One Foot in Heaven (Warner Bros.) (1941)

CURRENT PUBLICITY —“ONE FOOT IN HEAVEN” ary in (Right) Miss Scott's pale rose daytime frock shows how well the suede can be manipulated on soft feminine lines. Eater Posed by MARTHA SCOTT Star of ''One Foot In Heaven" (Left) New in spectator sports fashions is this full-length coat of ginger brown suede with box-pleated skirt. Mat 301-B — 45c. Order From Campaign Plan Editor Hollywood Sets Some New Fashion Fads It would seem that gloves now go up to meet sleeves instead of sleeves coming down to meet gloves. When Ann _ Edmonds invited friends for dinner at the Cock N’ Bull to give Elisabeth Fraser a royal send-off the guest of honor was wearing a tailored suit with short sleeves and long gloves pulled up to cover the entire length of her arms. There wasn’t a sign of flesh between gloves and sleeves. It was very smart looking and all the girls in the party were taking notes, Elisabeth is returning to join Mat 103 — 15c 12 Lunt and Fontaine for six months of “legitimate” after spending «as many months at Warner Bros. in which she appeared in several pictures including “One Foot In Heaven.” It was during the shooting of this film, starring Fredric March and Martha Scott, that Elisabeth found herself tagged “Liz Friz” by March a name so catchy she'll bear it back to New York in monogramed handkerchiefs and on the collar of a shirtmaker dress. Elisabeth’s suit showed a_ skirt in ashes of roses wool and jacket in rose and willow gray line check. Her gloves were black. Nor is this the only late filmland caprice. Wraparound skirts made from gigantic cotton scarves of bold design are being tied over shorts and around some of Hollywood’s smallest waists. Martha Scott says they’re not meant to cover up anything, just meant to add color and give other people something to talk about. She has a large Guatemalan scarf in a dozen bright colors that she likes with yellow shorts. STAR BIOGRAPHIES ‘One Foot In Heaven’ Star Has Taste For Comedy How radically the situation has been reversed since every comedian yearned to play Hamlet is again evidenced by the fact that Martha Scott is looking for a comedy role. Miss Scott has earned a reputation as one of the finest of the screen’s serious dramatic actresses. Her film roles have been character portrayals. And those _ portrayals have been sufficiently arresting io win her stardom in close to record time. Her latest role, that of a country parson’s wife in “One Foot in Heaven” is a step in the right direction, for there is much warm and charming humor, which she provides a good part of, along with her co-star Fredric March. But her next role she says will be straight comedy. “That is,” she added, “if I have my way about it.” It’s not that the honey blonde actress is “fed up” with drama, or wearied by serious characterizations. She merely craves a change of pace. “I want to kick up my heels, cut capers, and act my age again,” she said. “One good, fast comedy will do me a lot of good.” Miss Scott said the humor that pervades “One Foot in Heaven” (the current Strand film) had done a lot to whet her appetite for comedy. While it’s listed as “human Film Character’s Wife Chooses His Costume By special request of the widow of the real life character he is portraying, Fredri¢ March wears a certain double-breasted gray business suit in the closing scenes of his Warner Bros. picture, “One Foot in Heaven,” which is currently showing at the Strand. The widow, Mrs. Hope Spence of Ames, Iowa, was a_ frequent visitor on the sets where March was enacting the role of her late husband, the Rev. William H. Spence. Then she watched the star play scenes in which he presided over a church budget meeting. He wore a conservative but smartlyfitting gray business suit. “Please,. Mr. March,” she said when she left the set, “wear that suit for the last scenes of the picture. It is so much like Will. He had a favorite suit almost exactly the same as that one.” interest drama,” that story of a country minister’s life leans to the whimsical and is well spiced with comedy. | “Freddie (Fredric March, her costar and screen husband) and I have had a lot of fun with it,” she said. “We probably had our most fun the day the parsonage burned down.” Besides the two stars, the cast of “One Foot in Heaven’ includes such well-known players as Beulah Bondi, Laura Hope Crews, Gene Lockhart, Harry Davenport, Elisabeth Fraser, Frankie Thomas, Grant Mitchell, and many more. Hard-Hearted Film Banker Is ‘Genial Gene’ Off Stage How genial Gene Lockhart ever became a movie menace is one of those Hollywood mysteries. In real life, Lockhart looks about as menacing as a slightly dieted Santa Claus. His beaming face and twinkling eyes radiate good nature and generosity. His prosperously plump figure suggests the substantial success rather than the sinister schemer. Yet in the movies, genial Gene more often than not is cast as some variety of scoundrel. Bad man bankers and pork barrel politicians are among his specialties. He’s playing one of the bankers now in “One Foot in Heaven,” at the Strand and as usual, is giving a fine portrayal of a financier who’d cheerfully trade his prospects of salvation for a first mortgage on a widow’s home. When he _ faces Fredric March, the hero, the twinkle in his eyes becomes a stare that would freeze a corpse, and the ovial ring of his voice sharpens off to a cutting edge. Lockhart, who composes music and organizes war relief benefits in his spare time, has his own explanation for his initiation into movie skullduggery. He says it must be his figure. The film casters reason that anybody who collects avoirdupois so readily must be a born accumulator. Hence the coldhearted banker roles. FREDRIC MARCH has fulfilled his parents? wishes. When he was going to school in Racine, Wis. it was the wish of his parents that he study for the ministry. But Fred differed with them. He thought his destiny lay in the land of high finance and registered for a commercial course at college. It wasn’t until he listened to exciting tales of theatrical life told to him by his landlady, while he was convalescing from a ruptured appendix, that he decided to abandon finance for footlghts. At first his parents objected, but it was their family minister who persuaded them to let their son choose his own career. And now, with his latest screen portrayal of a minister in Warner Bros.’ “‘One Foot In Heaven” he has both fulfilled the wishes of his parents and the faith of the minister who was responsible for removing a great obstacle from his successful path. He has long been the favorite of followers of stage and screen, some of his most impressive films being ‘‘Les Miserables’, *Barretts of Wimpole Street’, “A Star Is Born” and ‘Susan. and God”. He is six feet tall and has brown eyes. Is married to Florence Eldredge who has appeared with him on the stage. Mat 101 — 15c MARTHA SCOTT started her acting career as the result of a high-school ‘tcrush”?. She didn’t always want to be an actress, but after a few terms of practice teaching at the University of Michigan, she knew that school-teaching wasn’t her line. At that time her “big moment” of high-school days who had gone into acting received some favorable notices which reached Miss Scott. That settled it. She determined to become an actress and get some rave notices of her own. Martha found the going particularly tough because she’d not had any stage training. After much delay she got “bits” and “walkon” with a stock company. When Jed Harris saw her and decided to cast her in his “Our Town”, it proved to be the turning point in her career. After a long run on the stage, Mary duplicated her success in the screen version of ‘Our Town” and has been a favorite with movie patrons ever since. Now she is cast as a sympathetic wife of a struggling minister in Warner Bros.” delightful new film, “One Foot In Heaven”. The role of the minister is played by Fredric March. Miss Scott has certainly come a long way for a girl who “didn’t want to be an actress’’.