Dust Be My Destiny (Warner Bros.) (1939)

CURRENT PUBLICITY —“DUST BE MY DESTINY” When Those Big Blue Eyes Fill With Tears, Priscilla Lane Has Audience In Palm Of Her Hand Priscilla Lane is one of the “Daughters Courageous,” both in the picture of that name and in life. Youngest of the five Mulliean girls, once the bane of the teachers’ lives in Indianola, Iowa, Priscilla, called “Pat” by her family, used to sing with Fred Waring’s orchestra and chew gum on the stage for the edification of the paying customers. Long before that, however, the home folks in Indianola knew her as the “Mullican tomboy,” the sassy little miss who was always falling out of trees and almost breaking bones or sliding off roofs and really breaking bones. Even the strictest of teachers had difficulty with their discipline of Priscilla because her “big blue eyes” could fill with real tears so quickly, a great advantage in the dramatic roles she has played, but a trial to any school principal. In spite of stories to the contrary her career as an actress was no accident. When her older sister, Lola, adopted the name of “Lane” as suggested by Gus Edwards, and went away to earn fame and fortune on stage and screen, Priscilla decided then and there that she too would be an actress. To further this ambition she persuaded her parents to ket her enroll in the Fagin School of Dramatic Arts in New York, but she was side-tracked from drama for the time being when Fred Waring offered her and her sister Rosemary a contract and offered to take Mama Mullican along. They all took the name of Lane, which Lola had meantime made popular on the screen, and started off on the long tour with the Waring orchestra that led, eventually, to Hollywood and a Warner Bros. contract for the girls. For a time she was a comedienne in “Varsity Show,” “Love, Honor and Behave,” and “Men Are Such Fools.” She worked in other pictures, too, including the “Cowboy from Brooklyn,’ in which tears had no part. Then Warners cast her with her two sisters, Lola and Rosemary, and another young actress, named Gale Page, in one of the title roles of “Four Daughters.” In that Priscilla’s tears came to the surface and to public attention and made her, overnight, a leading young dramatic actress. She returned to comedy again in “Yes, My Darling Daughter,” Priscilla Refuses Glamor Girl Title Priscilla Lane is glad her fans don’t consider her glamorous. Miss Lane gets hundreds of romantie letters each month from admiring males. The writers use such extravagant adjectives as “dream girl” and “ideal American girl.” Few of them, however, eall her a glamour girl. That pleases the youngest of the Lane sisters, because her ambition is to approximate as nearly as possible Bette Davis’ achievements as a dramatic actress. Glamour, explained Miss Lane, suggests illusion. Realism, on the contrary, is the essence of success in drama. The youthful blonde star cited her latest role, opposite John Garfield in Warner Bros.’ “Dust Be My Destiny,” in making her point. “Had I been considered a glamour girl type, the studio would never have given me the part,” Priscilla Lane, who is currently co-starring with John Garfield in the poignant romantic drama, “Dust Be My Destiny.” (Mat 208—30c) went back to drama in “Daughters Courageous,” and followed this with the heaviest of all her dramatic roles, opposite John Garfield in “Dust Be My Destiny,” the new Warner Bros. picture which is the current attraction at the Strand Theatre. In this picture, she and John Garfield are a pair of young lovers trying to find a place for themselves in what seems to be a hostile world. Innocent fugitives from the law, and trying to make their love a substitute for home and a decent living, their pathetic plight is terminated when Priscilla, believing that she can prove her husband’s innocence in court, turns him over to the police. The trial scene in which she tells the story of their life together is one of the most moving bits of dramatic acting ever shown on the screen. Still a tomboy within the confines of her own home—and sometimes within the studio boundaries too—Priscilla now has no barns to fall from and the studio frowns on her tree climbing activities, because broken arms and legs in splints don’t look well in pictures. Priscilla is twenty-two as this is written and, from this distance, seems to have recently outstripped both her older sisters in popularity with the public. Her nose is still snub and her freckles still show through her makeup. She can turn cartwheels, climb fences and slide off roofs but a more valuable attribute is the fact that her big, blue eyes fill with tears when she is in imaginary difficulty in her picture roles. That makes her the little girl that audiences love to see find happiness in the last reel. JOHN GARFIELD ON GUARD AGAINST GOING HOLLYWOOD John Garfield, the earnest young New York stage actor who has risen from motion picture unknown to star in the short space of one year, is taking out unique insurance against ‘‘ going Hollywood.’’ He has put himself on a personal spending money budget of fifteen dollars a week. And as soon as he gets sufficient money saved, he is going to buy two or three acres within easy commuting distance of New York and build a home on the property. He figures the combined pull of the stage and a home in the East will offset the increasing lure Hollywood has for him. When Garfield signed a contract with Warner Bros. Studio and left the Group Theatre to have a try at pictures, he didn’t expect to worry about ‘‘going Hollywood.’’ He didn’t think he would be staying long enough for that. ‘¢Four Daughters’? made him a film celebrity overnight and the situation changed. He found himself catapulted into stardom and he was frankly afraid of the consequences. Determined not to change, or be changed, by Hollywood, he put himself on a year’s probation. That year is now ended. During that first twelve months he did five pictures for Warner Bros. then started on his sixth, ‘‘Dust Be My Destiny,’’ with Priscilla Lane as his leading lady, which is now showing at the Strand. And checking up on his probationary period, Garfield admits he’s still afraid. ‘¢Ags long as I was only half enthusiastic about pictures I didn’t really worry much about going Hollywood,’’ he said. ‘‘ And T felt that way about the films for some months. I was sure that the stage was the right place for me and I’d be happier in the work there. ‘Well, I’ve learned a lot about pictures and what they mean in bringing entertainment and genuine benefit to the world. I’ve become enthusiastic about working in them and I want to stay if the studio considers me fitted to do important roles that really mean something. ‘<T’m still determined, however, to go back to the stage periodically. I’m convinced that’s essential for me if I’m to keep my perspective and sense of values. That feeling of being a very little frog on a very big puddle is something you can only get in New York. And that feeling is good for me.” AUTUMN FASHIONS DESIGNED FOR COLLEGE OR CAREER Whether your mind is set on college or a job, you'll find many points of interest in the Fall wardrobe assembled by career girl Priscilla Lane, currently starring in ‘Dust Be My Destiny’ at the Strand. (Left) For that indispensable topcoat, she chooses wine and white checked wool with a velvet collar and smartly flared skirt. (Right) ''Prom"' date, a silvery white lame dance frock with a cunning bustle formed by two flounces. GARFIELD & LANE WED’ ON STAGE IN STRAND DRAMA John Garfield has been talking about going back to the stage for several months. He got there for a few hours recently, but he didn’t leave Hollywood to do it. It was a stage within a sound stage at the Warner Bros. Studio on which the former New York Group Theatre actor did his brief footlights turn. He stood with Priscilla Lane and faced a flesh and blood audience that filled every seat in a sizeable theatre auditorium. The two were being mar PRISCILLA LANE (Mat 102—15c) ried on the theatre stage for a scene of their new picture, ‘‘ Dust Be My Destiny.’’ Garfield wore a tight-fitting tuxedo and had a gardenia pinned to his jacket lapel. Miss Lane was attired in bridal white and carried a bouquet of orange blossoms. They appeared embarrassed and ill at ease. Berton Churchill, playing a justice of the peace, performed the ceremony. He: asked Miss Lane if she took this man to be her lawful wedded husband and she said she did. He repeated the question, with the proper variation, to Garfield. He said he did, but half whispered it. Extras, paid to heckle, constantly interrupted with shouts of ‘<TLouder and funnier.’’ Then he leaned forward gingerly and pecked his ‘‘bride’’ on the cheek. The paid-to-applaud audience clapped and cheered as enthusiastically as any Garfield ever faced in the Group Theatre. A pianist struck up the wedding march. The curtain was drawn and the ceremony was over. she said. “I wear gingham dresses, wait table in a cheap restaurant, tell John how to milk a cow, and hop freight trains. A glamour girl in a gingham dress would be hard enough to believe. But just try to imagine one who knows how to milk a cow and who hops freights!” (Right) a plaid wool skirt and long-sleeved green jersey blouse goes to class or to business with equal ease — and lots of chic. (Left) Priscilla's recipe for that Saturday afternoon football date, is this lynx jacket. With it, she wears a brown Scotch cap. (Mat 401—60c) [8]