Mystery House(Warner Bros.) (1938)

ee (Advance) Ann Sheridan Receives Beauty Experts’ Plaudits Hollywood, Calif. — As if the word of thousands of fan letter writers did not suffice, several experts visiting in Hollywood have recently been amazingly unanimous in their choice of the ‘‘star with the most perfect figure’ ’— she is Ann Sheridan, lovely titianhaired Warner Bros.’ actress (Miss Sheridan’s latest film, ‘“Mystery House,’’? in which she stars with Dick Pureell, comes Friday to the Strand). Among the artists and experts who were so alike in their choice are Jean Charlot, noted continental illustrator, Azadia Newman, internationally famous portrait painter, Dr. Erno Laszlo, prominent Hungarian physician and cosmetical scientist, and Walter Winchell, who in his capacity as New York Broadway columnist, has seen many a beauty to judge. The two artists made their choice on successive days, acclaiming Miss Sheridan, as the actress with the ‘‘perfect American girl figure.’’ Winner of a beauty contest in her native Dallas, Texas, Ann Sheridan is one of the few winners actually to make good in the film capital. Walter Winchell, widely-syndicated Broadway columnist and drama critic of the New York Daily Mirror, was recently loud in his praise of the Texas actress, saying that her titian locks would look well in Technicolor. Dr. Laszlo had this to say: “She is the quiet beauty in contrast to what she portrays on the screen. Her well-proportioned mouth and eyes are most beautiful. She went through little suffering in life else it would show.’’ Miss Sheridan cheered the doctor’s heart by laughingly asserting, ‘‘I refuse te go hungry. If you had seen the dinner I had last night, you would believe me.’’ re) GRBVitagrapk, Mat 10115¢ GLAMOROUS ANN SHERIDAN, Warner Bros. player well on her way to stardom; will be at the Strand Theatre Friday in ‘‘Mystery House.” which co-stars Dick Purcell a detective hero. O’Connell Chore Boy Hugh O/’Connell, featured in Warner Bros. ‘‘ Mystery House,’’ now at the Strand Theatre, was messenger and chore boy at the Appleton, Wis., depot when he was given a pass to Chicago. In the Windy City he got a job as an usher with the Cal Stewart Stock Company and though he had had no previous ambition to be an aetor, when the company went on the road he went along with it in a trouping capactiy. (Lead Story) ‘MYSTERY HOUSE’ WITH STAR CAST AT STRAND SOON With Ann Sheridan and Dick Pureell as its stars, a detective film made from a Mignon Eberha:t novel called ‘‘Mystery House’? will be presented by Warner Bros. at the Strand Theatre next Friday. The sleuth is ‘‘ Lance O’Leary,’’ who has already been made popular by Miss Eberhart’s fiction, and who appeared once before in a Warner picture, ‘‘The Patient in Room 18.’’ He is described as an unusual type of mystery-solver, who goes about his jobs in an easy and debonair fashion but nevertheless always gets the guilty person. Pureell plays Lance, and Miss Sheridan is a nurse who first fears that her patient has been done away with instead of dying of heart failure, which was what the doctor’s certificate said. Accordingly she brings her fiancee, Lance O’Leary, into the case. Others in the exciting action of “Mystery House’’ include Anne Nagel, William Hopper, Anthony Averill, Hugh O’Comnnell, Sheila Bromley, Dennie Moore and Trevor Bardette. Noel Smith directed the picture from a screenplay adapted from the Eberhart novel by Sherman Lowe and Robertson White. Had Hero Ancestor Ann Sheridan, red-haired star of ‘“Mystery House,’’ the detectivethriller now showing at the Strand Theatre, is a collateral descendant of ‘‘Little Phil’’ Sheridan, famous Union general during the Civil War. The lovely Warner Bros. player frequently recites the immortal poem, ‘‘Sheridan’s Ride,’’ for her friends at parties. Vitagraph, Inc. js ¢ Advance ) Patrons Prefer Villains To Heroes—Dick Purcell Mat 108—15e DICK PURCELL plays Lance O’Leary, famed detective of the Mignon Eberhart novels, in “Mystery House.” thrilling film coming Friday to the Strand. Smart Repartee Elspeth Dudgeon recalls seasons of trouping with Alan Mowbray who dearly loved to tease and play practical jokes on feminine members of the company. One day he went around enjoying the embarrassment of girls who. would flush when he asked if they had ever been kissed. But he was stopped by Miss Dudgeon who answered his question with, ‘‘ Yes, by the grace of God!’’ Hollywood, Calif. —: People are kind to villains. That is people in Hollywood. Pretty girls are kind to Dick Pureell. Nice old ladies say to him, ‘‘Why, you seem like such a nice boy — I’m sure they shouldn’t keep you in those mean roles.?? Which is one reason, perhaps, that Warner Bros. have allowed him to step into a hero’s part,’ for a change. He plays Detective Lanee O’Leary in ‘‘Mystery House,’’ the thriller that comes to the Strand Theatre next F1day. ‘‘Tt’s amazing — the difference in the way you’re treated when you’re known as a hero or a villain;?’ Pureell remarks. ‘I can tell pretty well, you see, because when I meet people they usually tip me off by telling what picture they ’ve seen me in. “Girls adopt a sort of challenging, ‘well, you don’t look so hot to me,’ air, when they meet most film heroes. This mobbing stuff is mostly bunk. I’m not the handsome sort they might mob, but I’ve been around with pretty boys and never saw one really have to defend himself yet. ““But when they meet a villain, they’re friendly, and I suppose curious. Sort of ‘well, mister, are you as bad as the parts you play?’ air. And some of them want to reform you! “«Then the fellows good eggs you’d like to have think well of you — they often carry a chip on their shoulder toward heroes. But with villains they can be hail-fellow-well-met. ‘*No, sir — on the screen you pay and pay for being a villain, but off the screen your reputation for flicker villainy is a really effective winner of friends.’’