Navy Blues(Warner Bros.) (1941)

"NAVY BLUES'—PUBLICITY Ann Sheridan Tops Cast Of Gay New Musical Full of gals, gags and gorgeous sets, “Navy Blues,” is an eye-filling filmusical which begins a local engagement at the Strand Friday. Concerned with sailors on leave in Honolulu, it has an all-fun cast headed by Ann Sheridan and including Jack Oakie, Martha Raye, Jack Haley, Herbert Anderson, Jack Carson, Jackie C. Gleason and the Navy Blues Sextet, six of the loveliest girls Warner Bros. could find anywhere. Working with an_ allout budget, Art Director Robert Haas shot the works in concocting 10 huge sets on the Burbank lot and two more on locations at Laguna Beach, Calif., and San Diego. These include authentic replicas of whole sections of Honolulu, including the main street itself, as well as portions of Waikiki Beach (at Laguna) and an actual reproduction of the principal naval landing dock at Pearl Harbor, built in San Diego. Ten elaborate dance routines in which beauties of the show world as well as native dancers participate were devised by Seymour Felix, the man generally credited with the late Flo Ziegfeld’s brilliant success. Felix has also conceived special dances for Miss Sheridan and Miss Raye, cast as Honolulu night club entertainers. Their costumes, to say the least, are interesting. Apparently it took a filmusical having the healthy proportions of “Navy Blues” to lure Arthur Schwartz away from Broadway. The brilliant New York tunesmith has suc Gags, Gols, Gals Go Hand-in-Hand In ‘Navy Blues’ “Navy Blues,” a story of reckless gobs and gorgeous gals frolicking on and off a battleship in Hawaii, and starring Warner Bros. cinema clowns Ann Sheridan, Jack Oakie, Martha Raye and Jack Haley, will start at the Strand Theatre here Friday. In this Potpourri of comedy, sailors Jack Oakie and Jack Haley try to filch their shipmate’s paychecks and pawn their battleship’s trophies with almost disastrous results; Ann Sheridan both hog calls and hog collars her man Herbert Anderson; and Martha Raye chasing her ex-husband, Jack Haley, gets thrown into jail accused of being an international spy. The plot revolves around Gobs Oakie and Haley who go to great lengths to see that their battleship, the Montana, wins the fleet gunnery championship, and they go to even greater lengths to see that they win the bets which they have made at 15 to 1 with the tars of the U.S.S. Wisconsin. Music and dancing by the Navy Blues Sextette, dressed in hula skirts and leis feature the production’s softer moments. “In Waikiki,” “Your a Natural,” and other song hits of the show were written by Johnny Mercer and Arthur Schwartz. The picture was directed by Lloyd Bacon and produced by Hal B. Wallis from a_ story written by Arthur T. Horman. 24 cessfully balked all previous efforts on the part of Hollywood producers to secure his services for films. You’ve heard a lot of Schwartz tunes. They include “Dancing in the Dark,” “Give Me Something to Remember You By,” “Louisiana Hayride,” “I See Your Face Before Me,” “I Love ‘ Louisa,” “You and the Night and the Music,” “Tennessee Fish Fry,” ‘‘Goodbye Jonah,” “An Old Flame Never Dies” and “You and I Know. “Navy Biies is Schwartz’s initial Hollywood assignment, and for it he has written a half-dozen songs for the principals to sing and dance to. The result is something just a little short of terrific. Jerry Wald and Richard Macauley, two of Warner Bros.” brighter boys, have cooked up a script for the picture which is designed exclusively for laughs. Script is based on a story by Arthur T. Horman. And because no filmusical is worth its footage unless there are lots and lots of pretty girls weaving in and out of camera range, “Navy Blues” has them, too. To make sure that the film has the type of beauties sailors like best. Warner Bros. submitted photographs of hundreds of girls to gobs stationed throughout the country. The girls finally chosen by the sea-going boys form the Navy Blues Sextet. Still AS 903; Mat 102—15c EYEFULL OF OOMPH—or, in other words, Ann Sheridan, who takes over the Navy in her newest starring role. Film is "Navy Blues," coming to the Strand on Friday. ‘Navy Blues’ Brings Back Cycle of Film Musicals Cheerful people everywhere as well as those who would like to find some reason to be cheerful, will welcome the announcement that screen musicals, those flashy, tuneful, hilarious pictures such as helped drag the nation out of its financial doldrums eight or nine years ago, are back. “Navy Blues,” the first of several musical pictures from Warner Bros., with a nautical background and with Ann Sheridan, Jack Oakie, Martha Raye, Jack Haley, Eddie Albert and the “Navy Blues Sextet” of beautiful girls opens on Friday at the Strand Theatre. The big idea of this picture is to provide the best fun for the most people. Like the now famous picture, “42nd _ Street,” with which Warners helped counteract the low spot of the late depression, the days of closed banks and the inauguration of President Roosevelt for his first term, “Navy Blues” arrives as an_ entertainment bright spot in a period of uncertainty and concern over a new world war. Warner Bros. hope it will be as much of an omen of better things as was the other, earlier picture. The same company is preparing three other musical subjects of equal importance and promise. One of these, called “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” will star James Cagney in the story of George M. Cohan’s life and career, bringing in ON THIS PAGE—Five specially written advance stories designed to sell the gals, gobs and gag angles of the picture. Start planting them week before your playdate. ‘Navy Blues’ All for Fun, and Fun for All Warner Bros., who several years ago were giving us the biggest, most glittering, girlstudded musical pictures to emanate from Hollywood, has returned to that gay medium with “Navy Blues,” an eyefilling comedy set to music, which is coming to the Strand. Heralding the return to the screen of Ann Sheridan for her first film in approximately six months, ‘Navy Blues” also brings Martha Raye out of temporary Hollywood retirement. In addition, the cast includes Jack Oakie, Jack Haley, Eddie Albert, Jack Carson and, new to films, Jackie Gleason of night club fame. Elaborately set and elaborately cast, “Navy Blues” was written by Jerry Wald, its co GLAMOR GALORE in the Navy Blues Sextet. producer, and Richard Macaulay strictly along laugh lines. Lots of pretty girls including the “Navy Blues Sextet,” the six girls selected by the gobs of the U. S. Navy as the loveliest lookers in Hollywood, and lots of gags for the principals to bandy about are featured in “Navy Blues,” which is designed for the express purpose of entertaining the customers along the lush, extravagant lines of all-out eye and ear pleasure. Songs for the big musical were written by Arthur Schwartz, Broadway’s cleverest tunesmith, composer of such favorites as “Louisiana Hayride,” ‘Dancing in the Dark,” “I Love Louisa,” “You and the Night and the Music” and “Give Me Something to Remember You By.” This marks Schwartz’s initial Hollywood venture. Elaborate dance routines for the film were devised by Seymour Felix, veteran choreographer who staged some of the great Ziegfeld’s most memorable Broadway successes and who brought bigscale musicals to Hollywood nearly a decade ago. Fast, funny, and flip, “Navy Blues” has been dished up in highly digestible form, with comics Oakie and Haley carrying the ball for laughs and the delectable Ann Sheridan, together with a fresh and eyefilling crop of cuties putting their curves where they do the most good—on the screen. Still NB 711; Mat 301—45c Left to right, they're Peggy Diggins, Marguerite Chapman, Georgia Carroll, Katharine Aldridge, Loraine Gettman and Claire James and you'll be seeing them in "Navy Blues." : Macaulay, many of his famous hit songs from New York stage success. Another proposed musical picture is temporaily called “The Life of Gershwin,” and this, as the title indicates, will deal with the musical career of the young genius who wrote music that the whole world recognizes and loves. “Carnival in Rio” is the fourth musical which Warner Bros. plans to make this season to add to the gaiety—and good will—of nations. This is to be a South American story without the usual phoney South American atmosphere but with more understanding and a real respect for our Latin neighbors. This picture will be filmed in Technicolor. The motion picture industry has been triumphing over the obstacles of wartime conditions and feels that the reintroduction of musicals with their brilliance, color and gayety, will add still further assurance of continued popularity for American films the world over. A bright comedy script, a tuneful musical score with four songs that seem destined to be the nation’s next hits, and a number of highly original production numbers, which were directed by the late Flo Ziegfeld’s ace dance director, Seymour Felix, are the ingredients which make “Navy Blues” as tasty a dish of musical film fun as the screen has ever cooked up for the entertainment and delight of theatre audiences. The picture was directed by Lloyd Bacon, veteran film director. Two Queens and Four Jacks Head ‘Navy Blues’ Cast If poker hands mean anything to a movie cast, Warner Bros. has better than an allpictures full house in “Nevy Blues,” the big filmusical which opens Friday at the Strand. Four Jacks and two Queens would be an over-size hand in anybody’s poker game and that’s exactly what “Navy Blues” is holding in its big, all-fun cast. . Ann Sheridan and Martha Raye are the Queens. Jack Oakie, Jack Haley, Jackie C. Gleason and Jack Carson are the Johnnies, and for good measure, although he doesn’t fit into the poker arrangement, are Herbert Anderson, geting the biggest break of his career, and six de-lovely girls dubbed the Navy Blues Sextet. In contriving “Navy Blues,” Hal Wallis, Warner Bros. executive producer, has gone allout for loveliness and laughs. Sparkling songs were written for “Navy Blues” by Arthur Schwartz and Johnny Mercer. Extravagant, girlstudded dance routines were concocted by Seymour Felix, the man who staged all of the late Flo Ziegfeld’s greatest successes. A laugh-a-minute script, contrived to give full scope to the four Jacks’ wisecracking (plus lots of nifties for Miss Sheridan and Martha Raye) was written by Richard Jerry Wald, Sam Perrin and Arthur T. Horman, from a story by Arthur T. Horman. Lloyd Bacon directed.