The Big Shakedown (Warner Bros.) (1934)

Current Publicity 3rd Day of Run Bette Davis, Star Of — ‘Big Shakedown’ Says She’s Vacation Wife “Pm a vacation wife, that’s what I am,” says Bette Davis, “and ‘Ham’ is just a holiday husband. We’re married, and we’re happy, but my work keeps me in California and his work keeps him in New York. So while our jobs last, ours will just have to be a long distance marriage.” Bette, starred with Charles Far rell in “The Big Shakedown,” a. startling story of the cut rate drug business, now showing at the -.... ie) eae Theatre, has never minced words about her marriage to Harmon O. Nelson. They waited some seven years for the chance to marry, and when they finally did take the step, their careers interfered with their domestic plans. But Bette was happy during the filming of “The Big Shakedown” because she knew that when she had finished it she would have time to visit her “holiday husband” in New York. “The Big Shakedown” is a thrilling drama dealing with a new type of gangster racket based on the story “Cut Rate” by S. Engels and Niven Busch, and adapted to the sereen by Busch and Rian James. Others in the cast are Ricardo Cortez, Glenda Farrell, Allen Jenkins, Henry O’Neill and _ Phillip Faversham. John Francis Dillon directed. Ath Day of Run Farrell Gets Extras Representation On Theatre Code Board For a long time an ‘extra’ himself, Charles Farrell, playing the leading role in “The Big Shakedown,” the First National picture NOW SHOwiNe Ae. TNE... clase eee. Theatre, was instrumental in sending two extra players to Washington to take part in formulating the new Theatrical Code under the N. R. A. He suggested the idea while working on “The Big Shakedown” and two extras in the picture were selected to go. Farrell also dug into his own jeans for most of the expense money. This is the first time that this great body of motion picture workers has had adequate representation in any conference affecting their welfare. Besides working as stunt man and extra, young Farrell has also kept up his activities in boxing, tennis and sailing. He needed all the strength and agility these gave him for his strenuous role in “The Big Shakedown,” which is a thrilling drama of a new type of racketeering, based on “Cut Rate,” a story by S. Engels and Niven Busch. Others in the cast with Farrell are Bette Davis, Ricardo Cortez, Glenda Farrell, Allen Jenkins, Henry O'Neill and Phillip Faversham. John Francis Dillon directed the picture from a screen story by Niven Busch and Rian James. BETTE TURNS LITERARY While working in “The Big Shakedown,” the First National picture now showing at the........... Theatre, Bette Davis improved her leisure moments on the set by delving into current literature. Quite heavy books, too. She read clear through Stefan Zweig’s “Marie Antoinette”’ and a book on duetless glands during the production of the picture. Page Twelve Tattling On The Stars BETTE DAVIS First National Star Currently Appearing at the Strand in “The Big Shakedown’’ By FRANK DAUGHERTY Bette Davis, who has the leading feminine role in the First National picture, “The Big Shakedown,” now at. Thess oe pate ee Theatre, was a star in fan popularity even before her own studio knew what a following she had gathered. Only Clark Gable ever had a similar experience. Born Ruth Elizabeth Davis in Boston, April 5, 1908, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. F. Davis. Edueated Newton High School and Cushing Academy, playing in theatricals at both schools. Worked her way partly through the latter by waiting on table. Across from her at the Academy sat a long youth with an Adam’s apple that ran interestingly up and down his throat. His name was and is Harmon O. Nelson, Jr. Last year these pictures were not an unalloyed success. First real screen success came after a year in Hollywood — as she was on the point of departing again for New York—when Warner Bros. offered her a role with George Arliss in “The Man Who Played God.” Ask her who helped her most in her screen career, and she will tell you, “George Arliss.” Ask her what helped her most, and she will tell you it was blonding her hair. Everything about her personality seems to go perfectly with that present honey hair, whereas, before, dark hair fought with blue eyes and a too-light complexion. Her mother, once a professional photographer, helped her in learning about camera angles. Physically small, Bette has powerful arms and shoulders and was the only woman ever to qualify as.a life guard at fashionable Ogunquit Beach. She lives in a Hollywood apart HE Calls Her Spuds But the rest of the world knows this lovely lady as Bette Davis. Her beauty and talent have made her among the screen’s most popular actresses. She may be seen currently in her latest First National pro duction “The Big Shakedown,” which is now showing at the Strand Theatre. Charles Farrell, Ricardo Cortez, Glenda Farrell and many others are in the supporting cast. Mat No.9, Price 10c. she got him to come to Hollywood and married him. She calls him Ham.. He ealls her Spuds. John Murray Anderson gave her a scholarship to his dramatic school in New York. James Light, director of the school, put her on the stage in some of the Provincetown plays. Frank Conroy encouraged her to adopt the stage as a career. Blanche Yurka gave her a role in Ibsen’s “Wild Duck” when it played in Boston. This engagement led to her two outstanding roles on the stage: In Martin Flavin’s “Broken Dishes,” and with Richard Bennett in “Solid South.” From these, she went directly to Hollywood. Because she was used in little girl parts in early pictures, ment, has two Maltese terriers and an Auburn Phaeton. Her Boston bean suppers on Saturday nights are becoming a film colony occasion. She is five feet, three and a half inches, and weighs 106 pounds. She has played sophisticated, bad women, but in “The Big Shakedown,” she is the heroine, although the picture is thrillingly sinful, being the dramatie story of a new kind of racket headed by a _ ruthless killer. Among those playing with her are Charles Farrell, Ricardo Cortez, Glenda Farrell, Allen Jenkins, Henry O’Neill and Phillip Faversham. John Francis Dillon directed the picture from the screen play by Nevin Busch and Rian James based on “Cut Rate” by Busch and S. Engels. 5th Day of Run Cortez Dives Deep Into Acid Vat For “Shakedown” Scene To dive head foremost into a vat of boiling acid which promptly transforms you into a cloud of steam is more than most actors are called on to do. Yet that was the task assigned to Ricardo Cortez in “The Big Shakedown,” the First National picture now showing at the ....... Pa cee ate Theatre. Of course he didn’t do it. No one would. Yet he was actually dropped by Charlie Farrell into a vat out of which came hot steam. He was dropped twelve feet from the second floor into the vat, which is precarious enough in itself. What he actually dived into was a vat of water five feet deep. The steam came from pipes just above the water but he had to dive through it. But if you think a movie actor’s life is easy, try dropping head first from the second story into a vat three and one-half feet in diameter several times some afternoon, as Cortez had to, for retakes. This is the way Cortez, is taken for a ride in “The Big Shakedown,” the story of a new type of racketeering based on “Cut Rate” by S. Engels and Niven Busch and adapted for the screen by Busch and Rian James. Others in the east are Bette Davis, Glenda Farrell, Allen Jenkins, Henry .O’Neill and _ Phillip Faversham. John Francis Dillon directed. CHARLES FARRELL — “Aggie Appleby, Maker of Men,’ “The First Year,’ “Wild Girl,” “Tess of the Storm Country,” “After Tomorrow,” “Body and Soul.” BETTE DAVIS—“Bureau of Missing Persons,’ “Ex-Lady,” “The Working Man,” “Parachute Jumper,” “Twenty Thousand Years in Sing Sing,” “Three on a Match.” RICCARDO CORTEZ — “The House on 56th Street,” “Big Executive,” “The Torch Singer,” “Flesh,” “Thirteen Women,” “The Phantom of Crestwood,” ‘Tllicit.’ GLENDA FARRELL — “Havana Widows,” “Bureau of Missing Persons,” “Mary Stevens, M.D.,” “The Keyhole,’ “Girl Missing,” “Central Airport,’ “Grand Slam.” ALLEN JENKINS — “Bureau of Missing Persons,” “Havana Widows,” “The Silk Express,” “Mind Reader,” “The Keyhole,” “The Mayor of Hell,” “Blondie Johnson.” HENRY O’NEILL—‘Headquarters,” “T Loved a Woman,” “The World Changes,” “The Kennel Murder Case.” PHILLIP FAVERSHAM — “The House on 56th Street,” “The World Changes,” “Footlight Parade,” “Captured.” ROBERT EMMET O’CONNOR — “Pieture Snatcher,” “Frisco Jenny,” “The Dark Horse,” “The Kid from Spain,” “Blonde Venus,” “Night World,” “Big Timer.” JOHN WRAY—‘The Match King,” “Doetor «x%,7>, “Central Park,” ~ “I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang,” “The Death Kiss,” “Two Seconds,” “The Mouthpiece.” JOHN FRANCIS DILLON (director) — “Call Her Savage,” “Behind the Mask,” “Man About Town,” “Cohens and Kellys in Hollywood,” “Pagan Lady.”