Frisco Jenny (Warner Bros.) (1932)

CURRENT PUBLICITY “Frisco Jenny” Packs Terrific Wallop POROOCO Ruth Chatterton in Title Role Gives Greatest Emotional Creation Since ‘‘Madame X’”’ It’s a Greater Chatterton Than Ever That Wrings Your Heart and Inspires Your Admiration (Prepared Review) HE Ruth Chatterton of her glorious successes ‘‘Madame X’’ and ‘‘Sarah and Son’’ returned to the screen of the .............. Theatre yesterday in First National’s colorful drama of the Barbary Coast, ‘‘Frisco Jenny,’’ and gave the greatest perform ance of her career in this powerful drama. In ‘‘Friseo Jenny’’ Miss Chatterton returns as one of the finest emotional actresses on the screen. Her portrayal of the sinsteeped mother who breaks every law of man but holds fast to the one great law of nature, mother-love, can be best described by that simple but sincere word ‘‘masterpiece.’’ We found Miss Chatterton as Jenny, daughter of a tough waterfront saloon-keeper in old San Francisco. The girl is in love with the piano-player of her father’s dive, but before both her lover morethana double tragedy for the girl as it forces her to beRUTII come an unwed CHATTERTON mother in the Cut No.7 mid st of the Cut 15e Mat 5e city’s Chinatown squallor. because of her environment, the girl is judged as unfitted for the child and her baby, Dan, is taken from her and placed in the custody of a respectable couple. Stunned by this blow and engulfed in the net of her miserable conditions, Jenny seeks a livelihood the easiest way and with the passing of years becomes a power in the underworld and the polities which it controls. Dan grows up, graduates from college, enters politics, and through his mother’s unseen power is elected to the district attorney’s office. As a reformer his first move is to stamp out Jenny and her associates, little dreaming that this notorious woman is his mother. One of the arrested ting knows Jenny’s. secret and threatens to win his freedom by telling. To prevent him, the woman is forced to commit murder to save her son’s name. In a climax ,that clutched the audience with the strong emotional fabric, the son unknowingly flays and scorns his mother and her past and succeeds in gaining a death penalty, aided materially by her refusal to offer a defense. And thus he, who received life from her, returns death in its stead. The story and characterization are far cries from the “Broad A” drawing-room parts which have been given recently to Miss Chatterton, but the capable star handles her delicate but difficult role with consummate skill. Doubtless much of the credit for Miss Chatterton’s greatness in “Frisco Jenny” belongs to William Wellman, the director. Wellman, famous for his gangster-picture successes, guides the fragile beauty of his star along the coarse, hardened passage with wunerring adroitness and understanding. ‘‘Frisco Jenny’? has everything a picture needs to be great entertainment. Supporting the glamorous star is a fine east, and a story crammed with action. One of the scenes depicts the earthquake which razed San Francisco, and it is undeniably one of the most thrilling ever filmed. Huge buildings actually rocking and erashing around the fleeing, frenzied citizens offer a faint idea of the breath-taking drama of the picture. “Frisco Jenny” will be hungrily welcomed by the fans. Page Four Opening Day Story “Frisco Jenny’ Stars Ruth Chatterton at The... Theatre Today Ruth Chatterton comes to the .... nae ee aes Theatre today in the First National picture, “Frisco Jenny,” in which she has a typical “Diamond Lil” role. The polished and dignified actress turns entirely away from her recent society roles in her latest starring vehicle, and reverts to a character part similar to those in which she made some of her early and “an $se Guistanuiig sucéesses, such as “Madam X” and “Sarah and Son.” In “Frisco Jenny” she appears as the Queen of the Demi-monde, who rules her kingdom with an iron hand, a woman hard and unscrupulous, yet with an underlying tenderness and so unsurpassable a love for her only son, that she goes to the gallows with sealed lips rather than acquaint him with his mother’s shame. “Frisco Jenny” is a stirring and glamorous tale of the old Barbary Coast of San Francisco, with its temples of pleasure, its gilded dives and gambling dens which formed the background for the wild orgies of the young bloods of the city a quarter of a century ago. Miss Chatterton is supported by an exceptionally strong cast which includes Donald Cook, James Murray, Louis Calhern, Hallam Cooley, Pat O’Malley, Robert Warwick, Harold Huber, Helen Jerome Eddy, Frank McGlynn, Sr., J. Carroll Naish, Noel Francis and Robert Emmet O’Connor. The picture, which covers the period of the great earthquake and the years following, is filled with thrills, ineluding the quake itself and the fire that followed, a dramatic court scene in which Miss Chatterton is branded by her own son and orgies in the gay dives. Tet day of run “Frisco Jenny’ Shows Longest Scene Filmed One of the longest single scenes ever shot at the Warner Bros. studio can be seen in “Frisco Jenny” First National picture starring Ruth Chatterton which is now at the ........... Pee Theatre. This scene running 5 minutes in screen time, was actually filmed in one “take.” When it is considered that a scene running from two to three minutes is regarded as an unusually lengthy accomplishment, the taking of a five minute scene can be better appreciated. Most scenes average from one to one and one half minutes in “shooting.” It took the studio half a day to shoot this one five minute scene. JAMES MURRAY Cut No.6 Outi15e Mat 5e De day of run Old Time Favorites Play important Parts in “‘Frisco Jenny’’ “Frisco Jenny,” Ruth Chatterton’s latest starring vehicle for First National, now showing at the ................ a Theatre., brings some notable favorites of yesterday back to the screen in small but important character roles. They were all cast in this picture because they were familiar with the things portrayed. _ Fritzi Ridgeway, who piayed in ~ “This Is Heaven,’ “Ladies of the Big House,” “The Mad Parade” and other noted pictures, emerges from obscurity as a hotel proprietoress at Palm Springs, to take a minor role. Fritzi says she is through with business and back in pictures to stay, whether she has leading or small parts. Hallam Cooley, who once had more leading roles than any player in Hollywood and then deserted the sereen for real estate, also stages a comeback, as does James Murray, who will be remembered for his part in King Vidor’s “The Crowd.” Pat O’Malley, of “Alibi,” “Hell Divers” and “The Fall Guy” fame, comes back as a cop in “Frisco Jenny.” Robert Warwick again appeares, although he had never entirely deserted the picture field. Constance Howard, sister-in-law of Cecil De Mille and former leading lady to John Roche, makes a comeback with her first talking role. “Frisco Jenny” is a stirring tale of the old Barbary Coast of San Francisco at the height of its glittering and fantastic existence, when “Jenny” ruled the underworld with an iron hand. Others in the cast include Donald Cook, Louis Calhern, Harold Huber, Helen Jerome Eddy, Frank McGlynn Sr., Noel Francis and Robert Emmet O’Connor. ES Several retakes followed lengthy rehearsals but five minutes of screen footage is considered a mighty fine morning’s work, inasmuch as the average picture running an hour in length, requires 30 days to “shoot.” This particularly long scene in “Frisco Jenny” shows Ruth Chatter ton, the star hailed before the police on a charge of murder. Originally the scene was written for 13 “takes” or individual sequences, but because Chatterton is so proficient and the other players in the scene. were so well rehearsed, director William Wellman decided to shoot the entire scene at one time. The screen play by Wilson Mizner and Robert Lord, is a tale of the Barbary Coast of old San Francisco during the earthquake days when dives and gambling. dens flourished openly. In the cast supporting Miss Chatterton are Donald Cook, James Murray, Louis Calhern, Hallam Cooley, Pat O’Malley, Harold Huber and Helen Jerome Eddy. 3rd day of run ‘Frisco Jenny’ Shows Picturesque Cafe Life Of Old Barbary Coast The singing waiter, without whom no night-life cafe, whether on the Barbary Coast in San Francisco or in New York’s Tenderloin, was complete twenty years ago, lives again in all his glory in Ruth Chatterton’s latest starring vehicle “Frisco Jenny,” a First National picture which is now showing at the ....... Theatre. The picture has its opening locale on the notorious Barbary Coast in 1906, the year of the great earthquake and fire. Such old favorites of those pre-war days as “San Francisco Bay” are warbled by Harry Seymour while serving drinks in Jim Sandoval’s “Comique” saloon, where the charming Miss Chatterton, in the shirtwaist, skirt and blonde hair of the period, is the “angel” of her father’s dive. Miss Chatterton, later, as “Frisco Jenny” a notorious character of the glittering days when the Barbary Coast was wide open and unchecked, rules her underworld with an iron hand in a story that is filled with dramatic thrills. Ath day of run Ruth Chatterton in Most Dramatic Film Oe of the most dramatic eourt scenes ever showed upon the screen takes place in the First National picture, “Frisco Jenny,” which is DOW -SHOWIMS AG tie! as cscliosinces ts Theatre. Here it is that Ruth Chatterton, as “Frisco Jenny,” is pilloried on the stand by her own son, who is ignorant of the fact that she is his mother. She sits silent as he acceuses her of being the evil genius of the Barbary Coast, notorious for its evil dives and its illicit traffic in women. Nor does she open her lips when she is convicted of murder and sentenced to be hanged, for, paragon of evil that she is, mother love withholds her from making known the facts she knows will destroy him. Ruth Chatterton’s role in “Frisco Jenny” is by far the most emotional one she has had since “Madame X.” The picture affords her a rare opportunity to display that great histrionic ability which has elevated her to her present high estate. This is a stirring tale of San Francisco’s water front along the Embarcadero in the days when temples of pleasure and gambling -— dens flourished unmolested in all their gilded. evil. 4h day of run Bill Wellman Likes To Watch Film Fight Standing Upon Table Every time a fight is photographed in a picture directed by Wiliam A. Wellman, a stout table is placed on the set. The table is not there for decorative purposes, but for Bill to climb upon, behind the camera, so that he can watch every detail of the battle. He finds this especially necessary when the combatants are struggling on the floor—and it is particularly true in the case of the battle between Lonis Calhern and J. Carroll Naish in “Frisco Jenny,” Ruth Chatterton’s latest starring vehicle for irst-Nutional: atetherecs ince Theatre. Miss Chatterton has the title role in the picture, which is a powerful drama of the old Barbary Coast.