The Dawn Patrol (Warner Bros.) (1938)

ADVANCE ‘PUBLICITY —."THE DAWN PATROL’ (Advance Feature) Errol Flynn. & Co. Lake Dead End reap try T itle In a contest of mischief making, if such a contest could be arranged, it’s almost certain that the ‘Dead End’ Errol Flynn, David Niven, Donald Crisp, Basil Rathbone and Michael Brooke (the Earl of Warwick) who played together in “The Dawn Patrol,” the Warner Bros, picture which is kids. those famous toughies from “Angels with Dirty Faces,” would.. emerge second best to a group of English actors.made up of coming Friday to the Strand Theatre. What those five worthies couldn’t devise in the way of pranks and practical jokes to harass one another, their director, Edmund> Goulding; and -the rest. of the big east and technical ‘crew, not to mention sundry casual visitors to the set, simply wasn’t worth devising. No chair on the set was safe to sit on; no table was safe to lean , against. Answer the set telephone and: amazing surprises were in store for you. Climb into your automobile after parking it oustide the sound stage on which the company was working and bombs’ exploded under the hood, sky-rockets shot. out from the radiator and smoke poured from the motor. One day Flynn, Crisp, Rathbone. and Brooke contrived to have Niven invite to luncheon at the studio a “very lovely and charming young woman who had just arrived from London.” When the young lady arrived, Niven almost fell over backward in his chair. The “very charming and lovely young lady” was the fat woman from a traveling carnival that was playing in nearby Burbank. Olivia de Havilland, after one visit to her “friends” on. the “Dawn Patrol” set, avoided the company like the plague. “Hello, you old hag,’ greeted Crisp. “Lord, Olivia,” Flynn chimed n, “you look awful.” “You must have gained ten pounds since I last saw you,” put in Rathbone. Olivia couldn’t take. it. “TI know I’m being kidded,”’ she stormed, “but those things sound awful. I’ll never speak to any one of you again!” Director Goulding was by no means immune to the constant ribbing. Whenever an executive of the studio appeared on the set one of» the grown-up ‘‘Dead End” boys. would dash over to the .director and remark. in.a voice loud enough to be heard all over the set: “Wipe that smile off your face, Eddie, and look worried and harassed. Here comes Mr, ......:0....0008 might be. Even Arno, Flynn’s patient and much-teased canine pal, wasn’t able to stand the gaff. : Arno avoided the set. as.much-as possible hiding much of, the time under the sound mixer’s table or the property truck. Arno. didn’t mind firecrackers and» smoke bombs:exploding be© hind him: but when ‘a -realisticlooking rubber cat blew up in his teeth with a shocking “pop!” it was too much for him; And when Dave Niven coaxed _him into sitting down on a bal loon that let'go a banshee wail — well, Arno'simply decided it was much cooler under the property truck. (Advance Reader) World War Sgt. Plays Same Role In New Air Film Melville Cooper felt quite at home in his role as the comic Cockney sergeant in Warner Bros.’ “The Dawn Patrol,” the spectacular drama of. British wartime aviation which will open at the Strand Theatre next Friday. Cooper was a member of the Royal Flying Corps for two years. He was shot down behind the German lines on March 18, 1918, and spent the remaining nine months of the war a prisoner in various German hospitals and prison camps. It was during the nine months he spent as a prisoner of war that Cooper got his start in the theatre. To amuse themselves the British prisoners staged plays in the prison camp almost every night. Cooper participated in many of them, and when he was finally released after the war he turned to. the stage for a. living. Before he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps Cooper was a first lieutenant. Starred in “The Dawn Patrol” is Errol Flynn, and other important members of the cast are Basil Rathbone, David Niven and Donald Crisp. Mat 209—30c MAKING MERRY WHILE THEY MAY—Donald Crisp, Errol Flynn, and David Niven in a scene from “The Dawn Patrol," opening Friday at the Strand. 5 (Advance Reader) 74 Young Britons In Combat Scenes Of "Dawn Patrol" Edmund Goulding. ran out of young Englishmen to kill off in his latest directorial. assignment, Warner Bros.’ spectacular drama of wartime aviation—“The Dawn Patrol,” which opens next Friday at the Strand Theatre. That happened after Goulding had used seventy-four young English actors in the picture. On ~ the average, they worked about presumably, they went to fihming deaths after being shot down in combat with German planes. Only two of the original group of young flyers, excluding Errol Flynn, David Niven, Basil Rathbone and Donald Crisp, stars of the production, were. still in the picture at that point. The rest of the seventy-four, who came into the picture in groups of five: and ‘six, had all been “killed,” badly “wounded” or “captured.” In this connection, Goulding pointed out that the average fly Mat 108—15c ERROL FLYNN in "The Dawn Patrol," coming Friday to the Strand. ing life of the young English flying officers at the time depicted in the picture—the early days of 1915, when Richtofen and his famed “flying circus” were taking such a heavy toll in the air— was four and one-half hours. At that time, the turnover of players in “The Dawn. Patrol’ was rather heavy. The last to be eliminated was Michael Brooke, seventh and present Earl of Warwick, who portrayed Squires, leader of B” flight, in the picture. He wasn’t killed, however; just’ wounded and. sent. off to “blighty.” Getting back to the problem of reserves, however, Director Goulding disclosed sadly one day that he still had two groups of replacements to introduce in the picture and no young. English actors to portray the twelve or fourteen men. “T should have been a little more careful at the beginning of the picture when I was dividing the young Englishmen up into groups of replacements,” he said regretfully. “I guess the only thing left for me to do is use young American actors and teach them to speak with an accent suitable to be called English.” [7] Mat 208—30c ERROL FLYNN, right, and David Niven left, in a scene from the dramatic “Dawn Patrol," the Warner Bros. war epic of the air coming to the’ Strand. (Advance Feature) Actor Galls Director’s Bluff "You Ought To: Be An Actor," Ed. Goulding Once Told David Niven After six years of waiting, David Niven was finally directed by Edmund Goulding. It was Goulding who. first sought to interest Niven in a dramatic career. That was back in 1932 when Goulding was directing a play on the London stage in addition to megaphoning an English motion picture, and Niven was a young army officer just out of Sandhurst. academy. They met! at a party one evening. “You should be an actor,” the famous director said to the handsome young second lieutenant. “I'd like to be one,” Niven agreed. “But how does one go about it?” “T’ll arrange a test for you at one of the local studios,” Goulding suggested. Somehow, though, Niven never got around to making the test Goulding arranged. The director returned to America and that, apparently, was the end of it. Two years. later, however, after he had resigned from the British military service, Niven was visiting friends in Santa Barbara. He met Goulding again at a social affair. “T still think you should be in pictures,” said Goulding. “T still agree with you,” said Niven. “Come to Hollywood and I’ll arrange a test,” said Goulding. Niven came to Hollywood, as the guest of several young ‘officers on a visiting British manof-war. He made a test, for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and then sat around for nine months waiting for something to happen. It finally happened when Samuel Goldwyn saw the. test and signed Niven to a long-term contract at. his. United Artists Studio. Thereafter Goulding and Niven met. frequently .at Hollywood social affairs. But. never in a film production. A few months: ago, though, Goulding was assigned to direct “The Dawn Patrol,” the Warner Bros. drama of British wartime aviation, which opens Friday at the Strand Theatre. He wanted Niven to play the role of Scott, Errol Flynn’s flying buddy. Warners arranged to borrow Niven from Goldwyn, but at the last moment it looked as though the young English actor would not complete his role in another picture in time to accept the assignment at Warners. By rearranging his schedule, however, Goulding was able to wait for Niven several days. So, after six years, the famous director and the young Englishman finally worked together in the production of a picture. Brief and Personal ERROL FLYNN, star of “The Dawn Patrol”, has added four brilliantly colored Central American macaws to his growing collection of pets. He has ideas about starting a private zoo. MORTON LOWRY, young English actor whose first important screen role is in “The Dawn Patrol” combines his two mgr bies of aviation and sculpture by modeling airplanes in clay. DAVID NIVEN currently playing a leading role in “The Dawn Patrol,” was a wine salesman for six months after arriving in New York from London. His entire knowledge of wines was acquired from a 35-cent pamphlet. BASIL RATHBONE and DONALD CRISP who play English flying officers in “The Dawn Patrol” were both in the British military intelligence corps during the World War. ERROL FLYNN, after finishing his starring role in “The Dawn Patrol” “rested up” by hunting wild boar on Santa Cruz Island.