Nora Prentiss(Warner Bros.) (1947)

AU : f IB : { Still No. RAGO ROBERT ALDA, featured in Warner Bros.’ newest exciting melodrama, ‘Nora Prentiss," which is currently playing at the Strand, portrays the part of a night club proprietor whose patience is as great as his love for Nora Prentiss. Co starred in the powerful drama, are Ann Sheridan, Kent Smith and Bruce Bennett. MAT No. 2E Substituted Determinism For Advice, Now Stars If Kent Smith, who is starred with Ann Sheridan and Bruce Bennett in the new Warner Bros.’ film “Nora Prentiss,” at the Strand, had taken the advice given to him and Henry Fonda by Joseph Cotten, he probably would not be an actor today. As Smith told the story between scenes, he and Fonda once were among the young hopefuls with the University Players in West Falmouth, Mass. If a vote had been taken, Kent would have named the lanky Hank as the one most likely to succeed. But the company folded and the players scattered. Kent Smith found a role as a prison guard in David Belasco’s “The Blind Window.” Fonda was next heard from in Maine. He was scenic designer for the Surrey Players. He confided to Kent that the little theatre group had decided that scene designing was much more suited to the Fonda talents than acting. Joe Cotten had been very kind, gently advising him just to forget about trying to be an actor. “T figured that if I could be that far wrong in my opinion of Hank’s ability, I must not know anything about acting”, recalled Kent. “I was close to deciding that I too had better find something more suited to Mat 1C Kent Smith my talents.” But then he got a chance to go to Washington with a Shakespearean repertory company. There was a place for an_ other actor, so he called Fonda, who did so well, that he quickly landed in Hollywood before a motion picture camera. SARA 20 And that’s where Joe Cotten comes in again. He had a half dollar. He also had the advice of friends, including his landlady, to quit dreaming about acting and find a job selling vacuum cleaners. Walking down Broadway and trying to decide whether to let a flip of the half dollar decide his career, Cotten glanced up at the marquee of a theatre. There, in lights two feet high, was “Henry Fonda”, star of the picture, Joe shoved the piece of silver back in his pocket. He’d need a good breakfast before he talked to producers and directors the next morning. There’d be no advice-taking for him. Meanwhile Kent Smith, having had his faith in his own judgment of actors. restored, was working steadily on Broadyay with such players as Jane Cowl and Catherine Cornell. In “Nora Prentiss,” Mr. Smith makes his debut as a movie star. GI audiences will remember him for the roles he played in Orientation films. ‘Nora Prentiss’ Set Defies U. S. History Jack Carson walked on the set of “Nora Prentiss,” the new Warner Bros.’ melodrama at the Strand starring Ann Sheridan, Kent Smith and Bruce Bennett spotted Ann Sheridan and Director Vincent Sherman in a script huddle, quipped, “Look! Sherman and Sheridan. First time together since the Civil War.” Star Unconscious Under Are Lights For Day’s Shooting Ann Sheridan, her red hair shimmering in the white glare of sound-stage are lights, spent her first day before the cameras on the Warners’ set of “Nora Prentiss,” unconscious. The vibrant Texan, playing one of the three starring roles in Warner Bros.’ “Nora Prentiss,” which opens at the Strand on Friday, was lying on an examination table in a doctor’s office. She had just been struck by a truck and a handsome young doctor, immaculate in white gown, was just completing his examination of her. He is Miss Sheridan’s new leading man, Kent Smith of the Broadway stage and recently of Uncle Sam’s large army. The Sheridan orbs_ slowly opened, but the famous voice uttered no sound for a moment. The cameraman, the famed Chinese photographer, James Wong Howe, and the alert “sound” engineer, Chuck Lang, lean forward anxiously as she speaks her first words — typically Sheridan: “There must be an easier way to get a taxi.” Still No. AS1499 ANN SHERIDAN, co-starring with Kent Smith and Bruce Bennett in Warner Bros.’ powerful melodrama, "Nora Prentiss," falls into a danger ous love when she tires of the parade of phony playboys in her life. The new exciting drama comes to the Strand screen Friday. MAT No. LE 125 Films, 16 Years Make Studio Doc Rare Specialist Dr. Paul N. MacWilliams, medical director at Warner Bros. studio, served as technical advisor in the examining-room scenes in, “Nora Prentiss,” the Ann Sheridan, Kent Smith, Bruce Bennett starring film, which opens at the Strand on Friday. This is the 125th film in which Dr. MacWilliams has so participated during his 16-year career at the Burbank studio. In “Nora Prentiss,” Miss Sheridan plays a_ nightclub singer who meets her new leading-man, Kent Smith, when she is brought into his offices after a nearby traffic accident. Smith enacts the part of a heart specialists: <° + ~ Vincent Sherman directed for Producer William Jacobs. ; C : i ; HAN Dodging Wife’s Questions Likened to Resisting Enemy Interrogation by Star Kent Smith and Rosemary DeCamp, playing husband and wife in Warner Bros.’ “Nora Prentiss,”’ in which he stars with Ann Sheridan and Bruce Bennett, now at the Strand, were about to go into a scene. Kent, having acquired the habit of spending his evenings with Ann Sheridan, was trying to dodge Rosemary’s barrage of questions. Director Vincent Sherman made suggestions as to how the scene should be played. “I know what you mean,” Kent grinned. “‘When I was in the Army, I played in a picture called ‘Re sisting Enemy Interrogation’! 9799 Warner Star Appeared With Stage’s Greatest Kent Smith, who is starred with Ann Sheridan and Bruce Bennett in “Nora Prentiss,” the new Warner Bros.’ drama at the Strand, faces life, interviewers and the movie camera with easy grace. And little wonder, since Smith received years of thorough dramatic training on the Broadway stage opposite Katherine Cornell, Helen Hayes and Jane Cowl. His brown eyes twinkle and his white teeth flash into a smile as he recalls the solitary two “white lies” of his professional autobiography: his namechange and his dual birthplace. He was born Frank Kent Smith, but figured Kent was fancier and you have to have something fancy to go with a name like Smith! You can take your choice, about where he was born — New York City, or Smithville, Me. In a moment of interviewed weakness, Smith gave the latter as his birthplace because, “It’s the seat of a long line of Smiths including my dad. Those are the only two ‘fibs’ I’ve ever told. I swore I’d tell no more, because they’re too hard to remember!” That’s why Kent doesn’t mind admitting he was born on March 19, 1907. “Why,” he expostulates, “shouldn’t I tell the truth? I was glad enough to get out of the Army at 38!” From then on, it was a merry whirl, zipping through the progressive Lincoln school (of Teachers’ College, Columbia Still No. 659-122 A TENSE MOMENT from a scene in Warners’ exciting melodrama, ‘Nora Prentiss," depicts a young woman's desperation when she is forced to stand by helplessly and witness the disintegration of the man she loves. Co-starring Ann Sheridan, Kent Smith and Bruce Bennett, the new powerful drama, currently at the Strand Theatre, also features Robert Alda and Rosemary DeCamp. MAT No. 2A University), Phillips Exeter Academy, matriculation at Harvard with the class of ’29, a fling at crew and squash and the Harvard Dramatic Society. But his youthful acting ambition didn’t attain realization until the formation of “our own company,” the University Players, at West Falmouth, Mass., a summer resort on the Cape. Who else was in it? Oh, some other young dramatic hopefuls — Henry Fonda, Margaret Sullivan, Jimmy Stewart, Bretaigne Windust, Mildred Natwick. Kent appeared opposite the great Cornell in “Candida;”’ along with Brian Aherne in “St. Joan,” and again with Miss Cornell in the Maxwell Anderson play, “Wingless Victory.” His last Broadway role was in “Old Acquaintance,” with Jane Cowl and Peggy Wood. He started his film career in “Hitler’s Children,” “The Cat People,” and “This Land is Mine” before the postman brought “greetings” from his local draft board. AA