Mr Chump(Warner Bros.) (1938)

PUBLICITY (Opening Day) Small Town Comedy ‘Mr. Chump’ Opening At Strand Tonight Playing the first starring role of his brief but highly successful motion picture career, Johnnie “Scat” Davis and his trumpet share the honors with Lola Lane and Penny Singleton in “Mr. Chump,” the Warner Bros. comedy-drama of happenings in a fictitious mid-western town, which comes to _ the Strand Theatre today. It’s not strictly a musical picture, but Johnnie’s role is that of a corn-fed though not “corny” trumpet player, so there’s plenty of his distinctive style of musical entertainment ificl'b In the course of the picture, Johnnie introduces — both vocally and instrumentally — two new songs written especially for him to sing and play in this production. They are “As Long As You Live,” by Johnny Mercer and Bernie Hanighen, and “It’s Against the Law in Arkansas,” by Hanighen and Charles Henderson. The screen play. written by George Bricker and directed by William Clemens, concerns the fortunes of a_ small-town swingster who is regarded as a chump in his native environment because he is not interested in the ordinary, dull road to business success that is the accepted route among the most respected citizens. He leaves, however, to make his fortune as a musician and he does very well as a trumpeter in a hot band. When he next returns to his home town, he is prosperous enough to gain the respect of the townsfolk, and, in fact, he is called upon to-save the hides of two of the worthies who were held in high esteem when he left town. How he tries to do that and the price he is forced to pay for his sacrificial gesture form the rest of the story. In addition to Johnnie and the Misses Lane and Singleton, the cast features Donald Briggs, Chester Clute, Spencer Charters and Granville Bates, HOT LICKS SWELL LIPS Johnnie Davis’s first day before the camera in “Mr. Chump,” was devoted to blowing hot licks on the trumpet in an Arkansas woodshed. He blew so long and so hard during three hours of rehearsal that finally he said to Director Bill Clemens, “If you don’t make the next shot a take, I won’t be able to go on. My lips are out of training. They swelled up like Maxie Rosenbloom’s eyes.” —_ Mat 108—15c LOLA LANE—“‘Dramatic” member of the acting Lane family has a featured role in “Mr. Chump,” new Warner Bros. comedy-drama at the Strand. “MR. CHUMP” GOES TO TOWN Johnnie Davis, that scatsingin’ fugitive from Fred Waring’s swing gang, takes stellar honors in “Mr. Chump,” a merry comedy of youth, small towns and swing, dividing his time between “straight”? acting and giving out on his famous trumpet. “Mr. Chump” opens today at the Strand Theatre. Mat 206—30c tegraph, Inc. ! (Review) Johnnie Davis Scats to Stardom In Swingy New Comedy,'Mr. Chump’ STORY SYNOPSIS (not for publication): Johnnie Davis has three in terests in life—his trumpet, the stock market (which he plays on paper) and Penny Singleton, sister of his landlady, Lola Lane. When Penny becomes engaged to Donald Briggs, a bank cashier, Johnnie goes away and gets a job playing the trumpet. When he comes back, he finds that Lola’s husband and Briggs have “borrowed” money from the bank to play the market and have lost. To help them out he borrows more, plays the stocks and wins enough money to buy the bank. The story ends with the three of them playing in the prison orchestra, and Penny waiting at the gates for Johnnie, whom she is going to marry when he gets out of jail. Length: 5542 feet Johnnie “Scat” Davis made good as a threedimensional star when “Mr. Chump,” a Warner Bros. picture built around his engaging personality and his well-known talents as an entertainer, opened yesterday at the Strand Theatre. He had some help of course in making the picture the satisfying entertainment that it is, notably from Lola Lane and Penny Singleton and from a story that was nicely tailored to his measure, but it must be classified nevertheless as mainly a personal triumph for the young trumpet player with the infectious grin and unruly shock of yellow hair who came to the Warner studio as a member of Waring’s Pennsylvanians to appear in “Varsity Show” and was not permitted to leave. His acting is convincing and charming, his singing adds further lustre to his reputation as a swingy vocalist, and he plays his trumpet as only he can play it. In spite of Johnnie’s vocal and instrumental contributions, “Mr. Chump” is_ not, strictly speaking, a musical picture. The musica] interludes are merely incidental, being required by the plot, for Johnnie’s role is that of a young Running time: 60 minutes fellow whose chief passion is playing the trumpet and singing hot choruses. Freshness is lent his contributions, however, by the fact that two new tunes were written for him to sing and play in this picture. They are “As Long As You Live,” by Johnnie Mercer and Bernie Hanighen, and “It’s Against the Law in Arkansas,” by Hanighen and Charles Henderson, and they are just the sort of songs that Johnnie can put over best. The story, written by George Bricker, is laid in a fictitious middle-western small town, where Johnnie, whose only interests in life are playing his trumpet and the stock market on paper, is regarded as a chump. Needless to say he “shows” them all, and the story of how he does it is novel, humorous and utterly delightful. The charm of the setting and the humor and pathos of the story are fully realized in the direction of William Clemens, while the rest of the cast, which includes, besides the Misses Lane and Singleton, such reliable players as Donald Briggs, Chester Clute, Spencer Charters and Granville Bates, render capable assistance to Johnnie Davis in making “Mr. Chump” swell entertainment for the whole family. —————— eee CAST OF CHARACTERS pig ON <a Johnnie Davis MR TNOW I obs. ns s bh oo hktiein Lola Lane Pretty MAGE. 6s. c cs leans Penny Singleton BON ES a a aes Donald Briggs SO ee Chester Clute EE te Ne ee Frank Orth BAP. DOP UGUGS F's oo on eh Granville Bates ae |.) aware gage rae Spencer Charters Bg an os ts tee i eee Clem Bevans Theatre Manager............... Sidney Bracy PRODUCTION STAFF PTERELOU Doc wk: Onetign a Car William Clemens mone: bie ee oe cs ok cs ok George Bricker Photography by........ Arthur Edeson, A.S.C. Palm eae as... ae Harold McLernon Dialogue Director............ Frank Beckwith rt Daresiee & 5.3. ks ie EO eee Ted Smith POONA ONE aed te bg coe oie pun tee cae E. A. Brown CORE DES idee Bee 2 woes Howard Shoup “As Long As You Live,” by Johnny Mercer and Bernie Hanighen “It’s Against the Law in Arkansas,” by Bernie Hanighen and Charles Henderson (Current) Penny Writes Poems To Help Her Relax Between Film Jobs To some people poetry is a very dignified form of literature. And to them the authorship of verse is something akin to greatness. To Penny Singleton, however, poetry is child’s play. And writing it she considers relaxation and nothing to shout about. For Penny is a versifier. “I sit down idly,” said Penny, “and the first thing I know I’m thinking in verse. Nothing heavy, you know. Jingle stuff. itsetun,” It’s such fun for the little actress that she’s always at it. Her purse is forever stuffed with odd scraps of paper scrawled over with rhymes. They’ll go something like this: “T had a little cat “That just sat and sat and Satueen. Penny herself, however, does very little sitting. She’s an active five-foot-three of laughter and leanness, half Irish, half German, and wholly charming. She’s always on the go. Her name, in case you’ve forgotten, used to be Dorothy McNulty, and her fame was built on the musical comedy stage, not the screen. Her verse writing is comparatively recent, too. It began with the writing of a child’s poem which “just came into her head.” She sold it to a magazine, and from that time on has been encouraged to relax in the writing of verse. “It’s like this,” she confided, while temporarily fixed in one spot in her dresing room on the set of “Mr. Chump,” her latest Warner Bros. picture, which is now showing at the Strand Theatre. “I find that thinking in rhymes takes me out of myself. I can forget all my worries and go at it for hours, and then when I come out of the spell, why, I’m all refreshed. You know, it’s just like taking a good hot bath.” GETS JEWELLED SPIDER Penny Singleton may set a new style in evening dress ornaments by wearing a jewelled spider on her left shoulder. Since her marriage almost a year ago, Penny has been receiving some special gift from her husband, Dr. Lawrence Scroggs Singleton, on every monthly wedding anniversary, and the spider is the latest. The actress proudly displayed her gift on the set of “Mr. Chump,” the Warner Bros. picture playing at the Strand Theatre, and then she disclosed her intention to wear it as a shoulder clip. It’s a gold spider with ruby eyes. Mat 107——15c PENNY SINGLETON — is the girl of Johnnie Davis’ dreams in “Mr. Chump,” a swingy new comedy which has its first local showing today at the Strand. [ 3