Fashions of 1934 (Warner Bros.) (1934)

Intrepid Reporter Braves Wrath of 200 Fan Dancers Busby Berkeley Stages Unique Spectacle for Powell’s New Film, ‘Fashions of 1934’ By Carlisle Jones admittance’’ LT’ TAKES more than one policeman and two or three ‘‘no from a fan dance. signs to keep your unofficial observer away The bearer of the glad tidings that Busby Berkeley was Staging a fan dance which would, in all probability, end all fan dancing, arrived somewhat disheveled and slightly in coherent. The fan dance, it appeared, oceupied all of Stage 4 on the First National lot and was scheduled to be a spectacular feature of William Powell’s latest picture, ‘*Pashions of 1934,’’ which comes to the Theatre on It is, my informant informed me, not a musical picture, but contains this spectacle as a show within the main show. The Big, Bad Guard Stage 4 was guarded by a uniformed policeman, who stood, pale but determined, between us and the fan dance. He was firm. He was adamant. He was glassy eyed and concrety. Your observer could, he insisted, see the Berkeley fan dance when ‘¢Washions of 1934’’ was released and not before. No merely curious reporter could take up time and space and steal feathers inside of stage four while he was in charge. We decided to use strategy instead of force. ‘¢Then how do you account for those feathers on the back of your eoat,’’?’ demanded your observer. The policeman turned hastily to look. And while he looked we moved gently and rapidly into Stage 4. The inside of that stage, when we reached it, was all full of skin and feathers. It looked as though all the ostriches in the world might have been working for Berkeley and the ‘‘Fashions of 1934’? for the past two years. And it looked as if all the beautiful girls in Hollywood were, at that moment, hiding, as best they could, behind those feathers. So far as your observer was concerned the girls were enjoying only partial success in their efforts. The ‘‘set’’? was a kind of glorified staircase which coiled upward in a broad sweeping arch and ended abruptly, eight feet below the stage rafters, in a glassfloored circular platform. One half of the staircase wheeled away in a gently sloping ramp which spread itself out into a series of platforms and steps at various levels. On the far edges, lovely sirens, twanged away on harps. The set was gold and black. The girls were pink and white, mostly pink. The pink was the girl. The white was the costume, a costume made up of sixteen chicken feathers and one ounce of spirit gum. Young and Lovely The girls were young and lovely. Dear reader, bear with me while I repeat. They were young and lovely! Berkeley himself, the young genius, was somewhere up there in the rafters, riding a camera crane from which he and the camera and the intrepid cameraman, could photograph one of his famous ‘Sangles.?? His voice boomed out of the loud speaker as he counted for the girls! ‘¢One, two, three, four. wheel, turn, back.’’ The fans whirled as the girls turned. Confounded clever those fan dancers. Always keeping a fan between themselves and your observer. Back, ‘“Onee more,’’ boomed Berkeley, still out of sight in the rafters. ‘‘The circle was egg shaped that time. ’? So was your unofficial observer, trying to see around those fans. The policeman was there. He nudged us into attention, not any too gently, either. ‘‘Think you’re smart, you?’’ he demanded. I leave it to you, gentle reader, to imagine our answer to that one. Big Style Show, Too In addition to this spectacular number there is a unique and gigantic style show in which twentyfive beautiful models display the latest gorgeous fashions in women’s gowns and hats. William Powell has the role of a somewhat unserupulous promoter of genial personality who corners the ostrich feather market and makes himself the king of style for Paris and New York, Others in the cast are Bette Davis, Frank McHugh, Verree Teasdale, Reginald Owen, Phillip Reed, Henry O’Neill, Hugh Herbert and Gordon Westcott. William Dieterle directed from the sereen play by F. Hugh Herbert and Carl Erickson. don’t Maker Of Styles Bette Davis in an Orry-Kelly creation of black velvet and winter ermine which is seen on the Strand screen in “Fashions of 1934.” Mat No. 9—5c Kea ture Stories Feathers For Frivolous Femmes. An even dozen of beautiful girls featured in “Fashions of 1934,” the musical extravaganza featuring the latest in laughs and styles, now showing at the Strand. This film, produced by First National, stars William Powell and Bette Davis, with a supporting cast including Frank McHugh, Dorothy Burgess, Verree Teasdale, Hugh Herbert. and many others. Mat No. 12—losce Viewpoint on Stage Garb Alters With Passing Years Booth’s Leading Lady Would Have ‘‘Vapors”’ At What Busby Berkeley Calls Beauty Now ee HEN ‘The Black Crook’ first presented its nude woman to the gaze of the crowded auditory, she was met with a gasp of astonishment at the effrontery which dared so much. Men actually grew pale at the boldness of the thing; a deathlike silence fell over the_ house, broken only by the clapping of the outer aisles.’’ The horrified quotation above is an excerpt from an essay entitled, ‘“About Nudity in Theatres,’’ written by Olive Logan, the great Booth’s leading woman, and published in 1869, when the moral looseness which reached its climax in the Awful Seeley Dinner—the high point of the naughty ’90’s— was just getting under way. The shocked authoress then poses a list of imaginary questions to the young woman eager to make a living on the stage. For instance: “Are you willing to appear tonight, and every night, amid the glare of gas lights, and before the gaze of theusands of men, in this pair of satin breeches, 10 inches long, without a vestige of drapery?” There are additional references to an actress photographed “in an immodest attitude, with her legs clad in flesh-eolored silk and her body in a tight-fitting breechcloth, richly embroidered” and to “the creature who nightly wriggles about the stage in a dress of silk which fits her form ‘all over’ as tightly as a glove.” Anything less than a Mother Hubbard, in those days, came under the general heading of “nudity.” Probably ‘Tsk-Tsk!”’ What would the modest and indignant Olive Logan say if she had lived to see the 1933 bathing or tennis girl? What would she say if she ever caught a glimpse of 200 gorgeous dancers who whirl and pirouette in wild abandon while their arms gracefully twirl ostrich feather fans? She probably would have an attack of “vapors” that would require a quart of aromatic spirits of ammonia to restore her to consciousness. The fan dancers and their spectacular number are Busby Berkeley’s latest attempt to top his own imaginative creations for “Pootlight Parade,” and will feature a sequence of “Fashions of 1934,” William Powell’s latest First National picture, which comes to the ............0 Theatre Gis ex crits Gretta Palmer, New York newspaper writer, commenting on the a band of elaquers around changing standards, has this to say: “Woman today is something more than a female; she is able to appeal to men on many grounds other than those of sex in its starkest form. That, perhaps, is why she and her husband dare to let her slash her evening dresses to the waist and wander about the woods in eostumes so revealing that they would have made poor Miss Legan sweon.” She sees the modern trend of undress in public and in the theatre as a healthful sign. And so Berkeley deelares his great fan dance number is designed to please the eye, rather than to be a revelation of stark nudity. The fan dance is a gigantic spectacle which takes plaee in the comedy romance, a show within a show. Another specialty is a style show in which 25 pretty mannikins display the latest style creations. The picture itself deals with a personable promoter who corners the fashion market and makes himself king of style. William Powell has the role of promoter and Bette Davis is his designer. Others in the cast are Frank MceHugh, Verree Teasdale, Reginald Owen, Henry O’Neill, Hugh Herbert, Phillip Reed and Gordon Westcott. Per OND OY PEELE CLEA LILI ID ON IEPAK RRO IORY AIAK LAD OO oven arGo , : se 4 : aeons : kee ae muse hes PR Ne nO ee NORA ROKS OLAA REMI LIA ROEM ALA, LI XB SVEN NELHOHORE RO HKG LIRA APO . oma nonngnow: SP VDA LAR LED LAA SD DELON LD OM ILA, CKO 0 XO ROKK D SELL DL NA Kx 3 i ) : i 3 j ue % i What sweet music will issue from this beautiful instrument! seen OXO CROKE ROH: BOAR OND KL ERIE ROA OK Two of the beauties of “Fashions of 1934,” First National’s extravaganza of styles and laughs now playing at the Strand, are poised to show you that music really has charms to soothe — — — Mat No. 14—10¢ Page Nineteen