Boy Meets Girl (Warner Bros.) (1938)

(Review) Boy Meets Girl’ Hilarious Film Jimmy Cagney And Pat O’Brien Play The Two Wacky Playwrights; Screen Version Contains All The Laughs Of Stage Hit “Boy Meets Girl” returned on the screen last night and for an hour and a half kept a Strand Theatre audience in the proverbial stitches. That the Warner Bros. screen version will enjoy the success of the Sam and Bella Spewack stageplay which ran for two years on Broadway and in 235 theatres on the road, seems a foregone conclusion. With Jimmy Cagney and Pat O’Brien, together again for the first time since they made “Ceiling Zero,” playing the two wacky playwrights, the film speeds along from the opening gun through laugh after laugh to roar after roar. Those who were afraid that the screenplay would fail to come up to the play have naught to fear for the Warners went to the trouble of securing the original authors to adapt the story to the screen. As a result all the familiar situations are left in with new ones created to keep up the pace. For those who did not see the play, it will become at once a Running Time — 86 mins. Mat 109—15¢ MARIE WILSON and JIMMY CAGNEY not-to-be-missed film, for the fun contained therein will be well worth anyone's evening. The story of the two zany playwrights, played by Cagney and O’Brien, who concoct weird plots and situations, who adopt an unborn baby to star in their @ Motion Pictures Are Your Best Entertainment SHORT SPOT Gets ‘Royal’? Welcome It was the first day on the set of “Boy Meets Girl,” which is now playing at the Strand Theatre, and JIMMY CAGNEY was facing a Warner Bros. camera for the first time since the spring of 1936. Cagney and Pat O'Brien were playing the two wacky writers, Law and Benson, in this travesty on Hollywood. In the scene also were Ralph Bellamy as the producer, Frank McHugh as a the agent and Dick Foran as the cowboy star. In the prop box on the stage were three trumpets to be used in the scene. As Cagney appeared, Director Lloyd Bacon, O’Brien and McHugh each grabbed a trumpet and blew a loud and sour blast. “We're the welcoming committee,” said Bacon. Mat 101—15c Fun In The Office Many of the scenes for “Boy Meets Girl,” the Warner Bros. comedy which is now at the Strand Theatre, were shot in the set depicting the office of Producer C. Elliott Friday. One day Jimmy Cagney and Pat. ©. Brien; who play the daffy writers, were being fired by RALPH BELLAMY, the producer, for one of their endless pranks. In the scene O'Brien crawls under a desk and Cagney climbs over the top of it. They did it two or three times during rehearsal and Director Lloyd Bacon then decided to take it. “And hurry,’ said Bacon. “We've been in this set two weeks. We want to get out of i= “Let’s stay here,’ Cagney replied. “And retitle the picture ‘Fun in Friday’s Office’.” Mat 103—15c Has Long Lash Rival MARIE WILSON, who has the longest eyelashes in Hollywood, learned recently that she had a rival. Miss Wilson, one of the stars of the Warner Bros. comedy, “Boy Meets Girl,” now playing at the Strand Theatre, has eyelashes that measure between half and three quarters of an inch. But that’s nothing compared to the eyelashes sported by Hugh Rhinolfus of Manila, Philippine Islands. He claims he has the longest eyelashes in the world, and that they measure an inch and a half. The claim was made in a letter to Miss Wilson. In the letter were several of Rhinolfus’ lashes, tied with a pink ribbon. And accompanying them was au affidavit sworn to before a notary public. Rhinolfus wanted to know whether there was a place for him in pictures. Mat 102—15c Frank’s Folly It remained for a sour-faced electrician on the set of the Warner Bros. comedy, “Boy Meets Girl,” now playing at the Strand Theatre, to put FRANK MeHUGH into place. McHugh, one day when he wasn’t working, came to visit Jimmy Cagney, Pat O’Brien and Ralph Bellamy. His antics there “broke up” a scene. Director Lloyd Bacon didn’t care but the head set elec trician, who had an_ early dinner date, did. While the set was being re§ lighted for another “take,” he yelled to his men on the catwalks above: “And put a finish on Mc” Hugh. : Mat 114—15e Frank CLDS Also in one col. toed out. Mat 112. In “Boy Meets Girl,” Frank plays the cowboy’s manager. next picture, is still a howl. Clowning themselves out of one dizzy moment into another, at the same time letting the industry in for such a satirical lampooning as it will ever get, the two wacks run a producer and his cowboy star ragged, the latter into the hospital. Here they deliver the payoff in charging him with a long distance phone call. The casting of Susie, the naive waitress whose baby forms the center of much of the playwrights’ cain-raising, must have been an inspiration heaven-sent. Marie Wilson, heretofore seen only in bit parts and small pictures, plays the starry-eyed, simple darling who is adopted by the playwrights with an adaptation that is startling. Ralph Bellamy is the producer, Dick Foran the outraged cowboy, with Frank McHugh and Bruce Lester, English star, taking featured roles. Lloyd Baacon, ace megaphonist who has done most of the service pictures for Warner Bros., directed in a very apt fashion from the Spewack screenplay. ITEMS These Practical Jokers PAT O’BRIEN, who likes to clown, got a scare one day while he was working in his latest Warner Bros. picture, “Boy Meets Girl,” which is now at the Strand Theatre. Pat put on a realistic drunk act to startle Director Lloyd Bacon but as he staggered on the set, Ralph Bellamy grabbed him and said: “Hey!—Don’t you know Mrs. Roosevelt is on the set? That’s her with her back turned — she turned away thinking you were drunk. Go over and apologize. Convince her you're not really drunk, Pat!” Pat got halfway over before the woman Bellamy had pointed to turned again and he saw it wasn’t the First Lady, who was coming to the studio that day. Mat 104—15c Grandpa’s Hitching Post On one of the Warner Bros. “Boy Meets Girl” sets there was an old iron hitching post in the form of a colored boy in a red jacket. The “prop” is the only one of its kind in Hollywood. One day recently, DICK FORAN, one of the featured players in the €a$t. of the Warner Bros. comedy, which is now at the Strand Theatre, discovered that it had been made by his grandfather, John Foran, in his founry at Flemington, New Jersey, in 1890. The discovery was made when a camera truck knocked the post off its wooden base and revealed the maker’s mark. Mat 105—15e Foran, who wanted the post for the yard of his home, offered the studio $100 for it. So far the studio has refused to sell because of scarcity of such posts. [9] What Is It? IT’S A CO-OP AD PAGE IT’S A PICTURE PAGE IT’S ADVERTISING ... IT’S PUBLICITY ...... A new angle on dealer co-operative advertising. The Albany Knickerbocker News ran a similar page on June Sth. The N.Y. Evening Post runs it as a regular feature every Thursday. We've selected salable scenes from “Boy Meets Girl’ for advertising tieups. Each is captioned with copy suggestions to make it easier for you and local papers to sell space. The page is divided into 12 units, making the cost of each unit 1-12 of the cost of a full page of advertising. Now It's Your Turn = to the Next Page