Brother Rat (Warner Bros.) (1938)

oe PPP PPP nen eee CURRENT PUBLICITY Eddie Albert's Unusual Among Hollywood Stars In “Brother Rat,” the play that brought Eddie Albert stage recognition, there’s a favorite recurring line. It’s “this is very unorthodox.” Substitute “he” for “this” and you have a description of Albert. Hollywood, at any rate, is finding young Mr. Albert very unorthodox indeed. He has been a member of the film colony for several months and he hasn’t purchased a streamlined automobile, a boat ora mountain -top estate. He doesn’t even own an automobile, streamlined or otherwise, and he isn’t he ae interested in Eddie Albert eae ae He believes that directors, not actors, are the brains of picture making. Hollywood women impress him as being very beautiful but not too exciting. He doesn’t make the rounds of the night spots and the publicity boys at Warner Bros. Studio haven’t been able to engineer him into a romance. He has yet to give out an interview saying how fascinating he finds picture acting. And he He's Got Something Clothes may not make the man, but they can help an awful lot when he’s playing a movie love scene. Wayne Morris discovered this when he had to whisper endearments into Priscilla Lane’s ear for Warner Bros.’ “Brother Rat”’—riotous comedy of military school life now showing at the Strand Theatre—while wearing an apron in lieu of trousers. “Think of the Highlanders,” encouraged Director William Keighley. “They went over the top wearing outfits like that.” “Yeah,” came back Morris. “But they didn’t have to make love to the Germans!” has carefully avoided the other orthodox extreme of knocking Hollywood and boasting of his undying devotion to the stage. To cap it all, from a Chamber of Commerce point of view, Albert doesn’t care for the Hollywood climate. It’s all right for loafing, he thinks, but not good for working. In appearance, Albert is as unorthodox as he is in his actions and views. Until you saw him at work with Wayne Morris, Priscilla Lane and others in “Brother Rat,” the picture for which he is doing his original Broadway stage role, you wouldn’t think he looked like an actor. Size him up when you see the comedy now showing at the Strand Theatre. Orthodox or not, however, Albert has been spotted by Hollywood as a coming star, a rating already bestowed upon him by Broadway. Warner Bros. have him sewed up with a long term contract. A native of Rock Island, [lhnois, Albert spent his boyhood in Minneapolis, Minnesota and received his education there. Singing over the radio while he was at the University of Minnesota got him interested in entertaining. “Brother Rat” was his first big stage role, and it seems to have been a lucky one for the very unorthodox young man. VERY Personal RONALD REAGAN had to sleep in his car when he confused his dates and arrived at Palm Springs for a houseparty before his host left Hollywood. x o£ * JOHNNY DAVIS has installed a complete filling station on his Encino ranch. * * * WAYNE MORRIS has challenged Johnnie Davis to a 125mile golf game. Winner will be the one who drives a ball in the fewest strokes from Hollywood to San Diego. * * * DIRECTOR WILLIAM KEIGHLEY and actress Genevieve Tobin announce their engagement. ear leh He OLIN HOWLAND corresponds regularly with Slim Keffer, talkative Lexington, Va., cab driver he portrays in “Brother Rat.” * * * PRISCILLA LANE gets strict orders from the studio not to suntan. Camera no like! Mat 204—30c THERE'S TROUBLE AHEAD when Eddie Albert (center) confesses to Ronald Reagan and Wayne Morris that he's about to become a father, in a riotous scene from "Brother Rat,'' based on Broadway's recent hit comedy of military school life, which is now showing at the Strand. PRISCILLA LANE HAS SOME STYLE TIPS FOR CO-EDS School girls from twelve to twenty are a fashion group set apart from the rest of the world. That’s the conclusion of Priscilla Lane, who has just finished a leading role in “Brother Rat,” the comedy now showing at the Strand. Priscilla has made a collection of approved campus fads and herewith hands out co-ed suggestions. “Knot your triangular neckerchief in front now,” says the youngest Lane. “California coeds are doing it; but they are wearing their cardigans backward, buttoned up snugly, too. All sweater sleeves, of course, are pushed up above the elbow. And those pearls are still the proper sweater accent. “Collect autographs on jackets and shoes. To get into the spirit of the thing we all wore white bush jackets and white saddle Mat 106—15c PRISCILLA LANE — youthful blonde charmer who is currently co-starring with Wayne Morris in "Brother Rat,"' the comedy now showing at the Strand. shoes to the set of ‘Brother Rat’ and got thoroughly autographed. They are something everyone will want to save. “Make detachable chatelaine pockets. Bags are such a nuisance to carry that Hollywood High School girls have begun to wear little pouchy ‘miser’ bags suspended from their belts. They make these themselves, either of soft suede or their skirt fabric. “Be sure to stretch the clothes budget for a _ reversible coat. They are smart as well as thrifty. I have one that’s colorful plaid tweed on one side and black gabardine on the other, which makes it perfect for any kind of weather. “Put all the gadgets you wore in your lapel last year in your hair this season. But not all at once. Little shoes, grinning clown clips, yarn dolls... all of them go to the head these days. And when your long bob isn’t decked with ex-lapel gadgets, put a bowknot barrette or ribbon bows of many different colors yooy eres Acts Her Age Priscilla Lane is having her first opportunity to “act her age”’ in Warner Bros.’ “Brother Rat,” now at the Strand Theatre. In her past pictures, she has played girls either considerably older or younger than she actually is. In “Brother Rat,” she plays a 20year-old college “prom trotter.”’ She’s really 21. Veteran Is Shaky _ For all his years of stage and screen experience, Henry O’Neill always gets as nervous as a novice when he starts a new picture. O’Neill, incidentally, served in the Navy during the World War but he’s playing an Army officer in “Brother Rat,” now showing at the Strand. (15) Mat 205—30¢ THIS ISN'T A PINCH—Wayne Morris and Priscilla Lane take Jane Wyman (center) along as an unwilling chaperone when they set out to break some V.M.I. rules in ‘Brother Rat," the comedy about life at Virginia Military Institute, which is now showing at the Strand Theatre. History Repeats Itself In Military School Film Room 111 in the Virginia Military Institute barracks didn’t have to break into movies to become famous. Long before there was a Hollywood, or even a motion picture camera, it had a distinguished history. Away back in the eighteen fifties, Major Tom Jackson taught industrial chemistry in Room 111. And in May of 1868, he came back. Only he wasn’t Major Jackson then, but the immortal General ‘Stonewall’ Jackson. And it was just his body that returned to V.M.I. For three days it lay in state in Room 111. Now they’ve put Room 111 in a movie. Warner Bros. has Wayne Morris, Ronald Reagan and Eddie Albert occupying the quarters sacred to “Stonewall” Jackson. As cadets of “Brother Rat,” which is now showing at the Strand Theatre, they’re talking of dates, cooking up deviltry and keeping a weather eye open for the officer of the day, as V.M.I. men before them have done for 99 years. And there is more than the “Stonewall” Jackson tradition to the history of Room 111. John Monks, Jr. and Fred F. Finklehoffe lived in it through four turbulent years. You won’t find the names of Monks and Finklehoffe in text book histories. But in the past two years they’ve made a bit of theatrical history. Monks and Finklehoffe wrote “Brother Rat.” They wrote it while confined to Room 111 for breaking rules by slipping out after taps to keep dates with pretty girls. When you see the picture, you'll observe that Wayne Morris and Ronald Reagan are placed under arrest and confined to Room 111 for slipping out after taps to date Priscilla Lane and Jane Wyman. Monks and Finklehoffe weren’t just dreaming one up when they wrote that situation. V.M.I. authorities will tell you, however, that the authors were giving wide scope to their imaginations when they wrote the situation which, in the picture, will have Morris and Reagan smuggling Miss Lane and Miss Wyman into Room 111. In all the history of the Institute, they’ll tell you a woman never has been smuggled into the barracks, let alone the room where “Stonewall” Jackson once taught. As a matter of fact, when “Brother Rat” was being readied for production as a stage play, there was grave debate as to whether this violation of tradition should be countenanced. Having senses of humor, the college authorities let it pass. Only, however, because it was made sufficiently clear that the girls were being smuggled in for the laudable purpose of coaching a cadet for his final examination. Perhaps it wasn’t just coincidence the the subject in which the cadet received his coaching was chemistry. You can be sure that Monks and Finklehoffe knew “Stonewall” Jackson taught chemistry in Room 111. COUNT ’EM, “SCAT”! Johnnie “Scat” Davis will do no more bragging about his home_ raised chickens. He’ll have no more chickens about which to brag. Davis made the mistake of doing his boasting on the “Brother Rat’ set at Warner Bros. Before he realized just how it happened he found himself trapped into inviting the cast and crew to a chicken dinner. And the_ invitation carried the stipulation that only his home grown fowl would be served. He then faced the realization that 38 people had accepted his dinner invitation. And he had only 24 chickens. He had to buy the rest.