Blonde Crazy (Warner Bros.) (1931)

PLAY UP CAGNEY! HES DESTINEL BLONDELL, FEATURED WITH CAGNEY IN Joan Shipped To Australia “BLONDE CRAZY, ” 1S ANOTHER PROOF | With Show In Cattle Boat THAT THE TALKIES PREFER BLONDES Blondes Seem To Have The Edge On Their Sister Brunettes In Outstanding Roles On Screen, But Do Statistics Prove Myth True? INTERESTING PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS PRESENTED By Desmond Fitzpatrick (Feature for Sunday Paper) Hollywood, Calif—Blondes seem to have the edge on their sister brunettes in the matter of getting the outstanding and stellar roles in pictures nowadays. that the blonde has ten chances of rising in pictures as against the one of the brunette. They offer no explanations, resting eontent with the statement of the fact. A few questions asked of the casting directors were unrewarded by any special illumination on the subject. Blondes do not photograph any better than brunettes. Nor have they more allure. Brunettes in fact more perfectly suggest mystery and sophistication. But for the average American comedy-drama, whether set in a Park Avenue apartment, a Western prairie, or a model 1931 speakeasy, blondes, according to the Hollywood standards, give more verisimilitude to the scene. If the average reader were requested to give his or her explanation, it is not inadmissible to say that the answer would be that the average man likes the blonde because she is supposed to be more giddy, less serious than her brunette sister. But psychological experimentation does not bear out this statement. While there is such a thing as a blonde trait, a good percentage of brunettes possesses the trait. And vice versa. : DOS The blonde is supposed to| | Studio executives tell me (Advance eS ee Joan Blondell, who will be seen with James Cagney “Blonde Crazy,” the Warner Bros. production which comes to the AE ORO a time in her globe-trotting career shipped in a eattle boat to Australia with her father’s theatrical troupe—which included her mother, a brother and a sister and was known as the “Katzenjammer Kid Revue.” She enjoyed success in the legitimate on Broadway before entering pictures. in next—at one Jim Cagney’s Clever Wife Manages Family Budget (Advance Reader) Jimmie Cagney, who comes to the Ao Theatre next in “Blonde Crazy,” the Warner Bros. production, ean produce the shekels —but alas, cannot keep them, all of which might be a sad story but for the fact that Mrs. J. C. is one of the cleverest little ladies in existence when it comes to managing the finances, pacifying lion hunters and steering salesmen back down the hill toward Los Angeles. Mrs. Cag ney is a home-maker—and lets Jimmie have the glory — and welcome tO-16 A Women Are Going Wild Blondes are burning — Brunettes are bleaching — Red heads are raving — because EVERYBODY’S GOING TO THE HOLLYWOOD << <2 Cagney Credits Keen Memory To Sidewalks Of His Own New York (Advance—Plant 2 Days Before) S James Cagney’s mind, photographic 3 capacity for remembering things once read or seen, has increased Joan Blondell’s wardrobe by in its a dozen pair of silk hose. Roy Del Ruth, who directed Cagney and Joan in the new Warner Bros. picture, “Blonde Crazy,” which Theatre next, realized shortly after comes to the the picture started that not once during the course of the picture did Cagney hesitate on a line of dialogue or miss a word or a cue. Mr. Del Ruth commented on this to Miss Blondell. Joan and Cagney were co-featured in the Broadway production of “Penny Arcade,’ and this led to their being signed by Warners. Joan, therefore, is quite familiar with Cagney’s remarkable memory. She made a wager with the direetor. A box of hosiery was staked against a new hat that Cagney, without hesitation, would go through one of their scenes from “Penny Arcade” if she gave him the cue. To prepare for the test Joan that night re-memorized her part of the scene and returned to the studio the next day prepared for the test. She waited until just after she and Cagney had finished one of their scenes for “Blonde Crazy” and, while the cameras were still turning for the post-scene test, she gave Cagney the “Penny Areade” line. Instantly he replied, and they played the scene ghbrough exactly as se had done a vo ye Del Rutl checked the “When I was a kid ‘on New York East Side I had to keep my wits about me,” he explained: “Chitdrer—— raised in that neighborhood have to be on the job to keep ahead of the pack. Anybody’s mind would be keen if sharpened by such an upbringing.” aor cervitiy, serious, plodding. What Tests Show _~~ Por a psychological test case of opposite characteristics of these two types, one hundred and eighty seven blondes and the same number of brunettes were recently examined at a Western university. The examiners were ninety-four intelligent, educated persons who were asked to pass independent judgment on the three hundred and seventy four young women. It was found that the average percentage of blondes rated as having blonde traits was sixty four. But here came the strange twist in calculations. Sixty-one per cent of the brunettes were adjudged to possess the so-called blonde traits. Of the three hundred and seventy four, eighty per cent of both blondes and brunettes were active. And eighty-five per cent of both types were hopeful. Only twenty-seven per cent of blondes, but at the same, only thirty-one per cent, or less than onethird, of the brunettes were found to have the brunette trait of being a plodding type. An examination of the stars and featured players at the Warner Bros. studios at Burbank, reveals that few are brunette. Dolores Costello, who breaks a two-year retirement by her return to the screen in “Expensive Women”, is blonde as can be, with golden hair and grey-blue eyes. A decided blonde type, too, is Barbara Stanwyck, whose hair is auburn though her eyes are dark. Dolores is the retiring blonde type, and Barbara the aggressive blonde type. Marian Marsh, the new sev enteen year old leading lady chosen by John Barrymore for “Svengali” and “The Mad Genius” comes somewhere between these two extremes. She can be one and she can be the other, at will. a © d Miss Marsh boasts nd grey dancing eyes. mbination features the oan Blondell, who has amt part in “The Public in which James Cagney the limelight through his sharacterizations and in azy”’ in which the two atured. eBennett, now a See with JA CAGNEY JOAN BLONDELL ' Noel Francis — Guy Kibbee ME § a red-hot another Cut No. 13 Cut 60c Mat rsc Laugh hungry? Here's love team Jimmy and Joan — in high-powered story by the authors of “Smart Money.” A WARNER BROS. & VITAPHONE HIT Bros. star, is an extreme blonde; so is Marilyn Miller, now in Hollywood to make over a period of a year the first of a group of three pictures. Miss Bennett will be the star of “Bought!” based on the novel “Jackdaws Strut.” Lil Dagover, called “the darling of the continent,” is brunette. Now a First National star, she is scheduled to reach these littorals, to star in “The Captain’s Daughter,” from the Carla Don Jenssen novel of danger-skirting espionage. She is tall, dignified, and sophisticated. Who Sees Red? Winnie Lightner, you need not be told, has a thatch of flaming hair, s9 she falls into neither classification. She is at this writing rehearsing for a new comedy called “Side Show” in which she will have the laughbringing but grave-of-mien comedian, Charles Butterworth. In the east will be Evalyn Knapp, a pronounced blonde type, who appeared in support of Edward G. Robinson in “Smart Money”. Miss Knapp is at present winning added reputation through her work in the George Arliss film, “The Millionaire.” Bebe Daniels, who has just returned from a spring vacation in New York City, is blonde, with brown eyebrows and hazel eyes. Dorothy Mackaill, who recently appeared at the First National lot in the starring part of “The Reckless Hour,” is English, blonde-haired, and hazel eyed. Ona Munson is brunette, with brown hair and light blue eyes. Bernice Claire, seen recently in “Kiss Me Again,” from the Victor Herbert “Mlle. Modiste” operetta, is of course brunette. She has dark brown hair and blue eyes. The foregoing remarks, and the illustrations of actresses, blonde for the most part, who are making their marks in pictures, do not mean that brunettes have no chance. Ability will tell, the type notwithstanding. There are all kinds of roles in pictures, and both blondes and brunettes are needed. And it invariably is a rule that in a picture where a blonde is in the ascendant, she is given the benefits, though brunettes might say the disadvantages, of a sharp black-and-white contrast with a brunette type. Appearing with Joan Blondell and James Cagney in “Blonde Crazy” which comes to the Sh See Theatre. So next, are Louis Calhern, Noel Francis, Guy Kibbee, Raymond Milson, William Burress, Peter Erke lenz, Maude Eburne, Walter Percival and Nat Pendleton. “Blonde Crazy” was written by Kubee Glasmon and John Bright who did “The Public Enemy” and “Smart Money.” Roy Del Ruth directed. Polly Walters Says That Economies Are Not Pets But Pests (Biography, Aug. 1, 1931) Pretty Polly Walters, who plays the part “Blonde Crazy,” the Warner Bros. picture fea of Peggy in turing James Cagney and Joan Blondell, now at the Theatre, was born and educated in Columbus, Ohio. Her early ambition was to become a dancer, and she attended dancing school as well as studying voice and piano. It is by a daily routine of dancing, Miss Walters says, that she keeps fit, though at eighteen—she was born Jan. 15, 1913 —ladies do not need to worry about keeping svelte. The sports which she most enjoys are skating, golf, tennis, horseback riding and swimming. She is a prize pupil of the Warner Bros.-First National School for Acting, under the direction of Ivan Simpson. Polly Walters is five feet three inches in height, weighs one hundred and eight pounds and has brown eyes and blonde hair. She is of French-English descent. Others in the east of “Blonde Crazy” are Louis Calhern, Noel Francis, Guy Kibbee, Raymond Milland, Polly Walters, Charles Levinson, William Burress, Peter Erkelenz, Maude Eburne, Walter Percival and Nat Pendleton. The story is by Kubee Glasmon and John Bright, who also did “The Public Enemy” and “Smart Money,” in both of which Mr. Cagney was prominent. James Cagney Coming In His Most Dynamic Hit (Advance Reader) James Cagney proves that there is more than one way of being dynamie in “Blonde Crazy,” the War ner Bros. production which comes toxthesc cnt ree Theatre ...:.... next. He shows in quite another way than in “The Public Enemy” how to get what one wants without being too gunnish about it. Redheaded Jimmie plays the part of a wise-cracking bellhop in a big city hotel. In the promenade—a rendezvous for shysters of all sorts and both sexes, Jimmie learns how to fleece the folks whose business is fleecing. Joan Blondell, as a chambermaid, acts as his partner in duplicity and the result is an immensely dazzling display of. the peculiar gifts of Cagney and Blondell. You'll rave about “Blonde Crazy.” SEE PAGES 2 AND 3 FOR SNAPPY EXPLOITATION STUNTS