He Couldnt Say No (Warner Bros.) (1938)

nn eh ieee “<i IME hunting Mama said. Do you love my daughter)” ‘he couldnt Say NO TT nt I The Star of — ONAHORSE’ In Another ~ Sill And — Comedy Riot | all the time his Secret passion = ay uu “Crammed Fall a stonyhearted ss Statue! He didn’t want to 5 ay yes, Of Laughs! —M. P. Daily (Lead) *‘He Couldnt Say No”’ New Comedy Coming to Strand “He Couldn’t Say No,” the intriguing comedy about a man who falls in love with a statue is the next attraction scheduled for the Strand Theatre where it will open on Friday. The statue is that of the young daughter of a Senator, whom Frank has long worshipped from afar, though he has never met her. It is put up at auction and Frank buys it with his last dollars, though he is only a poorly paid advertising clerk. This goofy action amazes two other women—a young girl who works in the same office with him. and her mother, who is trying to marry the girl off to Frank. These two are, respectively, Jane Wyman and Cora Witherspoon. The Senator’s daughter — who has posed for the semi-nude statue — is played by Diana Lewis, a newcomer to the movies. She is less than 5 feet tall; hence the statue, eight feet tall, was “larger than life.” But the purchase of the marble turns out to be no losing venture for the poor clerk. He has various good offers for it—from the Senator himself, who fears his political enemies will make capital out of it, and from certain gangsters, who want to use it to blackmail him with. Besides, Frank meets the lovely original of the work of art, who is the ideal of his dreams, and falls in love with her more deeply than ever. The story tells how the insignificant little clerk prevails over the Senator, the gangsters, and the scheming mother and daughter, and triumphs nobly in the end Told with a comedy twist, the story is said to be one of the most novel on the screen in many months. McHugh, who scored so notably in the top role of last year’s comedy “Three Men On a Horse,” is one of the screen’s lead creen Play nn Roberts Wh Novel Greeting There’s a street scene in “He Couldn’t Say No,” in which a radio sidewalk reporter steps up with his mike and asks various folks to say a few words. Every ‘impromptu’ speech was thoroughly prepared—except one. ing comedians and his portrayal of the timid clerk who turns caveman is said to excel every thing he has done on the screen to date. Joseph Schrank, one of the writers who prepared the script, had been worried because he has been too busy to go back to New York and visit his mother. Inspiration struck him suddenly. Replacing one of the extras, he stepped up to the mike and said “Hello, Ma, PU be home soon.” Lewis Seiler was the director and among the noted players in the cast apart from those named are Berton Churchill, Ferris Taylor, Tom Kennedy, Raymond Hatton, William Haade, Chester Clute and Rita Gould. Mat 204—sUc HE COULDN’T SAY NO—and it certainly lands Frank McHugh in a funny mess of trouble. He’s meeker and milder than ever in his new starring picture, ““He Couldn’t Say No,” coming to the Strand Theatre on Friday. Mat 302— 306 lines 45c. ADDITIONAL ADS ON PAGES FOUR AND FIVE. I (Advance ) Frank McHugh’s New Role A Composite of Many Men There’s a little of the Casper Milquetoast—the sensitive weakling—in all of us. We love liberty and the more or less plentiful benefits of our democracy—but we meekly submit to the upbraiding of a traffic cop and think of sassy rejoinders after he is gone. Most of us have been underdogs at one time or another and that’s why our sympathies are with the underdog. And that’s why Frank McHugh of the movies is delighted with his current role in Warner Bros.’ “He Couldn’t Say No,” a delightfully whimsical new comedy based on a national magazine story by Norman Matson. The picture comes to the Strand Theatre next week. “Tiambert T. Hunkins, the character I portray,” says McHugh, “is a composite of many men — and women, too, for that matter. He is a meek little underpaid clerk, who has been slapped into a colorless existence by life. “He is ideal fodder for the prospective mother-in-law and her scheming daughter who have their eyes on him. Then suddenly this idealist and dreamer, whose wellordered life has never known anything but calm, yields to a sudden, mad impulse. And in yielding to this suppressed desire he finds the courage that transforms him from the underdog to the man of the hour. “I am very fond of this droll, whimsical fellow, for he typifies the inhibitions and suppressed desires of all of us. And he should prove of inspiration to every Casper Milquetoast.” The scheming mother and daughter are Cora Witherspoon and Jane Wyman. Diana Lewis, a petite, entrancing screen newcomer, is the girl of Lambert’s dreams. Lewis Seiler, discoverer of Jane Withers, directed “He Couldn’t Say No,” which was adapted to the screen by Joseph Schrank, Robertson White and Ben Grauman Kohn. A statue for which she has posed becomes the object of Hunkins’ devotion. Miss Lewis actually posed for the statue, and one of the reasons she was chosen for the part was because her figure is so “sculptable.” He keeps his precious statue in his tiny apartment and tends it as carefully as he would a baby, protecting it from the cold with blankets and giving it a daily bath. That’s the kind of a guy Frank is! STATUE HOLDS UP FILM PRODUCTION Time and again a motion picture company has been forced to “shoot around” a player taking an enforced vacation through illness or injury, but recently for the first time on record, a company suspended production because of injury to a statue. During a comedy scene between Frank McHugh, the star, and Tom Kennedy for Warner Bros.’ “He Couldn’t Say No,” which opens next week at the Strand Theatre, an eight-foot statue of Diana Lewis was required to topple precariously on its pedestal. Invisible wires were used to aid in the toppling and as a safety measure. Suddenly, while the cameras were turning, one of the wires snapped and the 150-pound statue crashed to the floor, shattering a table, lamp and other set props. Fortunately the actors were out of range. Because the statue plays an important part in the story, production had to be suspended for the day, for the statue was broken beyond repair.