Smart Blonde (Warner Bros.) (1937)

“SMART BLONDE” PU Sb Lt ee Bad Man MacLane Smiles Aft Fans’ Notions Of Him Letter Writers Think He Must Be Old Meanie In Real Life, Too Motion picture fans often harbor strange ideas about the private lives of their favorite screen players. Since most of the stars have ceased living in the proverbial glass houses and have gone to the opposite extreme of living hermits’ lives behind locked doors and high walls, the fans’ conception of their home life is distorted into many humorous angles. Take the case of Barton MacLane, Warner Bros.’ robust portrayer of heavy roles of the ruthless gangster and hard-boiled cop types. He has a part of the latter sort in ‘‘Smart Blonde,’’ now. showing at the .........6.:....0..... Theatre. Patching together a symposium of his fan mail, MacLane has found that the average movie fan is seemingly serious in his belief that a villain on the screen is necessarily a villain in his own home. ““They scold me in no uncertain terms for being such a meanie,’’ says the actor. ‘‘They accuse me of everything from wife-beating to eruelty to animals. Put these letters together and I find that my home life runs something like this: ‘8 o’clock: Get up and dress. Go out in the yard and kick the dog in the ribs. *¢8.30: Slam the cook with a rolling pin for not having the breakfast ready on time. Eat breakfast. Fire the cook. “*9 9’elock: Drive to the studio. Run over two of the neighbors’ chickens on the way. Also chase an old lady in a wheel chair up onto the sidewalk. ‘9.30: Bawl out the director for his poor directions. Slap the leading lady because of her poor acting. **5 o’elock: Return home to dinner. Invite my closest friend over and put a few drops of poison in his coffee. **9 0’clock until bedtime: Read my favorite books — ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue,’ ‘Death in the Afternoon,’ ete.’ MacLane says that’s a pretty good idea of an average day in his life as his fans seem to conceive it. He wants to put them right about it but doesn’t know just how he will go about it. ‘‘Perhaps it would be better if they do think of me that way,’’ he says. ‘‘They’ll always come to the theatre to hiss me, anyway!’’ As a matter of fact, Bart, offscreen, is a big good-natured, lazy idler with a pretty constant grin. ‘¢Smart Blonde’’ is a combination mystery-newspaper-police thriller, co-starring Glenda Farrell as a wisecracking but brainy girl reporter and MacLane as a hardboiled detective-lieutenant. Other notables in the cast are Winifred Shaw, Craig Reynolds, Addison Richards, David Carlyle, Jane Wyman and Charlotte Winters. It was directed by Frank MeDonald. MacLane’s Trousers Have 128 Belts Barton MacLane, burly actor who is teamed with Glenda Farrell in the Warner Bros. comedydrama, ‘‘Smart Blonde,’’ doesn’t maintain an immense wardrobe, like most Hollywood players, but he has the largest collection of belts in the film colony. At last accounts he owned 128. Belts are his hobby and whenever he sees one of unusual design he buys it. ‘¢Smart Blonde,’’ in which Bart plays a hardboiled detective and Glenda Farrell a wisecracking newspaper girl, is showing now at NICO E ee a ee Theatre. Page Ten the house Jane Wyman Has Odd “‘Morning After” One of the scenes in ‘‘Smart Blonde,’’ the Warner Bros. comedy drama now playing at the ae ete ae Theatre, calls for Jane Wyman to awaken on the morning after a wild party and find in her room some ridiculous object which she has accumulated, and forgotten about, during the festivities. It was left up to Jane to decide what that object should be. She brought it on the set the following day. It was a 190-pound St. Bernard dog with a_ tiny brandy cask tied around its neck. Meet Torchy ““Torchy’’ is a new type of film character brought to life by Glenda Farrell (center) who with Barton MacLane (left) and Addisson Richards are seen at bay in the first of the ‘‘Torchy Blane’’ series ‘‘Smart Blonde’’ which opens at the .............. ae a LRCEUEE OW aia Ricateci eee Mat No. 209—20c ‘Lazy’ Screen Star Finds She Walks 7 Miles Daily Glenda Farrell, While Making ‘‘Smart Blonde,” Kept Tabs On Steps With Pedometer It would take a gal like Glenda Farrell, who admits she is one of the laziest persons in Hollywood, to check up on the number of useless steps she walks during an average workine day — both at home and at the studio. The thing about it that most surprised her friends was how Glenda ever got up enough ambition to bother checking up at all. The actress. arrived on_ the ‘<Smart Blonde’’ set at Warner Bros.’ studio one day armed with ' facts and figures concerning her walking habits. With a pedometer in a pocket of her slacks, Glenda had spent the previous day making a chart of mileage covered. ‘‘Smart Blonde’’ is her starring picture which comes to the ............ Siar eratese DPROAtPOS OM. oer eects Her first discovery was that she walked three-quarters of a mile every day before she left her North Hollywood home to start, out for tha studio. These steps were taken up in walking from one room to another while dressing, going downstairs to breakfast, walking around the yard inspecting her garden, returning to and going upstairs again and finally coming down and going out to the garage. Arriving at the studio she walked two miles before lunch time. This included walking from the parking lot to her dressing room; from the dressing room to the stage where the company was at work; walking up and down the set while rehearsing and during actual shooting and the trip back to her dressing room again before lunch. From noontime until five o’clock in the afternoon she walked another three miles. Returned to her home, the pedometer clicked off another two miles before she put it away and got into bed. Thus the actress found she walked a total of seven and threequarter miles in an average day — quite a bit more, she says, than the girl who chooses to walk home from an automobile ride. Glenda is now busy figuring out ways and means of cutting down on her walking. She says she just can’t stand thinking about those seven and_ three-quarter daily miles. ‘‘Smart Blonde’’ is a combination mystery-newspaper-police thriller, co-starring Glenda Farrell as a wisecracking but brainy girl reporter and Barton MacLane as a hardboiled detective-lieutenant. MacLane Plays Cop In One Picture, Gangster In Next Hero Of “Smart Blonde’’ Alternates Between Upholding And Defying The Law It’s getting to be an eternal game of Cops and Robbers for Barton MacLane — with the police element winning at an average of about two pictures to one. It started a couple of years ago when MacLane was assigned the role of the Public Enemy in ‘‘G-Men’’ — destined to be the first of a series of photoplays glorifying the Depart ment of Justice. The actor wanted to be one of the ‘‘cops’’ at that time, but Warner Bros. studio executives stood firm in their belief that he would make a much better gangster than he would a G-Man. ““Okay,’’ said MacLane. ‘‘I’ll play the gangster this time; but I want to be a cop in my next picture. I’d like to vury my roles as much as possible.’’ He went into the public enemy’s role with this agreement understood and turned in a fine performance — so fine, in fact, that a lot more sympathy was wasted on the hard-boiled gangster than had been expected by the producers. Holding the Warners to their promise, MacLane turned around and played a cop in his next picture. Again his performance attracted no little attention, and before long the actor was alternating between a policeman’s uniform and the flashy clothes of the gangster. He’s been doing it — with few variations — ever since. In the Warner Bros. wardrobe department there are two closets reserved for the actor’s costumes. One is full of policemen’s uniforms — New York policemen, Chicago policemen, San Froncisco fly cops, Detroit river police — virtually every branch of the law defending service. The other is filled with clothes of a loud and expensive nature. Colorful striped shirts. Flashy pearl gray derbies. Brown checkered suits and red searfs. Wigs— moustaches — goatees — in short Barton MacLane Fitted The Coat And Got The Job Barton MacLane got his first job on the stage because he happened to fit the coat. The Warner Bros. heavy disclosed on the set of his current picture, ‘‘Smart Blonde,’’ now on view. at the SS EAP RES Theatre, just how it happened. It was in Hartford, Conn. MaeLane, on vacation from college, approached the manager of a small stock company with a request for a job. The .manager looked him over. Finally he dug down into a wardrobe trunk, pulled out a coat. ‘What size coat do you wear?’’ he asked. ‘<Worty-four,’? MacLane replied. ‘“Swell,’’ the manager returned. ‘“T need someone for a small part. If you fit this coat, the job’s yours.’’ The coat fit and MachLane got the job. ‘‘Smart Blonde’’ is a combination mystery-newspaper-police thriller, co-featuring Glenda Farrell as a wisecracking but brainy girl reporter and MacLane as a hardboiled but capable detective lieutenant. Other notables in the east are Winifred Shaw, Craig Reynolds, Addison Richards, David Carlyle, Jane Wyman and Charlotte Winters. It was directed by Frank McDonald from a screen play by Don Ryan and Kenneth Gamet, based on an original story by Frederick Nebel. a bit of sartorial heaven for the man of the underworld. At present MacLane is wearing his ‘‘General Wardrobe Number One’’ — which consists of the policeman’s garb. He’s playing a detective in ‘‘Smart Blonde,’’ which comes to the’ *:....42:c05..06: heat ODP kai uses Wardrobe Number Two, of course, is the actor’s gangster closet. Some day he hopes to have both the wardrobes unlocked at the same time and play a dual role — that of pursuer and pursued — in a cop and robber story which would give him a chance to do both of his alternative screen jobs in one picture. «¢__ And it would be a swell story,’’ says the actor, ‘‘ because I’d win. out one way or the other.’’ ‘“Smart Blonde’’ is a combination mystery-newspaper-police thriller, co-featuring Glenda Farrell as a wisecracking but brainy girl reporter and MacLane as a hardboiled detective-lieutenant. Other notables in the cast are Winifred Shaw, Craig Reynolds, Addison Richards, David Carlyle, Jane Wyman and Charlotte Winters. It was directed by Frank MeDonald from a screen play by Don Ryan and Kenneth Gamet based on an original story by Frederick Nebel. MacLane Wants To Play Three Parts At Once Claiming that he has a triple personality, Barton MacLane is trying to convince Warner Bros. casting executives that he should be allowed to appear in a picture in which he could enact three separate parts during the course of the action. Having played a virtual game of cops and robbers as far as his roles are concerned during the past couple of years, MacLane wants to appear in a story which would allow him to play both the pursuer and the pursued. For an added character part, the actor would like to portray the part of a District Attorney who would appear in a scene with the other two characters. Currently appearing as a lieutenant of detectives in the mystery picture ‘‘Smart Blonde’’ at WiGee c Theatre, MacLane says if he can’t sell them the idea without such a story on hand he’) write one himself. Several years ago the actor wrote and appeared in ‘‘ Rendezvous’’ a New York stage play. ‘‘Smart Blonde’’ is a combination mystery-newspaper-police thriller, co-featuring Glenda Farrell as a wisecracking but brainy girl reporter and MacLane as a hardboiled but capable detective. Other notables in the cast include Winifred Shaw, Craig Reynolds, Addison Richards, David Carlyle, Jane Wyman and Charlotte Winters. It was directed by Frank McDonald from a screen play by Dan Ryan and Kenneth Gamet, based on an original story by Frederick Nebel.