First Lady (Warner Bros.) (1937)

EY. ee ee ee ~~ KF KF KF KF KF KF KF KF KF MK * x KAY FRANCIS (Current) Preston Foster Has A Formula For Victories Presten Foster believes it’s lucky to fail the first time you try anything, and to “come from behind” and win. He disclosed this philosphy to Kay Francis, Werree Teasdale and Walter Connolly beside the set of the Warner Bros. picture in which they all appear — “First Lady’’ — when he started to tell about his methods in playing tennis. He gives you the first several games rather than reveal his true prowess. Same with golf. Same with boxing! “It’s not a superstition, it’s sound psychology as applied to Preston Foster," he declared in explaining this under-dog philosophy. ‘“‘I can’t really do my best until 1 seem to be fighting a losing game, and when I'm winning I can’t press ahead and make the killing finish unless I've first had a taste of defeat at the hands of the other fellow.” Foster plays a leading role in “First Lady,"’ opposite Kay, who throughout the picture is engaged in an amusing battle to get him nominated for a high office so she and not a rival can be ‘‘First Lady.” The picture is now playing at the Strand Theatre. Practices On Set Warner Bros.’ studio police department weren't quite certain about it at first, but finally they decided to let Preston Foster have his pet air pistol and practice with it on the sound stages where he was playing opposite Kay Francis in First Lady.’ However, he had to confine his practice to a corner of the stage where they rigged him a safety target. Preston was brushing up for a pistol tournament where he hoped to snare some of the same sort of trophies as he had won in the past for rifle shooting. For practice he used a special air pistol in a standard target revolver frame. He won third place in the tournament. Privacy For Kay Garbo has her high black screen so she and her leading man can ‘be alone’ with director and cameraman for love scenes. And recently Kay. Francis installed a similar device for rehearsing love scenes — and some others — for her current Warner picture, ‘First Lady,’’ which comes to the Strand Theatre next week. Kay isn’t bashful about filming love scenes — after they’ve been rehearsed! But she doesn’t like to have spectators at rehearsals. Mr. Jory A Husky Victor Jory, now playing one of the principal roles in Warner Bros.’ production of “First Lady,”’ formerly was a National Guard boxing champion and before that a professional strong man. He can tear a Los Angeles telephone directory in halves in case anyone has one they’re not using at the moment. He is currently to be seen in “First Lady” at the Strand Theatre. Tired Of Youth That almost-too-peérfectly-beautiful blonde actress Anita Louise remarked in youthful despair the other day, “I suppose I'll be playing grandmother on the screen before people stop calling me a child!” Anita has reached the mature age of 21 but doesn’t look it. She is currently appearing in “‘First Lady,” at the Strand Theatre. & fi’ Mat 205—30c THE WOMEN WHO LAY DOWN THE LAW — to the men who make the laws. Left to right they’re Marjorie Gateson, Kay Francis and Louise Fazenda, deciding the fate of the nation over their hors d’oeuvres in “First Lady,” the brilliant comedy now showing at the Strand. Film Stars Must Get Acquainted Before They Do Good Love Scenes ‘What — you've never met your leading man before?’ exclaims the director. “‘Then you better meet him before we film this scene. You make love to him, you know — he’s supposed to be an old sweetheart.” Whereupon Miss Star and Mr. Hero hastily shake hands, rehearse the scene once rather stiffly — be PRARPARAPA PPP PIPPI PID PP PPD PPP PPA Kay Francis, learning that her leading man, Preston Foster, in Warner Bros.’ “First Lady” is a champ rifle shot, has made arrangements to be taught rifle shooting. Preston is acting as her teacher and doing a very fine job. Meanwhile the other male in the show, Victor Jory, is helping brush up the star’s already excellent tennis game. Quite an athletic cast, all told. cause, after all, they've just met — and then throw awkwardness to the winds when they go into the “take.” That probably reads like fiction — and it is. It isn’t the way the thing is done in movies, for a number of excellent reasons. In nine cases out of ten the shooting schedule would be re-arranged so the intimate scene between the heroine and hero who'd never met could be postponed. It sounds good in blurbs to say they met each other just before the kiss, but there are few cases on record in which that has happened. Cases differ, of course, with the individuals involved, but by and large even Art” doesn’t make a kiss with a perfect stranger — or any scene suggesting that they aren't strangers — easy to do effectively. For this and many other reasons studios try to avoid placing players in this situation. a6 ’ ones A practical example is afforded by the procedure in Warner Bros., latest comedy for Kay Francis, “First Lady,’’ which will have its initial showing next Friday at the Strand Theatre. Hero Preston Foster and the star really had met before, but they were not close friends. In the picture they are husband and wife. So Director Stanley Logan arranged his schedule to let them have three days of association together on the set, and opportunity to watch each other work in scenes, before they came together, even in the most casual of scenes. They became well acquainted, and studied each other's methods of working. Kay served tea for Preston. The actor later bought her ice cream. They swapped funny stories, and became friends. The case was different with Victor Jory and Anita Louise in the same picture. Both had played in *“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and had met occasionally since that time. Just the same, the schedule fortunately provided for a_ light scene in which they are supposedly just getting acquainted —and love sequences came later, Kay Francis and Marjorie Rambeau of the same cast are close friends. The star had very few scenes with Walter Connolly; she _ knew Louise Fazenda, Marjorie Gateson, Lucille Gleason, Sara Haden and several others of the cast very well. Which leaves unaccounted for a very important member, Verree Teasdale. And that affords another chance for illustration. In ‘First Lady,” Miss Teasdale plays the hated rival and enemy of Kay Francis. They smile at each other over tea cups, but claws are bared every time they call each other “‘my deah!” So Director Logan took no particular pains to have the two -— star and supporting actress — become on-the-set friends before their initial scenes together. The way women spar with each other when they haven't just decided whether or not to like each other isn’t too far removed from veiled warfare! But Kay and Verree became good friends just the same! Mat 102—15c GLAMOROUS FIRST LADY of the screen, Kay Francis, plays the title role in the screen adaptation of the Katharine Dayton-George S. Kaufman stage success, “First Lady,” now showing at the Strand. [6] “FIRST LADY” « (Current) Beautiful Girls Best Chatters Says Director Beautiful women should be allowed to talk—and talk. They do in real life, and they are going to in motion pictures, according to the noted director, Stanley Logan. Logan has let Kay Francis not only talk but chatter—chatter rapidly and at length, in ‘First Lady,” the forthcoming Warner Bros. comedy based on the famous Broadway stage play. And in the next picture on which Miss Francis and Logan will collaborate, the aptly named ““Women Are Like That,” the director is allowing the actress a five-minute speech. **Women who are not beautiful, and mere men, should not be permitted to monopolize the conversation, according to the man with the megaphone. “‘In real life, they may try to get away with it, but no one wants to listen to them all the time. “But a beautiful woman can talk on and on, if she talks reasonably well, and, like most other things she may do, it is accepted.” In “First Lady,” Miss Francis plays the wife of a government official and any one who thinks that the husband has all the making privileges in his family does not know his Washington ladies, or his playwrights, who happen to be Katherine Dayton and George S. Kaufman in this case. Or his beautiful women, either, if you should ask Director Logan. speech Saves Fan Letters Louise Fazenda, Warner Bros. comedienne, who has one of the leading roles in “First Lady," the Kay Francis starring film at the Strand Theatre, still has the first fan letter she ever received. She has carried on a regular correspondence with some fans for nearly 20 years, and rated these correspondents among her very dearest friends. Busman’s Holiday Kay Francis’s new home includes a real movie projection theatre, small but complete in every detail and wired for sound. Intended primarily to show the 16mm. movies she and her friends have made, it also has projection machines for standard sized films. As you may gather from this, Kay is as moviemad as the most rabid fan. ‘First Lady,” a brilliant parlor comedy, is her current starring picture. It will come to the Strand next Friday. Stars Have Foibles Kay Francis can’t endure having anyone read the opposite side of a paper she’s reading, or to have anyone read over her shoulder. If she catches you at it she gives you the paper! Anita Louise always closes her eyes for a few seconds just be fore starting a film scene. She. opens them when the director calls, “Action!” Louise Fazenda counts to herself in Portuguese when she “blows up” in a film line or is angry. Her name is Portuguese for “farm.” The three actresses are now playing together in the Warner Bros. comedy, “First Lady,’ an adaptation of the Katharine Dayton and George S. Kaufman play. Also in the cast are Preston Foster, Walter Connolly, Victor Jory, Marjorie Rambeau, Verree Teasdale, Henry O’Neill and many other noted players. It is showing at the Strand. now ae oo a oe eee a oa ee ee ee ee va x¥ 2M * ie ee eK he ER RH &