First Lady (Warner Bros.) (1937)

co | te © ee eee ee eee ee ee ae eee x KAY FRANCIS (Advance) ‘First Lady’ Is Clever Comedy About Politics “First Lady,’ a film version of the Broadway stage hit of the same name, is scheduled to have its local premiere next Friday at the Strand Theatre. Kay Francis is the star of this Warner Bros. comedy of societyand-politics at the national capital. Supporting her are Preston Foster, Verree Teasdale, Anita Louise, Victor Jory, Walter Connolly, Louise Fazenda, Marjorie Rambeau and a dozen other notables. “First Lady”’ is a polite treatise on the Washington society, as seen from the corner of a merry observers eye. It has no mission. It preaches nothing more serious than the gospel of good humor. Lucy is a woman whose grandfather had been President several years before. She is the wife of a government official and is very ambitious for him. She wants to live in the White House and is not above playing any political game to further this desire. Clever, sophisticated and resourceful, she manages to pull strings in drawing rooms, conference chambers and even in the stately halls of Congress. Lucy is as successful in influencing women She wields her power with incredible grace. Most of Lucy's staged in one or another room of the Wayne home. It is one of those Colonial mansions as in using men. connivings are found only in certain sections of Washington. It has a majesty that seems to come from the traditions that cling to it from the past. According to Robert Roos, a well-known Hollywood production man, there are only 80 players in Hollywood who work from 40 to 52 weeks a year. They are featured players of first calibre and constantly in demand. Even stars, who may be paid for more weeks, actually work less than these 80 favored actors. Of this list, 14 were in the cast of ‘First Lady.” Stanley Logan directed the comedy, from a screenplay by Rowland Leigh, based on the stage play by Katharine Dayton and George S. Kaufman which, with Jane Cowl in the leading role, had a sensational Broadway run. Anita Has New Fad Anita Louise, beautiful young Warner Bros. ingenue now playing in “‘First Lady,’ took up petit-point work to put in her time between scenes. “I’m making a chair back cover now,” she says, “‘and should have it finished in the next two years if | don’t get too many vacations.’ Anita is now playing in “First Lady”’ at the Strand. Mat 105—15c ANITA LOUISE —In an ingenuous role as a Southern debutante having: her first taste of Washington society. She’s featured in “First Lady.” a Mat 201—230c FIRST IN THE HEARTS OF HER COUNTRYMEN—1s Kay Francis, premier dramatic actress of the screen, who proves her versatility by playing a high comedy role in her latest starring vehicle, ‘First Lady,” which is coming to the Strand Theatre next Friday. Kay Francis Violates Hollywood's Rules And Gets Away With It By ARTHUR ZELLNER Kay Francis is a rugged individualist. Maybe not so rugged, but certainly an individualist. She doesn’t give a hang what anybody thinks about anything — and there’s your thumbnail sketch of one of the few interesting glamour girls. But the lovely Kay is too manysided to be dismissed with a generalization. The best-dressed girl on the screen, she goes about between pictures in almost slovenly slacks. She gives a director a tongue-lashing and then jumps into her car and rides 40 miles to call on a minor employee she has heard was in need. She dislikes people who are over-confident, yet she, herself, is definitely self-assured. She is the very rare combination of fast thinker and slow talker. Usually it’s the other way ‘round. Her mind is always active. She is never mentally relaxed, although physically she appears to be entirely so. She sits quietly knitting between scenes and then says something that obviously has required complicated thought processes. One day, she was sewing while the director was making scenes with other members of the cast. Apparently, she was absorbed in her work and completely relaxed. When the scenes were over, she called the director. Then logically and in detail, she analyzed the entire story of the film, explaining where certain characters were inconsistent and certain scenes wrong. Her analysis was so coldly accurate that the director had to agree. Part of the script was rewritten forthwith. The rule of Hollywood abides little violation. Kay is an exception. To understand her, one must, of course, understand the rule. Hollywood does things to people. It changes their outlook, their habits of life, their and their modes of thought. social consciousness The picture colony itself is small enough for everybody in it to know, more or less, what his neighbor is doing. The same openings, the same cafes, the same general round attract them. They attend each other's parties and adopt each other’s fads. Business and social preferment are for those who “run with the pack.”’ Going Hollywood has come to mean making one’s self over to conform to what Hollywood expects of its habitues. There have been independent spirits who have appeared to resist the making-over process. Some resisted for a while and then gradually surrendered to expediency. Others refused to compromise and eventually disappeared from contention. Many of the latter returned to the East disappointed perhaps to write bitter memoirs of their life in pictures. Kay Francis, probably, is the only person to reach success in Hollywood and hold it without surrendering a whit of her independence. She goes with people she likes, and ignores those she dislikes. She attends parties of her own choosing. She repays her own social obligations with one big party a year, usually so novel and interesting that it is an event. The same friends she made when she first came to Hollywood are her friends now. She adds to the list slowly, because she has practically no casual friends — only ones. She plays no politics. no gestures to win approval. close Makes While working on a picture, she goes out only on Saturday nights. That occasions arise when it might be good business to make exceptions to this never change it. She reverses the general rule of being sweet to the important ones and harsh with the unimportant. She is much less considerate of her director than of her wardrobe woman, who idolizes her. When she finished ‘“‘First Lady,” which is her most recent production for Warner Bros. and which opens next Friday at the Strand Theatre, everybody from the prop man to the assistant director chipped in for an expensive gift. She gave a party for the crew and kissed the frightened underling who made the presentation. That’s the kind of a girl Kay Francis is. [4] LADY” x (Advance) Staid Elegance Marks Costumes And Film Sets Conservative elegance! That was the order for set dressers, costume designers and what-not at Warner Bros.. studios in connection with their work on Kay Francis’ latest comedy, “‘First Lady,” which comes to the Strand Theatre next week. Why? Because the locale is Washington, D. C. with its many social traditions. And Kay is the granddaughter of a former President, and the wife of the Secretary of State, and her are all high in Washington politics and intrigue. friends Moreover, while all the characters are far removed in type from any of the real people now prominent in Washington, it probably seemed wise to the producers to temper the merry hazing they give politicians, statesmen and _ their ‘charming wives, by preserving the backgrounds of dignity and mossgrown traditions. Hence Orry-Kelly, chief fashion arbiter at Warners, gowned Kay with a conservative elegance that nearly takes one’s breath away. None of the usual bizarre film stuff. Likewise, Art Director Max Parker who designed the sets, did them up in Washington rather than Hollywood style. Possibly both of these gentlemen felt a little restrained — felt that their style was cramped. Thinking back to Kay’s recent comedy of Parisian background, ‘Stolen Holidoy,’ with its glass-brick modernistic sets and bizarre costume styles, it is to be wondered if Kay didn’t feel a bit subdued, too! “First Lady’’ was directed by Stanley Logan from the stage hit of the! same name. Mutual Admiration Two “fans” are playing together in a picture for Warner Bros. They are Kay Francis, star of the comedy, “First Lady,’’ which comes to the Strand Theatre next week, and Marjorie Rambeau, for years famous stage and screen star. Kay is Marjorie Rambeau’s fan — and Marjorie is Kay’s! Hails From Klondike Marjorie Rambeau, famous stage and: screen actress now playing an important role in the Warner Bros. film ‘First Lady,’ at the Strand Theatre, dressed as a boy in Nome, Alaska, in the gold rush days, so she could get into dance halls thus garbed to sell doughnuts. Later she got the concession to sweep up the sawdust from the floor in one of the larger barrooms and panned out $50 to $75 a day in gold dust dropped from their pokes by the careless miners. Mat 104—15¢ VERREE TEASDALE—Suave blonde charmer of stage and screen plays a leading role in “First Lady,” which comes to the Strand Friday. yo a ee, eae oe rec ee ee Pre va ¥ ss 4 ¢ * > ke & Oe &