Dames (Warner Bros.) (1934)

Timely Features e Genuine Oddities e Casting Items As suggested in The Film Daily’s poll of motion picture editors Three Famous Song Teams Write Music For “‘Dames’”’ Catchy Airs And Lyrics Composed By Authors Of Many Hits Of Recent Years SUALLY one team of well known songwriters furnishes the music for a screen musical production, so when three teams of famous songwriters all contributed their efforts to one picture, Hollywood sat up and took notice. The Warner Bros. special musical ‘‘Dames,’’ which comes to the Theatre: OR sais ok a , with Joan Blondell, Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler heading an all-star cast, has the three teams. OCS HERE TRIORR, Yessir, it would certainly look that way! Here’s Dick surrounded by Hollywood’s most beautiful damsels—and he seems to be enjoying himself. You'll see Dick—and the girls—and Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondell, Guy Kibbee, Hugh Herbert, ZaSu Pitts, and many others in “Dames” the new Warner Bros. musical picture at the Strand. Mat No. 6—20c Yes-Busby Berkeley Would Give Venus de Milo A Job Creator Of “Dames”? Dance Features Every Type Of Feminine Beauty FFICIALLY and unofficially, Hollywood has poked a lot of fun at Venus de Milo and at the Greeks who thought her the symbol of feminine beauty. But if the lady were alive today, and able to kick, she could have had a job in the great Busby Berkeley chorus of ‘‘Dames,’’ the spectacular new Warner Bros. screen musical which opens at the ek at ee hares Theatre on ..................., any time she wanted it. Director Berkeley, whose en sembles in “Gold Diggers of 1933,” “Footlight Parade,” ‘“Wonder Bar’ and “Dames” have ushered in a new era of screen musicals, has little respect for Hollywood’s preconceived notions of female loveliness. He believes that the Greeks were right about Venus de Milo, and that. she would be considered beautiful anywhere and any time by a great many people. Page Eight Part of Berkeley’s fame is based on the fact that he never tries to pick girls who are exactly the same size, or of equal weight or with similar coloring for one of his “numbers.” He not only permits variation in type—he insists upon it. The result is that in a Berkeley number the public sees plump girls as well as slim girls, tall beauties as often as abbreviated cu Harry Warren and Al Dubin, best known of the three, first rose to real fame with their musical contributions to “42nd Street” although both have been well known for their “hit” compositions for over ten years. Following their success with “42nd Street” the Warren and Dubin pair rose to greater glory with their music in “Gold Diggers of 1933,” “Footlight Parade,” “Wonder Bar” and “Twenty Million Sweethearts.” They have, by actual count, more than thirty-seven “hit songs” credited to themselves during the past year and a half. Their three contributions to “Dames,” however, are said to be destined to win even greater acclaim than any of their previous efforts. “Girls at the Ironing Board,” “I Have Only Eyes For You” and “Dames” are the three Warren and Dubin hits in this picture. Record of Song Hits Morton Dixon and Allie Wrubel comprise the second song writer team of the production. ° This marks the first time the two have been associated in musical composition, but each has a long ties, languorous sirens and peppery pretties. Hach is beautiful in her individual way, and that way may be totally unlike the sculptured perfection of Venus de Milo—or exactly like it. Berkeley divides all beauty into three general classes—physical beauty, spiritual beauty and personality. Physical beauty means well proportioned figure, features that photograph acceptably, good earriage, poise and lack of obvious defects. Physical beauty is vitally important and without a certain amount of it no girl can hope to be chosen for a place in a Berkeley number. Spiritual beauty. is, according to this same authority, “the light that lies in woman’s eyes,” about which poets have sung all down the ages. It is an inner quality which sometimes makes faces that otherwise might be quite plain, beautiful to the eye and to the camera. Personality is the last of Berkeley general classifications of feminine beauty—and to him the most important. “A good vaudeville bill used to have something on it to please everybody,’ he suggests. ‘“Perhaps you didn’t like the animal act or the acrobatic number, but many people did like them. And tlie same people may have dozed off during the dramatic interlude. It takes variety to make a good show—and a pleasing chorus.” That is why he would have given Venus de Milo a job in “Dames.” She would have had her share of close-ups too. All Berkeley beauties have those, in all their pictures. and distinctive record of hit songs to his credit. Wrubel has written both music and lyrics of countless song favorites included among which are “Now You’re In My Arms”— “As You Desire Me” —“Gypsy Fiddles’—“Farewell To Arms”— “T’ll Be Faithful” and “To Be, Or Not To Be, In Love.” Morton Dixon, one of the best known characters of New York’s famous. Tin-Pan Alley, is credited with all the music and lyrics in “Laugh Parade.” He wrote “Ooh, That Kiss!”—“You’re My Everything”—“Would You Like to Take a Walk?”—“I Found a Million Dollar Baby”’—“Follow the Swallow Back Home” and “That Old Gang of Mine” among other best-seller songs of recent years. For “Dames,” Dixon and Wrubel wrote “Try To See It My Way” and “Anything That’s Part of You.” Both songs, according to music-wise listeners, are potentialities for the “hit? class of the music marts. The third song-writing duo contributing to the music of “Dames” is composed of Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal. They wrote the song “When You Were a Smile on Your Mother’s Lips” for the Busby Berkeley novelty number of Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. Predict Musical Success Fain and Kahal, who have been contributing their music to motion pictures for a comparatively short time, have nevertheless made extremely rapid strides with their songs. Their “By A Waterfall” in the recent sensational “Footlight Parade,” immediately landed in the best-seller lists. They have also written, among High-Stepping Trio other hit songs, “You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me”’— “Lonely Lane”’—“Was That The Human Thing To Do?” and the tremendously popular N. R. A. song, “The Road Is Open Again.” The song “Spin a Little Web of Dreams’ ’in the William Powell-Bette Davis picture, “Fashions of 1934” came from the Fain and Kahal combination, as well as “When Tomorrow Comes” in the Kay Francis starring picture, “Mandalay.” The songs in the Warner Bros. picturization of the famous Carl Ed comic strip, “Harold Teen” were all supplied by Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal, the songs “How Do I Know It’s Sunday?” and “Simple and Sweet” having proven especially popular. “Dames” is a gigantic musical comedy spectacle with a heart throbbing romance. There is an all star cast headed by Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, ZaSu Pitts, Guy Kibbee, Hugh Herbert and Phil Regan, besides 300 beautiful chorus girls. Busby Berkeley created and staged the specialty numbers. EE TE OLLIE IAM OSES LTT TT TIE EF ET TT ITNT IT LE IN LT I TE TOIT Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, and Ruby Keeler shake three wicked hooves in this scene from “Dames,’? Warner Bros.’ newest musical, coming to the Strand on Wednesday. A cast of screen favorites, including Guy Kibbee, Hugh Herbert, ZaSu Pitts, and the glorious Busby Berkeley beauties, make the picture one you won’t forget! Mat No. 12—20e