Hard to Get (Warner Bros.) (1938)

CURRENT PUBLICITY NEW STAR TEAM IN “HARD T0 GED OPENING TODAY Dick .Powell and Olivia de Havilland, an entirely new romantic duo, are teamed in the leading roles of “Hard To Get,” a breezy, fast-moving comedy with many farcical complications, produced by Warner Brothers, which opens today at the Strand Theatre. The name of Dick Powell means, of course, that there is some music in the production, but it is far from being a musical picture of the routine type, for Dick sings only two songs and they are both introduced plausibly into the action of the piece. In fact, Dick is not, as usual, playing a singer in his latest picture. He is an ambitious and aggressive young business man who, at the outset, is shown as the manager of a combined gas station and auto camp, and most of the interest — as well as the farcical complications — arises from his efforts to interest some capitalists in his plan to establish a chain of auto camps across the country. Olivia is a spoiled and petulant heiress who buys gas and oil at Dick’s place and then finds she is without a cent to pay for it. Whereupon Dick, who doesn’t of course, know who she is, uses physical force to compel her to work out her bill by sweeping out and making the beds in the ten bungalows of his auto camp. Her father heads the company which employs Dick, so she attempts to get papa to discharge the young man, but her parent only laughs at her story, so she changes her tack and tries to get her revenge by tricking Dick into laying his plans before as hardboiled a group of capitalists as has ever been annoyed by a young promoter. He suffers many indignities, both physical and mental, but eventually he puts over his plan, and he gets the girl too, for Olivia has meanwhile fallen in love with the brash young fellow who gave her such a rousting about upon their first meeting. Besides Dick and Olivia, the other important members of the cast — and it is to be noted that they’re all expert comedians — include Charles Winninger, Allen Jenkins, Bonita Granville, Melville Cooper, Isabel Jeans, Penny Singleton, Grady Sutton and Thurston Hall. Suggested by a Stephen Morehouse Avery story, the plot was prepared by Wally Klein and Joseph Schrank and then made into a screen play by Jerry Wald, Maurice Leo and Richard Macaulay. The production was directed by Ray Enright. Jenkins A Boatman Allen Jenkins, Warner Bros. comedian now playing in ‘‘ Hard To Get,’’ which opens Friday at the Strand Theatre has finally launched his famous sail boat. Jenkins built the craft himself over a period of three years, 30 miles from the ocean. The boat turned out to be perfect. ‘‘It sails better than any boat I ever saw,’’ Jenkins said. ‘‘I’m taking all the studio scoffers like Jimmy Cagney and Pat O’Brien who predicted it would sink, down to see it.’’ Veteran Works Hard Charles Winninger, veteran comedian, put in so much strenuous exercise in his current role with Dick Powell and Olivia de Havilland in ‘‘Hard To Get,’’ that Charlie quit going to the. athletic club in the evenings for his formerly accustomed daily workouts. In the picture Winninger chases Olivia, stages a fencing match, a wrestling match, and a ping-pong bout with Melville Cooper. ‘‘Hard To Get,’’ opening today at the Strand Theatre. aR NEW ROMANTIC DUO — Olivia de 3 Mat 202—30c Havilland and Dick Powell are ae" teamed for the first time — in the interests of love and laughs — in “Hard To Get,” the comedy opening today at the Strand. (Review ) ‘Hard To Get,’ Romantic Comedy, Is Easy To Take STORY SYNOPSIS: (not for publication) — When Maggie Richards (Olivia de Havilland), spoiled young heiress, tries to charge some gasoline at an auto camp operated by Bill Davis (Dick Powell), he makes her work out her bill making beds. Resolved to get even, she pretends to have forgiven him, and sends him to her father to get financing for a clever scheme Bill has. This is the beginning of a runaround that gets merrier and faster by the minute. But Bill turns the tables neatly, tames both his little shrew and her father, and steps right into the family. “Hard To Get,” the Warner Bros. comedy which opened yesterday at the Strand Theatre, is certainly not hard to take. With Dick Powell and Olivia de Haviland — teamed for the first time — supplying a somewhat hectic romantic interest and more than a fair share of the comedy, and such other : comedy experts 2 as Charles Winninger, Allen Jenkins, Bonita Granville, Melville i Cooper, Isabel ; Jeans and Penny Singleton outdoing each Olivia other in the re Pusat Ont de Havilland hee oes new Strand picture proved to be one of the funniest in many a month. Although the emphasis of the picture is on comedy, Dick Powell did not disappoint the admirers of his vocal talents, for he sang two tuneful, clever new songs in the course of the proceedings. They are “You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby” and “There’s a Sunny Side to Every Situation,” both of which are first-rate examples of the art of that famous team of songsmiths, Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer. Mat 106—15c That, of course, constitutes the smallest portion of musi¢ in any of Dick’s pictures since he became a star, but this was precisely as he wanted it. He has, so we understand, been badgering the studio to be permitted to establish himself as primarily an actor and only secondarily a singer. His expert comedy portrayal in “Cowboy From Brooklyn” gave him a ftying start toward his self-chosen goal, and in “Hard To Get” he has arrived there. Olivia, of course, is no stranger to comedy, and this latest of her pictures gives her another ingratiating opportunity to exhibit the versatility whic: permits her to be equally acceptable as the lovely and serious Maid Marian of “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” the willful ingenue of plotting to get “Call It a Day” and “It’s Love I’m After” and the spoiled and petulant heiress of “Four’s A Crowd.” In “Hard To Get,” she’s again an heiress — daughter of a somewhat eccentric millionaire played by Charles Winninger as only Charlie can play such characters — and she’s plenty spoiled. But she is, in this, also plenty smart, and it is her shrewd even with Dick for an indignity suffered at his hands which is responsible for all the amusing misadventures that befall him. When she learns he has a clever scheme for which he needs backing, with apparent kindness, Olivia tells him how he can get in to see the crusty old capitalist who is really her father, and Dick does get in to see him all right, but his only accomplishment during the following weeks is to get kicked about, both literally and metaphorically, by the capitalist and his associates. Dick learns of the trick that has been played on him, and he gives up in disgust, only to be pursued himself by Winninger and associates, who appreciate his idea when they learn that a rival capitalist intends to finance it. Their pursuit carries them, in one of the most amusing scenes in the picture, to the thirty-fifth story of an incompleted skyseraper, where Dick is working as a riveter. So, all ends well for Dick, both financially and romantically, for his little shrew has been tamed meanwhile and realizes she loves him. Suggested by an original story by Stephen Morehouse Avery, the plot of “Hard To Get” was devised by Wally Klein and Joseph Shrank, and the final screen play was written by Jerry Wald, Maurice Leo and Richard Macauley. The direction added another triumph to the achievements of that ace comedy director, Ray Enright. Mat 105—15e Dick Powell [42] Melville Cooper Wouldn't Employ Himself As Butler By CARLISLE JONES Ninety-nine out of every one hundred Americans are afraid of butlers. This observer, a brave man in his own opinion, in most matters, shares this peculiar phobia. Even with movie butlers he is self conscious. Melville Cooper is a movie butler in the Warner Bros. picture, ‘*Hard To Get,’’ which opens today at the Strand Theatre, with Dick Powell and Olivia de Havilland in the leading roles and Charles Winninger as the shorttempered millionaire whom Cooper serves. And a very butlerish butler he is! He has the cold and appraising eye that tells you instantly that your tie has been badly tied, that you shouldn’t wear brown shoes with a blue serge suit and that no gentleman would tolerate ashes on his vest. He was standing very meekly just a little to one side and behind the ‘‘master,’?’ Mr. Winninger, when we found him, before the camera and under the protecting sidewalk sheds of a new building, supposed to be an uncompleted skyscraper. Winninger was _ talking like the testy old gentleman he is supposed to be and Cooper was looking very like a perfect butler, mackerel-eyed and silent, except for an occasional sotto voice aside to his employer. When the scene was finished Cooper moved out of the set and plunked himself into a chair, assuming a very unbutlerlike posi tion yet retaining all the facial blankness of the role. Your correspondent, sharply conscious of his own deficiencies of wardrobe, sat down beside him. ““You have a butler of your own, Mr. Cooper,’’ he ventured. ““Yes,’? said Mr. Cooper. ‘““Are you using him as a pattern for this part???’ ““He would be grossly insulted,’’ said Cooper with just a trace of a chuckle. ‘‘He is a good butler.?? “And you think you are not?’’ ““No theatrical butler would be a good butler in real life,’’ he said solemnly. ‘‘I think you know phate? This observer didn’t know it. He knows very little about butlers and butling but he didn’t intend to let Mr. Cooper suspect how ignorant he was on the subject. ““A good butler,’’ Mr. Cooper continued, ‘‘is a gift from heaven. A work of art. Manna in the wilderness. A movie butler is invariably a smart aleck, a comedian— and there could be no living with him in real life.’’ “And you are a comedian at heart?’’ we asked. ““In this role,.yes,’’ said Mr. Cooper. ‘‘Here I am a stage butler and I’m trying to play the part like one.’’ ““But you wouldn’t employ yourself, if you were offered your services??? *“Never!’’ BIT PLAYER WINS NOVEL BABY RACE Dale Van Sickle, one of the bit players, was winner in a recent “first-baby’’ race among the male players on the set of Dick Powell and Olivia de Havilland’s comedydrama, “Hard To Get’ at Warner Bros. Studio. Van Sickle has one of the subordinate roles in the film. His first born, a boy weighing 7 pounds, was born in California Hospital during the filming of the picture, while Dick Powell, the star, and Allen Jenkins, who plays Powell’s chum, Roscoe, were waiting to receive news about their wives in other maternity wards. The Powell and Jenkins babes didn’t arrive until after “Hard To Get” was finished. Charlie Winninger Was School Athlete The secret of the pep which Charlie Winninger, veteran whitehaired comedian, put into a tenday athletic rivalry with Melville Cooper in scenes for the hilarious Dick Powell Olivia de Havilland comedy romance, ‘‘ Hard To Get,’’ was revealed recently by Charlie’s stand-in. The stand-in is_ his brother, Adolph. ‘¢When we were boys in Wasau, Wisconsin, we both played on the baseball and football teams of the high school,’’ Adolph relates. ‘‘Charlie pitched and played third base on the baseball team. In football, he was sort of small, but he was a good drop kicker.’’ Adolph himself played second base on the ball team. In those days the two brothers barnstormed through the summer with the ‘‘Winninger Family Concert and Novelty Company’’ which was a troupe whose nucleus was Papa and Mama Winninger, their sister, Theresa, and the family’s five brothers. ““We were sinewy and strong,’’ Charlie explains. ‘‘And my brother Adolph and I accumulated a reserve of good health which has helped us all our lives.’’ Her Name Qn Chait Pleases Young Star Though she had been a star for nearly two years, Olivia de Havilland only recently got a big canvas-backed chair with her own name on it. She probably still wouldn’t have one were it not for Lou Hafiey, property man assigned to Warner Bros.’ ‘‘Hard To Get’’ company. ‘“‘Hard To Get ’’ is the delightful aR SNe Mat 104—1ic OLIVIA De HAVILLAND — currently playing in “Hard To Get” at the Strand Theatre. new romantic comedy now showing at the Strand Theatre. Miss de Havilland walked onto the set of the picture in which she and Dick Powell are co-starring on and there was the chair. It developed that Hafley had never before been assigned to a production starring Miss de Havilland. Being a conscientious young man, before the start of the picture he went to the room in the property department where stars’ chairs are stored between pictures. He couldn’t find Miss de Havilland’s, so he promptly had a new one made up with her name on it. Apparently, according to Miss de Havilland, the property men on her previous pictures just hadn’t thought of putting her name on a chair. Needless to say, Lou Hafley is now Miss de Havilland’s favorite property man.