The Fighting 69th (Warner Bros.) (1940)

CURRENT PUBLICITY — ‘THE FIGHTING 69TH’ | _ Cagney—One-Man Army __| James Cagney Wins Title Of Perfect Writers’ Actor ‘Fighting 69th’ Star Lauded for Perfect Interpretation of Roles Still FS Pub. A158; Mat 206—30c That fighting Irishman, James Cagney, is currently battling his way to further screen popularity in the ‘’The Fighting 69th”, the hit film which is being held over for a second week at the Strand Theatre. SPOT NEWS SHORTS A line of soldiers were docilely permitting a make-up man to go down their ranks and put greasy make-up on the left side of their faces, the side from which the camera was shooting. All were doughboy extras in “The Fighting 69th,’ the film currently showing at the Strand. They knew the black make-up, which is supposed to resemble grease and dirt, would take hours to wash out of their ears, but they were resigned to their fate. But the make-up man _ touched his greasy make-up to the right ear of one of the soldiers, and suddenly his lethargy and stoic expression disappeared. “Hey, whatsamatta!” he cries. “That ear ain’t to the camera!” When Dick Foran’s baby boy, Patrick, was baptized, Dick couldn’t attend the ceremony because he had to work at Warners in “The Fighting 69th.” To make it harder for him, the one line he had to repeat all day was: “This is some baptism — baptism by fire!” A finely mounted portrait of George Brent as Col. William J. “Wild Bill” Donovan in Warner Bros. “The Fighting 69th” has been sent to the regimental armory in New York in response to a request from the members of the regiment. Hanging of the portrait on the army walls will break precedent, according to Capt. John T. Prout, technical director on the picture and a member of the 69th N. Y. N. G. (the 165th infantry of the regulars) for 10 years prior to and all during the war. Word seems to have gone up and down the road that Warner Bros. were filming ‘The Fighting 69th,” an army picture with all the trimmings. One night at the Providencia ranch set where New York’s Camp Mills of 1917 had been duplicated, watchmen rousted four hoboes out of tents in which they were snugly bedded down on army cots. The current Strand film, “The Fighting 69th’, dealing with the exciting adventures of the famous Irish brigade in 1917, has a very amusing sequence which explains the presence in the Shamrock Regiment of one obviously Jewish soldier. The scene is Camp Mills, Long Island training camp, where the crusty top sergeant, played by big, bluff Alan Hale, is inspecting a new crop of raw recruits. Going down the line, Hale spots the Jewish soldier, played by Sammy Cohen. “What’s your name, lug?” he asks. “Sure and me name’s Mike Murphy, sargint,’ Cohen replies in the thickest brogue. “And what were ye born?” roars Hale. “Mischa Moskiewicz.” Plainly puzzled, Hale inquires, “Where’d you get the Murphy?” Cohen has his answer: “Selfinflicted! I wanted to fight with the Sixty-Ninth.” Three languages are spoken in Warner Bros. “The Fighting 69th” to test the lingual abilities of James Cagney, Pat O’Brien, and other principals. As Father Francis Patrick Duffy, famed regimental chaplain, O’Brien has to speak Hebrew and Latin as well as English with a slight Irish brogue. His Latin phrases are used during a scene in which he conducts mass for the soldiers. He speaks Hebrew in this same scene, when he reads a Jewish prayer for Sammy Cohen. Most amusing order on Hollywood sets: Assistant director Frank Heath screaming for “Quiet!” through the loud speakers on the big outdoor set for Warner Bros. “The Fighting 69th,” before each battle scene, when bedlam breaks out. James Cagney tells this one he overheard on the set of Warner Bros. “The Fighting 69th.”’ The scene was Camp Mills in August, 1917. One of the extras playing a recruit came up to Bill Keihl, property man _ issuing equipment. “Can I please have a left-handed rifle?” he inquired. “The perfect writer’s actor.” That’s the title bestowed on James Cagney by Warren Duff. Cagney, who is currently starring in Warner Bros.’ “The Fighting 69th,’ at the Strand starred in three of Duff’s screen plays: “Frisco Kid,” ‘Angels With Dirty Faces” which Duff co-authored with John Wexley and, more recently, “Each Dawn I Die.” “And I hope to write some more for him,” said Duff in explaining why Cagney is the perfect “writer’s actor.” “Every writer enjoys writing for an actor who will not just speak the lines but will bring the character to life. Cagney’s almost intuitive understanding of the character he plays plus his intelligent approach to creating it, guarantees the role’s perfect interpretation. This, of course, is very gratifying to the writer,” said Duff. The term ‘“‘actor’s actor” has long been known to the theater and screen. It describes an actor whom other actors like to watch because of proficiency of technique in “building” a characterization, and because of the pleasure in observing the minute details of performance discernable only to the professional eye. Paul Muni has often been described as the “perfect actor’s actor.” That Duff should honor Cagney with the title of “writer’s actor” brings to light the fact that actors are not the only ones who take professional interest in the art, though for other motives. Writers are intimately concerned with the stars of their pictures, says Duff, because they are the medium through which the characters are transmuted from the written page to the living person. Another good bet for the title of “writer’s actor,” says Duff, is George Brent for whom he just completed “We Shall Meet Again” which co-stars Merle Oberon. Brent is also starred with Cagney in “The Fighting 69th.” “A writer likes to feel that he can trust an actor with the role he has written; that the actor has the ingenuity to add all those bits of business and tricks that enrich a characterization. Brent seems to qualify. Asked to name other actors when he would term “writers’ actors,” Duff listed Muni and Spencer Tracy. He said it was difficult to define exactly what the qualifications were but that any writer who has had a great deal of screen experience could recognize them. Line Wasn’t in Script Neither Were Pants! Frank McHugh’s irrepressible ad libbing, a bouyant and gratuitous tossing off of lines never written into scripts, is a thing that all directors have come to expect. He threw one at director William Keighley that stayed in a scene of Warner Bros. “The Fighting 69th.” Lined up with other principals just behind Jimmy Cagney, McHugh was in a single line of recruits being issued their army outfits. Shoes, blankets, underwear, sox, pants, shirts, coats, hats, the articles were thrown at the ‘men as they filed past the store keepers. The other men passed out of camera range but McHugh paused, involuntarily it seemed, and yelled an anguished, “Hey, I didn’t get any drawers.” “Print that one,’ ordered Keighley, when he could control his laughter. Fresh Recruit—And Plenty Fresh! REPORTING FOR DUTY—James Cagney Still FS 98; Mat 202—30c (right) as the private the army couldn’t tame and George Brent as Colonel William J. (‘Wild Bill’’) Donovan in “The Fighting 69th”, the current hit film at the Strand. [16] 4 Wives’ ‘Husbands’ Off to War in ‘The Fighting 69th’ War took its toll of the “Four Wives’ ” husbands and the fact that they were the heads of families and fathers of children didn’t save them from the first draft. No sooner had the famed Lemp family settled down to a happy ending under the auspices of Warner Bros. studio than the men of the clan were told to shoulder arms and report to “The Fighting 69th” regiment for active service. This is the action-packed film currently showing at the Strand. Priscilla Lane watched her musician-husband, Jeffrey Lynn, pack his kit at the end of production and report to Director James Keighley for training. Once in the army, he gave up music for poetry, to become Joyce Kilmer in the revival of the adventures of New York’s fighting Irishmen. Frank McHugh soon followed, leaving his wife (Lola Lane) to keep the home fires burning while he joined his brothers-inlaw at the front. Gale Page could offer no protest when her spouse (Dick Foran) also deserted the hearth to rally to the colors. Also conscripted was Henry O’Neill, the “Doctor Forrest’’ of “Four Wives.” No, the “Doctor” did not report to the “69th” as medical officer; he took over as the company’s “Major.” Eddie Albert, who just managed to get himself engaged to Rosemary Lane, was not among those who enlisted. Instead, he was sent to apply for the job of varsity coach at his “alma mater,” Virginia Military Institute, in “Brother Rat and a Baby.” Recruits were being drawn from all sectors of the Warner lot. James Cagney was among the first to join up with the “69th,” and with him were George Brent and Pat O’Brien. Cagney is a private, Brent and O’Brien, a colonel and a chaplain respectively. Irish Jimmy Cagney Speaks Perfect Jewish For a red-headed Irishman with a little Swedish and Scotch blood, James Cagney speaks a fine brand of Jewish. In “Taxi”, one of his earliest successes, he amazed and delighted film audiences by breaking into a fluent stream of Yiddish. Now in “The Fighting 69th”, the current film at the Strand Theatre, he again makes use of his linguistic abilities for one of the high comedy scenes in the highly exciting picture. Cagney and Sammy Cohen are playing the roles of raw recruits getting their first going-over by the crusty top sergeant. When the sergeant starts querying Sammy as to what he is doing in the supposedly Irish regiment, Cagney mutters deprecatory remarks about him in Jewish to Cohen. An interesting sidelight on this little scene came up during the filming of the picture. Cagney who was raised in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in New York knows the language well. So well in fact, that it was he who coached Sammy Cohen in his lines for that particular scene. Grown Up Little Eva! Frank McHugh who’s in the army now with “The Fighting 69th” began his acting career as Topsy in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and the sad little girl who pleads with drunken father-dear-father to come home in “Ten Nights in a Barroom.” He was nine years old at the time.