Stolen Holiday (Warner Bros.) (1937)

PUBLICA Y Star Flees Hollywood To Avoid Laziness, She Says Semi-Tropical Climate Robs Her Of Natural Pep Declares Kay Francis Kay Francis deserts Hollywood at every opportunity. As soon as she completes a picture, she invariably disappears. Sometimes it is only a short trip to Lake Arrowhead that takes her away from the screen colony. Sometimes she spends the intervals between pictures at a ranch in the high altitudes of Arizona or Nevada. Frequently, however, she boards a train and spends from two weeks to two months in New York. Once a year regularly she extends her journey to Europe, where she spends several weeks at various Mediterranean resorts. She skipped this year, because of the war threats. As soon as the raven-haired star finished her latest production for First National’s “Stolen Holiday,” now at the .........000... Theatre, she was off on a long vacation, for this was her last picture for 1936. Miss Francis, at the risk of earning the undying enemity of the famed Hollywood chamber of commerce, confesses that she gets away from the movie colony as often as possible because the semi-tropical climate makes her lazy. If she remains in Hollywood between pictures, she says, she starts her next production in a lethargic state, mentally and physically. “Tt isn’t that I dislike Hollywood and Southern California,” she said. “There is no place in the world, with the possible exception of the southern coast of France, where I would rather live. As proof of that statement, I built a home here. “My frequent dashes away from the movie colony have convinced me of the need of change,” the actress continued. “Such little things as comparing the speed at which I walk with the pace of pedestrians in other cities, for example, When ‘I arrive in New York, I find myself blocking traffic when I go out for a walk. In a day or so, however, I get into the swing. “Back in Hollywood, when my vacation is over, I stumble over the slower moving population. The same reaction probably takes place in my mental condition. “Hollywood is a grand, peaceful place to live,” Miss Francis concluded, “But the lazy life and atmosphere slows up the mentality, unless one is watchful.” “Stolen Holiday” is a thrilling, romantic story of the rise of a lovely but humble mannequin to the position of queen of fashion in Paris, dictating to the whole world what women shall wear. Others in the cast, besides Miss Francis, include Claude Rains, Ian Hunter, Alison Skipworth, Alexander D’Arcy, Betty Lawford and others. Friday, 13, No Jinx; T’was Kay’s Birthday Although she was born on a Friday the Thirteenth, Kay Francis, the film star, doesn’t own a single superstition, she says. She’ll even throw her hat on a bed or whistle in her dressing-room. “Any jinx that might have come to me was dispelled by the Friday and the thirteen at the very day of my birth,” Kay declares. Miss Francis is starring in the First National romantic drama “Stolen Holiday,” which comes to the Theatre on Page Ten Making Hit At Strand Star Choosey About Odor of Tobacco Kay Francis didn’t like the smell of a pipe smoked by a certain worker on the set of her current picture, ‘‘Stolen Holiday,’’ THOW=abSbNO.. nat pen Theatre. But she made no comment. Next day a messenger boy delivered a pound can of very fine tobacco to the smoker. It was an anonymous gift, but Kay, who likes the smell of good tobacco, was smiling to herself when she saw the worker fill his pouch — and his pipe. Kay Francis (right), in the role of a mannequin who rises to the heights of fashion leader of the world, and Alison Skipworth, noted character actress who portrays her friend and advisor, in ‘Stolen Holiday’’ the First National drama now playing ati thewaweasd. iar Theatre. Mat No. 203—20e Villain Of Screen, He’s Ploughman In Time Off Claude Rains Prefers Working With Hands To Creating Make Believe Things Claude Rains, film actor and gentleman farmer of the SPE CA Ad FEAT Res ABOUT KAY FRANCIS CLAUDE RAINS FEATURE Kay’s “Stolen Holiday’’ Flas Steel And Glass Sets Miss Francis’ New Picture Displays Modern Treatment Of Parisian F ashion Salon The most expensive movie set, for its size, ever built is the modernistic Steel-and-glass structure which lends eye-arresting beauty to ‘‘Stolen Holiday,’’ First National’s new film starring Kay Francs; tow at the’... 4. Theatre. It represents the most noted fashion salon in the world, Picot’s of Paris, where in reigns as owner and chief designer. Background for a parade of beautiful mannequins, many of them direct from Paris salons, wearing the last word in gowns, furs and negligee for milady, the set itself is probably the most artistically pleasing ever designed for motion pictures . It is the work of Anton Grot, internationally famous set designer. Ultra-modern, the main salon with its five anterooms is a symphony of glass, crystal, and stainless steel. Not so much as a splinter of wood was used in the construction of the set. Even the huge draperies over a central archway are spun glass and cellophane. All doors are heavy frosted plate glass of one piece, with clear panels and acid-etched designs, hung on stainless hinges. Glass-and-steel shelves, tables and counters support fine glass vases in modernistic mode; the furniture is entirely of stainless steel upholstered with a glistening spun-glass-like fabric. Even ‘the floor is crystalline, being of polished stone. The winding stairway from which the models de scend after parading their gowns. — and figures! — on the stage, has crystalline stone steps and a railing of pseudo-marble. This setting, so ultra-modern “Stolen, Holiday’’ Miss Francis Te EL that even its upholstery fabric is synthetic, is in vivid contrast to other and larger Settings of ‘*Stolen Holiday,’’? which represent modernized but period-furnished old mansion and palace interiors. There is even a rustic old French chalet! Against this variety of setting and the froth of the fashion parade is played an unusual love story between the star and Ian Hunter, while behind the frills and beauty is the sinister current of drama and intrigue in which Rains moves — a gigantic swindle in the high finance of France which results in rioting and bloodshed on Paris streets. ‘*Stolen Holiday’? is a thrilling, romantic story of the rise of a lovely but humble mannequin to the position of queen of fashion in Paris, dictating to the whole world what women shall wear. Others in the cast, besides those named, include Alison Skipworth, Alexander D’Arcy, Betty Lawford, Walter Kingsford and Frank Reicher. Michael Curtiz directed from a screen play by Casey Robinson. Kay Francis Will Drive 50 Miles To See A Picture A Movie Star Herself, She Is Also Ardent Fan For Others’ Shows Kay Francis who recently completed her starring role in the First National picture ‘Stolen Holiday,’’ which comes beetles <a e Theatre on ire , declares there’s San Fernando Valley in California, got his back-to-the-soil ideas originally in the theatre. only one fault with her system of making all her pictures at once, with no rest in between, and then taking a severalmonths vacation. As a stage hand and general utility boy in His Majesty’s Theatre, London, he learned carpentery, mechanical and electrical repairing and handy work, and a smattering of other erafts. ‘*Had I> gone on as stage carpenter instead of turning actor, doubtless my subsequent yearning to use a hammer and saw, splicing pliers, blow torch and soldering iron would have been satisfied,’’ Rains observes. He is to be seen in ‘‘Stolen Holiday,’’ which comes to*the ants... Theatre:on-i.0.2.55: a as a leading support player to the star, Kay Francis. ‘*As matters turned out, I became an actor after some years as stage manager with Sir Herbert Beerbohm-Tree. Even as stage manager I could occasionally do a little hammering or sawing. Then I toured Australia with Maeterlinck’s ‘The Bluebird,’ and caught on to some extent in Sidney, for the first time, in ‘You Never Can Tell.’ Rains entered pictures in ‘‘ The Invisible Man,’’ which he wants to forget, and cemented his claims to film stardom in ‘‘Crime Without Passion,’’ which he likes to remember. On a starring contract with Warner Bros., he scored heavily as Don Luis in ‘‘ Anthony Adverse.’? He likes California and pictures because they enabled him to get his farm and, between pictures, to work it. He does all the ploughing himself, and a good many of the other farm tasks. As a relaxation, he prefers it to anything else that Hollywood has to offer. ‘*Stolen Holiday’? is a thrilling romantic story of the rise of a lovely but humble mannequin to the position of queen of fashion in Paris, dictating to the whole world what women shall wear. Others in the cast, beside Rains and Miss Francis, are Ian Hunter, Alison Skipworth, Alexander D’Arey, Betty Lawford, Walter Kingsford and Frank Reicher. Michael Curtiz directed, from the screen play and story by Casey Robinson, It interferes with her activities as a movie fan. Kay has an elaborate system of seeing pictures. She keeps up on production facts, so by the time films at the various studios are finished she knows pretty well which ones she wants to see. These — and it’s always a long list — are noted down in a little blue book she always carries with her. Her maid, Ida, cuts advertisements of theatre programs from Los Angeles, Hollywood and suburban papers.. It is impossible for the star to see all the films she wishes to see at first-run theatres. Often she’ll eatch one at some tiny theatre far out of town. Her ad compilations cover the territory for fifty mile around. On occasion she’ll drive that far to see a film. Her tastes in pictures are wide and democratic. Good plays and books that have been cinematized are probably her top favorites, but she can also enjoy a good lively ‘“Western’’ or comedy. During her concentrated work on pictures, — she is choosy simply because there are more pictures she especially wishes to view than time permits her to attend. Unlike so many fans, she doesn’t follow personalities so much as stories. She knows a brilliant star may not be effective in a poor role, a weak story, or one not suited to that star’s particular talents. And she has a keen interest in the work of newcomers. “*Stolen Holiday,’’?’ a tense drama based on corrupt high finance in France, and the thrilling, romantic story of the rise of a lovely but humble mannequin to the position of queen of fashion in Paris, dictating to the whole world what women shall wear is from the screen play by Casey Robinson, with Michael Curtiz the director. Others in the cast, besides Miss Francis, include Claude Rains, Ian Hunter, Alison Skipworth, Alexander D’Arcy, Betty Lawford, Walter Kingsford and Frank Reicher.