Gold Diggers of 1937 (Warner Bros.) (1936)

“GOLD DIGGERS , OF 1937 x *« *® *® Ww PUBLICITY — All Set For Biggest Hit Dick Powell, Joan Blondell (right) and Glenda Farrell (left) are three alumni of Gold Digger productions who have returned to the ‘‘Gold Diggers of 1937’? to make their biggest film hit. Accompanied by a score of Hollywood favorites and 200 dancing beauties, they will come to the cei Dae ia, See PheGtreOfertas cee ncces ss Mat No. 206—20ce Odd Side Lines Aid Support Of “Gold Diggers” Dancing in motion picture musicals is fine work when you can get it; but you can’t always get it. Because of this, a good percentage of Hollywood’s dancing girls have invested money and time in sideline hobbies and _ business ventures which help to bring the money in when they’re not tapping routines before the cameras. Ann Sparkling, for instance, owns a half interest in a hot dog stand located at a beach resort near Hollywood. Saving up most of her money earned in a last year’s musical production, she invested it with a friend who runs the stand. From this sideline venture she makes enough to keep her going when there is no work at the studios. Ann is one of the 200 dancing girls in the First National musical picture, ‘‘Gold Diggers of 1937,’’ WHICH COMES ~tOl OHO \i1...cctcci Whégtre. On wes. s.-.<.02.¢ Muriel Secheck, also a ‘‘Gold Digger,’’ devotes all her spare time to writing. She recently sold two original screen stories to major studios and has a third in preparation. Colleen Ward, petite brunette from Duluth, owns a partnership in a Hollywood floral shop. Between rehearsals at the studio she reads books on botanical subjects with an idea of making the venture a full-time job within a year or so. Marina Passerowa, a native of Prague, writes a weekly column of Hollywood gossip for Czechoslovakian newspapers. Other sidelines practiced by the ‘Gold Diggers’’ girls include dance instrvetion, lessons in golf and tennis, part time stenography, insurance selling, dressmaking and gymnastic instruction. ‘“Gold Diggers of 1937’? is the fourth of the famous and delightful ‘‘Gold Diggers’’ series turned out by the Warner Bros. studios. It is the funniest and most elabOrately mounted and cast of all of them. It stars Dick Powell and Joan Blondell, and the other noted players include Victor Moore, Glenda Farrell, Lee Dixon, the famed eccentric dancer; Osgood Perkins, Charles D. Brown, Rosalind Marquis and Irene Ware, plus 200 dancing beauties. Never Heard Of Dick Powell, He Tells The Star Dick Powell, film star, had to turn hiteh-hiker recently and thumb a ride. The miniature electric automobile he built himself broke down on the way home from the Warner Bros. studio, where he had been working in a scene for ‘‘Gold Diggers of 1937,’’ now showing Ob Me. rice Theatre. Six or seven ears passed the singing star before a man in an ancient flivver pulled up, offered him a lift and drove him to the gates of his home. ‘You must be a movie actor to have a house like this.’’ said the man as he let Dick out. **T do work in pictures,’’ answered Dick. ‘‘My name is Dick Powell.’’ ‘“Never heard of you,’’ answered the man. ‘‘The last picture I saw was ‘The Birth of a Nation.’ It was a pretty good one, too.’ Dancing Star Lee Dixon, 22 year old dancing star, has a leading role with Dick Powell and Joan Blondell in ‘‘ Gold Diggers of 1937,’’ the First National production which opens at URES aisestaeee cess ERGGUTE. ON 252 ri. se08 Mat No. 115—10c Unseen Men Are Vital Need In “Gold Diggers” Six extra men who worked in ‘‘Gold Diggers of 1937’’ at the Warner Bros. studios were told plainly that they’d never be seen on the sereen when the picture was released. To compensate them, though, they were paid twice as much as the average extra player. The reason for their obscurity was that they worked under water while the rest of the cast worked above! When the musical — now showingatethe= es: ac nae Theatre — went into production, Dance Director Busby Berkeley designed an unique ‘‘dance’’ number to be executed by chorus girls on the top of the water in a huge swimming pool built on one of the studio’s sound stages. When it came time to do the act, it was found that the most practical way of keeping the girls up was to have them supported by men underneath the water. As a consequence, six swimming extras who were able to hold their breath for 60-second periods at a time while below the surface were obtained for the sequence. Their sole job was to stand on the floor of the pool and hold the girls up as the camera trucked along the edge of the pool! It required three days to film the sequence on account of the short periods of time the ‘‘supporting players’’ could stay submerged. Produced on an even more elaborate scale than the preceding pictures in this series, ‘‘The Gold Diggers of 1937’’ is considered the tops for comedy and all-around entertainment. It stars Dick Powell and Joan Blondell, and the other noted players include Victor Moore, Glenda Farrell, Lec Dixon, Osgood Perkins, Charles D. Brown, Rosalind Marquis and Irene Ware, plus 200 dancing beauties. Lee Dixon Tells Amusing Stories With Agile Feet Pantomimie dancing routines which often take as long as eight or ten minutes to execute are the specialty of Lee Dixon, 22-year old dancing star whom Warner Bros. gave a leading comedy role with Dick Powell and Joan Blondell in ‘‘Gold Diggers of 1937,’’ now on view at the ...............0: Theatre. Dixon, who was picked up by the talent scouts while an entertainer with Rudy Vallee’s band at the Dallas Fair, guarantees that he can work out a ‘‘dance picture’? for any story or situation within an hour’s time. His favorite pastime is to learn the lyrics to a popular song and then devise a routine to tell the story of the song in dance steps. Those who have watched his routines around the set say that anyone familiar with popular songs can guess the title two or three minutes after Dixon has started tapping off his dance story. ‘Gold Diggers of 1937’’ is Warner Bros.’ latest contribution to this famous series of pictures and from all reports is the best of the lot. Bubbling over with swell comedy, it stars Dick Powell and Joan Blondell, and the other noted players include Victor Moore, Glenda Farrell, Osgood Perkins, Charles D. Brown, Rosalind Marquis and Irene Ware, plus 200 daneing beauties. The picture was directed by Lloyd Bacon and Busby Berkeley from a screen play by Warren Duff. Ms. And Mrs. Dick Powell and Joan Blondell fell for each other so hard during the filming of ‘‘Gold Diggers of 1937,’’ the First National filmuSicaL-coming -to2the sae TheaCL OVO: err cera , that immediately after the picture was completed they got married. Mat No. 108—10c Ever Get Seasick In Rocking Chair? Anti-seasickness pills were needed during the making of “Gold Diggers of 1937’ at the Warner Bros. studios, though the picture has nothing to do with the ocean. A lot of the chorus-girls became ill when they had to rock back and forth in immense rocking chairs used in one of the spectacular sequences, and after the first day every girl was given a pill. Price Of Popularity Dance Director Stages Triumph Without Scenery With dance directors developing muscular brains trying to outdo each other in devising unusual settings for spectacular musical numbers in pictures, Busby Berkeley, long admitted master of them all, doublecrossed his colleagues by using no background at all. Working on the theory that what happens on the set of a musical number is more important than the set itself, the director staged an elaborate creation for First National’s musical picture, ‘Gold Diggers of 1937’? with no set at all. The picture is now to be seen: at: the sorse..c..s Theatre. Two hundred girls work in abbreviated military costumes of pure white. The background, including the polished floor, is jet black. Set designers, the director explains, provide beautiful winding stair-cases and other fancy doodads, but they don’t tell what the girls are going to do on them. So in this number, which is called ‘¢All’s Fair in Love and War,’’ the object is to let the action carry itself. The girls are one army and the men are another. All are dressed in white, the trenches are white and even the rifles and .45 automatics. The snow white costumes against the jet black background present a striking effect in a precision number, one that it is believed will set a new vogue for spectacular musicals. ‘‘Gold Diggers of 1937’’ stars Dick Powell and Joan Blondell, and the other noted players include Victor Moore, Glenda Farrell, Lee Dixon, famed eccentric dancer; Osgood Perkins, Rosalind Marquis and Irene Ware, plus 200 dancing beauties. The picture was directed by Lloyd Bacon and Busby Berkeley, from a screen play by Warren Duff. Victor Moore, shown above surrounded with Gold Diggers who have dug successfully, is one of the leading fun makers among a score of mirth makers who appear with Dick Powell and Joan Blondell in the 5th and biggest of the now famous filmusical series ‘‘Gold Diggers of 1937,’’ which Opens Gb tN. cic cssccesiss. TRCOLPO ON ee ee a a Mat No. 214—206 Page Twenty-nine