Penrod and His Twin Brother (Warner Bros.) (1938)

CURRENT PUBLICITY MAUCH TWINS’ CLUB COMES TO RESCUE OF MOVIE-MAKERS A new secret order, meetings of which are veiled with the utmost mystery, has been formed in the San Fernando Valley, it became known recently. Billy and Bobby Mauch, 13year-old identical movie twins, readily admit to having been the organizers of the _ fraternity which is known as the “B-4 Club.” They refuse, however, to reveal the significance of the cryptic name. More than a dozen boys of the Mauch twins’ age comprise the membership roster of the club. They have built a log cabin on the Mauch ranch which they use as a club house and make no secret of the fact that there is a mysterious cave beneath the cabin. Only members in good standing can get into the club house which has a secret door with a concealed lock. Each member must memorize an elaborate code and a series of passwords, grips and signs. A mysterious system of communication has been perfected which enables the club officers to assemble the members on extremely short order. Existence of the club became known when the Mauch twins offered to have the members supply more than 65 assorted dogs needed for a city dog pound sequence in their new Warner Bros. picture, “Penrod and His Twin Brother,’ which comes to the Strand Theatre next Friday. The dogs were supplied on 24 hours’ notice and included practically every known variety of pooch from Great Dane to Pekingese. And the B-4 Club’s treasury was greatly increased by rental fees paid by the studio for use of the dogs for a week. MIRRORS CRASH --BUT NO ILL LUCK Theatrical folk reputedly are unduly superstitious—yet recently a group of them stood calmly by while six mirrors were broken with malice aforethought for a motion picture. This shattering of glass and precedent occurred at Warner Bros. studio when for a scene in “Penrod and His Twin Brother,” a model airplane soars through a window of young Billy Mauch’s home and breaks a mirror in the living room. The property department provided 12 of the planes and as many mirrors which were made of especially prepared glass. The scene was filmed six times for long shots, closeups and other angle shots and a fresh, unbroken plane and mirror had to be used in each instance. And the only person troubled by the mirror breaking was Henry, the colored service boy, who insisted upon lending Billy his pet rabbit’s foot for the oecasion. “Penrod and His Twin Brother,” was directed by William MeGann from a screenplay by William Jacobs and Hugh Cummings; is now the feature attraction at the Strand Theatre. The cast includes, besides the Mauch twins, Spring Byington, Frank Craven, Philip Hurlic and many others. BREEDS ODD PETS Frank Craven, who is the father in Warner Bros.’ ‘‘Penrod and His Twin Brother,’’ exciting story of boyland with Billy’and Bobby Mauch in the title roles, breeds Griffon dogs as a hobby. Mat 209—30c FISHING IS FUN for the Mauch twins, Billy and Bobby, who are enjoying a real vacation after finishing their work in "Penrod and His Twin Brother," the comedy-drama now showing at the Strand Theatre. (Review) Mauch Twins Delightful In ‘Penrod And Twin Brother’ That indescribable charm of American boyhood and its adventures which Booth Tarkington managed to get into all of his stories about Penrod Schofield and his pals, is brilliantly shown once again in “Penrod and His Twin Brother,’ the second uf a series of happy films made by Warner Bros. This movie, quite as delightful to grown-ups as to adolescents, had its local premiere yesterday at the Strand Theatre and proved an enthralling sequel to “Penrod Mat 101—I1s5e TWIN STARS — Billy and Bobby Mauch, who play the title roles in "Penrod and His Twin Brother’ at the Strand Theatre. and Sam,” shown half a year ago or so. In the earlier photoplay, there was just one of the brilliant 13-year-old Mauch twins, Billy. This time the other lad, Bobby, is included. In the story also are the “Junior G-Men” who made their first appearance in “Penrod and Sam.” Other familiar and beloved characters appear—Rodney Bitts, the little snitch who tries to take Penrod’s place as Number One GMan; his father, played by Charles Halton, who is Penrod’s father’s boss; Frank Craven, again doing the part of “Dad Schofield”; Spring Byington, once more Penrod’s Ma and of course, the amusing little black boy Verman played by Philip Hurlic. The gay complications in “Penrod and His Twin Brother” begin when the little meanie Rodney Bitts makes the accusation that Penrod’s dog, Duke, bit him after being “sicked” on by Penrod. This is not so, but Penrod fearful that the dog will be shot, takes Duke to a remote hiding place. While the other Junior GMen are holding a meeting, Rodney Bitts appears and tries to butt in. To get rid of him, they send him to a distant point to release a carrier pigeon. On the way, he accidentally witnesses a robbery and murder and is kid napped with his bird, by gang sters. From their hide-out, Rodney manages to release the messenger which flies back to the Junior GMen headquarters. None of the boys like Rodney very much but they will not see any lad in such a fix. So they use all their talents to locate the hiding place and with the aid of the police, round up the desperate criminals, thereby winning a big reward. During this search, they find a dog closely resembling Duke and learn it was this animal, owned by a young master of identical appearance to Penrod, which bit Rodney. The Junior G-Men get a lot of glory as well as a reward and Duke is cleared and given a bronze plaque for the heroic part he took in the roundup. Those versatile young actors, the Mauch twins, turn in delightful performanees, typifying the sturdy, fun-loving American boys of today. And, although the picture is one of a series, it is a complete story in itself that no one in the family will want to miss. So successful was “Penrod and Sam,” the first of the Penrod stories, that Warner Bros, followed it up with “Penrod and His Twin Brother” and are now planning the third in the series to be entitled “Penrod’s Double Trouble,” which will also star the Mauch twins and be made under the directorial guidance of William MeGann, and will also include most of the members of the cast in the present picture at the Strand. Spring Byington Chose Own Career—And She Loves It! Spring Byington’s mother wanted her to study medicine; her father wanted her to become a teacher, Spring, the person most concerned, had ideas concerning her life and career that didn’t coincide with those of either her father or mother. At 16, she decided to have her own way—did, and proved she was right. Her father was superintendent of city schools and chairman of the Colorado College English de PAP PPA LPAI PP IPD LLLP LD DPD LIND Spring Byington refuses to be burdened with possessions. As soon as she is through with a piece of clothing she gives it away, and once a month she goes through all her belongings and gives away anything she thinks would be too much trouble to take with her if she suddenly decided to travel. She is one of the few movie actresses of rank who lives in a hotel apartment. It’s all because Spring is a victim of the “‘wanderlust.”’ PP PP PP PPD PPP PLD partment when Spring was born at Colorado Springs, Colo. Later he became state superintendent of schools and dreamed of his daughter following in his footsteps, as an educator. Spring’s mother, a practicing physician in Denver also had dreams—of her daughter following in her footsteps. But Spring’s dreams, which first materialized when she ap peared in school plays, winning immediate success as a comedienne. Later going east, Miss Byington appeared in vaudeville, roadshows and in stock with the Stuart Walker Company in Cincinnati. In 1925 she made her Broadway debut with Greta Nissen, Kay Johnson, Roland Young and Osgood Perkins in “Beggar on Horseback.” Since then she has appeared in about 30 Broadway shows ineluding “Once in a Lifetime,” “Weak Sister,” “The Merchant of Venice” with George Arliss; “When Ladies Meet,” “Great Adventure” and “Jigsaw.” Making her screen debut with Katherine Hepburn in “Little Women,” she is constantly in demand in pictures because of her highly finished portrayals. Among her many film hits are “Love Me Forever,” “Ah, Wilderness,’’ “Way Down East,” “Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “Borrowed Trouble,” Her most recent role is that of Penrod’s mother in Warner Bros. picturization of the famous stories of boyland, “Penrod and His Twin Brother.” That picture is now showing at the Strand Theatre. : Miss Byington is five feet three inches tall, weighs 120 pounds and has blonde hair and blue-gray eyes. She refuses to indulge in exercise except in the form of walking, and is fond of flying and travel. She reads extensively, is a talented landscape artist and likes concerts and conversation. No Camera Tricks Used In Thrilling Rescue Scene Movie technicians are resourceful; they know all the tricks. Very often, though, they are stymied by the script writer. More often than is generally believed, a scene is just as dangerous, just as thrilling in its filming, as it appears on the screen. There is a breath-taking scene in Warner Bros.’ “Penrod and His Twin Brother,” now showing at the Strand Theatre, in which Billy Mauch and Jackie Morrow are trapped in a fishing-village shack which has been toppled into a bay. The house topples when Bobby Mauch and other boys start a speedboat tied to piling beneath the shack without releasing the lines. The camera simply couldn’t lie about the sensational scene. Billy and Jackie had to be in the house when it collapsed; Billy had to tear away shingles when directed to a loose spot in the roof by Rex, a diminutive dog who tries single-pawed to effect their rescue and the two boys had to be shown, soaking wet, climbing through the opening. Director William McGann fussed and fumed. It was bad enough filming hazardous scenes with adults but he didn’t like 13-yearold boys to be submitted to danger. “Perhaps,” he said hopefully, “we can change the script a little; or find a way to use doubles.” This was received with howls of protest. “Doubles!” cried Billy and Jackie in indignant duet. “Nothing doing! What do you think we are, sissies?” Finally, with a last searching glance over the scene, Director | McGann called “Action!” Six cameras under the supervision of Chief Cameraman Arthur Todd started turning and with a roar the speedboat, under Bobby’s guidance, dashed away. There was an agonizing, heart-rending splintering and creaking of timbers and the house crashed into the water. Onto the roof dashed Rex, the dog, whimpering and whining and scraping frantically at the shingles. Anxiously McGann watched PPP PEPE D PP PPP PPLPPLP PPL Ever since the 13-year-old Mauch twins, Billy and Bobby, crashed right into stardom with their amazing performances in “The Prince and the Pauper,” about a year ago, there has been considerable discussion amongst fans as to how their family name should be pronounced. Some have contended that it was “Mouch,” as in “ouch’’; others have argued that it was “Mawk,” as in squawk. The fact is that the name’s correct pronunciation is Mowk with the “ow” pronounced as in cow. OPPPP PD PPP PIP PPP PLS for what seemed minutes. Then, as he was raising his arm to signal the rescuers to dash in, the shingles started flying and Billy’s head appeared. Billy, pale and dazed, crawled slowly through the roof and then turned to pull Jackie through. When Jackie reached the top of the roof, MeGann called “Cut!” and the boys were rushed to the warm blankets and hot milk which had been kept in readiness for them. Later, Billy took Jackie aside on the set. “Listen,” he whispered,“ don’t you dare tell anybody that I was knocked out. If you do, it’ll get back to my mother and she’d start worryin’, You know how women are!” Besides those mentioned, the cast of “Penrod and His Twin Brother” includes Spring Byington, Frank Craven, Philip Hurlie and others. Page Three