Crooner (Warner Bros.) (1932)

CURRENT SATURDAY OR SUNDAY FEATURE Noisy Kisses Tabooed In “Crooner” By Director Did you ever hear any of the famous ‘‘It’’ girls make a smacking sound with their lips when kissing in an impassioned love scene on the screen? If you did, it was a mistake, at least as far as Warner Bros.First National pictures are concerned. For the sound has been taken out of kisses at that studio. The ‘‘smack’’ is banned. Director Lloyd Bacon put the ruling into effect while working on ‘‘Crooner’’ at the Warner Bros. studios. In one of the scenes David Manners and Ann Dvorak, the two featured players, go into a “clinch.” Manners’ lips slipped and there was a resounding smack. “Take it over and eut out the sounds,” said Bacon. “T never allow the sound of a kiss in any of my pictures,” continued the director. “We guard against it carefully. It is not permitted anywhere on the lot. Frequently I have to make retakes to take the sound out and even then sometimes a slight noise creeps in. If we hear it at all we paint it out on the sound track so that it is perfectly silent.” Directors have learned by experience that it is not safe to take a chance on sound. For some psychological reason love making is only sacred to lovers. To the rest of the world it is a laugh. “A erowd will razz a pair of spooners caught on a park bench,” declared Mr. Bacon. “If lovers spoon in an automobile, some one is sure to turn a spot light on them. The same thing goes in pictures. I have seen some of the finest dramatic scenes and tenderest moments in a picture ruined because you could hear the kiss. Someone in the audience repeats it. Others take it up and you hear it all over the house. Girls giggle and the scene is dead. “Ben without sound spectators eps ri eT . varefully a Axe scene must _ be built up. It is necessary to work it up gradually to a climax. If it doesn’t seem natural, or if it is the slightest bit exaggerated, it is almost sure to bring a laugh. “Love scenes may seem simple, ‘but it is one of the hardest direc torial tasks to make them effective. Slap stick comedy sound kisses will go because you are striving for a laugh, but even then it is likely to be the wrong kind of a laugh. It is more a laugh of derision than a laugh in sympathy with the scene. In dramatic pictures the sound is poison.” Reminded that radio officials were trying to reproduce the sound of a kiss over the air, he said: > “T never heard a kiss on the air but I am convinced that the effect would be just the same. But of course there is no other way to get over a kiss scene on the radio, In pictures you can see it, but on the air the only alternative would be to tell about it, which would be just as bad. “Radio performers can’t get any audience reaction as they do in pictures unless someone writes in about it. I think it might be a wise policy to profit by the experience of picture producers and eliminate the sound.” The silent kiss will be seen, not heard, in “Crooner,” a highly spiced First National romance of night club life in which Rian James, the author, derides the exaggerated ego of professional crooners, much to the amusement and entertainment of spectatozs at the 1, Sener aera ee Theatre, where sre it 18 now showing. Other members of the cast include Ken Murray, Guy Kibbee, Claire Dodd, Allen Vincent, Edward Nugent, Sheila Terry, William “Janney, Betty Gillette, J. Carroll Naish, Teddy Joyce, William Rieciardi and William Halligan. ADVANCE SHORTS current Ann Dvorak Sells Story Ann Dvorak, who is co-featured with David Manners in “Crooner,” a First National picture now at the Se ene Theatre, has just sold a series of articles on motion pictures to a Los Angeles publishing house. She submitted but one manuseript, “After the Break,” with an outline of the others, and the entire series was purchased. The first article discusses the opportunity of a girl for advancement after she has made her first picture. Her contention is that it is excellent, and dependent entirely on her own brains. The hardest part, she says, is to get the first opportunity. Silent Kiss Not For Ann Ann Dvorak nearly disrupted a production company while working in “Crooner” at the Warner Bros.First National studios. David Manners, co-featured with her, let his lips slip in a love scene and kissed Miss Dvorak with a “smack.” Director Lloyd Bacon chided them for the noisy kiss and laid down the law that all movie kisses must be silent. Miss Dvorak, who writes verse and sets it to music, immediately wrote a lyric which ended in a soulful smack. The air was so catehy, everyone on the lot had _ goon taken up the refrain and smacking lips could be heard everywhere. “Crooner,” a highly spiced drama of night club life, with a satirical fling at the exaggerated ego of that particular entertainer, comes to the SiGe Oooo aheatre next 3. :. fora 4 eS day run, Page Eight David Manners Off Twins David Manners, co-featured with Ann Dvorak in “Crooner,” a First National picture opening at the Shes eats Sac eee es Theatre next Sec ne » has an anti-twin complex. When living in New Rochelle, New York, he was in love with a twin named Beatrice. They looked so much alike, however, he never felt quite sure whether he was with Beatrice or her sister. Kathleen. One night he invited Beatrice to go to the movies, but Kathleen, having been more in love with Manners than Beatrice, persuaded her sister to let her take her place. Manners ‘says he had a perfectly gorgeous time until Kathleen told him the truth. Now he swears twins are full of duplicity and is off of them for life. Ann Dvorak In ‘‘Crooner’’ Ann Dvorak, who is co-featured with David Manners in “Crooner,” claims to have worked in more productions in a given length of time than any other star or featured player, having played the feminine lead in five pictures in five months. These include, besides “Crooner,” “The Crowd Roars,” “The Strange Love of Molly Louvain,” “The Love Racket” and “Stranger in Town.” “Crooner,” which will be shown at thee ee Theatre on .......:; is a sparkling comedy drama of night club life which pokes satirical fun at the vanity of public entertainers. It is a First National pieture directed by Lloyd Bacon. NEWS FEATURES ADVANCE SATURDAY OR SUNDAY FEATURE Ann Dvorak’s Talents Not Limited to Movie Work Ann Dvorak, motion picture actress, was born with ten talents according to her mother, Ann Lehr, former stage and screen star. And they’re not hidden under a bushel. Ann, herself, just laughed. “‘Divide it by two and subtract the remainder, Pd 3) she said, ‘‘Sounds like ‘how old is Ann?’, doesn’t it?’’ But she had to admit to six, five besides her vocation of. working for the movies. For she was caught with the goods. Her other talents are also recorded in the “talkies.” They are writing verse, setting the verses to music, playing the music on the piano, singing the words and dancing. Although only nineteen years of age, she has written many ballads, and what is more she gets them published. This too, without ever haviig taken a lesson in music, or having studied the metrical form of verse writing. “T don’t know how I do it,” she said. “It just seems to come natural. I really don’t know a dithyrumb from Ionic hexameter, but I think I must have a sort of feeling for rhythm. My verses may not scan, but they seem to flow. At least enough for the publishers to take them.” “Neither have I had any music lessons. I play entirely by ear and pick the notes out on the piano. Ever since I was a baby I have been interested in music. I used to slip into the drawing room and run over the keys when I was only three years old. At first I picked the notes out with one finger. But after years of playing I managed to put all my fingers to work. “Sometimes I got those fingers paddled for I would forget to wash them and leave finger prints of jam all over the keys. In In _com work entirely by ear in this also. I keep trying out notes until I get what.I want. Then I go over them until I have the whole thing memorized. Not till then do I put the music on paper.” She has written scores of ballads, but four are quite well known and two of them have been used in pictures. Her latest is “A Pair of Arms.” She not only wrote the verses but set them to music. A second ballad was used in the picture, “The Strange Love of Molly Louvain,” in which she played the leading role with Lee Tracy. It is “The Gold Digger Lady.” The other two best known songs from her pen are “Nothing to Do” and “ A Kiss From You.” Miss Dvorak is co-featured with David Manners in “Crooner,” a delightful first National comedy drama which will be shown at the ......... heatieNex be. 5 + sees The story by Rian James takes a satirical fling at the inordinate vanity of professional crooners and is set in the glittering atmosphere of city night clubs. There is an excellent supporting east which includes Ken Murray, Guy Kibbee, Claire Dodd, Allen Vincent, Edward Nugent, Sheila Terry, William Janney, Betty Gillette, J. Car roll Naish, Teddy J one, Wiliams Bic and William Halligan. It _ >. posiag 1. Still use ong, inger, as directed by Li Lloyd Bacon. ADVANCE FASHION FEATURE Gay Prints Predominate New Hollywood Fashions Plaids! Stripes! Polka dots! Seldom before has a style trend been so plainly indicated, with these gay prints unmistakably land-marking the fashion horizon both in the every day world, and that shown on the silvery screen via motion pictures. When ‘‘Crooner,’’ the First National picture, comes to the ee ae THOSLre s. ... feminine theatre-goers will get a splendid idea of the newest styles. The picture features David Manners and Ann Dvorak, and the talented young actress wears an array of beautiful frocks that show, like a veritable signpost to fashion, plaids, stripes and polka dots. Playing the part of a young business girl herself, Ann personally supervised the selection of clothes that will be of interest to every other girl who must stress the daytime costume in a wardrobe that must still be suitable for the varied oceasion. Suits, therefore, play a large part in the style parade of “Crooner” — but such suits! For the first time, the woman in the audience will realize that a suit does not consist simply of a jacket and skirt, but of a great deal more, with ample opportunity for the display of real imagination. There is, for instance, the suit of navy blue pebble crepe, polka dotted in white not quite the size of a dime. Its blouse is white, tucked diagonally in all directions-from the edge of the collarless, high, round neck, and it is sleeveless. But most intriguing of all, there is a red searf, and a high girdle, red also and tied Spanish fashion, of that sheer new soft material, Crepe Roma. Worn with a shallow-crowned, almost flat hat of stitched red silk, and other accessories in harmony, it makes an outfit that is, to say the least, arresting. For days that are a wee bit cooler, . Ann Dvorak selected a suit of navy again, but this time in lightweight wool flecked at intervals with silk embroidery in the form of small white crosses. The dress, for this time the blouse and skirt are one, has a searf collar of shiny white cire ribbon, from which the bow is held in place by a wool strap fastened down with a silver button. Tightly belted, this frock has long tight sleeves, showing through the armholes of a jacket that has two short sleeve capes which thus become superimposed over the long ones. Worn alone, it gives the appearance of a simple office dress; with the jacket, it becomes a suit that can go places with the gayest. More tailored, however, is Ann’s gray suit of wool tweed, severely cut and mannish in its cutaway style, except for the saving femininity of the blouse. This is of silk in plaid of blue and gray, while the accessories, also in gray, include a tiny hat in the same tweed material as the suit. Something new, in the way of a three-quarter length coat and dress ensembled, was originated when Orry Kelly, Warner Brothers designer, created for her a costume of plaid wool combined with navy blue pebble crepe. The dress, of the crepe, has two front pockets trimmed with piping of the plaid, which extends on down to the hem, and a guimpe of white pique, while the coat is all plaid, in shades of red, tan, yellow and black.