Goodbye Again (Warner Bros.) (1933)

(Current Feature) Joan Blondell Meekly Took Orders From Cameraman ‘““Goodbye Again” Photographed by Hubby Who Had Pretty Star Stepping at His Bidding T isn’t often that a husband has a chance to tell a wife how to stand, walk, fix her hair, drape a dress and things like that. Mrs. George Barnes, however, who is known to fans as Joan Blondell, had to stand for just that type of ordering around from Mr. George Barnes, who is her recently acquired husband; and believe it or not—she obeyed him and liked it. It happened during the filming of ‘‘Goodbye Again,’’ the First National comedy-drama now at the ..........00.....ce Theatre with Joan in the leading feminine role and a supporting cast headed by Warren William, Genevieve Tobin and other Hollywood favorites. Mr. Barnes was the head cameraman on the latest Blondell picture. ) oh And cameramen stand next to ditee ee toe ceeel a believe. : ete George must have done it with mirrectors in their importance to the rn eae actual filming of a picture. It is phe ieee a ie ge they who are responsible for the| Cronies pointed out to Barnes his lighting, close-ups and innumerable | opportunities to “rib” Joan. They CURRENT FEATURES LAUGH RIOT AT STRAND Warren William and Genevieve Tobin who appear with Joan Blondell in First National’s smart comedy “Goodbye Again” now playing at the Strand Theatre. The picture is adapted from the tremendous stage success other details which determine the final appearance on the screen of the players in a feature. That’s why Joan had to take directions from friend hubby and like it. She probably would have anyway, they not having been married very long and “Goodbye Again” having been produced at a time when they should really have been on their honeymoon. But production schedules don’t take honeymoons into account and thus, for several days during — said he had the chance of a lifetime to tell a woman what is what. It was probably the only time in his life when he could have had the last word. At the finish of the picture his male studio associates shrugged in disgust. He was a traitor to maledom, for he didn’t even threaten Joan once. Such as saying that if she didn’t do something the way he wanted her to—well, he’d make a bad take of her and she would look pretty sour on the screen. No, WIS ONLY CHANCE To GET IN THE LAST WORD —AND HE PASSES IT UP: Too recent a groom to revel in the opportunity to rub it in. Cut No.10 Cut 30c Mat10c the filming of “Goodbye Again,” “Hold its!” “Stand theres,” and similar curt directions served as the language of love. The whole trouble with the situation lay in the fact that it came while Joan was still too young a bride to resent it and Barnes too recent a groom to revel in the opportunity to rub it in. Fancy the situation if the couple had heen married for say, six years. By that time the participants would have known what to do with the circumstances set before them, but because they were newlyweds everything was taken in good faith and Joan didn’t resent the necessarily peremptory orders and directions she had to take from the Number One cameraman, who happened to be her Mr. Barnes. | Joan Was Flattered As a matter of fact, the camera work on “Goodbye Again” went so well that Joan was touched and flattered when she saw the rushes on each day’s “takes.” Barnes, who had photographed Joan in a previous picture, “The Greeks Had A Word For It,” had, it seemed, brought out all the most charming attributes of his wife and had enhanced them to a point that even Joan didn’t think possible. She said, as a matter of fact, “It’s easy to be a beautiful screen star if your husband is cameraman and a good one. You can’t make me beliéve I really look like indeed. Barnes played the game exactly as a bridegroom would be expected to. And Joan didn’t mind anything that had to be done in the line of duty because she was a bride. | Modest Husband | In commenting on Joan’s appearance in the finished print of “Goodbye Again,” Barnes very cavalierly explained that the best cameraman in the world can’t make someone beautiful or handsome, if the basis of beauty isn’t there. That’s why he disclaims all credit for Joan’s striking charm in the new picture. He admitted that a cameraman can be clever about lighting and distances and close-ups so that the player’s less attrective features are less apparent. But he was emphatic in his statement that all the cleverness in the world won’t.show beauty where beauty never was. That was Barnes’ way of explaifiing that he had nothing to do with Joan’s alluring reproductions on the screen, except so far as the mechanical aspects of recording the scenes were concerned. Hubby George thinks wifey Joan screens beautifully because she is a swell-looking gal. He wants to be her cameraman again because she is such a credit to him and didn’t mind taking orders from him, even though he is her husband. Therefore it’s a more beautiful Joan than has ever been seen on the screen, in “Goodbye Again.” of the same name which enjoyed a record breaking run on Broadway. Cut No.11 Cut 80c Mati10c (Current Feature) Movies Can Be Naughty But Nice Says Warren William Thinks Stage Producers Wouldn’t Have Dared to Put on “Goodbye Again” 25 Years Ago ——— 6 HE screen, for many reasons, can’t be as daring or as naughty as the stage,’’ remarked Warren William one day at the First National studio during the making of “Goodbye Agaii’’ which is mow at the.) noice Theatre, but the motion picture of 1933 can. be far naught ier, and still be nice, than even the stage could have been twenty five years ago. ‘‘Take this play we’re doing, which is a current New York stage hit,’’ the star went on. ‘‘ Any producer who had dared to put on ‘‘Goodbye Again’’ in 1908 would have had the police about his ears at the second performance. “True, the bedroom farce flourished in those days, with many more bedrooms in it. “What was totally different was the audience point of view. And that necessitated a different approach to “Goodbye Again” on the part of both the playwright and the producer. The situations were the same as in 1908 because human nature is the same. But where today a play like “Goodbye Again” derives its spice and its zest from what the leading characters actually do, or have done, in those days everybody in what used to be called a ‘bedroom farce’ was perpetually on the verge of being compromised or getting into a scandal. The kick the audience got out of the situations was that they knew the leading characters were perfectly innocent, however circumstantial the evidence, while everybody on the stage was perfectly sure the hero and heroine had done everything they shouldn’t have done, and jumped on them accordingly. Their reputations may have been ruined, but their consciences were clear. And, of course, at the end of the show, they are vindicated and everyone lives happily ever afterward—or until the next escapade. | Were Always Saved “In some of those risque old pieces,” observed William, “it wasn’t the fault of the characters or their intentions that they didn’t break from six to eight of the command. ments before the play was over. Often they started out with the full intention of ‘painting the town red,’ or having ‘a night out,’ as it used to be called—but you can be sure that when the last curtain fell, they were still pure in spite of them selves. Something or somebody always turned up in time to preserve them from their lower natures. “Nowdays, what do we get? We let nature take its course. If a character wants to get into a mess, we let him do it. Our only concern is with his motives or his. intentions. If they are above suspicion and beyond reproach, everything is O. LS We permit our characters to make fools of themselves, or. worse, because people are doing just that in everyday life. ; “Take poor Kenneth ‘Bixby, the wayward author I play, in ‘Goodbye Again.’ If any one suggested to him that it would be fun to break up a nice, respectable marriage, he’d recoil in horror at the mere idea of such a thing. Yet when a casual girl friend of college days turns up to throw her arms around his neck and wants to become his soul-mate, the guileless soul is so inherently innocent that he dosen’t believe she means it. He can’t grasp the idea that she’s tired of her husband and wants him for a thrill. Then the fun begins. Motives That Count “In other words,” said William, “a surprising degree of naughtiness such as is contained in “Goodbye Again” is permissable in a modern screen comedy, if your character’s heart is in the right place. It’s motives that count, not actions. “Goodbye Again,” carries a strong cast headed by Joan Blondell, Genevieve Tobin, Wallace Ford, Helen Chandler, Hugh Herbert and Ruth Donnelly. Michael Curtiz directed the picture, which is adapted from the current Broadway hit by George Haight and Allan Scott. Page Seven