Dark Victory (Warner Bros.) (1939)

Mat 209-30c WINS COVETED AWARD-—Bette Davis receives the congratulations of Jack L. Warner, vice-president in charge of production at Warner Bros. Studios, for winning the Motion Picture Academy award for the best performance of 1938, She is currently starring in "Dark Victory" opening at the Radio City Music Hall on Friday. Bette Davis Wins Award For Best Acting Of 1938 Star Of Dark Victory’ Gets Coveted Honor A Second Time (News Feature) OR the second time in her bril liant career, Bette Davis has received the highest accolade that can be given to a film actress—the annual award of the Motion Picture Academy for the best performance of the year. She first received the award in 1935 for her work in “Dangerous.” The 1938 award was given her for her portrayal of the vixenish southern belle in “Jezebel.” But Miss Davis, who is not one to rest on her laurels, has already put herself in the running for the 1939 award by her superb acting in “Dark Victory,” the drama which will open Friday at Radio City. The golden statuettes, nicknamed “Oscars,” are the most coveted possessions in the motion picture world, and the entire industry votes on who shall receive these annual awards. The almost unprecedented honor of being the recipient of two “Oscars” puts the blonde New England girl in the position of first lady of the screen —a position for which she is eminently fitted. An actress from her cradle days on, Miss Davis has had to fight every inch of the way for the success she has achieved. After graduating from dramatic school she applied to Eva Le Gallienne for a job. To conceal her eagerness, she acted so nonchalant during her interview that Miss Le Gallienne was completely deceived and called her “a frivolous little girl” whose attitude toward the theatre was not serious enough, It was a heartbreaking setback to the enthusiastic. young Thespian, but she soon found other jobs—and by dint of studying all the parts in the plays in which:.she appeared, occasionally got. the opportunity to substitute for leading ladies who were indisposed. A few good roles on Broadway netted her a Hollywood contract in 1930. But being an extremely natural young person she arrived there without any fantastic pets, orchid corsages or dark glasses. And Hollywood, unaccustomed to such goings-on, rated her a “colorless” type and cast her accordingly. Discouraged but far from daunted, Bette determined to go back to the New York stage. Then a friend tipped her off that George Arliss needed an unusuallooking blonde for a top role in “The Man Who Played God.” She took a screen test at the Warner Bros. studio, and received the role, a contract, and some other good parts. Then came another turning point, the one which really started her on her career as a winner of Academy Awards. She read a book. That in itself was not remarkable, for Miss Davis is highly literate, and reads a good many books, But this one was Somerset Maughan’s “Of Human Bondage,” a screen version of which was in preparation at one of the studios. Its leading feminine character was Mildred, an anemic Cockney waitress, with a vicious and spiteful character. Bette wanted, more than anything else in the world, to play Mildred, and she soon convinced the producers that she should. She was hailed by critics all over the world for her performance—incidentally, one of the first in which a Hollywood “beauty” deliberately made herself look unattractive. That was in 1934, and she was a closé runnerup for the Academy Award. However, it was not until the following years that she actually received an “Oscar” for “Dangerous.” A succession of fine roles followed, with New England’s own Bette receiving world-wide acclaim, not only for her brilliant acting, but for tackling roles which placed her in an unsympathetic light on the screen, such as “Marked Woman” “Jezebel.” “The Sisters,” which followed “Jezebel” was another high-spot in her career. NOTE: These odd and interesting news items on stars and production may be used in whole as a guest column in local daily, or separately as fillers for a column; or for program notes. “Dark Victory” is the seventh picture in which George Brent and Bette Davis have appeared together. They call it their “lucky seventh.” Their last previous picture was “Jezebel” for which Miss Davis received the Academy Award for the best acting of 1938. It was really a quirk of chance that started Humphrey Bogart on the villainy road in pictures. One of the first films in which he appeared was a murder mystery. Bogart was cast as the mental decoy. He wasn’t the guilty killer but he was supposed to act sufficiently sinister to make the audience think he was. He did such a good job that he found himself actually cast as a murderer in his next picture. Bette Davis’ sister, Barbara, is probably the first person in all of Hollywood’s history to be forced to work in a motion picture. The picture was “Dark Victory” and the reason that Barbara had to work in it was a dog. Daffy, her English setter, had been cast in the picture, and Daffy wouldn’t take orders from anyone but his mistress, so Bette’s sister was given a small part in the picture. Mood music, favorite sentiment stimulator of the old silent film days, came back into its own during the production of “Dark Victory.” A sixpiece string orchestra was employed as atmosphere for dramatic scenes, and the musicians played between scenes as well as during some of the action, Bette Davis has just launched a new branch of the Tailwaggers Foundation of which she’s international president. A free emergency hospital has been established in Hollywood for treatment of injured pets, whether Tailwaggers or not. The first patient was a small pig—victim of a hit and run driver. Although Bette Davis is, and has been for some time, the screen’s foremost dramatic actress, she has never lived in such luxury as she does in her newest picture “Dark Victory,” in which she plays a Long Island heiress. Her film home, beautifully furnished in modern style and complete with terrace, garden and driveway is one of the most lavish dwellings ever shown on the screen. A new measuring stick for the popularity of the various motion picture stars, is the guest column. Bette Davis, who has made a name for herself with the newspaper fraternity by insisting upon writing all such letters and columns herself, is constantly deluged with requests for them. The gold statuettes which constitute the most coveted trophies of moviedom owe their widely-used nickname of “Oscar” to Bette Davis. When the star first received the award in 1935 for the best performance of the year, she took the statuette in her hand and said, “So this is Oscar!” And “Oscar” it remained. Miss Davis again received the award in 1938, for her performance in “Jezebel.” Most unique visitor to Hollywood in many a moon is Miss Geraldine Fitzgerald, of Dublin, who makes her American screen debut in “Dark Victory.” Miss Fitzgerald absolutely refuses to say that she likes the California climate, and if the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce asks the government to bar Irish and English actresses from the country, it will be because of this. Mat 203—30c GEORGE BRENT and BETTE DAVIS chat informally between scenes in their latest co-starring picture, ‘Dark Victory." Page Eleven