. Still Service Stills available on most of the scene cuts on the publicity pages in this campaign plan. Price: 10c each. Order by still number indicated under each cut, from Campaign Plan Editor, 321 West 44 Street, New York 18, N. Y. If still number is not given, photo is not available because the cut was made from a special retouch or a composite. (*Asterisk denotes still is available at the local Vitagraph Exchanges.) Sydney Greenstreet Goes in for Mustache Sydney Greenstreet, the sinister “Fat Man” of ‘The Maltese Falcon,” is wearing a mustache in his new menace role in Warner Bros.’ “Background to Dang eur,” now at the Strand Theatre. It’s a slim, Cro. 4Scer = Cr 0-p pe; a mustache, but when he gets to lev elling his Mat 101 — 15 . a fia Cc e : oe ane Sydney Greenstreet Raft, Greenstreet says he feels it really should be one of those full, flourishing affairs that curl up at the ends. “Then,” he adds, “‘all ’'d need would be a tall silk hat anda blacksnake.” Plays His Second Axis Villain Role Sydney Greenstreet, the menacing “Fat Man” of the Maltese Falcon,” is playing a Nazi secret agent in Warner Bros.’ “Background to Danger,” the Strand Theatre’s current picture. It’s the second Axis villain role for Greenstreet, | who is an Englishman. In the recent ‘‘Across the Pacific’ he was a Jap agent.