Rhapsody in Blue (Warner Bros.) (1945)

Fkilm Recalls Past Days To kamous King of Jazz Paul Whiteman looked as though he didn't have a nerve in his well fed body, but he said he had plenty of them. And that they were dupois. jumping all over the avoir Plump Paul, not as plump as he was back in the days when he took jazz out of the night clubs and right through the classic portals of Aeolian Hall, but still a substantial figure of a man, was about to conduct a band in the playing of the late George Gershwin’ s “Rhapsody In Blue.” He'd only done it umpteen hundred times before. But this time was different. Motion picture cameras were to be watching and microphones were to be listening as he conducted and the band played. And history was to be repeating itself. For “Rhapsody In Blue,” the film story of his great friend George Gershwin, Whiteman was right back in Aeolian Hall, ready to introduce again the “Rhapsody” that became a classic. Studio-Made Hall The Warner Bros. sound stage setting had been built to duplicate the stage of Aeolian Hall as Whiteman had decked it out for the February afternoon in 1924 when he gave the first jazz concert of musical history. Whiteman himself wore the same style sky blue broadcloth trousers, and calf sweeping black broadcloth cutaway he donned for that memorable occasion. Even the sleek-lined, spike-pointed mustache he gave up for a broader, closer-clipped version of some fifteen years ago, adorning his upper lip, through courtesy of the studio makeup department. The nostalgia of it all, and the importance of the moment to the picture accounted for his jumpy nerves, Whiteman said. “Funny thing,” he said, “it was this way before the original concert. I didn’t feel a bit nervous about the thing until the morning of the day we were to go on. hen | got so jittery | couldn't eat breakfast or lunch. That means I was really nervous.” Whiteman said the idea of “making a lady out of jazz” had been uzZzing about in his head for months before he invaded Aeolian Hall, but the culminating events moved rapidly. Hires Aeolian Hall “T got a tip a competitor of mine was going to stage a jazz concert,” he explained, “so | jumped right in and_ hired Aeolian Hall, the home of the classics, for a date just three weeks away. Then I got hold of some o my composing friends, among them George (Gershwin) and asked them to whip me up something new —and startlingly different—to knock the classic critics off their perch. “George had a blues theme I was interested in, but he said he couldn't possibly work it out in three weeks. Hot or cold, I told him, it has to be ready. He came through with the ‘Rhapsody ’.”’ The late Victor Herbert and some other composers wrote pieces for Whiteman’s concert. It was the “Rhapsody In Blue,” played with Gershwin himself at the piano, that won the critics’ approval — and lived. Whiteman took his concert on tour, with the “Rhapsody” as the _ piece de resistance. 32 Still RB 540 Paul Whiteman, who wields his baton on behalf of George Gershwin's immortal music in Warner Bros.’ "'Rhapsody In Blue," musical film tribute to the great composer, now at the Strand. The film stars Robert Alda as George Gershwin. Mat 120—15c Through the ensuing years it has been his theme song and his ever-recurring tribute to his friend. ° Whiteman A ‘Must’ When Warner Bros.’ Jesse L. Lasky decided to produce the Gershwin story as a picture, it was axiomatic. that Paul Whiteman be in it, and that the Aeolian Hall success, forerunner of countless Gershwin triumphs, be depicted. For that concert, the maestro was invited to assemble as many of his “old boys” as possible. Henry Busse, first trumpet at the Aeolian concert, left his own band at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, to plane down for the scenes. Al Gallodore, clarinetist with Toscaninis N.B.C. symphony, was brought from New York. Mike Pingatore, the banjoist who has never left Whiteman since the Los Angeles Alexandria Hotel days of 1919, was on hand. So were Mischa Russell, violinist; Harold McDonald, drummer; Charles Strickfadden, saxophonist; and Ray Turner, pianist. Looked Calm Enough Whiteman, baton poised, never looked more calm and assured. The action call came, the baton — started moving, Whiteman’s nerves may have been jumping then, but if they were it was with the enduring rhythm of the “Rhapsody.” “Rhapsody In Blue.” which opens at the Strand Friday, also stars Joan Leslie, Alexis Theatrical Greats Are Portrayed In ‘Rhapsody In Blue’ Coburn Plays Reel Max Dreyfus, First Gershwin Champion Charles Coburn, one of the numerous stars in Warner Bros. “Rhapsody In Blue,” currently at the Strand, was one of the few actors in the film who didn’t have to WOITy about resembling the real life character he portrays. In the film, which is a musical biography of George Gershwin, Coburn plays Max Dreyfus, the New York music publisher and impresario who discovered the great composer and gave him his first songwriting contract. When Dreyfus gave producer Jesse L. Lasky permission to have an actor portray him in the picture, Dreyfus stipulated one condition. No Sight Casting “T have no illusions about my looks,” he wrote. “For heaven's sake don't try to cast somebody who resembles me. Pick out a big, impressive looking actor.” Others starred in “Rhapsody In Blue” are newcomer Robert Alda, who makes his screen debut as Gershwin, Joan Leslie, Alexis Smith, Paul Whiteman, Oscar Levant, Hazel Scott and many more top celebrities of stage and screen. Levant Treasures Gershwin’s Gift During a scene in Warner Bros.” “Rhapsody In Blue” where he meets George Gershwin for the first time, Oscar Levant can be seen consulting a wrist watch, after which he remarks that he. has only ten more minutes to wait for an appointment. That watch was presented to him by the real George Gershwin, after they did a concert together. It bears the engraved inscription: “From George to Oscar. Lewisohn Stadium, 1932.” Besides Oscar Levant, who plays himself in Warners’ great musical biography now at the Strand, Robert Alda is starred as the immortal American composer, and in other important roles are Joan Leslie, Alexis Smith and Charles Coburn. Smith, Charles Coburn, Julie Bishop, Albert Basserman, orris Carnovsky, Rosemary De Camp and many celebri ties, in addition to Whiteman, who portray themselves in the m. Mat 115—15c Still RB 531 Charles Coburn plays the important role of George Gershwin's benefactor in Warner Bros.’ stirring film tribute to the composer, “Rhapsody In Blue," which opened last night at the Strand Theatre. Also starred in the film are Robert Alda (as George Gershwin), Joan Leslie and Alexis Smith. Love Scenes Held Terrors For Lovely Joan Leslie Flame haired Joan Leslie is getting over her fear of motion picture love scenes. She thinks it is about time, too, in view of the fact that she’s played them with Gary Cooper, James Cagney, ennis Morgan, Jack Carson, Fred Astaire and current ly, with Robert Alda in Warners’ film biography of George Gershwin, “Rhapsody In Blue,” now at the Strand. “T was petrified when I did my first love scene with Gary Cooper in ‘Sergeant York,’ ”’ the eighteen-year-old Warner Bros. star confides. “You've no idea how territying it is to look into the eyes of a stranger—especially a famous stranger like Mr. Cooper—and say | love 9 38 you. Still JL 707 Mat 215—30c Lovely, talented Joan Leslie plays Julie Adams, the girl who became a star to the beat of George Gershwin's incomparable tunes, in Warner Bros.’ film tribute to the American composer, "Rhapsody In Blue,"" now at the Strand. Robert Alda is starred in the role of George Gershwin. James Cagney’'s slap-happy type of wooing as the late George M. Cohan in “Yankee Doodle Dandy” was a trifle less terrifying, Miss Leslie says. Cohan was doubtless as sincere, but far less serious, in his romancing than the Tennessee mountaineer, York. Cagney Helps ‘Jimmy,’ says Miss Leslie, “helped me a lot with his kidding. The undercurrent of feeling was there in the love scenes, of course, but on the surface they were light banter.” Love became serious again when Joan led both Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson a hectic course to the altar in “The Hard Way.” But she'd known both for quite a time on the Warner Bros. lot and didn’t feel quite the awe she felt about Cooper and Cagney. Dances worried Miss Leslie more than love scenes in the picture she did with Astaire. And when she played her love scenes with Ronald Reagan, as the soldier's sweetheart in Irving Berlin's “This Is The Army,” she was too carried away by the timely theme of the story to be embarrassed~ even when Captain Reagan's wife—and her own good friend —Jane Wyman, was on the set. She found it easy to imagine herself really one of the millions of American girls in love with a soldier, and it was easy to put her heart into the love scenes. In “Rhapsody In Blue,” Miss Leslie has a number of love scenes with Robert Alda, the film's George Gershwin, and regards them with composure —for two reasons—her past experience in film romances— and Alda’s lack of it. “He never played a_ love scene before,” she says, “and is more afraid of them than | am. That helps a lot.” In “Rhapsody In Blue,” Alda is making his first screen appearance in the role of the immortal American composer, while others starred in the film, besides Joan Leslie, are Alexis Smith, Charles Coburn, Paul Whiteman, Oscar Levant and countless other stars of stage and screen who were prominently connected with the musician in real life. ‘Rhapsody In Blue’ Previewed Overseas Shown to American soldiers far in advance of its domestic release, Warners’ jubilant story of George Gershwin, "Rhapsody In Blue,’ will open on Friday at ‘the Strand Theatre. Starring screen newcomer Robert overseas Alda as the gifted composer and Joan Leslie, Alexis Smith and Charles Coburn, "Rhapsody In Blue’ is the moving story of Gershwin's turbulent rise to fame. Interwoven in the film are many of his songs, including "Rhapsody In Blue.” Directed by Irving Rapper, the picture was produced by Jesse L. Lasky. we am