Flirtation Walk (Warner Bros.) (1934)

enuine Oddities ) Personal Items e Production Stories As suggested by Film Daily’s poll of Editors Science Removes Terror Of Hot Hollywood Kisses Dick Powell And Ruby Keeler May Now Make Film Love Without Being Roasted By Lights OLLYWOOD kisses are not as hot as they used to be. Until recently a cinema osculation was invariably a warm ordeal for the principals. They would come out aa of it with wilted collars and melted make-up. Not because they felt that way, emotionally. It was due to the heat from _ the lights required to film the scene. Now due to mechanical improvements players can kiss Ruby Keeler Gets Stage Fright Even in Films Feminine Star In “‘Flirtation Walk’”’ Still Timid | Child After Years Of Experience FRIGHTENED little girl from Halifax told the big rough manager that she could ‘‘dance a little’’ and then went in and stopped four shows with her tap dancing. She is still frightened after many Broadway shows and several picture hits. Ruby Keeler, starring with Dick Powell in the First Na tional picture, ‘‘Flirtation Walk,’’ now showing at the Ge Mis ik OS ae Theatre, is timid of the world. sure that there is nobody in the world like her husband, Al Jolson, but nothing else is certain. She is straightforward and keyed to simplicity—entirely unable to cope with anything as complicated as life. In New York, she attended St. Catherine’s School in an atmosphere of quietude and repression. Then she went to the Professional Children’s School but even there she was quiet and aloof. She was Broadway’s leading tap dancer when she was yet a child. “Bye Bye Bonny,” “Lucky” and “Sidewalks of New York” were her first successes followed by two Ziegfeld _ shows “Whoopee” and “Show Girl.” When the dance was over she hurried to her dressing room and closed the door, actually afraid of all those people who cheered her dancing. Her romance with Jolson began years ago when she was in one of Texas Guinan’s choruses. Al was enamored of her at sight. It was almost “Abie’s Irish Rose” in real life. Still love laughed at obstacles and there is no happier married couple anywhere. She is When she made her sensational suecess in Warner Bros. “42nd Street,” she was astounded that her first picture should have gone so well. After “Gold Diggers of 1933” and “Footlight Parade,” she accepted the fact that people liked her on the screen, but still could not understand why. In “Flirtation Walk” Ruby has the role of an army officer’s daughter who is in love with a cadet. The picture is a mammoth musical with a thrilling plot and an enchanting romance of life in the United States army at Hawaii and at West Point. There is an all star cast which includes besides Miss Keeler and Dick Powell, Pat O’Brien, Ross Alexander, John Eldredge, Glenn Boles, Henry O’Neill, John Arledge and Guinn Williams. Special musie and lyries were written by Allie Wrubel and Mort Dixon with dance numbers directed by Bobby Connolly. The picture is a Frank Borzage production, directed from the sereen play by Delmer Daves, based on an original story by Daves and Lou Edelman. Ruby Keeler . . . the sweetest lady of the screen now appears in Warner Bros.’ latest romantic-drama “‘Flirtation Walk,” which also features her boy friend of many other productions, Dick Powell. Pat O’Brien is very much in evidence in the cast of Hollywood stars who appear in this film coming to the ........................ Theatre. The film was produced under the supervision of Frank Borzage, with dance spectacles directed by Bobby Connolly. Mat No. 22—20c for the camera and keep comparatively cool while doing it. All of this means very little to many players. Guy Kibbee and Hugh Herbert, for instance, are seldom called upon to smother a beautiful lady with kisses for picture purposes. Joe E. Brown and Will Rogers and Wallace Beery have always refrained from doing so, even if the story hinted that they might. But for the romantic teams of young players like Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell, the recent development in speed film which eliminates at least a third of the tight and heat from kiss scenes, is considered a real blessing. No picture in which these players appear is considered complete without one or more tender, intimate love scenes, and there are several in their latest First National production, “Flirtation Walk,” which comes:-to the =..Qeniat ain. TheaPRO 2ON oss. tk es aes They suffered through the brightly lighted and highly heated kiss scenes of “42nd Street,” “Gold. Diggers. of 1933,” “Footlight Parade” and “Dames” together, and expected to do it again in “Flirtation Walk,” under the direction of Frank Borzage, famous for his screened love episodes. But between “Dames” and “Flirtation Walk,” the new fast negative had been perfected and cooler love in Hollywood was an accomplished fact. To properly photograph two faces close enough together for the lips to touch and still avoid shadows on either, it used to be necessary to “ring” the heads of the players with lights. Huge studio lamps would pour light — and heat — full into each player’s face from over the shoulders of the partner in the kissing scene. The more tender these scenes, the more light they demanded and the hotter they got. By the time the kiss had been lighted enough for the cameraman it had ceased to be any possible fun for the kissers. Consequently, kiss scenes had come to be dreaded by all players, directors, cameramen and electricians, not to mention sound men, make-up experts and wardrobe attendants. But, because the paying public still likes final clinches, they were filmed regularly, just the same. Now all of this is changed. With Tess light, kiss scenes just aren’t the hot work they used to be. It is now possible to kiss for the camera without serious damage to the players’ collars, make-up or disposition. And that’s a relief to everybody, especially the members of the romantic screen teams like Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell. “Flirtation Walk” is the latest of First National’s mammoth musical spectacles. It is a tale of glorious youth, of enchanting romance and of the glamorous life in the United States Army at Hawaii and at West Point. Powell and Miss Keeler head the galaxy of players which includes Pat O’Brien, Ross Alexander, John Eldredge, Henry O’Neill, Glen Boles, John Arledge and Guinn Williams. Dick Powell ... the kind of boy you always wanted your son to be like, appears in “Flirtation Walk’ the latest ‘special’ to come from the Warner studios. Ruby Keeler and Pat O’Brien are also in the cast of this comedy-drama with incidental musical selections. Don’t miss it at the .................... Theatre, where it is playing all this week. Mat No. 7-—20c Pat O’Brien Thinks Fate Marked Him For Success Star In ‘“‘Flirtation Walk” Is Convinced That Lady Luck Worked For Him OST Irishmen. believe firmly in Fate as a motivating foree in human affairs, and Patrick James O’Brien of the Milwaukee O’Briens is no exception. The genial and popular actor who scores once again in the First National production, ‘‘Flirtation Walk,’’ which @omes: to the 24.0. ese PReatne O80 cn. Jba tastes , gives eredit to Fate for whatever success he has had in the theatrical world. His rise to sereen prominence after ten years of struggle should uphold his belief. While working on the production of “Flirtation Walk,” Pat told the story of how he got his first film break. “J was playing the lead in a Broadway show called ‘The Up and Up’. The critics said I was pretty good in it. Right across the street was fhe theatre where ‘The Green Pastures’ was playing to sensational business, “One night a party of Hollywood people, including Marion Davies, Louis Milestone, the director, set out to see a play. They all wanted to see ‘Green Pastures,’ but Milestone had already seen it. So he left the party to come across the street to my show, agreeing to meet the others later. He saw Pat O’Brien for the first time—and was that a lucky break for me. “Months passed by, and “The Up and Up’ was onlp a fond memory. Mrs. O’Brien’s boy Pat was absolutely broke, and living in a $7 a week room just off Broadway. It was winter and things didn’t look any too bright. I only had a few dollars left in the world, and few prospects. “Then one night the phone rings, and the operator says ‘Hold on, California calling.’ Not knowing anyone in California, I concluded that some of my pals were having a laugh on me, but decided to see it through. It developed that Howard Hughes, the young millionaire producer, wanted me to hurry out to California to play the role of Hildy Johnson in his film version of ‘The Front Page!’ ‘Louis Milestone, it seems, hap pened to remember the actor he had seen in that play, ‘The Up and Up,’ and told Hughes that Pat O’Brien would be just the type to play the reporter. “So you see, Fate gave me a break. If I hadn’t been in a play right across from ‘The Green Pastures’ and if M Pat modestly omitted to mention the fact that he had toiled and struggled for ten long years before his big opportunity came knocking at his door. He had played in small stock companies, taking a new role every week for $35 a week, until he knew so much about acting that the creation of a role became secona nature to him. When he finally began to play roles on Broadway, he had more than his share of flops and discouragement. “The Front Page,” however, started him on the road to real success. For over three years, Pat O’Brien has been a favorite with screen patrons. First National is giving him _ big-time roles that are ideally suited to his breezy, likeable personality. Recently he has scored in “The Personality Kid,’ “Here Comes The Navy,” and “I Sell Anything,” and will add even more to his popularity in the first military musical “Flirtation Walk,” in which he shares stellar honors with Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. Special music and lyrics were written for the production by Allie Wrubel and Mort Dixon with’ dance numbers directed by Bobby Connolly. Frank Borzage directed the picture from the screen play by Delmer Daves, based on an original story by Daves and Lou Edelman. Page Eleven