Call It a Day (Warner Bros.) (1937)

POUSLI CRT PRODUCTION AND PLAYER FEATURES Movie Director Mayo Can Play Every Part In Film He Shows ’Em, Whether Role Is That of Man, Woman Or Child Each man in his time plays many parts. That includes Archie Mayo, the man who rose from shirt salesman to film director. Mayo once earned his living acting. He’s still an actor but Warner Bros. studio pays him for directing. He can play any man’s, woman’s or child’s part. Recently he played the entire cast of ‘‘Call It A Day,’’ a Cosmopolitan production now showing at the... 5. sere a Theatre. For instance: Frieda Inescort and Ian Hunter are rehearsing a bedroom scene. Hunter is sitting on one bed—Miss Inescort is lying in the other and they are quarreling in martial fashion. “I presume you won’t mind if I sleep in this bed tonight?” asks Hunter. “It’s your bed,” replies Miss Inescort. “You can sleep in it or any other if you care to. I really should ask your permission to sleep here, since this is also your property.” Hunter looks contrite and says: “Look here, Dot, shall we have this thing out?” Mayo interrupts. “Not that way,” he says. “Let me show you. Here, Ian. Get up.” The director, who weighs 250 and looks not at all like Hunter, sits on the edge of the bed and reads the lines in the Mayo version of an English accent ° “See,” he says. “Sound contrite.” Mayo gets off the bed and Hunter takes his place. The scene goes on for a while and Mayo is satisfied. In another scene, 13-year-old Bonita Granville is lying on Miss Ineseort’s bed talking in a low voice, telling her screen mother that she doesn’t want to be eremated—she wants to be buried. Mayo shakes his head. “Not that way, darling. Here, let me show you.” Bonita’s small form is replaced by Mayo’s massive one. He looks soulfully at Miss Inescort and says: “Mummy, if I die I’d rather you didn’t cremate me.” The property man chokes and goes behind the set. “See, Bonita. Say it dreamily, softly Don’t act. Just be a little girl.” “Call It a Day”’—adapted from the Dodie Smith play which was such a sensational stage hit in London and New York—is a smart, sophisticated comedydrama based upon the _ experi ences of the various members of an English family when the first day of Spring stirs their blood Bits Of England Arise Indoors On Vast Stage Hollywood Art Director Creates Typical English Scenes for Film On Stage 7 at Warner Bros. studio there stood a threestory English home, complete from cellar to garret. John Hughes, art director, built it for ‘‘Call It A Day,’”’ FINE DICTION IS OLIVIA’S Olivia de Havilland, youthful star now appearing in “Call It a Day,” at the Theatre, has the finest diction in America, in the judgment of Marie Brenkhaus, famous New York teacher of speech and diction. Miss Brenkhaus heard Miss de Havilland speak at a luncheon when the actress was in the east recently. The star’s fine speech is not accidental. Her mother, Lilian de Havilland, an Englishwoman, taught her children to speak correctly from babyhood. Thievery Afoot In “Call It A Day” By Dan Mainwaring Acting Rule Number One: If you want to stand out, never play in a picture with a child, a dog, a monkey, or Roland Young. They always steal the show. Ian Hunter knows that rule. He played opposite a Saint Bernard dog once in London and the audience didn’t know he was on the stage. Frieda Inescort knows it too. She was in ‘‘Give Me Your Heart’’ with Roland Young. There is a dog in the Cosmopolitan production ‘‘Call It A Day,’’ in which Miss Inescort and Mr. Hunter are featured, but he appears so briefly that he isn’t dangerous. Mr. Young is in it—and he’s dangerous. There is a child in it, and she’s more dangerous, for her name is Bonita Granville. Papa Loves Mama! Ian Hunter is the husband who was fortyish and faithful until spring came along, and Frieda Inescort is his wife of long standing who’d stood about enough, in “Call It A Day” the screen’s chuckle champion of 1987, which comes to the ....... TREGULE, ON a. 24% Mat No. 202—20c Roland Young Of Films Not Really Very Gabby a Cosmopolitan production released by Warner Bros., which eomeés {0 the... 2.2... Pee reavonrs. aor, ts Being an American, Hughes usually specializes in the American scene. But he wasn’t stumped when Director Archie Mayo asked for a three story house, Bond Street, a barrister’s office, a gentleman’s walkup flat, a British theatre and a fashionable street. Droll Comedian Of “Call It a Day,”? Lets Others Tell His Life Story ? said the interviewer. ‘‘Tell ‘“‘Now just start talking,’ me all about yourself.’’ Roland Young was silent. He sat on the ‘‘Call It A Day”’ set at Warner Bros. studio, staring into space and drawing caricatures of Director Archie Mayo on the cover of his Hughes is never stumped. He went over to the research department, looked at some pictures, and before you can say Edward G. Robinson he has a piece of England right in Hollywood. The rooms supposedly occupied by Hunter, Miss Inescort, Olivia de Havilland, Bonita Granville and Peter Willes are exactly the type you will find in a modern, middle-class English home. There were two bathrooms— and realistic bathrooms they were, not too modern—a living room, furnished with charm, a dining room, three bedrooms and a library. Nearby was the kitchen. On another stage, Hughes built the barrister’s office, oceupied by Hunter, who is a lawyer in the film. Because English lawyers go in for comfort and not for modernity, there was nothing modern about the office. It looked as though it had been occupied by seven generations of Hunters. The gentleman’s walkup flat wasn’t much to look at. It was Page Fourteen on one stage and the four flights of stairs which led up to it were on another. Apartments in England, Hughes found out, are comfortable but not luxurious. And they always have a grate, You couldn’t build one and be honest about it without putting in a grate. A section of the studio’s permanent New York street was transformed into Bond Street— the famous shopping district in London. Every exterior had to be remodeled to give it that English flavor, and workmen spent days aging the store fronts, making them look as though they had resisted years of fog and smoke. “Call It a Day”—adapted from the Dodie Smith play which was such a sensational stage hit in London and New York—is a smart, sophisticated comedydrama based upon the experiences of the various members of an English family when the first day of Spring stirs their blood. script. He isn’t silent, however, in the picture, a Cosmopolitan production, which comes to the.......... Theatre Otte a eas: He talks plenty. “He was born in London,” said Frieda Inescort helpfully. “On Armistice Day,” added Mayo. “Tt wasn’t Armistice Day then,” said Miss Inescort. “That was long before the war—1887 to be exact.” “’d rather Mr. Young talked,” said the interviewer. Young smiled vaguely, swallowed, blinked and remained silent. “He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art,” said Miss Inescort. “That’s what’s wrong with him,” said Mayo. “I always knew there was something wrong with him.” Miss Inesecort bristled “It’s a fine school.” “You limeys,”’ said Mayo. “You always stand together.” “Would you mind,” said the interviewer. “I’d like to hear about Mr. Young’s life from Mr. Young.” Again Young was silent. Miss Inescort spoke for him. “Rolly draws and paints and his first picture was ‘Sherlock Holmes’ with John Barrymore, and his first talking picture was ‘The Unholy Night,’ directed by Lionel Barrymore.” “Mr. Young isn’t—ah—dumb, is he?” asked the interviewer. “Just shy,” said Miss Inescort. “Don’t mind him. Again Young swallowed his tongue. Again Miss _ Inescort leaped to his rescue. “He writes,” she said. “Has written two books. One was ealled ‘Actors and Others.’ The second one was ‘Not For Children.’ ” The interviewer stood up. “Goodbye,” said Young. “It’s been nice talking to you.” “Call It a Day”—adapted from the Dodie Smith play which was Bonita was the brat in “These Three,’ and since then she has had no trouble finding work in pictures. In “Call It a. Day,” which Warner Bros. will present Ate hOery 2 eee ee Theatre on ae ee she’s a different type of girl. She plays the fifteen year old daughter of Hunter and Frieda Inescort, and she is supposed to have reached the stage of adolescence where Shelley and Rosetti are gods. Both Hunter and Miss Inescort will tell you that it’s impossible to take a scene away from Bonita. They wouldn’t try, in the first place. In the second, they couldn’t and they are as capable as players come. Most children under the age of fifteen are good actors and actresses—any director will vouch for that. They are natural performers. If they are good to look at in the bargain, they are sure-fire performers. After fifteen they become self-conscious, and, unless they hide behind beards, this shows on the screen. Bonita, being thirteen, hasn’t reached the self-conscious stage yet. She’s more than good to look at. In the beauty line, Bonita’s got plenty of competition —what with Olivia de Havilland and Anita Louise also in the cast. Roland Young A bold adventurer, home from India, Roland Young is hunting for a good wife—anybody’s—in the film recipe for spring fever, “Call It A Day,” the Cosmopolitan production released through Warner Bros. which comes to theese Theatre, on........ Mat. No. 108—10e such a sensational stage hit in London and New York—is a smart, sophisticated ecomedydrama Olivia de Havilland, Ian Hunter, Anita Louise and Alice Brady are also featured.