Grand Slam (Warner Bros.) (1933)

CURRENT FEATURES Actress Can Charm When Garbed As Well As Not T’S an old theatrical theory ] world to believe her to be that an actress who wants the glamorous and alluring should not hide her body under too many clothes. : Glenda Farrell seems to be out to disprove this almost universally accepted theory. She is demonstrating, rapidly too, that it is possible to have allure, to possess glamor, to register ‘‘it,’? even to put forth sex appeal—which is all the other terms reduced to a common denominator — and not undress before the camera. She is out to demonstrate that while it may be clothes which make the man it is not the lack of them which makes an actress exotic. Miss Farrell has played so-called “sexy” roles almost without exception since she first appeared in pictures. She did something like that on the New York stage, too, and there is no doubt in the minds of members of any audience that sees her in any part but that she is peculiarly, exotically tempting, fem ‘inine and altogether desirable. Some such effect has been studiously produced with other actresses, some more noted than Miss Farrell is to date. Marlene Dietrich was daringly introduced to the public as a glamorous, different personality by the oldest means in the showman’s world, scanty attire. Miriam Hopkins had a similar start in pictures. In a lesser degree, perhaps Joan Crawford and Garbo have at times, discarded clothing to emphasize their charms. Glenda Farrell continues to wear hers and if anyone doubts her power to be seductive and alluring, they have only to see this blonde vamp in “Grand Slam,” a First National picture, now showing at the ...... Se ee ee ae Theatre, with Loretta Young and Paul Lukas in 20 ‘featured roles. “Vamps” and “sereen sireris,” “it girls,’ and “panther women,’’—all these are only terms which try to express the special appeal that the women credited with these descriptions, possess. The English language seems to lack better, more exact terms. Any of them or all of them or none of them at all apply to Glenda Farrell. She has that mysterious something without which a woman cannot stir the pulse of the world. And pulse stirring igs what Miss Farrell does best. She plays heavy roles, as in “I’m a Fugitive from a Chain Gang,” but she is an exotic “heavy,” a luscious, provocative, feline type of villainess whom everyone can understand and appreciate — and whom not a few people would be willing to forgive in exchange for her favors. In “Little Caesar,” even though she is a ballet dancer, she struts her sex appeal fully adorned in evening costume, not too decollette. She keeps the leaders of a gang of criminals dancing to her whims in the picture, at the same time she fascinates the public with her charms. She is a hard boiled reporter in “The Mystery of the Wax Museum” and appears mostly in street costume, yet she can no more help exhibiting her feminine attractiveness that a bird can help flying. Again in “The Match King” and “Life Begins” she is enticing without playing distinetively vampish roles. All this she does with a minimum display of anatomy. It is a new process for a screen siren but it works — with Glenda Farrell inside the clothes — it works. That is no assurance that it might succeed equally well with the others mentioned. Clothes seem to accentuate Miss Farrell’s powers to command pulse-quickened attention. The same clothes on Miss Dietrich might reduce the aggregate temperature of one of her audiences a thousand points, Miss Farrell is different that way! aia In “Grand Slam,” her latest screen play, Miss Farrell plays the part of an alluring though somewhat dumb blonde in a comedy that revolves around the great American pastime of Bridge. Others in the east of “Grand Slam” are Frank McHugh, Helen Vinson, Walter Byron, Mary Doran, Lucian Prival, Lee Moran and Emma Dunn. The screen play by Erwin Gelsey and David Boehm was adapted from the novel of B. Russell Herts. It was directed by William Dieterle. Loretta Young Enjoys Playing Leading Lady KING a star is not nearly as exciting as being a leading lady, in the opinion of Loretta Young, who appears this week in the First National picture, ‘‘Grand Slam”’ atte ee ee ... Theatre. In her several years of motion picture acting, Loretta, only 20 years of age, has to her credit a long list of roles opposite some of the greatest male stars that ever graced the screen with their presence. Her first big chance came when she, barely sixteen years old, played with Lon Chaney in “Laugh, Clown, Laugh.” That came not only as an opportunity for screen recognition for little Loretta, but as can be easily imagined, as the most momentous incident in her young life. Another great thrill in her screen history occurred when John Barrymore, known for the lengthy deliberation with which he selects a leading lady, chose her for the feminine part in “The Man from Blankley’s.” She has been featured in her own right, but her happiest memories are of playing opposite such great actors as Edward G. Robinson in “The Hatchet Man,” James Cagney in “Taxi,’ Walter Huston in “The Ruling Voice,” and now, with Paul Lukas in “Grand Slam.” In each of the pictures in whith Page Tex she appeared with these acknowledged great of the screen, Loretta Young felt that these roles were actually more important than the roles in the vehicles in which she was starred. In “Grand Slam,” Loretta, more charming than ever, plays the part of the wife of “The Great Stanislavsky,” played by Paul Lukas, formerly a waiter, who overnight becomes America’s greatest bridge authority. Together they tour the country as “America’s Bridge Sweethearts,” feted by the most exclusive society everywhere. Complications ensue, in which the “Sweethearts” go the way of so many other loving couples over a bridge table, and... but why tell more when you’ll want to see for yourselves. Those appearing in “Grand Slam” besides Loretta Young and Paul Lukas are Glenda Farrell and Frank McHugh, in the comic roles, Helen Vinson, Walter Byron and Roscoe Karns. William Dieterle directed ithe picture, i NE a A a eS I gf ind BYE ro os 28 Actors—50 Kibitzers Needed In “Grand Slam” to tell the breezy story of ‘‘Grand Slam,’’ the First Na Tic iat te bre actors and fifty kibitzers are required tional picture dealing, in romantic comedy tempo, with the current bridge craze, which is now showing at the ....... oi i oe oe ee ae eee Theatre. Never before, in the history of the stage or motion pic tures, have so many kibitzers been shown together. The num ber assembled for the _ bridge tournament in “Grand Slam” ranks with the herd of forty elephants photographed in one wild animal picture — a number that still remains a record. Expert kibitzer scholars, however, aver that this group of fifty is only a small percentage of the number living in Hollywood alone. The word “kibitzer” is a Yiddish word and in its best-known application, is used to describe a person who hovers) around a ecard game and tries to tell any or all of the players how to play their cards. More broadly, perhaps, a Kibitzer is a person who thinks he knows more about how anything should be done than the person who is doing it. Harry Seymour, who plays one of the fifty kibitzers in “Grand Slam,” was asked for a definition of the breed. “A guy who sees all, tells everybody and knows nothing,” was his reply. “T’d call anybody who went around giving advice before he found out whether it was wanted, a kibitzer,” observed Paul Lukas, who has the featured lead in the picture with Loretta Young. Miss Young agreed that the definition’ suited her idea of a kibitzer perfectly. Few people have the slightest idea as to the derivation of the word ‘kibitzer.’: it has its origin in the German word, ‘Kiebitz,’ which means a peewit. A peewit is a small hedge-bird, a busy little body that is continually hopping around in an officious manner and poking its head into everything in sight. Anyone who watches the behavior of a kibitzer around a bridge table for half an hour will agree that he is more like a human peewit than anything else, and that the shrewd person who first coined the word and applied it to that type of busybody, knew his birds and his human nature equally well. No bridge tournament held to decide the world’s championship, such as the one portrayed in “Grand Slam,” would be complete without its complement of kibitzers. To distinguish kibitzers from the lay spectators at the championship battle, and also to keep the tournament from becoming a riot, they are confined within a roped area near the players’ dais, and each one wears a number on his back like the members of a football eleven. Any undue outbursts from the kibitzer section were firmly and swiftly suppressed by the tournament officials. This tournament is one of the riotously funny high spots in a picture replete with humorous situations. The story, which is based on the novel by B. Russell Herts, is not, however, a technical exposition on the game of bridge, but a delightful comedy of the domestic tribulations that arise when a husband and wife become obsessed with the game. The story concerns a Russian waiter who knows next to nothing about the game, but whose phenomenal luck beats the “system” employed by the country’s bridge champion. He then sets up as an expert and wins fame and fortune through exploiting a “system” of his own, by which any couple. can play without ever quarreling. = gL eaR Wea ond hig hrida anand thar “0 Sa on <== honeymoon giving exhibition games, never quarreling, at least not in public. They become known as the Honeymoon Bridge Couple. The novel situations are made ludicrously funny in the screen adaptation by Erwin Gelsey and David Boehm. There is an excellent supporting cast to Mr. Lukas and Miss Young, which ineludes Frank McHugh, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Walter Byron and Roscoe Karns. The picture was directed by William Dieterle. Program or Newspaper Squibs and kicks off her pumps to made to her measurement. = Te Flashes From Hollywood Paul Lukas, who has the leading masculine role with Loretta Young in the Warner Bros.-First National picture, “‘Grand Slam,’’ was born in a railway coach. * % *% Loretta Young, the leading feminine star of Warner Bros.’ ‘‘Grand Slam”’ has a ‘‘little sister’? complex. Almost every day, she has a new story about the cute things her younger sister says. # # * Loretta Young, who with Paul Lukas, have the leading roles of the Warner Bros.-First National picture, ‘‘Grand Slam,’’ has a favorite ‘‘between-scenes’’ lounging costume. It is a richly embroidered Chinese coat with Chinese slippers. Each time she comes out of a scene, she slips on the coat striking slippers. % % %* Glenda Farrell, the feminine member of the comedy team of Farrell and McHugh of ‘‘Grand Slam,’’ the Warner Bros.-First National comedy which stars Loretta Young and Paul Lukas, is said to dislike loud, noisy people, bridge, golf, ice cream and driving her own car. % a6 * Loretta Young, that pretty and versatile star of ‘‘Grand Slam,’’ the Warner Bros.-First National picture which also features Paul Lukas, earned her first money in the movies when she was carried on the set in a Fannie Ward picture at the tender age of five. She gave it to her sister, Sally Blane. ¥* ¥ Loretta Young is eagerly awaiting the arrival of a luxurious new winter wardrobe imported from Europe. Any day now, she may be counted upon to dazzle the Hollywood natives with a series of Parisian creations specially Miss Young’s latest picture is “Grand Slam,’’ with Paul Lukas in the leading masculine role. rest her weary feet in the