Blackwell's Island (Warner Bros.) (1939)

CURRENT PUBLICITY—“BLACKWELL’S ISLAND” Punch Packed ‘Blackwell’s Island’ Opening Today At Strand Theatre Mat 201—30c TWO-FISTED ACTION personifies the performance of John Gar field starring in “Blackwell’s Island” with Rosemary Lane, now playing at the Strand Theatre. John Garfield Tops Own Financial Goal Years ago, when John Garfield, sensational find of “Four Daughters,” who recently starred in ‘They Made Me a Criminal,” was struggling for a start in the New York theatre, eking out a precarious living selling papers in the Bronx in the afternoon and carrying spears on to stages at night, he fixed “forty dollars a week” in his mind as the milestone of prosperity. He has never varied from that opinion. Forty dollars a week is still a “living wage” to Garfield, just as it is to many millions of others. The knowledge that he can go back to New York and be sure of that much income from stage work is his backlog of security and the foundation of his independence. Just how much Garfield is being paid by Warner Bros. is a matter that only he, his agent and the Warner Bros. Studio know. Certainly it is more than several times $40 a week. Yet the young man seems sincere in his determination to do the kind of work he likes and to return to New York and the stage if he does not find it to do in Hollywood. | Nonconformist Warned, good-naturedly, that he would either have to conform to the movie pattern or make a quick exit from picture work, Garfield shrugged his shoulders. “T’ll go back to New York,” he said quietly, “where I can always be sure of forty dollars a week. Material comforts aren’t as important as mental and spiritual ones.” Several times in the past the young actor has deliberately left an important role in a successful stage play to take a less important part in a Group Theatre production where the pay is said to average about forty dollars a week. He brings the same attitude to pictures. Prospective stardom apparently means nothing to him unless it is stardom in the kind of roles he wants to play. | Likes His Roles Garfield liked his part in “Four Daughters,” which gained him | overnight renown in Hollywood, and then his first starring role in “They Made Me a Criminal,” but let it be known he would judge each succeeding role on its merits only. He also liked — wouldn’t have accepted it if he didn’t — his film role in “Blackwell’s Island, the Warner Bros. picture now playing at the Strand Theatre. “T’ll never be a stuffed shirt,” he declares. “Not for a million dollars a year. What good would it do me? I wouldn’t know how to live up to it.” It is true that Garfield’s life, to date, has not been one that srhateenet 3 ‘a Mat 104—15c John Garfield Starring in “Blackwell’s Island” now at the Strand Theatre. would condition him for the sudden receipt of a million dollars. His early life was spent in squalid poverty in New York’s East Side and it was not until Angelo Patri interested the boy in dramatics in his school for problem children that it seemed possible that he would end up any way except badly. Having found his feet, artistically and professionally, Garfield will not now compromise with his ideals. If Hollywood doesn’t fit itself into his pattern of life, he will go back to the stage—where a sincere actor can always earn “forty dollars a week.” (Opening Day) John Garfield In ‘Blackwell's Island’ At Strand Today **Blackwell’s Island,” the Warner Bros. picture opening today at the Strand Theatre, is based, as the title indicates, upon the prison scandal which amazed New York City several years ago. It gains additional interest from the fact that it presents John Garfield, who came to public attention in his debut as a screen actor in “Four Daugh ters,”’ This time the young newcomer from the New York stage does not have, as he did in “Four Daughters,” a mere supporting role but is the central character of the story and naturally the star of the picture. The production is, in fact, a response by Warner Bros. to the insistent public demand for more of Garfield which became manifest upon the release of “Four Daughters.” His part in the new picture is altogether different from the character he played in his first picture. He is, in “Blackwell’s Island,” a courageous, aggressive, dynamie young newspaper reporter who succeeds brilliantly in achieving the goal he sets for himself. | Out for Revenge | That goal is two-fold: First, to bring to justice the gang leader and his henchmen who have murdered the policeman brother of the girl he loves, and, second, to expose and correct the fantastic conditions at the city jail on Blackwell’s Island. As is well known as a result of a far reaching investigation of conditions and management, the jail was virtually been taken over by a gang leader and his followers. They not only live in luxury, not only come and go as they please, but have actually organized the institution as a huge racket, with the less fortunate prisoners as their customers and victims. All this is actually shown in the picture. In order to achieve his objec and more recently as the star of ““They Made Me a Criminal.” HOT ON THE TRAIL — John Garfield and Victor Jory crack down on dangerous criminals in this scene from Warner Bros. “Blackwell’s Island,” current attraction at the Strand Theatre. Garfield is the year’s starring sensation, gaining public acclaim first in “Four Daughters,” and then in his first leading role in “They Made Me A Criminal.’ Mat 203—30c tive, Garfield, the reporter, gets himself sentenced to “Blackwell’s Island.” There he is subjected to a series of persecutions which, it is planned by the gang leader, will end with his death. But he manages to escape, lay his evidence before a new and honest commissioner of correction, and cooperate with that official in a sensational raid on the jail. The raid results in the eradication of all the evils at the jail. And, of | course, this gives the young re porter a swell exclusive story. In addition to Garfield, the cast includes Rosemary Lane, Stanley Fields, Victor Jory, Dick Purcell, Morgan Conway, Granville Bates, Anthony Averill, Peggy Shannon and Charley Foy. The screen play was written by Crane Wilbur from an original story by himself and Lee Katz, and the production was directed by William McGann. Big Breakage Bill More than four hundred plates, cups and saucers of the “breakaway” variety were shattered during the filming of prison riot scenes for Warner Bros.’ “Blackwell’s Island,” which is now playing at the Strand Theatre with John Garfield as its star. Has Fighting Record John Garfield, star of Warner Bros.’ ‘‘Blackwell’s Island,’’ which opens at the Strand Theatre next Friday, fought in two of Manhattan’s Golden Gloves amateur boxing tournaments. He reached the semi-finals in the lightweight division once. SHORTS: Did You Ever e Know That... Former Newsboy John Garfield, brilliant new Warner Bros. discovery, who heads the cast of the current Strand Theatre attraction, “Blackwell’s Island,’ sold newspapers on a Manhattan street corner until he reached the age of sixteen. Once A Champ Victor Jory, who plays the role of commissioner of correction in Warner Bros.’ “Blackwell’s Island,” now showing at the Strand Theatre, formerly was middleweight champion fighter of Australia. Champion In Actor's Clothing Director Bill McGann couldn’t have gotten a better man for the job he wanted done on his latest Warner Bros. production, “Blackwell’s Island,’’ which opens Friday at the Strand Theatre. McGann was shooting a prison riot—a reenaction of an actual episode which occurred in a prison in 1934. He wanted some one to lift John Garfield, the brilliant young New York stage actor who stars in the picture, to his shoulders and carry him through the milling mob of prisoners and guards. McGann looked over the mob and singled out a husky locking individual. The big fellow lifted Garfield like a feather and carried him through the crowd, not on his shoulders but at arm’s length over his head. McGann later learned that he’d chosen Gus Sonnenberg, former world’s champion heavyweight westler and originator of the celebrated ‘‘airplane spin.” [47] Stanley Fields Meets The Mob Stanley Fields amused associates in the filming of ‘‘Blackwell’s Island’’ the Warner Bros. prison thriller coming to the Strand Friday, with a story of an encounter he had with two holdup artists. On his way home from the studio one night, he was stopped by two desperate looking young fellows who pointed a gun at him and demanded his money. He reached for change from the quarter he had with him and offered it to them, explaining that was all he had. When he spoke, the bandits recognized him and refused the money. They told him how much they enjoyed his gangster portrayals on the screen and said they were great fans of his. Mat 103—I15c Stanley Fields Questioning the men, Fields learned they were down on their luck and hungry. He took them to his apartment and fed them, and when they left he gave each a $10 bill. ““T suppose some people would criticise me for not turning them over to the police,’’ says Fields, ‘*but what good would that do them? And besides, they gave me the greatest thrill I’ve had since entering pictures. ’’