Cain and Mabel (Warner Bros.) (1936)

‘CAIN and MABEL “P U8 Loa a ee. Marion Davies Wears Six Gorgeous Gowns In Dance Star Stunning In Costumes For Spectacular Number In “Cain And Mabel” : One of the most beautiful and tuneful musical numbers ever filmed in a motion picture, called a ‘‘Thousand Love Songs’’ and a feature of the Cosmopolitan production ‘‘Cain and Mabel,’’ now showing at the ..........0..0..04.. Theatre, as a Warner Bros. release, gives Marion Davies a chance to wear six costumes in which she looks so breathtakingly gorgeous that the entire studio wardrobe department, which has made thousands of costumes in its day, streamed out en masse to an especially enlarged stage to catch a glimpse of the star while wearing them. Creates Style Marion Davies, who is co-starring with Clark Gable in the Cosmopolitan production, ‘‘Cain and Mabel,’’ which opens at the ............ SBiGaa ris ia LNRCOWNE: Olen iis teen ci as a Warner Bros. release, shown above in one of the many gorgeous costumes she wears in the picture. Mat No. 102—10c The scene opens in a garden, with the blue-eyed, golden-haired screen favorite wearing a filmy, summery gown of blue and white starched chiffon, and a large leghorn straw hat with a. Queen Ann peak sloping both toward the front and to the back. Then the scene fades into a series of glorified settings, in which Miss Davies wears harmonizing costumes including a Pompadour dress, a waltz dress, entirely made of white maribou, an Irish frock of net caught with green velvet shamrocks, and a stunning Venetian gown. The Irish frock, according to Designer Orry-Kelly, is the most pretentious costume ever made at the Warner Bros. studios. It has hoop skirts so wide that an entire fitting room had to be given up to housing the outfit between the time that it first took shape and was finally worn. Fashioned entirely of sheer silk net, it has six full petticoats underneath, while the top skirt is inset with rows of real lace fourteen yards around the hemline, and the skirt drapes as well, as the enormous puffed sleeves are caught up with the vivid shamrocks. Second in size is the Madame Pompadour dress, of pink satin eaught with bows of white pearls, while the draped panniers are made of shells of pleated pink tulle, outlined around the edges with silver and caught with pink rosebuds. Accessories of Miss Davies with this stunning gown include a powder blue wig, in Page Fourteen which she wears peach-colored plumes and a bow of real diamonds and pearls, while a fine brooch and finger rings lend their sparkle to an already brilliant ensemble. A wedding dress, in an earlier sequence, took some sixty yards of white slipper satin, twentyfive yards of tulle for the veil, and nearly a gross of orangeblossoms. Nearly a hundred yards of white taffeta and gold lace were used for the Venetian costume, in which a gold veil is caught to the wide points of a Venetian hat, one of the most becoming modes ever worn by the lovely star. Ninety-one yards of white maribou, also, made her waltz costume. On all of these creations, fifty seamstresses, cutters and fitters worked for many weeks before actual production started. Clark Gable is co-starred with Miss Davies in “Cain and Mabel,” while others in the case include Allen Jenkins, Roscoe Karns, Walter Catlett, David Carlyle, Robert Cavanaugh and Ruth Donnelly, besides scores of beautiful girls. Corner Ostrich Plume Market For New Movie Warner Bros. cornered the American ostrich plume market during the filming of the Cosmopolitan production, ‘‘Cain and Mabel,’’ which comes to the ...... er Ty eee ee Theatre on ...... Te ee ney Twenty thousand plumes were purchased for the picture which just about cleaned out the wholesale market. The plumes feature the decorative motif, both in costumes and settings, for one part of the ‘¢Thousand Love Songs’’ number. At the conclusion of the number the plumes, which were not harmed in the least by usage, were returned to wholesale trade channels. When the plume was chosen as the decorative motif for the number, Art Director Robert M. Haas immediately started _ looking around for large quantities of the feathers in the Los Angeles area. He found, however, that inasmuch as the only demand for the plumes today comes from the fan dance trade, that only a few were cbtainable locally and those at exorbitant prices. Haas then experimented with the manufacture of artificial plumes and while }.e produced a satisfactory feather the cost of manufacture also proved exorbitant. So, working quietly, he began buying plumes in wholesale channels all over the country, in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and other cities. In a few weeks he succeeded in cornering the national market before the wholesalers beeame aware of his activities and boomed prices. ‘Cain and Mabel’? is a stirring musieal comedy co-starring Marion Davies and Clark Gable. Others in the cast include Allen Jenkins, Roscoe Karns, Walter Catlett, David Carlyle, Robert Cavanaugh and Ruth Donnelly besides a score of beautiful chorus girls. By Popular Demand Marion Davies, most glamorous of feminine film stars and Clark Gable, dream sweetheart of millions of women, have finally been teamed as sereen lovers by Warner Bros. in the Cosmopolitan production, ‘‘Cain and Mabel,’’ which is now playing at the .....0.c..ccccccccceerececccceces Theatre. Mat No. 201—20c Chorus Girls Best Wives Declares Dance Director Bobby Connolly Who Staged Numbers For “Cain And Mabel’? Married One By BOBBY CONNOLLY (Dance Director of ‘‘Cain and Mabel,’’ the Cosmopolitan production starring Marion Davies and Clark Gable, now showing at the ............. i eerawtes Bros. release.) sees eaes Theatre as a Warner Many times I have been asked this question: ‘Do chorus girls make good wives?”’ My answer has always been, ‘‘They make the best wives, the very best wives.’’ I rather think I’m an authority on the subject, having married one — Mixi of the Follies — and having had an op portunity to work with chorus girls some 26 years, 13 with the late Flo Ziegfeld. And why should chorus girls make the best wives? Well, in the first place, all chorus girls who manage to keep their jobs and realize some measure of success are intelligent. Most of them have fairly good educations and come from good families —families which have been able to send their daughters to ballet schools. In these schools they have been taught not only to dance but poise, control and grace. Next, they are athletically inclined. They must work hard at home practicing steps, and on the stage or in the studio they must work even harder. Naturally, they must keep in good physical trim. No chorus girl can continue in her profession if she is lazy. And no man is ever very happy with a lazy wife. Dancers have a fine appreciation for the value of money. Half of the 200 girls directed in numbers for “Cain and Mabel,” are wholly or partially ‘supporting their families. One girl, for instance, is taking care of her widower mother and sending an older brother through Stanford. Then, chorus girls know how to cook, sew and keep house. Sometimes they learn these arts from their mothers, other times by experience in trying to keep their living expenses within their movie salaries. They are punctual. They have to be in Hollywood to keep their jobs. They are understanding, they are refined, they are ambitious and they are not of a gossippy nature. A girl who has to work as hard as the dancers do hasn’t much time for gossip. And I’m not the only one who is sold on chorus girls as wives. My whole crew on “Cain and Mabel,’ Bob Vreeland, Matty Kind and Bill O’Donnell the assistant directors; Gil Kissel, the prop man, and Malcolm Bellby, the rehearsal pianist, are married to chorus girls. They’ve all been married a long time and, like myself, wouldn’t trade a chorus girl wife for fifteen heiresses. Marion Davies Now Fed Up On Merry-Go-Round Marion Davies is unusually fond of amusement parks with their roller coasters, merry-go-rounds, fun houses, whips and other instruments of back-wrenching terture. With a group of Warner Bros. players, including Clark Gable, her co-star in the Cosmopolitan production, ‘‘Cain and Mabel,’’ now showing at the ...............0.....0. Theatre, she visited the amusement pier at Ocean Park to pick up atmosphere for a scene in the picture. The crowd spent three hours riding the various devices. The following day the studio began filming the ‘‘Coney Island’’ number, one of two lavish musical productions of the picture. Miss Davies spent most of the next three days riding a merry-go-round with her partner, Sammy White, Broadway’s noted eccentric dancing comedian, and half a hundred chorines. In one shot she was required to fall off the spinning merry-goround and the scene had to be filmed three times before it found the approval of Dance Director Bobby Connolly. ‘“T’ve been fond of amusement parks ever since I was a child and visited the real Coney Island every chance I had,’’ the actress commented ruefully at the conclusion of the number, ‘‘But I think I’ve had my fill of them for some time to come.’’ ‘“Cain and Mabel’’ is a sparkling musical comedy with mammoth spectacles in which scores of beautiful dancing girls appear. Beside Miss Davies and Gable, others in the cast include Allen Jenkins, Roscoe Karns, Walter Catlett, David Carlyle, Hobart Cavanaugh and Ruth Donnelly. Marion Davies Takes Her Own Bumps Marion Davies declined the services of a double during the filming of a scene requiring her to stumble and fall and supposedly strike her head on a sofa for the Cosmopolitan production, ‘‘Cain and Mabel,’’ in which she and Clark Gable are co-starred, and now= coming to: theraics..1.. exes Theatre On. ce acccsen: as a Warner Bros. release. She insisted on bumping her own head, and did a good job of it, for she carried a bump as big as a chestnut for several days. Marion Davies and the noted eccentric dancer, Sammy White, do a routine that is the envy of many famous dance teams in ‘‘Cain and Mabel,’’ the Cosmopolitan picture based on H. C. Witwer’s most popular story. It OVCUSOU Tira es cigercts e PUL COLI E SON So oae Bove Sai ees , as a Warner Bros. release, with Miss Davies and Clark Gable in the stellar roles. Mat No. 208—20c