Sons o Guns (Warner Bros.) (1936)

Twelve Famous Athletes Work In Joe Brown Film Star Of ‘Sons O’ Guns” Realizes His Boyhood Ambition There was the Klondike gold king who struck it rich and realized his long-cherished ambition to drive down the streets of Seattle in a big open car, smoking two cigars at once. But tastes differ. Joe EK. Brown’s success has enabled him to go in for something he dreamed of in his boyhood. A stage and circus performer since early childhood, these pursuits were simply ‘‘shop’’ to him. And he never hankered to be a railroad brakie or engineer. What he wanted to become was a champion athlete, preferably in baseball and football. “‘And you’ll have to take my word for it that I didn’t want this dream to come true because I wanted to be a hero, myself,’’? Joe explains, ‘‘What I wanted was to be able to associate, as one of them, with the idols of those sports.’’ Joe played baseball and football, but didn’t realize his ambition to the full, associating with idols of these games, until the Midas touch of the movies turned his mighty grin into a million-dollar asset. And this is how Joe realizes his boyhood ambition, now he’s a movie star. In a single day on the set of his current Warner Bros. production, “Sons O’ Guns,’’ which comes to the sie, castes Theatre -On...6. scale: twelve noted athletes were in costume and grease paint. Between scenes they chewed the rag with Joe. Pat O’Shea of major league fame serves as Brown’s stand-in. Frank Shellenback, famous spitball artist of the Pacific Coast League and present pilot of the Hollywood club, played a bit as an overseas M. P., and five football players, four of whom are of the current University of California in Los Angeles team, the fifth now a catcher with the Coast League Missions, were also M. P.’s. The catcher is Mike Frankovich, who was just graduated. The pigskinners are Mike’s brother Lee, and Earl Sargeant, Bill Murphy and Tex Harris. Now Joe has a basket-ball team called Joe E. Brown’s All-stars. The cognomen is deserved, because some champion cage men form the quintet. In baseball season Brown sponsors a semi-pro ball team, which in the fall includes many a major leaguer. In football season the comedy star sometimes sits in with a professional team, and often aids deserving collegians who are financially hard-pressed. All of which explains why the rest of Hollywood can have its fine cars, diamonds, pomp and circumstance. Give Joe his boyhood ambition—association with athletes —and he will tell you Fortune had used him well. *€Sons O’ Guns’’ is a colorful, mirth-laden and tuneful romantic comedy of the World War days, dealing only with the bright side of doughboy life in the A. E. F. Besides Joe E. Brown in the stel lar role, the cast includes Joan Biondell, Roberts, Eric Blore, Craig Reynolds, Winifred Shaw, Joseph King and Robert Barrat. Beverly The picture was directed by Lloyd Bacon from the screen play by Jerry Wald and Julius J. Epstein, based on a play by Fred Thompson and Jack Donahue. Mnsic and lyrics are by Harry Warren and Al Dubin while Bobby Connolly staged the musical numbers. Joe E. Brown He sings, dances, makes love and dodges women ina barrage of hilarity as he leads a regiment of laugh provokers in ‘‘Sons O’ Guns,’’ the Warner Bros. song Show coming tO the ........c0...cc0te-s LNCGU CONS ICS, see Mat No. 104—10c Joe Brown Prefers His Mud Dirty Clean mud has now been added to the list of ‘believe it or nots.’ A salesman tried to peddle some for Warner Bros,’ “Sons O’ Guns,” whieh.comes 40: the =..isgs.-2.5ccen: Theatre One... 2..33: But Joe E. Brown voted in favor of ordinary “dirty” mud. A chemical which makes a brown, sticky froth when mixed with water is the substitute. They've Got Everything Hardest Boiled ‘Gals’ In Films Do Apache Step Those who think they’ve seen hard-boiled chorines and hard-bitten dance hall dames, ‘‘ain’t seen nothin’ yet.’’ There’s an Apache dance number in the Warner Bros. film verision of the Broadway musical hit, ‘‘Sons O’ Guns,’’ which: comes: to the ......i2.:.8.0.04 Theatre On vs, -e i eae cs , in which twenty-six ‘‘lassies’’ representing French Montmartre habitues show what the really hard-boiled gal looks like—and does. But there’s a secret behind these cast-iron Kates: They’re men, and not chorus boys either. Rigged up in feminine apparel and wigs and appropriately placed padding, they represent doughboys who have donned feminine disguise for an entertainment stunt in war-time France. Several of the twenty-six. were good football players a few seasons ago, and two currently play baseball. But of course, Bobby Connolly, maestro of the dance who staged this and other musical numbers for the film ‘‘Sons O’ Guns’’ and was co-producer of the stage hit on Broadway, used the toughestlooking types for masculine roles. And what types those babies are. They make the ‘‘ladies’’ they dance with seem like fluffy little clinging vines by comparison. All of which is a grand buildup for the entrance of the hero of the story, Joe E. Brown, and the introduction to the Apache dance number he does with Frank Mitchell, of Mitchell and Durant fame. Frank is also in feminine apparel, and the dance they do to that familiar old Apache air, ‘‘My Man,’’ is something between a tumbling exhibition and a modern wrestling bout. ““Sons O’ Guns’’ is a rollicking comedy presenting the humorous side of the World Was based on the play by Fred Thompson and Jack Donahue. There is a tuneful background with music and lyrics by Harry Warren and Al Dubin. Besides Brown and Mitchell the cast includes Joan Blondell, Beverly Roberts, Eric Blore, Craig Reynolds, Winifred Shaw, Joseph King and Robert Barrat. Lloyd Bacon directed the comedy from the screen play by Jerry Wald and Julius J. Epstein. Joe Ek. Brown and Joan Blondell, who sing, dance, make love and scrap through an evening of hilarious merriment in ‘‘Sons O’ Guns’’ the Warner Bros, song and laugh musical coming to the ONS a rire a Theatre ee errant | Mat No. 203—20c PUBLICITY | He’s A Passionate Apache r Joe E. Brown, shown above hiding behind the mustachios, and Frank Mitchell, all dressed up like a lady cut-throat, do an ““ Apache’’ dance that would make a Parisian gamin hang his bead_as : envy or something in ‘‘Sons O’ Guns,’’ the Warner Bros. hit now at NG See ae ale angi) eee. Theatre. Mat No. 210—20ce Joan Blondell Reveals Secrets Of Movie Magic Feminine Lead In “Sons O’ Guns” Tells How Designers Dress Sets A hidden secret of those movie magicians who design and ‘“dress’’ sets is revealed, at last, not by the close-mouthed clan, but by Joan Blondell. ‘““Did you ever wonder why you can tell at a glance the locale of most sets representing exotic scenes, that is, whether they represent a little street corner in China, a market in Arabia or Old Mexico?’’ Joan asks. ‘“‘They don’t have signs on them, you know. When you see them on the screen at the beginning of a picture, not as yet identified by dialogue, action or title, or when you merely run into one on a movie lot, they suggest instantly to the experienced traveler the locale they’re supposed to represent. “‘T mean just settings, perhaps only small ones, without people, who are identifiable by their national costumes. Try it in a foreign country some time. It isn’t nearly so easy as you imagine. A small scene in Peking is liable to look like a bit of East Side New York or London. ““The reason you can identify them so quickly in the movies, isn’t, therefore, because of all the accuracy or realism you _ hear about. Rather, the designers take the artistic license of concentrating in whatever small set you see, enough subtle indications of its locale to ‘tip off’ the spectator! ’’ That this is actually done in modern pictures in a subtle manner can be proved by pointing to sets of French world-war locales used in ‘‘Sons O’ Guns,’’ the Warner Bros. comedy romance now showing at. the: sack: Theatre. “CA few years ago a French village street such as this one would have had a lot of signs, French words and proper names, on stores and so on,’’ Joan observed. ‘‘ This one, you’ll notice, doesn’t. Neither do aetual French villages, as small as this one. The residents know where the local grocery store is; they need no signs to direct them. ““Yet any small section of this village street set, if yout look at it critically, suggests not only the French country village locale, but even the period—world war time. That’s because of the little touches crowded into every possible camera angle, which identify it to the subconscious mind. ‘*]t may not be literal realism, for if you were blindfolded, rocketed to France and dropped into such a town you might not so readily guess where you were. But I maintain that, as it’s done now, itoseartl?? ‘*Sons O’ Guns,’’ is a colorful, mirth-laden and tuneful romantic comedy of the World War days, dealing only with the bright and hilarious side of doughboy life in the A. E. F. Joe E. Brown has the stellar role, while others in the cast besides Miss Blondell include Beverly Roberts, Eric Blore, Craig Reynolds, Winifred Shaw, Joseph King and Robert Barrat. The picture was directed by Lloyd Baeon. Page. 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