Saturdays Children (Warner Bros.) (1940)

No girl in Hollywood is less conscious of success than is Anne Shirley. Having been in pictures since she was three years old, Anne, who is now twenty is considered one of the veterans of the screen. Whenever Anne finishes a picture, she leaves behind a whole company of friends, so it is almost safe to say that Anne has more rooters in Hollywood than any other star. Her popularity is undoubtedly due to her sincerity off the screen. One of the reasons, Anne has been successful for so long a time in pictures is because of her sincere portrayals on the screen. This also applies to real life. Her road to success was not an easy one. She started with small parts and by continually working and improving she became a featured player at the age of thirteen. When she was sixteen, she became a star and each of her roles has improved in importance. 1940 undoubtedly will prove to be Anne’s most successful year. She was highly praised for her work in the recent “Vigil in the Night,” and in her newest film “Saturday’s Children,” in which she is co-starred with John Garfield, now showing at the Strand, she has what is undoubtedly her finest role to date. In this picture, Anne is in practically every scene. It is around her that the whole story centers. When Lee Patrick, New York stage star who is featured in the picture, finished a scene with Anne, she remarked, “It’s CURRENT PUBLICITY—’SATURDAY’S CHILDREN’ Nee SSS Sess sis sss They're All Rooting for Anne Shirley Still SC Pub A28; Mat 201—30c ANNE SHIRLEY makes her debut as a Warner Bros. star in “Saturday’s Children”, currently showing at the Strand Theatre. a pleasure to work with a trouper like that girl, all I have to do is follow along and _ without knowing it, I find myself right in the mood of the scene.” Barbara Stanwyck, Carole Lombard, John Garfield and Ginger Rogers, are a few of the many who want this girl to stay on the top. She has the support of her business associates and this is all important in sustaining a Hollywood success. If Anne wasn’t in the picture business and lived instead in a small town, she would still be the most popular girl, for she has all the more substantial qualities that make for popularity, everywhere. (Woman’s Page Feature) Frocks for Career Girl Shown in Strand Film It doesn’t take silks and satins pletely in toto by any business to bring out the vivid personality of Anne Shirley, star of “Saturday’s Children,” which is currently showing at the Strand. In the role of a stenographer who plies her own needle Ann brings the simplest garb to life because she’s got what Director Vincent Sherman calls “feeling from within.” And don’t think this domesticity is only play-acting. Off screen Anne is a clever seamstress and adores designing clothes. Get her on the subject of her hobbies and she’ll tell you that before long now she will launch her business boats in the venture of a dress shop in which she hopes to do some of the designing herself. Anne is especially fond of mad hats and shoes. Her wardrobe for “Saturday’s Children” could be taken com os Still SC Pub A27*; Mat 103—15c ANNE SHIRLEY is co-starred with John Garfield in “Saturday’s Children,” the story of a young couple who married on love—and next to nothing a week. girl who wants to be dressed in perfect taste. There’s a simple “job hunting” frock that no prospective employer could take offense at. In black wool it slightly resembles a convent school uniform with high neck, long tight sleeves and white pique collar and cuffs. At the throat is a perky striped bow matched in the band on a black felt spectator hat. Another business dress with feminine touches is in navy crepe with Irish lace bib front and three quarter length sleeves edged with narrow lace ruffles. Designer Milo Anderson used an unusual color combine for a dress Anne raves about. The bodice of crushed raspberry wool shows a skirt in gray crinkle crepe set on low and shirred and a bolero of gray. This bolero is one that really isn’t one since it is stitched to the contrasting bodice. Jersey, both silk and wool, seems to hold all the aces. Anne likes it in her own wardrobe and adores the screen one in gray designed by Milo Anderson. This shows the new long torso top and a full gathered skirt, and white taffeta bow at the throat. But a stenographer, just because she’s working in an office “doesn’t have to look as drab as her typewriter,” Anne contends. Bows Grow On Tree Elizabeth Risdon plans to patent a new style of Christmas tree, she revealed recently on Warners’ set of “Saturday’s Children.” Elizabeth has a young girl friend who wears bows continually in her hair so she bought her a little white Christmas tree and pinned bows of all colors on every possible point. She then mounted the tree on a mirror base and surrounded the tree with cellophane. John Garfield Really ‘Did It With Mirrors’ On the set of “Saturday’s Children,” now showing at the Strand, Shirley and John Garfield were going through a scene in a mail order house. Garfield had to walk by Anne’s desk and knock over a stack of statements with a large poster that he held in such a manner it en structed his view. He not 3 only knocked % over her # papers but also a lamp which was set off-stage. After ten unsuccessful efforts, during which time cameraman James Howe and director Vincent Sherman were betting him cigars that he couldn’t knock over the papers successfully, Garfield had a brainstorm. He called the prop man aside and told him to rig up two mirrors off-stage so that he could see where he was going. He then bet Howe and Sherman a box of cigars that he wouldn’t miss and they took the bet. With the aid of the mirrors, Garfield had no trouble and the scene was done without a hitch. Garfield, always ready to laugh at his own expense, turned to Sherman and said, “Wait till the boys back home who think I am a pretty good actor, find out I am now doing it with mirrors.” Mat 105—15c John Garfield No Gangster Then Humphrey Bogart who starred in the Maxwell Anderson stage play “Saturday’s Children” from which Warners made the screen version, was a constant visitor on that set. Getting time off from his work in “It All Came True” Humphrey would stroll over to see what John Garfield was doing in his former role. [18] Claude Rains’ Voice Wins Him Honors Claude: Rains was honored recently by Dr. Harrison Carr, U.C.L.A. public speaking professor, aS possessing one of the finest speaking voices of any screen, radio or stage star. Dr. Carr specializes in teaching his students diction, pronunciation, and voice placement. He asked Warner Bros. if they would be kind enough to send him two records of Rains’ voice taken from two of his recent pictures. Warners chose a speech from “Daughters Courageous” which Rains does in a depressing, sorrowful tone and one from “Saturday’s Children,” in which he plays a semi-comedy role. This is the film currently showing at the Strand Theatre. Dr. Carr feels that if his students hear the correct expressive tones, it will benefit them more than reading a hundred books on public speaking. Lucille Fairbanks To Be Modern Portia Planning to take up her legal studies where they were interrupted by a screen career a year and a half ago, Lucille Fairbanks, niece of the late Douglas Fairbanks, filed application, yesterday, for the University of California at Los Angeles extension school for the semester which has just begun. Miss Fairbanks, who is currently featured in “Saturday’s Children,’”’ now showing at the Strand, completed her four year pre-legal course at the University of California at Los Angeles in three years. She holds a B.A. degree from the university. This new training will be an adjunct and not a substitute for Miss Fairbanks’ acting career for she plans to continue on the screen. She will attend evening courses and summer sessions, so that she can keep up her screen work at the same time that she is attending school. DENNIE 1S SMART AT PLAYING DUMB Dennie Moore, the girl in pictures whose Bronxese accent makes New Yorkers blush, has her most riotous role to date in “Saturday’s Children,” now showing at the Strand, in which she plays a filing clerk in a New York mail order house. Not a “career cir’) ¥ chance, she is on a perpetual manhunt, and her running stream of would-be cultured conversation is a hilarious sidelight in the drama of young love contending against financial odds. The Dennie Moore off screen is an entirely different person. Possessing only a faint New York lingo, her one fear is that when she meets people, they will expect her to talk the way she does on the screen and be just as dumb. Born in New York City, Dennie started her stage career when just fifteen. Cast in minor roles at the outset of her career, she soon became a full-fledged actress. Her successful stage experience which included important roles in “The Pursuit of Happiness,” “The Trial of Mary Dugan,” “Three Men on a Horse,” “Swing Your Lady,” “Torch Song,” and “20th Century” have given her a very definite poise. She has travelled to Ireland, Scotland, England and France and the knowledge she gained from these trips have given her a fine back-ground. She buys all her clothes in New York and is considered one of the best dressed women in Hollywood when she is there. She spends her spare time reading and there are few subjects on which she can’t talk intelligently. Mat 107—15c Dennie Moore Twin Scenarists Break Down and Tell All! Having refused to fill out a biographical questionnaire for the files during all the years they had been at Warner Bros. studio, writing such hit screen plays as the “Four Daughters” series, the twin brothers Epstein, Julius and Phillip, created something of a mild sensation when they suddenly consented. The identical scenarists, who enjoy their reputation of being the enfants terribles of Burbank, agreed to fill out the questionnaire and the entire studio eagerly awaited the script suspecting that it would be no ordinary document. The first explanation that occurred after reading the questionnaire was that the Epsteins had mistaken it for an outline of a story they were to adapt for the screen. It has comedy, character study, continuity in the form of a running gag, not to mention some very good dialogue. This is probably a conditioned reaction, since the boys recently completed the script of “Saturday’s Children,” co-starring John Garfield and Anne Shirley, and currently showing at the Strand. A few of the more salient facts of their joint biography reveal that they were born on August 22, 1909 in New York City. They were educated at Penn State where Julius J. (he says he uses a middle initial because it takes up more room on the screen) was intercollegiate boxing champion and Phillip was the star of the Penn State Players. The questionnaire delves into the family background, demanding such information as “Were any of your relatives theatrical people?” The Epsteins have their own oblique way of answering. “Would you call selling peanuts in a burlesque house theatrical?” The next group of questions and answers is pure Epstein. Question: What was your school day ambition? Answer: To get out of school. Q: How did you happen to go on the stage? A: We were in musical comedy and they picked us out of the chorus. Q: How did you happen to come to Hollywood? A: We found a bus ticket. As a matter of fact, the twins early in life developed an affinity for the theatre, even though it was not entirely reciprocal. They wrote a play called “And Stars Remain,” which didn’t go, then switched to screenwriting in which they are phenomally successful. In answer to the question, “Who is the most interesting person you ever met?” the Epsteins answer “Ann Sheridan.” It therefore followed logically that the question, “What is your present ambition?” should be answered by the note to “see answer to who is most interesting person you ever met.”