Racket Busters (Warner Bros.) (1938)

RACKET BUSTERS — ADVANCE PUBLICITY HOLLYWOOD, Calif.—Humphrey Bogart is ne Bogart has no ready remedy for his dilemma. He wishes he might divide his year into two sections, play “heavy” roles in the winter and fall and heroes in the spring and summer. “Then I could change with house-cleaning time,” he points out, “and would get into the swing of things as they are supposed to be in my pictures and keep to them for at least six months.” ver sure, scene of a picture, whether he is supposed to kiss the leading lady or kick h comes from switching so quickly from villain to hero roles, Mat 205—30c Gloria Dickson takes a well-earned vacation after completing her dramatic role in “Racket Busters Her three-piece striped print plays high style for outdoor summer fun. > coming to the Strand on Friday. uit and twin buckle bracelets are The skirt may be worn as a cape. Warner melodrama opening Friday at the plays the “heavy” role. before that he appeared with acted the villain’s part in that, too. But just preceding that he was the good and kindly reform Now Playing Heavy In “Racket Busters,” the Bros. Cosmopolitan Bogart Just Strand Theatre, Edward G. Robinson in “The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse,” and school warden in “Crime School,” and his behavior was exemplary. Bogart used to play juvenile roles in stage plays before his success as Duke Mantee in “The Petrified Forest” marked him for picture work and for villain roles. In those stage plays, he says, he nearly always wore white flannels or carried a tennis racquet or surf board to keep himself reminded that he was supposed to be a pleasant fellow. “At heart I love villainy,” declares Bogart. “But these quick changes have me stymied.” “packet Busters” Vital Film Story Walter Abel is one of those actor would be very unhappy if their ers. He feels that an actor can an than entertainment, and therefore he is happiest when he is working in a picture or play which has some real social significance. It is not necessary, in his opinion, for a picture or play to consist of undisguised propaganda to rate the term “significant,” for he feels quite certain that a dramatized tale can be absorbing and compelling entertainment and still leave the audience with something to think about. Cast as Prosecutor | So when he was cast as the special prosecutor in “Racket Busters,” the Warner Bros.Cosmopolitan production opening Friday at the Strand Theatre, he read the script with a real thrill of pleasure. Now that the picture has been completed, he says he feels that his role was the most outstanding of the many he has played during his long career on stage and screen, “TJ was extremely happy,” he says, “to learn that I was selected to play in the picture, for the story deals with a really vital topic — the scourge of Mat 101—15c WALTER ABEL Special Prosecutor in “Racket Busters” coming to the Strand. racketeering which has blighted virtually every large city in the country and from which no community is safe. fs sbiseeiana ae ater cick onan Been | War on Racketeers | “The story is laid in New York City and concerns the re only function in life was d should contribute more to his fellow-men s——and there are a number of them—who to be mere entertain lentless fight waged by law and order to stamp out racketeering, which, like a noxious cancer, is threatening civilization. “The sabotage and course of methods employed by the cowardly and conscienceless racketeers are depicted in vivid and spine-tingling _ reality. The ruthless destruction, suffering and misery left in their wake also are shown with compelling truthfulness. Methods of driving out the racketeers for all time are offered. Strong Entertainment “As a husband and father, I am distressingly aware of the ever increasing menace of racketeering. No man, woman or child in the United States is safe from the fearsome spectre. “Possessing every element of action, romance and thrills, “Racket Busters” is perfect entertainment. And if it serves to awaken the people of the United States to the rats gnawing at civilization, everybody concerned with making the picture will feel that their work has given something of real value to the public.” JOE DOWNING HUMPHREY BOGART er. “It all ” explains Bogart. Mat 202—30c NORMAN WILLIS Gangsters in “Racket Busters” coming to the Strand. This Eating Scene Was on the Level Director Lloyd Bacon proved himself a stickler for efficiency and realism during filming of a sequence for “Racket Busters,” new Warner Bros.-Cosmopolitan production, which opens Friday at the Strand Theatre. The scene was the interior of a small restaurant fre Wreck Trucks For New Film Several score of trucks of various kinds were needed for “Racket Busters,” coming to the Strand Theatre next Friday. Racketeers, conducting a campaign of terrorism, were to wreck, burn and blow up the trucks for the film. It would have been a needless waste to buy new trucks and ruin them for the picture, so prop men rounded up the required number of decrepit trucks and painted them up to look new. The trucks were wrecked in awe-inspiring, thrill-charged scenes. Then the metal was salvaged from the wrecks and the remainder was consigned to the city dump. Thrilling scenes for a motion picture were made and trucks which might have proved a menace to life and limb on the highways were taken out of service forever. Can’t Wateh Son Take a Beating HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Humphrey Bogart’s mother, visiting him from New York, saw him making movies for the first time when she accompanied him one day to the set of “Racket Busters,” the Warner Bros.-Cosmopolitan production, coming to the Strand Theatre, and saw George Brent give her son what looked like a terrific beating for the picture. She left soon, however, saying she'd much rather wait until she saw Bogie making love to Olivia de Havilland or somebody before she saw him making movies again. SUCUUDOEONOUSOAOCUSUADUGHOUGHSUGUADOGGDSORDSRSOUUOGOEOEROSUEREET quented by truck drivers. At the counter sat George Brent and Allen Jenkins talking over the racketeering situation with fellow truckmen. Coffee urns steamed with boiling hot coffee, ham and eggs and fried potatoes sizzled on the grill. The hour was nearing twelve and the extras sniffed appreciatively of the appetizing odors. A gleam came into Director Bacon’s eye. “Give the company a half hour rest period before we shoot this,” he instructed his assistant, Dick Mayberry. “Let them go outside for some fresh air, but tell them not to leave.” The half hour was over and the extras were called back. “You're hungry truck drivers and I want you to eat like hungry truck drivers,” Bacon told them. The men needed no second invitation. And so, while the cameras rolled, Bacon got just what he wanted. And one take from various angles was all that was needed. Wife Kisses Pal; Hubby Looks on Gloria Dickson kissed an assistant of husband Perc Westmore’s on the cheek while Perc was watching. “Again—and press harder!” said Perc, who is head make-up man at the Warner Bros. Studio. The idea was to test a lipstick Gloria was to wear in “Racket Busters.” “I’d rather have it on my own cheek, but I wanted to see it directly as it would appear on a man’s cheek, and not in a mirror,” Pere explained.