Comet Over Broadway (Warner Bros.) (1938)

ADVANCE STORIES ‘Comet Over Broadway’ Dynamic Film Drama Faith Baldwin Story On The Screen; Coming To Strand Theatre Faith Baldwin’s Cosmopolitan magazine story ‘‘Comet Over Broadway,’’ which was adapted for the screen by Mark Hellinger and Robert Buckner, will be the next feature attraction at the Strand Theatre, starting Friday. Kay Francis heads the cast of stars which also ineludes Ian Hunter, John Litel, Minna Gombel, Donald Crisp, Melville Cooper, Sybil Jason, Ian Keith and a host of others. The story, fashioned by such expert hands at fiction writing as Miss Baldwin and Mr. Hellinger, is a dynamic one and gives plenty of opportunity for the cast of experts under the direction of Busby Berkeley to do a fine dramatic job. At the outset Mat 102—15e oF the tale, Kay KAY FRANCIS Francis is seen as a Stage-struck girl in a middle western town who is married to John Litel, a man much her senior. While she is innocently visiting a famous actor who has come to the town, Litel walks in, there is a fight and the actor is accidentally killed. Her husband sentenced to life imprisonment, Kay promises to devote her life to obtaining his freedom. Taking her infant daughter with her, she becomes an actress in traveling tent shows and then in a burlesque troupe, of which Minna Gombel is the prima donna. On her way upward, Kay meets a producer played by Ian Hunter, and they fall in love. Fearing her love, Kay flees to England, where she wins big success on the stage. Several years later, Hunter follows her and offers her a part in a Broadway production expressly written for her. She returns and scores a great triumph in the play, but she proves to be just a ‘‘Comet Over Broadway’’ because she gets news that her husband can be freed at last. And although she loves Hunter she takes her small daughter and goes back to her old home and her husband, to make up to him for his years in prigon. Faith Baldwin Story Soon On Strand Screen Faith Baldwin's Cosmopolitan Magazine story ‘‘Comet Over Broadway,’’ which was adapted for the screen by Mark Hellinger and Robert Buckner, will open at the Strand Theatre on Friday. Directed by Busby Berkeley, the picture stars Kay Francis, and Ian Hunter, John Litel, Minna Gombel, Sybil Jason, Donald Crisp, Tan Keith and many others are featured with her in the story of the meteoric career of a star. CA. OF CHARAGLIERS Eve Appleton Bert Ballin Hotel Manager Stage Manager Kay Francis Ian Hunter John Litel Donald Crisp Minna Gombel Sybil Jason Melville Cooper Ian Keith Leona Marical Ray Mayer Vera Lewis Nat Carr Chester Clute Edward McWade Clem Bevans Linda Winters Jack Mower Jack Wise PRODUCTION STAFF Directed by Screen play by From a Cosmopolitan Magazine story by James Wong Howe, A.S.C. Photography by Art Director Music by Musical Director Length — 6375 feet Busby Berkeley Mark Hellinger and Robert Buckner Faith Baldwin Charles Novi James Gibbon Orry-Kelly Charles Lang H. Roemheld Leo F. Forbstein Running Time — 69 minutes Mat 201—30c ROMANCE OF BROADWAY — lan Hunter, as a theatrical producer, and Kay Francis, as his brightest star, are teamed in "Comet Over Broadway," Warner Bros. drama based on the Faith Baldwin story, coming to the Strand. Star Explains Role In ‘Comet Over Broadway’ “*Comet Over Broadway,’’ the Warner Bros. drama adapted from a Faith Baldwin story, opens at the Strand Theatre on Friday. The picture centers about a great actress, who, at the height of her career, deserts Broadway and fame for her husband and ehild. Kay Francis, who plays this role in ‘‘Comet Over Broadway,’’ expounded her philosophy on the subject of such sacrifices one day during the filming of the picture. An unselfish selfishness is an essential to a successful career. The fire of ambition must burn with an all-consuming fierceness, permitting no barrier to halt it, according to Kay Francis. But, the Warner Bros. star adds seriously, there is no success if this selfish drive toward the goal has not left the ambitious one completely unselfish. In the picture, Kay’s husband, John Litel, goes to prison, and Kay, taking along their two-yearold baby, goes out on the road as an actress to earn money to liberate him. She travels with tent shows, carnivals and then with a burlesque troupe. While with the burlesque troupe, she permits Minna Gombel, who is retiring from the road, to take the baby so she can accept a vaudeville engagement and progress higher in her career. ““Under these circumstances in real life,’’? John Litel asked Kay, ““would you leave your child and permit a stranger to care for her?” ‘“Definitely yes, under the circumstances in the story,’’ Kay replied. ‘‘Selfishly the mother wants the baby with her because of the inspiration she provides. Regarding the problem unselfishly, however, she knows it is best for the child that she be taken away from the hardships of traveling on the road and provided with a home. ““Her desire to succeed as an actress is not merely selfish personal ambition; she is doing it for the sake of her baby and husband as well. Presence of the baby with her is definitely a hindrance; she knows she will travel faster by traveling alone.’’ As the baby grows up, the mother, whose love for her is undiminished, is regarded merely as a friend by the child, then portrayed by Sybil Jason, who thinks Minna Gombel is her real mother. Of course when the real mother has achieved financial security, she reclaims her child. ‘Many are the sacrifices that must be made in the name of ambition,’’ Kay pointed out. ““Often the world, misunderstanding, brands the ambitious one as ruthless and selfish when actually the most unselfish motives have ruled.’’ ‘Comet Over Broadway’ Coming To Strand “*Comet Over Broadway,’’ which Cosmopolitan Magazine readers will remember as one of Faith Baldwin’s greatest stories, will be the next feature attraction at the Strand Theatre. Busby Berkeley directed the picture which stars Kay Francis and features Ian Hunter, John Litel, Donald Crisp, Minna Gombel, Sybil Jason, Melville Cooper, Ian Keith, Leona Marcical and many other prominent players. Miss Baldwin’s story, adapted for the screen by the famous columnist Mark Hellinger and Robert Buckner, tells—as the title suggests—about the rise and fall of a great actress and the behindscenes drama of her life, which causes her to give up her brilliant career and the man she loves in order to pay for a youthful mistake. The tale is set against a background which shifts from a middle-western town to London’s theatrical district and back to the Great White Way. Kay Francis Stars In New Strand Drama “‘Comet Over Broadway,’’ the Warner Bros. drama which will open at the Strand on Friday, was adapted from Faith Baldwin’s Cosmopolitan Magazine story by Mark Hellinger and Robert Buckner, an array of writing talent such as is seldom assembled on one picture. Faith Baldwin, whose fietion is well-known and loved the world over, has often sold stories to Hollywood, but not often has so distinguished a columnist and dramatist as Hellinger been given the job of adapting them for the sereen. Buckner, his collaborator, is also an outstanding member of the writing fraternity. Kay Francis heads the cast of ‘“‘Comet Over Broadway,’’ which includes such brilliant players as Ian Hunter, John Litel, Minna Gombel, Donald Crisp, the capable little nine-year old Sybil Jason, and many others. Busby Berkeley, who recently guided the production of ‘‘Garden of the Moon,’’ directed. The title of this picture may be taken quite literally, too, as the highly dramatie story deals with the comet-like career of an actress, who, at the height of her greatest fame, gives it up to make amends to the husband who she has wronged. Posed against a background that shifts from a small mid-western town, through a_ series of honky tonks where the actress gets her first stage experience, on to London where she first gains fame, back to Broadway and the bright lights which burn all too briefly for her, and back to the old home town, the story moves swiftly and surely to its powerful dramatic climax, Big Cast In ‘Comet Over Broadway’ “Comet Over Broadway,’’ the Mark Hellinger and Robert Buckner adaptation of Faith Baldwin’s Cosmopolitan Magazine story, which comes to the Strand Theatre on Friday, has Kay Francis and Ian Hunter in the two leading roles. Also featured with them are John Litel, Donald Crisp, Minna Gombel, Sybil Jason, Melville Cooper, Ian Keith and a large cast of others. And only one member of the cast has any complaint to make, Ian Hunter is very much in sympathy with the girl who is ‘‘often a bridesmaid but never a bride.’’ Ian loves often and well on the screen but he never wins the girl. He lost her again in ‘‘Comet Over Broadway,’’ but he bore up nobly and well under the strain. Again, as has happened before, Kay Francis was the luscious damosel who remained only the girl of his dreams. “You can’t exactly say I am an unkissed lover,’’ he says with a laugh, ‘‘because Kay and I have our brief moment of romance and happiness. Then we part and I promise that I will wait for her forever. And that should please both factions in the audience—the optimists will see a happy ending in the fact that I am waiting and waiting and the pessimists will enjoy the fact that forever is a very Jong time.’’ In private life Ian Hunter has done very well by romance. He won the girl—Casha Pringle, formerly an actress—and they live happily, absorbed with the interest of their two children, Jolyon George and Robin Fan. Perhaps that is why he enjoys his screen roles—the happy ending has been indelibly written to his own true life romance. Page Seven