Edge of Darkness (Warner Bros.) (1943)

OFFICE GAT GOT ANN SHERIDAN SREEN START An office cat got her into motion pictures, and thereby hangs one of the strangest of all tales of the film colony. It was eight years ago—1935 —-and the girl of our story was a student in good standing at the Texas State Teachers’ College at Denton, near Dallas, Texas. Paramounthad launched a nation-wide hunt for the _ best looking girls and boys in the country un : Mat 104—15c ] oe ies Ann Sheridan Beauty” and friends of our heroine urged her to enter her photograph. She refused, especially when she learned that the picture had to be a bathing suit print. In those days our girl friend was shy. The girl’s sister, Kitty, positive that our heroine could win the contest easily, smuggled a family picture of the girl from hiding and decided to take it to the office of John Rosenfield, drama editor of the Dallas Morning News, who was entering the photos of contestants from his city. Last-Minute Entry Hardly had Kitty reached the newspaper office on the last day of entries, however, when she was notified that Rosenfield had shut up shop for the day and gone home, his official duties over. Determined to enter the photo in spite of the late hour, Kitty brushed past the reception clerk and knocked on Rosenfield’s door. From within came an exultant shout of “Now I’ve got you!” Mystified, she entered, saw a disheveled man with a cat in his arms and, dropping the photo hastily, withdrew. The photo she left with Rosenfield that night won the “Search For Beauty” contest and launched a great girl on a great career. What she didn’t know was that Rosenfield was in his office an extra five minutes that night because he had first to catch and evict the office cat before closing up. The girl who owes a cat’s perversity for her career... Ann Sheridan. In her latest picture, “Edge Of Darkness,” now playing at the Strand Theatre, Ann Sheridan portrays the moving role of a brave Norwegian girl who defies the brutal Nazi occupation of her town. Helmut Dantine Reports This One About Why Hitler Grew Mustache Helmut Dantine, the young Warner Bros. actor who escaped from a Nazi concentration camp in his native Austria to flee to this country, tells this one about an interesting human interest sidelight on Herr Hitler. It’s about why “der Fuehrer” wears a mus tache. Dantine, who is currently appearing in “Edge Of Darkness” at the Strand Theatre, has no way of completely vouching for the story, but he said it was one that was widely repeated in the underground before he left Europe. Dantine recounts that “der Fuehrer” had an unpleasant mole on his upper lip about which he was hypersensitive. He went to several doctors, and one of them removed the blemish with an electric needle. But the operation left a scar. It gave Hitler the appearance of having a running nose. So he grew the mustache. Dont Get Him Wrong, Monte Loves Hollywood Hollywood has its share of cynics who stoutly maintain, year after year, that the only happy people around motion pictures studios are the gardeners. These lowly folk, it is maintained, are the only ones who gain and maintain a mental serenity which nothing short of total catastrophe can shake. The gardeners, they point out, have just so much lawn to tend; just so many flower-beds to fuss over. They may do just so much every day, then home to bed and sweet dreams, with no thoughts of options, story values, gross receipts or production delays to assail their rest. It’s a good theory and probably more right than not, but there’s another studio contingent, albeit a very small one, that should be added to the ranks of the Happy Gardners. Reference is made to those actors who, having reached the top, are back once more in the featured ranks; are back, in some cases, to the ranks that are no longer even featured. These are the ones who took the round trip—from obscurity to fame to near-obscurity again. These are the ones who have taken Hollywood’s Grand Tour; the ones who paid their money, took their chances, and had a whale of a good time enroute. Monte Blue (remember Monte Blue?) is one of these. And Monte Blue is happy. Thirty years ago Monte was battling for leading roles, and battling not. in vain. Starting with D. W. Griffith, Monte worked as script clerk, actor and stunt man in such early, historymaking films as “Intolerance,” “The Birth Of A Nation” and “Orphans Of The Storm.” Years passed, and then star Still ED 139; Mat 201—30c dom in such Warner hits as “The Marriage Circle,” “Kiss Me Again,” “So This Is Paris,” “Brass” and “Main Street.” The list of pictures in which Monte Blue has starred would fill a couple of pages in fine type. He made three fortunes and lost them while other actors were trying simply to get a start. He was Big. Today Monte Blue is not big. Today Monte Blue is merely a very capable player, not very prominently featured, however, in Warner Bros.’ “Edge Of Darkness,” which stars Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan and features Walter Huston, Nancy Coleman, Judith Anderson and Ruth Gordon. The film is now at the Strand. But it is doubtful if anyone in Hollywood, and that includes its studio gardeners, is as happy today as Monte Blue. He himself will tell you why. Tall, slightly stooped, friendly and matured, Monte has only praise for the town and indsutry that made him great. MILESTONE DIRECTS HIRST WAR FILM SINCE “ALL QUIET Twelve years ago Lewis Milestone directed what is now credited with being the finest film dealing with World War I. The picture was “All Quiet On The Western Front,’ a document so powerful that its screening’ precipitated riots wherever it was shown in post-war Germany. Today, 1943, that same Lewis Milestone is the director of the film for WarMat 103—15c ner Bros.’ fides. OF Walter Huston Darkness,” which he feels will create an even more lasting impression upon those who see it. Differing from its predecessor in its realistic approach, “Edge Of Darkness,” in Milestone’s own words, “has done away with disillusionment.” Where “All Quiet On The Western Front” was imbued with disillusionment towards “a war to end all wars,” “Edge Of Darkness” comes to grips with reality in the noted director’s opinion. “Today,” says Milestone, ‘“‘we know the enemy we are fighting and we are facing the stern realities of the present war. The moral of ‘Edge Of Darkness’ is ‘United we stand, divided we fall’. That is the great lesson of our time and the keystone for victory for the democratic cause.” Based on the William Woods novel, “Edge Of Darkness” is a story of the Nazi occupation of Norway and of the disunity of the people of the little town of Trollness and their effort to unite against the common enemy. Starring Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan, the picture opens Friday at the Strand Theatre. Tom Fadden Wants Good, Socky Roles “Our Town,” both the play and the movie, “made’’ Martha Scott. It didn’t do badly for another person; a young man named Tom Fadden, who played the milk man in both the Broadway play and the Hollywood screen version. Right now he’s in Warner Bros.’ “Edge Of Darkness,” opening Friday at the Strand Theatre, doing a compelling and extremely dramatic role. The film stars Errol Flynn, Ann Sheridan, Walter Huston, Nancy Coleman, Judith Anderson and Ruth Gordon. Tom’s content to let others star. All he asks is for good, socky roles, the kind he can get his teeth into. He’s had them, too. He was, for instance, the rancher who lost his ranch in a poker game in “Destry Rides Again.” He was the long-to-beremembered druggist in “The Remarkable Andrew,” and the traveling salesman in “My Favorite Blonde,” when Bob Hope’s pet penguin romped across his chest as he tried to get some sleep in an upper berth. Tom also was Betty Field’s father in “Shepherd Of The Hills,’ and in Warner Bros.’ “Wings For The Eagle” he was the foreign family man who found his niche as a worker at Lockheed. Tom Fadden, who was a stage actor for 27 years, 21 of which Bohnen Always Loses Something Thumb-nail sketch of a Hollywood career. Specifically, that of Roman Bohnen, stage actor brought out from New York by Warner Bros. for a featured role in “Edge of Darkness,” the drama of Nazi-occupied Norway, based on William Woods’ novel. The picture is now at the Strand Theatre. As the husband of Ida Lupino in “The Hard Way,” he loses his pants. In “Edge Of Darkness,”’ he loses his head. In the forthcoming “Mission to Moscow,” he loses his life. WILL TO SUCCEED HAL OF BATTLE FOR RUTH GORDON “The will to succeed ... that is half of the battle. I hadn’t any illusions about my ability; I only thought if other people could learn to act, I could,” says Ruth Gordon, one of Broadway’s outstanding performers, currently featured in Warmer 6 rose. saH deere a Ok Darkness” at the Strand Theatre. As a stagestruck senior at Quincy High School in Wolaston, Mass., Miss Gordon wrote to her Mat 105—15c Ruth Gordon favorite actresses and eagerly awaited their replies. A _ brief note from Hazel Dawn, whom she had seen in “The Pink Lady” convinced her that her destiny was the stage. Aided and abetted by her mother who had bartered her sewing for Ruth’s piano lessons, she talked her father into bringing her to New York in 1914, where she spent the year at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Career Began in 1915 Her career began in 1915, when she played Nibs in Maude Adams’ production of “Peter Pan.” It was a dancing spot, and she was overwhelmed with gratitude to the late Alexander Woolleott for writing ‘Ruth Gordon was ever so gay as Nibs.”” Under the illusion that one thanked critics for good notices, she wrote an appreciative note to him. ‘Many years later,” says Ruth, “‘Mr. Woolicott and I laughed and laughed over that note.” In the next years Miss Gordon’s acting deepened, her roles became more varied. After scoring in “Saturday’s Children,” she appeared in “They Shall Not Die,” “The Sleeping Clergyman,” “Ethan Frome,” where her moving portrayal of Mattie Silver was widely acclaimed, “The Country Wife,” “A Dolls House” and others. She left Broadway for Hollywood to act in pictures, appearing as Mrs. Ehrlich in Warner Bros.’ “Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet,” followed by “Abe Lincoln In Illinois” and “Two-Faced Woman.” Says Miss Gordon of motionpicture acting: “The fact that the films are made in scattered scenes I consider a help rather than a hindrance; one always has time to shut out the world and get the feel of a character and an emotion.” Still ED 13*; Mat 206—30c he spent on Broadway, thinks Hollywood is the best of all possible places. Hollywood, it may be noted, thinks well of Tom, too. Walter Huston and Ann Sheridan play father-and-daughter roles in “Edge Of Darkness,’ Warner Bros.’ dramatization of William Woods’ novel of a small town in Nazi-occupied Norway and the successful rebellion of its people against the conquerors. The picture is now at the Strand Theatre. 17 Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan are cast as leaders of an armed revolt of the liberty-loving people of Trollness, a fictional town in Nazioccupied Norway, in Warner Bros.’ “Edge Of Darkness,’ based on William Woods’ best-seller novel of the same name. The film opens at the Strand Theatre on Friday.