Brother Rat and a Baby (Warner Bros.) (1940)

“BROTHER RAT AND A BABY”’—ADVANCE PUBLICITY RAIA IIIA I III IAI AIA A AAA AIA AAAS ASIA AI SSIS ASIA A SAA SAA SISA SIA SISA SISA SADA SAA SAA SISA SSSA SSS SASS SSA S SAS ASDA SSSA SSS SSSA SS SAS SASS SASS SS SAS SASSSSSCSACMA e Comedienne Jane Wyman Has No Yen for Drama Still BB 55; Mat 203—30c BUTLER MEETS BABY—Arthur Treacher (left), No. | screen butler has his first meeting with the species infantus in ‘Brother Rat and a Baby". Peter B. Good is the baby, Eddie Albert and Jane Bryan the proud parents and Wayne Morris (center) is just kibitzing. Spoke Too Soon, So Wayne Morris Has to Lat Words “Embarrassment,” said Wayne Morris, “is a luxury in which screen actors can’t indulge during working hours.” Morris had just been kneeling before Priscilla Lane, making an ardent declaration of love, topped off by a proposal of marriage. Some 60 persons, comprising the crew of Warner Bros.’ “Brother Rat and a Baby” had watched and listened. It was old stuff to them, nevertheless most of them had grinned at the spectacle of the blonde young giant kneeling before the slim blonde girl. “I’d certainly feel like a fool if I had to make a real proposal before an audience,” Morris continued. “But for a picture scene it’s all in the day’s work. A fellow has to become accustomed to making a spectacle of himself, especially in comedy.” Ray Enright, the director, cut short the discussion by calling Morris back to do the scene again. Miss Lane was seated on a davenport, and Morris dropped nonchalantly to his knees before her. His nonchalance_ disappeared, however, when the stage door opened, and a party of visitors filed in. Enright apparently didn’t notice. He gave the signal for the scene to start. Morris took Miss_ Lane’s hands in his and started his declaration: ‘““Now that I’ve got you in a comfortable position, could I interest you in a slightly used marriage certificate?” He got through that flippant introduction rather well, but as he launched into his impassioned plea, he began to stammer and stumble. A dull red mounted above his collar rim and suffused his face. There was no doubt about it. He was blushing. “Cut,” said Enright. “We'll start again.” It took three tries for the scene to be filmed satisfactorily, and the visitors stuck through to the end. As they filed out, smiling and chuckling, Morris walked over. “It seems,” he said, “I made a slight mistake in what I told you. I should have said embarrassment is a luxury in which screen actors ought not indulge during working hours.” Romance Has Head Start in ‘Brother Rat and A Baby’ Romance gets away to a running start in Warner Bros.’ “Brother Rat and a _ Baby,” opening at the Strand, because the boys have already met the girls and are well past the casual acquaintance stage. One of them, in fact, has already married the girl. The introductions were performed in “Brother Rat,” while Eddie Albert, Wayne Morris and Ronald Reagan were cadets at a Southern military college. Albert married Jane’ Bryan. Morris and Reagan didn’t get quite so far with Priscilla Lane and Jane Wyman, respectively, but made nice progress. ‘‘Brother Rat and a Baby” picks up the same characters a year after the boys have graduated from college. As a result, when Priscilla and Jane come to New York, where Wayne and Ronald are working, the boys are able to start with kisses instead of handshakes. As for Albert and Jane Bryan, they are already the proud but harassed parents of an impish youngster, played by fourteenmonth-old Peter B. Good, whose antics bring about most of the hilarious complications in the plot of “Brother Rat and a Baby.” Film Cupid Scores Hit Ronald Reagan has gone the fans who copy the movie fashions one better. He’s copying his own movie romance in real life. A year ago, Reagan and Jane Wyman were cast as sweethearts in Warner Bros.’ “Brother Rat.” They continue the romance in “Brother Rat and a Baby”—and afterward. Wedding bells seem to be indicated. Jane Bryan=A Star Without Stardust Jane Bryan has been made a full-fledged screen star, and she isn’t altogether happy about it. She has lived in Hollywood all of her life, and is more impressed by the responsibility of stardom than the glamour. And she doesn’t completely share her studio’s confidence that she is ready for them. What she’d really like to do would be to skip the star title and go along playing roles like the ones she did with Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins in “The Old Maid”—small but important featured parts. Warner Bros. has decreed, however, that she is a star because of her performance in that picture. So she’ll do her best to live up to her billing. She’s getting her first chances to do that in “Invisible Stripes,” with George Raft, and in the current “Brother Rat and a Baby.” In the latter picture, she plays the mother of the baby star, Peter B. Good. She thinks if she can get away with that convincingly, she may be entitled to star rating. One of the hardest things Jane will have to do as a star is learn to talk about herself. She’s only 21, has always lived at home with her parents and _ three younger brothers, and is convinced that her private life is as interesting to the public as the title credits of a “companion feature.” She’ll wax ecstatic in talking about the stage. She’ll overflow with enthusiasm in discussing the work and fine qualities of her particular idol, Bette Davis. She’ll glow over the thrills of a football game, and talk breathlessly about books and music, Mat 103—15c JANE BRYAN—Starring in ‘Brother Rat and a Baby” sunsets and woods in the autumn. But let the conversation shift to herself, and a clam is positively loquacious by comparison. Probe deftly enough and with sufficient patience, however, and it is possible to pry some personal information from her. She has never been movie struck, and still isn’t. But she has always been stage struck, and still is. Ever since she signed a contract with Warner Bros., she has been trying to persuade the studio to “farm her out” to the stage. She hasn’t asked for Broadway. Summer stock in Poughkeepsie—or Podunk—would suit her fine. She has gotten exactly nowhere with her requests, and now that she is a star, she has less chance than ever. She thinks glamour is a lot of bunk, doesn’t care much for clothes, and all she knows about Hollywood parties is what she reads in the papers. She has been too busy to think seriously about romance, but she isn’t a man hater. She thinks her freckles are a bother, but isn’t much concerned about them, because she’d never care about being a glamour girl. She’s fairly bursting with ambition to express herself. But it will have to be on stage or screen. She isn’t much better at writing, dancing or music than she is at talking about herself. Blonde Jane Wyman is a Hollywood non-conformist, and admits it. She’s a comedienne who doesn’t yearn to play dramatic roles. She loves to dine and dance at night clubs. She cares nothing about tennis or golf, and doesn’t pretend to. And she doesn’t bother her pretty head about the social significance of her contribution to screen art. «T ha ag said Jane, as she sipped a late cup of coffee on the “Brother Rat and a Baby” set at Warner Bros. Mat 105—15c JANE WYMAN about one hundred percent. out of step. Perhaps I’m a few years behind the times and should have been around in the days when film stars threw custard pies for a living and drove cream-colored, locomotive-size automobiles up and down the boulevard for recreation. “Seriously, though, I sometimes think there must be something wrong with me because I don’t yearn to play Camille, and because I’ll nearly always pass up a good book and a quiet evening at home to go out with my favorite boy friend. “That, however, is the way I am, and I don’t seem to be able to do anything about it. Other actresses can have the heavy drama. Little Janey will struggle along with comedy—and love it. The only way I ever want to make people cry is through making them laugh.” Miss Wyman has large brown eyes that contrast strikingly with her ash blonde hair. They dance a merry accompaniment to her gay, vivacious chatter. Her hands are as restless as her eyes. Talking to her, one gets the impression she’s wound up like a tight spring. But the people who know her best say they’ve never seen her run down. She is not by any stretch of the imagination any ‘dizzy blonde,” however. There’s always a strain of sound sense or bright keen humor in her gay chatter. Miss Wyman was born in St. Joseph, Missouri. Her real name is Sarah Jane Folks. She attended high school in Los Angeles and went back to Missouri to enter Columbia College. Too restless to finish college, she worked at such jobs as manicurist, hairdresser, switchboard operator, secretary, fashion model and blues singer — and finally wound up in the movies. She says she always knew she wanted to be an actress, and figured that if she tried hard and long enough she would be. Right now, aside from her work but currently directly connected with it, her greatest interest is Ronald Reagan. Reagan is the actor she marries in “Brother Rat and a Baby.” And she makes no secret of the fact she expects to become Mrs. Reagan in real life. It’s a love match. You can be sure of that, because Jane says she’s even willing to let Ronnie teach her to play golf. Another example of her unconventionality is that she wouldn’t allow him to buy her a diamond engagement ring, but insisted on an amethyst. He’s Brother Rats Baby! Still BB Pub L; Mat 201—30c “I'M IN THE MOVIES, FOLKS!"—Although Peter B. Good is still in threecornered pants, he has already polished off his first movie role as the small trouble-maker in “Brother Rat and a Baby" and he's ready for more. ‘Brother Rat and a Baby", which stars Priscilla Lane, Wayne Morris, Jane Bryan, Eddie Albert, Jane Wyman and Ronald Reagan, opens Friday at the Strand.