Daredevil Drivers (Warner Bros.) (1938)

Mat 203—30c TOO FAST FOR COMFORT except for Demon Dick Purcell, who drives this racing car in “The Daredevil Drivers,” a picture which is scheduled for the Strand Theatre next Friday. (Advance) Eleven Accidents Filmed For *‘Daredevil Drivers’ At the Warner Bros. studio they have just finished a road epic called ‘“The Daredevil Drivers,”’ which is now at the Strand. In the film, Director Breezy Eason had eleven passenger cars and four buses smashed all over the landscape. All those mishaps may sound like an ill wind to some folk, but it makes this a boom year for Johnny Dickels and Fred Hunter, ace car-smasher-uppers of the film lots. It takes all kinds of people to make a world, as some one has pointed out, and the Messrs. Dickels and Hunter have found that their lot on earth is to make automobile accidents an art, a highly skillful art, and a highly profiitable one, too. In “The Daredevil Drivers,’ they did all the daredevil driving called for in the roles of Dick Purcell, Charlie Foy, Willard Parker and Gordon Oliver, the men who will be featured on screen. A pretty job of wrecking Dickels and Hunter did. In one scene they cracked a_ touring sedan into a big bus head on. In another they slewed a car around a sharp curve at 70 miles an hour, pretended to lose control and rolled it over three times into a field. They arranged a neat little crack-up of two cars side-swiping each other and turning over. In fact, they did everything except somersault their mounts on skiis for the edification of the watching movie men. Then they washed their hands and went home, without a scratch on either of them. Both expert mathematicians, they figure out everything in advance. They say that by an application of the laws of gravitation, acceleration and angles they know just what will happen when they hit or turn something, how far they will roll, which side will be up when they halt and where their bodies will be found when the crack-up has been recorded. Musieal Actor Gordon Oliver, appearing in Warner Bros.’ “The Daredevil Drivers,’ which opens next week at the Strand Theatre, learned to play the saxophone, clarinet and banjo by correspondence school lessons—and frequently fills in with Follywood’s leading orchestras while night-clubbing. Reads Dictionary Beverly Roberts, now appearing in Warner Bros.’ “‘The Daredevil Drivers,”’ at the Strand Theatre, has writing aspirations and has started to prepare herself for future writing by a careful reading of the dictionary. She is up to ‘*Atabal’’ which means a moorish tabor or kettledrum and expects to finish the book by this time next year. Page Two Movie Ruins Clothes According to Dick Purcell its’ destructive to clothes to work in a picture with that famous stunt and action director, ““Breezy”’ (B. Reeves) Eason. Hard-boiled Purcell complains that two takes of one “‘spill’”” filmed in Eason’s Warner Bros. film, ““The Daredevil Drivers,” which comes next Friday to the Strand Theatre, cost him the seat of his pants each time. Dick, who plays a race driver in the picture, didn’t complain about any loss of skin he may have suffered! Business Woman Beverly Roberts, who owned a lumber company and was female . boss of a logging camp in “‘God’s Country and the Woman,” owns and runs a gangster-beset bus line in her latest Warner Bros. film, “The Daredevil Drivers,’’ which comes to the Strand Friday. BEVERLY ROBERTS, New York girl and Broadway singing star, who comes to the Strand Friday in her latest starring picture, “‘The Daredevil Drivers.” Mat 204—30c 9 PUBLICITY (Advance ) BLONDELL NOT PLEASED WITH PRESENT NAME To be or not to be a Blondell! That was the problem faced by Joan Blondell’s younger sister, Gloria, recently signed to a Warner Bros. contract and appearing in “The Daredevil Drivers,’ which opens next Friday at the Strand Theatre. “I'd like to change my name to Timmy Scott,” said Gloria, ‘“‘because | like the name and don’t want to trade on Joan’s reputation. I fought hard for roles on Broadway and managed to make a creditable showing. Warner Bros. had other ideas, though. They realized she didn’t get her chance because of the relationship to Joan. And if there was any chance of cashing in ona famous family name, they thought they'd be silly to change it. If Barrymore was good enough for John, Lionel and Ethel, Blondell will have to do for Joan and Gloria. And anyway, whenever people meet Gloria for the first time, they invariably say: “Doesn't she look just like Joan Blondell’s younger sister? She does, and therefore, she is still Gloria Blondell. “The Daredevil Drivers,” which features Beverly Roberts and Dick Purcell, was directed by ““Breezy’’ Eason. Record Collector Gloria Blondell, Joan’s young sister, has been collecting gramaphone records for years. She has a collection numbering several thousands and has an entire room in her Hollywood home devoted to them. Collectors estimate that her early Caruso records are very valuable and hard to duplicate. Gloria comes to the Strand Theatre Friday in “The Daredevil Drivers’? with Beverly Roberts and Dick Purcell. Perfect Specimen Willard Parker, appearing in Warner Bros.’ “‘The Daredevil Drivers,’ which opens at the Strand Theatre next week, has been chosen as the most perfectly proportioned male in Hollywood. He is 6 feet 5 inches and weighs 210 pounds. Mat 202—30c A SISTER-BROTHER ACT as Gloria Blondell, sister of the famous Joan, and Charlie Foy, brother of Director Bryan Foy, make a scene for “The Daredevil Drivers,” which comes to the Strand Friday. Sister Acts (Advance) Coming Back For Hollywood Film Work Sister acts are coming back in the movies. Eight or ten years ago there were many sisters working as stars or featured players in Hollywood. In more recent years there have been very few. But the pendulum is swinging back once more. Olivia de Havilland’s sister, Joan Fontaine, is now under contract to the R.K.O. Joan and Olivia are full sisters in spite of their different screen names. They have a working agreement that they will not be photographed together and so far they have stuck to that decision through all sorts of arguments. studios. Joan ;started her screen work about a year ago in “Quality Street,” and has risen rapidly in importance, playing opposite Nino Martini and Fred Astaire, as a dancer in the latter picture. A new sister team, in fact a threesome of sisters, is made up of Lola, Rosemary and Priscilla Lane. Rosemary and Priscilla both worked in the leading roles of “Varsity Show” and Lola and Rosemary are playing sister parts in “Hollywood Hotel,” recently finished musical success. The newest sister act in pictures is made up of the two Blondell girls. Joan’s baby sister, Country of origin U. S. A. Copyright 1938 Vitagraph, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright is waived to magazines and newspapers. Gloria, who is a ringer for the Joan that invaded Hollywood from New York five or six years ago, has just been given a long term contract by Warners and has already played leading roles in “Accidents Will Happen” and “The Daredevil Drivers,’ the latter being the feature that opens next Friday at the Strand Theatre. So it seems that sisters are definitely ‘in’ again. The days when the Talmadge sisters, the Gish sisters, the Costellos, Loretta Young and Sally Blane, Molly O'Day and Sally O'Neil, Viola Dana and Shirley Mason, worked in pictures are about to be repeated by a new generation of young women. Purcell Real Driver A hidden chapter in Dick Pur cell's life was revealed by the need for the Warner Bros. husky hero to drive a racing car in “The Daredevil Drivers,’ the melodrama now at the Strand Theatre. He drove and won the annual road race at Canton, Ohio, entering it because he was broke. Posing as a professional driver, he'd never driven anything faster than a newspaper delivery truck before he took that speed buggy out for his first practice spins! “The Daredevil Drivers’ costars Purcell with Beverly Roberts. They are supported by such well known players as Gloria Blondell, Gordon Oliver and Charley Foy. The picture was directed by B. Reeves Eason. Keeps Own Name At last it’s been definitely settled. Gloria Blondell, comer to films and the hit of Broadway's ““Three Men on a Horse,’ and sister Joan Blondell both their family names, a la Bennett sisters. Both new will retain had offered to change names for the other's sake. Gloria is now working in her second picture, “Daredevil Drivers,’ due to open next Friday at the Strand Theatre. Oliver Plans Trip Gordon Oliver planned a trip to London after completing ‘‘The Daredevil Drivers” Bros., the melodrama now at the Strand Theatre. It is rumored that a reason for this is Kay Stammers, beautiful left handed tennis player and a companion of Oliver while she was in Hollywood. for Warner