Lilly Turner (Warner Bros.) (1933)

a CURRENT FEATURES Current Feature Reporter Visits Home of Chatterton and Blows Fuse Star of “Lilly Turner” Adamantly Refuses to Lend Self For Personal Publicity Purposes By CARLISLE JONES UTH CHATTERTON and George Brent live in a severely plain, white colonial house on a quiet street in Beverly Hills, California, north of the ‘‘tracks’’ and in what is ce generally conceded to be the city. In this well ordered home next to the best’’ district in the no reporter is exactly welcome. The friendly, open-faced house is closed to those who would broadeast its secrets to an eager world. So it came about that when the aloof Miss Chatterton consented to ‘‘sit’’ for home portraits, which were needed for her latest First ‘‘Tilly Turner,’’ Theatre, your unofficial observer donned cap National picture, now showing at the.........0...0... and overalls and went along as the photographer’s assistant. | “‘Fuse-blower’’ Better Name | Fuse-blower is a better name. In making home portraits of stars, it is the assistant’s business to get as much light as possible onto the subject being photographed. Often this leads to an overload on domestic wiring and the consequent blowing of a fuse. Hence the name. Now your unofficial observer, dis WAIN Ua ASO pry tvesgt apie ee has blown fuses in many of Hollywood’s best homes. It is an open secret that the laundry at the Barbara Stanwyck-Frank Fay menage was without electric power for two days following our visit there. John Barrymore’s doorbells didn’t ring for weeks after we made ‘‘home pictures’? of that new baby, and William Powell’s pipe organ went without wind for ever so long due to the confusion in the fuse box resulting from our efforts to get light into his ‘“oame’? room. We were determined then as we rang the front door bell that no such intoward incidents should mar the success of our venture into the hitherto forbidden domain of the Chatterton-Brent household. Longworth, the photographer, who was armed only with Miss Chatterton’s oral permission to make these pictures, explained our mission to the butler who came to the door. The butler seemed unimpressed. We learned later that his name is Ernest and he was all of that. ‘¢Miss Chatterton,’’ he declared, ‘thas said nothing to me about it.’’ But it takes more than that to discourage Longworth, who is widely and favorably known among the film favorites as ‘‘Buddy’’ and whose favorite exclamation, for some unknown reason, is ‘‘thirty dollars.’’ Oecasionally, when unusually excited, he has been known to yell ‘‘forty dollars,’’ but he never goes higher than that. ‘¢Forty Dollars!’’ yelled buddy and the butler jumped slightly, ‘‘ Miss Chatterton told us to come and here we are.’’ “We'll Wait” | And the first thing we knew there we were indeed, in the ChattertonBrent living room listening to a still uncertain butler telling us _ that neither Miss Chatterton nor Mr. Brent were home. cCMirty ~ dollars, ’” ‘“¢We’ll wait.’’ It was a large, pleasant but quite ordinary room, carpeted in green, Miss Chatterton’s favorite color, and located to the left of the entrance hall. Centered by a blazing grate fire, it proved to be a comfortable waiting place and Miss Chatterton’s tardiness gave us the welcome opportunity to look around. Truthfully there was not much to see. It is a rented house in which the Brents live and, it appears, most of the furnishings are rented, too. said Buddy. wy ASSIStadill, They are substantial, costly, but in no way spectacular. | Both Husbands’ Pictures On the piano in the living room stands a large framed portrait of George Brent. It is a good likeness of his pleasant face. On a small table between the two street windows in the same room is an equally large, framed photograph of Ralph Forbes. Buddy thought he might get a picture of Miss Chatterton standing by the piano and between the two pictures, but he was mistaken. At the end of a half hour Miss Chatterton and Mr. Brent arrived. She came in pleasantly, greeted Buddy and asked how much time he diessed im a > a dark street dress and Mr. Brent had on polo togs. , During our wait Buddy had planned his campaign. He outlined it briefly. He wanted pictures of Miss Chatterton and some of Miss Chatterton and Mr. Brent, taken in interesting spots all over the house. Miss Chatterton vetoed it all with a single gesture. | Star Lays Down the Law | ‘‘No pictures showing the house,’’ she said. ‘‘Just portraits, please.’’ Buddy showed his disappointment. Miss Chatterton remained unmoved. Outside it had grown dark and Miss Chatterton glanced at the clock. ‘‘ And we must hurry,’’ she added, ‘‘ we have a dinner engagement.’’ ‘Thirty dollars,’’ said Buddy and we went to work. Miss Chatterton went into a pose on the stairs; Mr. Brent went to his room to dress for dinner; Buddy went under the black cloth behind his camera and your unofficial observer went out to the fuse box to watch the sparks fly. They flew, too. When the last extra fuse was in place, your observer retreated hastily through the kitchen, past Ernest and on into the living quarters to warn Buddy about the situation. They were in the card room by that time, both Miss Chatterton and Mr. Brent and both in dinner dress and Buddy had just made the last picture. It was just as well, because the lights in the living room wouldn’t work anyway and Ernest, as_ he showed us out, commented caustically upon the peculiar way the electric ice box was refusing to make ice. | Her Daring New Role | In ‘‘Lilly. Turner,’’ Miss Chatterton takes a daringly new role, that of a tawdry earnival performer who drifts from one show to another, leaving a trail of lovers in her wake. George Brent, her leading man, finally comes into her life, the one man she has ever met whose chief aim in life is not to prey on pretty women. Others in the cast include Frank McHugh, Ruth Donnelly, Guy Kibbee, Gordon Westcott and Marjorie Gateson. The sereen play by Gene Markey and Kathryn Scola is based on a drama by Philip Dunning and George Abbott. ‘William A. Wellman directed. | would need for the pictures. She was | @ Ce eee eee cetera ee a ea cee e ee eee eer ee rere eee eee ee ei eee ee eee eee ee eee ee ee ec eee ee eee sacar oat ARE ERNE PE SIGPSTGE NE SRRIEIREUUDT IGT GSS] ALE TONES ATT SILT AE TSP SN TTD Ruth Chatterton and Frank McHugh are both in First National’s dramatic “Lilly Turner,” the picture made from the Broadway stage success. Also prominent in the cast is George Brent. Out No.4 Cut80c Mat 10c Current Feature All Hollywood Agog When Chatterton Starts Work Her First Day on “‘Lilly Turner’? Set, Found All Connected With Studio Under High Tension HATT ERTON’S starting a picture.”? = Throughout Holly wood the news is told. a Chatterton’s starting a picture, ‘Lilly Turner,’’ which is now playing at the Theatre. For weeks prior to this eventful day, writers have written, executives have ‘‘execed,’’ dressmakers have made dresses, property boys have gathered props, art designers have designed artful settings, painters have painted, hairdressers have designed hair dresses and several hundred other artisans and laborers have given their time and directed their energies toward this particular day. ee a ee ee ee ‘The day when Chatterton starts a picture. It begins early. By four o’clock, long before daylight, the mills are humming and a long line of workmen has filed through the First National studio gates to put the finishing touches on the first Chatterton sets. Even in the well ordered Chatterton-Brent home in Beverly Hills, there is a semblance of excitement. The household is astir early and the chauffeur has the big ear polished an hour earlier than usual. Scotty, the property man, who has been up half the night gathering the last of a long list of props for the picture, is at work again by daylight. There is no telling what a director will expect of a prop man on short notice. | Ready at Eight | By eight o’clock, then, on _ the morning Chatterton starts her picture, everything is in readiness for her arrival. The ‘‘inside rag man’’ has given his final approval of the dressing of the set. The art director has agreed. Electricians, ‘‘grips,’’ cameraman, sound experts, script girl, the director’s assistant and the assistant’s assistant, are on the job an hour ahead of time. At eight o’clock the big black Packard ear with the initials R.C.B. on its sides, glides through the studio gates and halts close by the entrance of the Chatterton bungalow. Miss Chatterton gets out and goes in. In short order a dozen studio employes hurry along in that direction. There is Orry-Kelly, studio costume designer, with plans for the dresses Miss Chatterton is to wear later in the production. There is portrait artist Elmer Fryer, with portraits of the star on which he wishes her approval. There is Pere Westmore and his crew of assistants, hair dressing and makeup experts who are to change Miss Chatterton within the hour from a sleek lady of fashion to | McHugh, Ruth Donnelly, Guy Kibbee, a carnival hussy in tights. Gordon Westcott and Marjorie Gate There is the assistant director on! son. e hand to outline the scenes and costume changes for the day; there is Miss Chatterton’s secretary, Miss Gray, the chauffeur, waiting to drive her to the stage—and your bewildered correspondent, trying to get a story. As nine o’clock, the zero hour for the start of the Chatterton picture, nears, the tension grows. Two minutes before the hour Miss Chatterton leaves her bungalow, alone, enters the car and is driven to the sound stage door. There is one moment of awful silence as she nears the set. Director Wellman, his unruly hair already well ruffled, walks out to greet her. She smiles charmingly and chats with him a moment. Then she goes to the members of the crew who have worked with her on other pictures, speaks to each individually, says she is glad to see them working with her again and disappears into her portable dressing room nearby for a final look at her makeup. Director Wellman explains the first scene, which is not, it appears, the first scene in the picture by any means. It is a scene in which Miss Chatterton, in her scanty costume, poses as a living artist’s model within a crude frame on the lecture platform of a quack health doctor. Guy Kibbee is the doctor. When Miss Chatterton emerges from her dressing room the scene is explained again. They rehearse, Miss Chatterton still wearing the flaming kimona. ‘““Shall we take it?’’ demands Wellman, excitement getting the better of him. ‘‘Tet’s’? says Miss Chatterton, throwing the dressing gown over the back of her chair and stepping onto the platform in her revealing costume. ‘<Turn ’em over.’? That’s what happens when Chatterton starts a picture. And that’s what happened when ‘‘ Lilly Turner’’ was put into production with Miss Chatterton and a strong supporting east, including George Brent, Frank PREIS SS SM a I a TI ai Pe RY IE NCR ESA ES EI oN nS MSO DoE aN BR cece es 2s ie 4 \ (Current Short Feature) Studio Crowd Tried To See Chatterton Do Her Cooch Dance ‘‘Tadies and gentlemen. I am sorry to say that Miss Chatterton has hurt her hand and will be unable to dance the cooch dance this afternoon. Now everybody who thinks they have business on this set can go back to their offices and go to work.’’ The above speech by Director William A. Wellman probably will go down in studio history as the most remarkable speech ever made on the First National lot. Remarkable for many reasons, but primarily because it was true. Ruth Chatterton had hurt her hand; seriously, it developed, with two fingers broken when an automobile door was accidentally closed upon them. And until she hurt her hand she had expected to dance what is commonly known as the ‘‘hoochi-coochi’’ for the benefit of the cameras and her latest picture ‘‘Lilly Turner,’’ now showing at the Theatre. It was a day for which the studio had waited quietly but expectantly. In some mysterious way, word went around that the time had arrived for Miss Chatterton to make the much discussed dance scene. The story of ‘‘Lilly Turner’’ is the story of life behind the scenes of carnivals, medicine shows and quack ‘‘health lectures’? and a part of the unusual requirements for the role was that Miss Chatterton, the dignified lady of the screen, was to do a most undignified and unladylike Cance on a plat form in frent of 9 tent show. —— interes. _ ene. seucus Of people found business to do on the set. that afternoon. The prospect of seeing the elite Miss Chatterton going through the contortions of a muscle dancer was too tempting to pass up. And this led to Director Wellman’s remarkable speech. It is altogether possible that had Miss Chatterton not burt her hand during that particular noon hour, she would have insisted that some of the augmented picture crew be dismissed from the stage before she started the dance. She was saved the necessity of making such a demand by the unhappy accident to her hand. Care was taken to see that the time for the dance scene, when it was finally made, was kept a secret from all except the workers it was necessary to have on the set. As it was, only a few people in the studio can boast of having actually seen Miss Chatterton dance the ‘‘hoochicoochi.’? But if Miss Chatterton hadn’t suffered an accident to her hand and if Director Wellman hadn’t made his sarcastic speech when he announced the accident, it would have been different, very different. RUTH CHATTERTON Ruth Chatterton as she appears in First .National’s thrilling .“Lilly Turner.” Miss Chatterton is sup ported by a noteworthy cast which includes .George . Brent, ..Frank McHugh, Guy Kibbee and many other screen favorites. Out No.5 Cut15e Mat Se Page Nine —