Brother Rat (Warner Bros.) (1938)

‘BROTHER RAT OPENS TODAY With Wayne Morris and Pris© cilla Lane as its stars, ‘“‘Brother Rat,” which is proclaimed as the best comedy ever made, opens at the Strand Theatre today. This is the Warner Bros. picturization of the famed stage comedy that took Broadway by storm and ran for two years there with three road-show companies touring the country. It’s a play about college life, yes—but it isn’t that sort of college play where the lads and the co-eds team up and break into choruses and dances every so often, generally without any excuse whatever. As a matter of fact, “Brother Rat” is laid in and about the Virginia Military Institute, which is by no means co-educational, and the photoplay has nary a song nor a tap-step in it. It deals with the difficulties into which one of the cadets gets himself by entering upon a secret marriage, a business distinctly against all rules and regulations. Not only that, but he faces parenthood—and instant dismissal from V.M.I. if the authorities get wise to him. The indiscreet cadet is played by Eddie Albert, who carried the role in the original Broadway company. Little Jane Bryan is the bride who has to be hidden away. “Rat” is the name for a freshman at V.M.I. and “Brother Rats” are classmen who go to~ gether through the four-year course. They’re like fraternity brothers, and “Bing” Edwards, has need of the loyalty and ingenuity of all his Brother Rats before he gets out of his fix. Other notables in the cast, besides the stars, Wayne and Priscilla, and Eddie Albert and Jane Bryan, include Johnnie ‘Scat’ Davis, Jane Wyman, Ronald Reagan, Henry O’Neill, Gordon Oliver, Jessie Busley, William Tracey, Olin Howland and Louise Beavers. William Keighley was the director, working from a script adapted by Richard Macauley and Jerry Wald from the original stage play by John Monks, Jr. and Fred F. Finklehoffe, these latters being themselves graduates of historic V.M.I. Reg'lar Guy, ‘Scat’ Johnnie “Scat” Davis did his own standing in on the “Brother Rat” set at Warner Bros. recently. Tim McLaughlin, his regular stand-in, got married and Davis told him to take a couple of days off for a honeymoon. McLaughlin took advantage of a day Davis had free from the set to elope to Yuma, Arizona, with his bride, the former Billie Sorenson. He reported back for work at once but Davis, upon hearing of the wedding, sent him home. “Brother Rat,” which has Davis as top comedian, opens today at the Strand Theatre. Faithful Gothamite Olin Howland has been in Hollywood eight years and under contract to Warner Bros. since 1935, but he says he still lives in New York and “commutes” to work. He is seen currently in “Brother Rat,” which opens today at the Strand Theatre. NLA On CURRENT PUBLICITY Mat 301—45¢ SWORN TO BE TRUE "BROTHER RATS''—(left to right) Larry Williams, Johnny Davis, Wayne Morris, Ronald Reagan and Eddie Albert stick together through all the hilarious vicissitudes of their military school life in "Brother Rat,"’ the grand laugh and love hit, based on the recent Broadway success, which opens today at the Strand Theatre. (Review ) Brother Rat,’ Rollicking Comedy, Stars Priscilla Lane and Wayne Morris A gay blithesome comedy is “Brother Rat,” the screenplay which rollicked into the Strand yesterday afternoon. A “behindthe-scenes” revelation of life in one of the country’s oldest military schools, “Brother Rat” combines the Sapeleg yl trot youth and romance with the color and dash of the Virginia Military Institute’s cadet corps, and emerges as one of the Mat 112—15e screen’s best Priscilla Lane of the year. Winsome Wayne Morris and Priscilla Lane, fresh from her success in “Four Daughters” carry off the lead roles as a young romantic pair, while Johnnie ‘Scat’ Davis, Jane Wyman, Ronald Reagan, Jane Bryan, and Eddie Albert, all combine to make the film version every bit the success the original stage play, which ran two years on Broadway, was. In case you didn’t know, “Brother Rat” is concerned with the antics of three roommates who get themselves into a neat little fix. Eddie Albert who appeared in the original stage play, has violated all rules of V.M.I. by contracting a secret marriage with Jane Bryan. He will be dismissed from school if this is ever found out. He has to keep his secret, by hook or crook, until he gets his diploma, and this is none too easy, because the young bride is going to have a baby. Here’s where the “Brother Rats” come in, It should be explained that a “Rat” at Virginia Military Institute is a freshman, just as a “plebe” is at West Point. And “Brother Rats” are classmates who go through the four-year course together. They’re as closely bound as fraternity brothers and are pledged to do everything in their power for each other. Wayne Morris as a Brother Rat, and others of the clan, including Johnnie ‘Scat’ Davis, Ronald Reagan, Larry Williams, Olin Howland and William Tracey, manage to get Eddie Albert out of his fix, but not until after he and they have gone through a hundred thrilling and laughbringing situations. But all’s well; he gets his diploma — and the baby is a boy! Others in the cast include Henry O’Neill, Gordon Oliver, Jane Wyman, Jessie Busley, Louise Beavers and Isabel Withers. William Keighley does a fine job of directing. The screen play, by Richard Macauley and Jerry Wald, was adapted from the original stage play by John Monks, Jr. and Fred F. Finglehoffe, V.M.I. graduates. Mat 110—15¢ Wayne Morris WAYNE MORRIS A SHOWER WARBLER Wayne Morris tells us that: Half the summer grouches that develop with the “dog days” of late July and August could be avoided if everyone developed the habit of singing in the shower. “T’ve always been a bathroom warbler,” said the husky young Warner Bros. star, now appearing in “Brother Rat” at the Strand Theatre. ‘Perhaps that’s because I’ve received no great encouragement to sing anywhere else. “At any rate, I’m mighty grateful for the habit. It’s the best early morning gloom chaser I’ve been able to discover. No matter how tired and grouchy I may feel when I answer the last dying gasp of my alarm clock, I begin to snap out of it when I start singing in the shower. “The more noise I make, the happier I feel. And by the time I finish my concert I’m starting the day in a swell mood. “Of course shower room concerts may be a bit wearing on other members of a family.” PRISCILLA LANE ON A ‘KIT-DOWN’ STRIKE Priscilla Lane has found a sure method of getting homes for stray cats. She worked it recently on the “Brother Rat’’ set at Warner Bros. Miss Lane’s cat, Dally, had six kittens. The actress couldn’t give them away to friends, all of whom had pets of their own. So she packed them in a basket and brought them to the studio set with her. Placing the basket right in front of the camera, she opened it. The kittens jumped out. Then Miss Lane delivered an ultimatum. No work until all the kittens were adopted. It took just three minutes to accomplish what she had been trying as many days to do. Director William Keighley took two of the kittens. Members of the crew snapped up the others. Has 99th Birthday Virginia Military Institute, the “West Point of the South,” celebrates the 99th anniversary of its founding on November 11 of this year. The famous military school is the scene of the hit comedy, “Brother Rat’ which has its first local showing at the Strand Theatre today. (14) V.M.1. 1S SCENE OF ‘BROTHER RAT’ Things not generally known about the Virginia Military Institute until it got onto the stage and into a movie called “Brother Rat,” which is coming to the Strand Theatre today: It is the only military college in America whose cadets participated in a major battle as a unit. The conflict was the battle of New Market, Va., fought in May of 1864, during the Civil War. “Stonewall” Jackson was a V.M.I. instructor before the Civil War. He taught industrial chemistry. V.M.I. freshmen are called “Rats.”’ Hence the title “Brother Rat” for the stage play that panicked Broadway for 18 months and the picture you soon will see at the Strand Theatre. Graduates of the Institute automatically receive a commission in the United States Army reserve. General Pershing once called it the West Point of the South. Down in Virginia, they change the order and call West Point the V.M.I. of the North. PRISCILLA LANE IN COMEDY HIT People used to say Priscilla Lane was a cute little trick. That was when she was 14 and just breaking in with Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians in song and comedy bits. Then they began calling her clever, and mentioned her budding beauty. Today, they’re still calling her clever and making complimentary remarks about her appearance. They’re also saying she is a grand actress and destined to go a long way as a screen star. That’s because she has turned in one neat performance after another in Warner Bros. pictures and at the moment has moviegoers all over the world talking about her work in “Four Daughters.” After finishing “Four Daughters,” in which she shares laurels with the sensational “new finds,” John Garfield and Jeffrey Lynn, Miss Lane went into the romantic lead opposite Wayne Morris in Warner Bros.’ picturization of the stage hit, “Brother Rat,” the comedy which comes to the Strand Theatre today. She plays a college prom trotter in this comedy of life at Virginia Military Institute. It’s a new experience—being a prom trotter. and she likes it. For the screen only, however. As a real life social butterfly, Miss Lane admits she’s a rank amateur. And she doesn’t intend to lose her amateur standing. Parties have little attraction for her. She attended too many of them in her role of professional entertainer. The same thing goes for night clubs. She had enough of them when she was trouping with Waring’s band to last her a life time. Her main interest in life right now is her acting career. She studies like the dickens and the little time she isn’t studying, she spends trying to “catch up” on enjoying a normal home life. Undress Rehearsal Dress rehearsals have long been a tradition of the show business but it remained for Wayne Morris to introduce the undress rehearsal recently. He did it for a lemonade spilling scene of the Warner Bros. picture, “Brother Rat,” now at the Strand Theatre. The trick was to douse the liquid content of a large pitcher of the drink on his own white military uniform without showering Priscilla Lane, Jane Wyman and Ronald Reagan, other principals in the scene. It was a feat requiring a neat combination of juggling and marksmanship. And Morris’ supply of uniforms was limited. To solve the problem, Director William Keighley had the actor go behind a bit of scenery, strip to his shorts, and practice. Ten pitchers of lemonade later, Morris was so accurate he could hit a dime at five paces. Just A Blower-Upper It was one of the opening scenes of the Warner Bros. comedy, “Brother Rat,” now at the Strand Theatre, and Johnnie “Scat” Davis was having trouble with his lines. After he had muffed the third “take” he turned sadly to Director Williams Keighley. “It must be the trumpet player in me,” he apologized. “I just can’t keep from blowing.”