Side Show (Warner Bros.) (1931)

GIVE IT THE GOL-DARNDEST LIGHTS! SIGHTS! TIGHTS! Step right up for the big show! Fights, _ thrills, romance! Pack your troubles in the elephant’s trunk! The lions and tigers won’t hear themselves roar because you'll be laughing louder! SIDE $ W with WINNIE LIGHTNER She’s funny as a circus, but wait till you see her with CHARLES BUTTERWORTH Evalyn Knapp — P‘d Cook Guv A Warner Bros. & Cut Noo Cut goc Mat roc “Side Show” Flame Diver Plunges 85 Feet (Current Reader) One of the greatest thrills ever provided in motion pictures forms part of “Side Show,” Winnie Lightner’s latest Warner Bros. which is now showing at the .. Theatre. The scene was shot at night and shows an intrepid per picture former, his clothes smothered in flames diving from the top of an eighty-five foot ladder into a six foot tank of water. The top of the water was covered with gasoline and ignited. This is one of the many side show attractions provided in this unique picture. Charles Butterworth, Evalyn Knapp, Donald Cook and Guy Kibbee are in the cast. Winnie Gives Birthday Party For Small Son (Current Reader) Winnie Lightner, after finishing the filming of “Side Show,” the Warner Bros. picture in which she is featured with Charles Buterworth, Evalyn Knapp, Don Cook and Guy Gibbees ow. atsthe ser ee Theatre, gave a party for Dickie. her son and heir. It was a birthday party, and there were exactly three candles on the-cake. Dickie was named, by the way, for Richard Bar. thelmess, an actor for whose art Winnie entertains the keenest admiration. In spite of the fact that her son is named for him, Winnie never met Barthelmess personally until about a year ago. Miss Lightner’s next film will bear the title of “Big Hearted Bertha.” Take The Whole Family To See | S\DE SHOW with WINNIE Funnier than a three Winnie and Charlie more real laughs than you’ve had in a month of Sundays. A Warner Bros. & Vitaphone Hit WINTER GARDEN B’way at 52nd St. Cut No. 21 Cut 4goc Mat roc | Page Ten THAT SOMETHING, WHICH WINS ACTORS Winnie’s Fire-Diving FAVOR OF THE MILLIONS, DEFIES ALL) Double Doubles Her ANALYSIS, SAYS “SIDE SHOW” DIRECTOR Del Ruth Compares Individual Appeal Of Winnie Lightner, Charles Butterworth, Evalyn Knapp And Other Players In Warner Bros. Picture (Feature for Sunday Paper) Roy Del Ruth, who directed ‘‘Side Show,’’ the Warner Bros. production featuring Winnie Lightner, Charles Butterworth, Evalyn Knapp, Donald Cook, Guy Kibbee and many others, coming at the . Theatre next, in speaking of that intangible quality which makes for screen suceess, says that it all resolves itself into the question, ‘‘ What have you to offer?”’ “That is the question,” says Mr. Del Ruth, “with which every screen applicant is confronted, the right answer to which means the difference between unpaid obscurity and fame and fortune. “In order to arrive anywhere in motion* picture work, much more than beauty and a_ reasonable amount of ability are demanded. Even the well known ‘It’ does not quite fill the bill. What one must have is that peculiar something which no one else possesses and which therefore makes the contribution worth bidding for. “Comedy is the most exacting in this respect. The hardest thing in the world is to be consistently funny. It requires an unusual gift No matter how amusing the lines, they can be used effectively by no one but the person for whom they were written. “SHE’S IN WHITE” “Take Charles Butterworth, for instance. In his role as a seal trainer in ‘Side Show,’ he has dialogue which no one else in the world could put over. His personality is unique; in other words, he has something very different and definite to offer. “Butterworth is the best example with which to dem-~te what is neant by ‘that s ’ He needs posture ee bo aa a a Peg oe od itume to make roll in ~ vles. He doesn’t exception ally brilliant lines, fo. ‘at matter. Without moving a muscle of face or body, he can utter a brief commonplace that will set the crowd howling. “New York was panicked with three words Butterworth spoke in the stage production, ‘Sweet Adeline.’ A girl appeared on the stage dressed \ in ermine, and at her appearasce Butterworth merely said ‘She’s in white.’ “The words are meaningless on paper, but newspaper critics pointed out this little bit as the funniest in the entire production. “There are thousands of men who look just like Butterworth, yet Butterworth is the only one of his ilk who ean put it over without gceing out of his way even to the extent of adding a grimace. WHY WINNIE WOWS “There is Winnie Lighner, too, whom Butterworth supports in ‘Side Show.’ Her combination is redheaded vivacity, manner, and again that indefinable something which distinguishes her from thousands of others who may look, act and talk as she. Any attempt to analyze Winnie’s wit would boil itself down to a formula which may be possessed by a of other host comediennes now i'rouping small time vaudeville throughout the country. But the formula would never work out in comparison. The unknown quantity which raises her to the top of her profession is something inborn which though we know it is there and recognize it, cannot be defined. “Tt is just that sort of thing which prompted mathematicians to invent the symboi X, Elinor Glynn to coin the word ‘It,’ and which the studio cashier represents by a series of 90’s after the initial figure on the weekly check. “George Arliss discovered something in Evalyn Knapp, the ingenue of ‘Side Show’ which he maintained no other girl possesses. He couldn’t give it a name, but it had something to do with the spirit of youth. “Evalyn is a well trained actress, endowed with her share of beauty, but 14 certainly required more than. that for Arliss to pick her as the lead in his ‘The Millionaire’ and hale and hearty for Warner Bros. to feature her in such subsequent pictures as ‘The Bargain, ‘Smart Money’ and ‘Side Show? | CHARM OF EVALYN “Of course Evalyn’s talent does not come under the heading of comedy, which places her in a category overrun with millions who have everything on the ball—but just lacking in that one little spark whiel. makes all the difference in the world. “Just try analyzing Evalyn Knapp and you will find yourself arriving at the point where you say ‘And she has a certain ~-—ah —freshness and untrammeled youth which—well— which » And that’s ag far as you can get. ° “What the eaglée-eyed gentlemen in the casting office have is uncanny intuition which pierces beneath the layer of fundamental requisites and senses that—that certain something. Perhaps the Greeks have a word for it—but we doubt it.” WARNER Funniest Team On The Screen! A Warner Vitaphone Hit Pack all your troubles in the elephant’s trunk and LAFF! HOWL! ROAR! Cut No2 Cut2oc Mat sc Up With Fright (Advance—Ptant 3 Days Before) Winnie Lightner decided she had -|to draw the line somewhere in “Side Show,” the Warner Bros. picture coming to the Theatre Rei ae next, she is called upon to double for the hula dancer, the cannibal, the bearded lady, and several other freaks. “T thanked my lucky stars that I had lost enough weight to preclude any possibility of my doing the fat lady, but that wasn’t half as bad as taking the place of the fire diver,” says Winnie. : ee “When Director Roy Del Ruth came to that part of the script where the fire diver leaves the show and I take his place, I had a nice excuse ready in ease he should decide JT didn’t need a double. “He compromised when I agreedto elimb half way up the ladder, and letting the substitute do the rest. The climb rather unnerved me, but what I saw after that made me feel like a piker. “The man who took my place stood on a little platform eighty-five feet above a six-foot tank. Gasoline was peured on the surface of the water and ignited. Just as he was about to dive, he set fire to his own clothing and plunged gracefully into the tank below. “My heart stuck in my throat I expected him to rise above a flaming surface, from which he would be fished in the form of a cinder. But the whole trick of this act lies in the fact that the enormous splash made by the dive creates a wave which completely overwhelms the flames and allows the diver to rise unruffled to a calm, watery surface. But not for me!” The east of “Side Show” includes Charles Kutterworth, Evalyn Knapp, Donald Cook, Guy Ki*-rT" Carver, Mathew Betz, / oc omc gr muy od Otto Hoffman. The a. _ written by William K. Wells. The dialogue is by Arthue Caesar. “Side Show” Rough Guy Is Philosopher At Home (Current Reader) Mathew Betz, one of the tough-st looking heavies that the sereen boasts of today, and who provides the menace in Winnie Lightner’s latest Warner Bros. picture, “Side LOW. nOW-2a tte. Sian ees : Theatre, spends his leisure hours at home pursuing the study of religious history and philosophy. His outdoor hobbies consist of golf, driving, and puttering around the garden. The cast of “Side Show” also contains Charles Butterworth, Eva'yn Knapp, Donald Cook and Guy Kibbee. Doubles Aid Winnie In Wild ‘‘Side Show’’ Scenes (Current Reader) Winnie Lightner had to have three doubles always on hand during the filming of “Side Show”, the Warner Bros. picture now showing at the Theatre. As part of her job in the cireus side show, she herself has to double for many of the freaks. Three players were selected to don make-up and costume as the fire diver, the cannibal and the hula dancer and stand by for Winnie’s emergencies while she was in these respective roles. Coming “Side Show” Team Are Funniest On Screen (Advance Reader) Winnie Lightner is a laughing ecyclone in her own right, but when contrasted with the meek and solemn comedy of Charles Butterworth—the results are disastrous to dull care. The two are co-featured in “Side Show” the Warner Bros. production Which -COMeSs:-tO; CNG <tc, iene ees (hea thee. 1% hae Sia next. Others in the cast are Evalyn Knapp, Don Cook and Guy Kibbee. Hundreds of extras, including freaks, are seen as well as animals, and al! the 2lamorous hodge-podge of the circus.