Four Daughters (Warner Bros.) (1938)

FOUR DAUGHTERS PRESENTS UNIQUE FAMILY PROBLEM “Four Daughters”, Warner Bros. picturization of a famous Cosmopolitan magazine story by Fannie Hurst, which is scheduled to open at the Strand Theatre Friday, poses a unique problem in human relationships as its theme. What happens when four devoted sisters all fall in love with the same man? The man in the case is Jeffrey Lynn, one of the screen’s newest and most handsome leading men, who makes it quite believable that four girls would fall headlong under the spell of his charm, An unusual bit of casting places the three Lane sisters — Priscilla, Rosemary and Lola—in the roles of screen sisters, with Gale Page, a dark-haired beauty recently come to the screen, making a fourth. Of interest to theatregoers is the casting of John Garfield, the leading young character actor of the Broadway stage, in another featured role in “Four Daughters,” which marks his screen debut. The story, adapted from the Fannie Hurst original by Julius J. Epstein and Lenore Coffee, works out a logical and deeply moving solution to the problem posed. Under the direction of the brilliant Michael Curtiz, the picture has been hailed by previewers as an outstanding choice for the Academy Award for 1938. JOHN GARFIELD IS STAR OVERNIGHT John Garfield, new Warner discovery who has risen to overnight stardom in “Four Daughters” coming to the Strand Theatre, hopes that his film demise in that picture will please the public just as much as his stage death in “Golden Boy” on Broadway. It was John’s violent passing in “Golden Boy” that won him his motion picture contract. Mat 101—15c¢ JOHN GARFIELD—plays a featured role in “Four Daughters” coming to the Strand Theatre. There evidently is something about John’s ways or his appearance that makes young Mr. Garfield a popular candidate for death in an auto. In “Golden Boy” he crashed to a tragic passing in a motor accident on Long Island. In “Four Daughters” he drives a car into a tree, and passes out with a smile on his face in a hospital. “In real life I have only had one minor accident,’ Garfield says. “But I’m a guy who can take a hint. I have gone out and renewed my auto insurance.” Advance PUBLICITY SLL SSS SSS SSL LLJLJJJJJJJ JJ JJG wowy Mat 302—45c “FOUR DAUGHTERS” AND THEIR BOY FRIEND — Jeffrey Lynn (center), new screen “find”, walks away with the hearts of (left to right) Gale Page, Priscilla Lane, Rosemary Lane and Lola Lane in “Four Daughters”, the film version of a famous story by Fannie Hurst, coming to the Strand. i ‘Four Daughters’? Coming to Strand Based on Famous Fannie Hurst Novel “Four Daughters,” the Warner Bros. picturization of a famous story by Fannie Hurst, will open at the Strand Theatre on Friday.: A moving tale of four devoted sisters who fall in love with the same man, the film has one of the most unique casts in motion picture history. Given stability by the presence of such tried and true performers as Claude Rains, May Robson, Frank McHugh and Dick Foran, the cast is made remarkable by a couple of striking circumstances. First, it marks the only time in motion picture history when three sisters not only played important roles in the same picture but were, in fact, cast as sisters. They are, of course, the Lane girls, Priscilla, Rosemary and Lola. The fourth sister, incidentally, is played by Gale Page, who is said to fit beautifully into the Lane ensemble. The Warner studio also chose this vehicle to introduce simultaneously two of the most prom ising young actors it has ever presented in its long history of star-making. They are Jeffrey Lynn, tall, handsome and charming—a promising candidate for feminine-heart palpitator No. 1., and John Garfield, already famous on the Broadway stage as a young character actor. Lynn plays the captivating youth with whom the sisters all fall in love. He, however, shows a clear preference for the youngest, played by Priscilla Lane. The announcement by Priscilla of her engagement to Jeffrey is a sad blow to the other three girls but one from which they manage to recover easily, especially since they are all so devoted tu Priscilla that no question of jealousy is involved. All seems to be going smoothly until the day that Jeffrey and Priscilla are to be wed. It is then that a down-at-the-heel musician, played by John Garfield, tells Priscilla that her oldest sister, portrayed by Gale Page, is deeply in love with Jeffrey and is broken-hearted over the impending wedding. The bond between the oldest and the youngest of the girls is so deep that Priscilla cannot bear to be the instrument of her beloved sister’s unhappiness. Acting upon a sacrificial impulse, she runs away only a few moments before her scheduled wedding to Jeffrey and marries Garfield. This starts the chain of circumstances which make the story of “Four Daughters” a rich and human experience. And while the mood is sometimes that of tragedy, it has many gay and light-hearted moments, and it ends, indeed, on a note of uproarious comedy. The Fannie Hurst original was fashioned into a screen play by Julius J. Epstein and Lenore Coffee, and the production was directed by Michael Curtiz who recently made history with “The Adventures of Robin Hood.” Greeted no less enthusiastically by the metropolitan press than by the thousands who jammed New York’s Radio City Music Hall for its world premiere was “Four Daughters,” the film opening Friday at the Strand. Abandoning the usual Hollywood adjectivial measure of success of words such as “gigantic,”’ “colossal,” and “stupendous,” New York reviewers summed it up in one word, “charming,” or as Walter Winchell said, “The rave of the city, to read the critics, is ‘Four Daughters’ at the Music Hall. It gives your emotions a workout. Pictures like ‘Four Daughters’ will put Bank Night out of business.” Of the Fannie Hurst story, New York’s critical critics said, “A charming, at times heartbreakingly human, little comedy about life in a musical family of attractive daughters,” (New York Times); or “unquestionably a crowd pleaser... one of the best” (Post); “everything, that goes to make up exceptional film fare—humor, pathos, drama” (World-Telegram). Perhaps the greatest single occurrence having to do with “Four Daughters” on reading the critics appears to be the debut of John Garfield, brilliant young actor recruited from the Broadway stage. Of him the Times said, “one of the best pictures of anybody’s career, if only for the sake of the marvelously meaningful character of Mickey Borden as portrayed by John Garfield, who bites off his lines with a delivery so eloquent that we still aren’t sure whether it is the dialogue or Mr. Garfield who is so bitterly brilliant.” Or the Post: “marks the entrance of a major talent into the screen @ Motion Pictures Are Your Best Entertainment @ [6] Critics Acclaim ‘‘Four Daughters’”’ world”; and again, the Daily News: “his performance... is deftly and deeply engraved on the screen.” The notice attracted by John Garfield is not as if to detract from the other performers. The sisters are played by Priscilla, Rosemary and Lola Lane, and Gale Page, and the Daily News says, “The four girls are perfect.” The Evening Sun: “... with Priscilla giving a particularly touching performance.” Jeffrey Lynn, handsome lead, Claude Rains, and May Robson, playing the father and aunt of the girls, also come in repeatedly for plaudits until it is unmistakable that the Strand audience this Friday will, like the Music Hall’s premiere patronage, “receive it with bounteous applause.” To quote the Herald Tribune: ““Rour Daughters’ is a credit to the motion picture industry.” SISTERS STARRED TOGETHER IN FOUR DAUGHTERS: The girls get their innings this week when “Four Daughters”, the Warner Bros. picture adapted from a famous Cosmopolitan story by Fannie Hurst, opens at the Strand Theatre on Friday. Priscilla, Rosemary and Lola Lane, Hollywood’s only three sister stars, and Gale Page, a lovely Spokane newcomer, have the title roles, and it is around them that the bright and charming story revolves. The daughters of an elderly musician, played by Claude Rains, theirs are all the joys and sorrows of small-town girls whose lives are full of work and play, dreams and ambitions. Of course where there are four pretty girls, four young men are likely to put in an appearance. And they do, in the person of Jeffrey Lynn, a handsome screen newcomer who seems destined for stardom, John Garfield, a young character actor recruited from Broadway and the Group Theatre, Dick Foran and Frank McHugh. May Robson is on the spot to act as chaperone. The Fannie Hurst story was adapted for the screen by Julius J. Epstein and Lenore Coffee. Michael Curtiz directed. JEFFREY LYNN IS NEW FILM FIND For his quick rise to film fame, Jeffrey Lynn can thank three people — a casting director, Errol Flynn and Bette Davis. Jeffrey, acclaimed by the critics as the year’s star discovery, owes his present featured place in the cast of “Four Daughters,” the Warner Bros. picture opening Friday at the Strand Theatre, to a combination of happenings revolving around these three people. The casting official spotted Lynn about a year ago when he was playing in “Brother Rat” in Los Angeles and gave him a Mat 102—15c JHFFREY LYNN—new screen “find” who is featured in “Four Daughters” coming to the Strand. screen test. When Bette Davis and some of the studio heads were looking through a batch of screen tests to find the right young man to play a featured role in “Jezebel”, up popped Mr. Lynn, and Bette spotted him as just what the script ordered. But by the time he had gone to Chicago with the “Brother Rat’ company and by the time he arrived in Hollywood, “Jezebel” was finished. Then came “Four Daughters,” with Errol Flynn slated for the romantic lead. But Errol chose that time to get more interested in fishing. They gave Jeffrey the role and gave Hollywood a brand new star.