Blonde Crazy (Warner Bros.) (1931)

SOCK HOME THAT TITLE! IT'S A “BLONDE CRAZY” AUTHORS, RECRUITED FROM APOTHECARY SHOP AND PRESS ROOM, DO THREE BIG HITS IN YEAR Director Of Warner Bro. Production Featuring James Cagney and Joan Blondell, Coming to Strand Theatre Be ate Next, Tells How Two Untrained Writers Succeeded In Conquering Technical Field By Roy Del Ruth (Interesting Feature for Sunday Papers) The development of a motion picture story is a complicated process, according to Kubee Glasmon and John Bright, who should know, being in the last year the creators of three tremendous screen hits—‘‘The Public Enemy,’’ ‘‘Smart Money,”’ He'd Walk a Mile For a BLONDE and Back Again For Another Blondes, Blondes, BLONDES! _ Intoxicating! Maddening! They go to his head! They go to his heart! He's who gave you atthrill in ‘Smart Money’ ’—but wait till you see him with JOAN BLONDELL blonde bundle of joy — more witty, more vivacious than ever! Noel Francis Guy Kibbee STRAND A WARNER BROS. & VITAPHONE HIT Cut No. ¢ Cut 4oc Mat roc \ 7 Phi Alpha Beta Girls Laud Art Of Cagney (Advance Reader) James Cagney, co-featured with Milland’s Good Looks No Longer Ban Him As Heavy (Current Reader) R ond Milland, one of the : Sn 2h “Blonde Crazy,” now Joan Blondell in “Blonde Crazy,” = at the Bae: Theatre jg|the Warner Bros. production which comes to the Theatre Se ee next, recently received a letter from the secretary of the Phi Alpha Beta Sorority, apprising him of the fact that a vote of all their chapters revealed him as their outstanding screen favorite. The young player at once acknowledged the compliment and sent the signed photo for which they had asked. “Blonde Crazy” gives Mr. Cagney his finest vehicle. Chicago Lads Do Three Film Hits In One Year (Current Reader) John Bright and Kubee Glasman, Chicago boys who crashed Hollywood with their classic of gangland “The Public Enemy” and the gaming epic “Smart Money,” have written a new picture, not a gang story this time. It is ealled “Blonde Crazy,” co-features James Cagney and Joan Blondell and is directed by illiam Wellman. This stirring pieuré of big city life is now at the Theatre. ealled by many the best looking actor in Hollywood, but with the present vogue for “tough”-looking heroes, Milland is playing unsympathetic roles and playing them well. James Cagney and Joan Blondell are featured in this fast and furious story of modern city life, in which cheaters are cheated. It’s a Warner picture. TOLEDO. TOO IS GOING JAMES CAGNEY JOAN BLONDELL \ Cut No.19 Cut 20c Mat 5c \ ee ry { wage Ten mS. mdeed, unique. This explains why the main titles and ‘‘Blonde Crazy.”’ One of these amazing writers was a former newspaperman, the other an ex-druggist. When they came to Hollywood they discovered that while the story is the foundation of the entire motion picture structure, it in turn is a strueture involving so many inter-related departments, and sub-departments, that bewilderment is the invariable first reaction of the lay visitor of the studios. By way of illustration—from two hundred to .two hundred and _ fifty persons contribute some share of work to the average eight reel motion pic ture feature. When an author, with his pen, gives employment to that number, he becomes a definite factor in the economic scheme. His ig .a responsible task, What’s In A Name It is for this reason that’ trained writers,,and trained writers.only get achance, or a hearing, in Hollywood. Producers long ago gave up the hope of developing untried and unproved creators for their scenario departments, of most pictures contain more names than a small town phone book. Who is not familiar with that protracted recital “Noon lunch—From the play (or novel) ‘Noon Lunch—Screen adaptation by Fred Widener and Ruth Narrow—Dialogue by William Handsprings and Dime Silver—Added Dialogue by A. Arthur Rackback?” And of that mention is omitted of the fact that probably the director, the star, and six or seven other writers contributed either words or ideas to the manuscript before it finally was filmed. It is the practiee—of—most-Holly~ wood studio executives and by exeecutives we mean the men who dangle all the little strings and twist them into that ultimate cord, the picture to invite as many people of constructive minds and talents to the preparation of a story as is possible under the pressure of a pre-determined release date. This making the rounds eannot go on indefinitely, of course. Since time is an element that must be reckoned. Round-Robin Begins The round-robin of authorship begins, quite naturally with the writer who has presented the original idea. | He thinks of a character or situation, which grows in his mind by the addition of other situations and other characters until it has woven a lucid story pattern. This he puts down on paper, either writing it himself or dictating it to a stenographer, where upon he has what Hollywood ealls a‘ “story”. Often this story is written on a single page in a paragraph or two. The following anecdote is illustrative. A well-known film writer went into the office of a better-known motion picture producer. “I have a_ great story,” he ejaculated. “Do you want to hear it?” “T’d rather read it,” answered the producer. “If it is a story as good as you seem to think, it can be written on a postcard. If not, don’t bother with it.” If the basic idea is good enough its development is ordered. This work may be assigned either to the man who conceived the idea, or turned over CIRCLE ee He knows his blondes! red-headed, hot and ready to burn! JOAN BLONDELL Noel Francis Guy Kibbee A Warner Bros. & Vitaphone Hit Cut No. 14 Cut-20c Mat sc ee tient and arduous details of complete development. Such work requires painstaking effort and long application. The First Script The adapter, devotes anywhere from three weeks to three months to the preparation of the first script. He considers it almost solely from the standpoint of the camera as he builds, twists and retraces his way through the plot theme. Only those scenes which can be put over pictorially have value in scenario work. That lesson Hollywood finally has learned after considerable experience with talking films that failed to move either on the screen or on the market. After the adapter has finished his treatment the story stars its relay. Other adapters get a try at it. It may finally arrive in every office in the writing department. Suggestions are accumulated at every stop, and improvements inevitably result. The end of the road is reached when the producer sitting as judge, and custodian of the purse strings, feels confident that the story will be a profitable investment. In these times of talking pictures, the seript is but half complete when its pictorial story has been told, scene by scene and sequence by sequence. Dialogue must be added, and this requires the services of other experts. Playwrights have proved best in this field. The completion of the script does to a treatment specialist. Many crea-| not mean that the writing is finished. tors of original and unique plot situ| Several successful producers operate ations are unable to go into the pa-| upon the theory that a story is never Lainformatton + Joan Blondell Makes Fine Art Out Of Linen Toting Joan Blondell who is co-featured with James Cagney, in “Blonde Crazy,” the Warner Bros. production now at the Theatre, plays the part of what was known in ancient parlance as chamber maid, but is now dignified by the title of linen girl. The linen girl and the bell hop of “Larceny Lane” go into the business of easy-money-getting and prove the possibilities of such a team in lifting the ordinary into the realm of imagMiss Blondell and Mr. Cagney made their screen debut together in ‘Sinners’ Holiday” and this is the first picture toco-feature thim. = Others in the cast of “Larceny Lane” are Louis Calhern, Noel Francis, Guy Kibbee, Ray Milland, Polly Walters, Charles Levinson, William Burress, Peter Erkelenz, Walter Percival and Nat Pendleton. The story is by Kubec Glasmon and John Bright. Roy Del Ruth directed. ination, completed until the edited film, eacb reel intact, has been sent to the laboratory for final printing. Glasmon and Bright Win Because Hollywood has learned by experience to avoid as a general rule, the services of the untrained writer, Glasmon and Bright are unique. Up until a few months ago Chicago was their home. Up until a few months ago their writing experience consisted solely of collaboration on a book gruesomely titled “Beer and Blood”. Warner Brothers bought this property from its publisher, acquiring it while the projected volume still was in proof form. In the des chase Glasmon and Brigh’ under contract to eo Their services were=nor eénarists. Warners W developing the book into. -#igereene= play. But once in Hollywood Gla and Bright were not content to sit back as advisory specialists. They themselves set out as scenarists and the script for “The Public Enemy” features James Cagney was the result. Since that sensational work— and it was a sensation—together they have turned out two other screen plays, finished down to the fade-out line. One, “Smart Money” stars Edward G. Robinson. The other is “Blonde Crazy” which co-features James Cagney and Joan Blondell. “The Public Enemy” was one of the best pictures of the season. “Smart Money” is as big a hit and “Larceny Lane” outdistances both. How They Do It The reason for the Glasmon-Bright success lies partly in their background and training. Glasmon is a quiet studious man with an insatiable hunger for facts. Of late years he has been interested in the problem of crime— not the theory of it, but the undeniable fact of its existence and growing menace. It has been his habit to clip. from newspapers and paste in scrap books all items, dealing with erime, which appeal to him as unique. Today his unique crime record fills a dozen or more large volumes. From this comes the material. Bright, prior to his work on “Beer and Blood” (which was an expose of gangster ways) was a Chicago newspaperman, trained to observe keenly and to write his observations tersely and with an eye to dramatic values. It is a fact, generally recognized in Hollywood, that nine out of ten screen writers have had newspaper training sometime during their career. The two crafts—screen writing and news reporting—seem to go hand in hand. In any event Glasmon and Bright have achieved the impossible. Their success is the exception—and the only exception to date—to prove Hollywood’s adamant rule that only the trained writer can hope for success in the studios. Others beside James Cagney and Joan Blondell in the cast of “Blonde Crazy” are Louis Calhern, Noel Francis, Guy Kibbee, Ray Milland, Polly Walters, Charles Levinson, William Burress, Peter Erkelenz, Maude Eburne, Walter Percival and Nat Pendleton.