The Flirting Widow (Warner Bros.) (1930)

F Biiniest Farce Of The Season With A Most Beautiful Romance As The Background ENGLISH CAST CHOSEN FOR “THE FLIRTING WIDOW” ENGLISH COMEDY-ROMANCE Dorothy Mackaill, Basil Rathbone, William Austin and Others Qualified to Give Authentic Portrayals FILM CAST CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARY The entire cast of First National’s attraction at the Theatre, “The celebrated the first anniversary of Basil Rathbone’s entry into pictures. Director William A. Seiter finished the picture on the very anniversary So the whole. cast took the rest of the day off to celebrate, right on a set representing an old English castle. The celebration was carried on in fine old English style, too! Most of the players are English. Dorothy Maekaill heads the cast of the picture, with Rathbone opposite, and such favorites as Leila Hyams, William Austin, Claude Gillingwater, Emily Fitzroy, Flora Bramley, Anthony Bushell and Wilfred Noy prominently cast. = “The Flirting Widow” is A. W. Mason’s punchy, peppy, spicy and racy comedy of English society life. day. Authentic Setting A large, exquisitely furnished English baronial hall in which many fine old pieces were used forms the background for much of the action in “The Flirting Widow,” First National production coming to the Theatre Dorothy Mackaill, Basil Rathbone, Leila Hyams and William Austin are prominent in the cast. “Cut No. 12 Cut joc Mat roc Flirting Widow,” | (VITAPHONE FEATURE) If Leila Hyams hadn’t been born in New York City and if Claude Gillingwater could have managed to first see the light of day some place other than Lauseanna, Missouri, the cast extraction. __of “The Wirting Widow’’ would have been entirely . of Hnglish The other principals in the First National and Vitaplons production»which has been announced as the next attraction at age and were born either in England or in British possessions. The film is, appropriately enough, an English comedy of manners, so no technical advertiser was needed for the picture. Dorothy Mackaill, star of the piece, played about docks in Hull, England, t SS She'll win your heart and wreck your funnybone. She’s the peppiest gal i in town! 5 Vidoy with Dorothy MACKAILL Basil Rathbone Leila Hyams William Austin Based on_ story Stockings’ by A. Mason. A Wm. A. Seiter Prod. Cut No.2 Cut 20c Mat 5c A FIRST NATIONAL & VITAPHONE PICTURE “Green E. W. Theatre ‘for a are all of English parent-|tomboy. She preferred the companion se eee day run beginning ship of her brother Harry and rode where as a child she acquired a local reputation for being something of a about the city with him on her bieycle much to the despair of. her mother who had difficulty in convineing her that little English girls should play with dolls with other children of their own age. Dorothy was never quite convinced, even up to the time she was sent to school in London. Celia Faraday, the character she portrays in “The Flirting Widow,” is as much a non-conformist as is Dorothy. The son of a British mine inspector stationed in South Africa, Basil Rathbone was born in Johannesburg during the Jameson raid. He early par icipated in the most thrilling event of his life when the family was forced o flee for their lives after the Boer occupation. Events that followed which included school at Repton and a Bohemian existence as a struggling. member of a Shakespearean troupe, seemed always a bit prosaic. In “The Flirting Widow,” Rathbone characterizes a British army officer stationed in Arabia. William Austin’s parents lived in Georgetown, British Guiana, South America, but Young William was packedoff to school in England at an early age. He attended Reading College where he acquired his first stage experience in college theatricals. Emily Fitzroy, Flora Bramley, Anthony Bushell, and Wilfred Noy are all natives of London. Miss Fitzroy’s parents were willing and could afford to give their daughter a thorough education so she alternated between exclusive girls’ schools in London and Paris. Flora Bramley attended school in London and obtained an engagement in a musical show while still in her early ’teens. Anthony Bushell led the life of the average English boy of good family and was graduated from Oxford Uni rsity. His role in “The Flirting Widow” is that of a young Englishman of his own station so he had but Seiter Was Keystone Cop William A. Seiter, who directs Dorothy Mackaill in “The Flirting Widow,” First National picture coming to the Theatre ...:. Se es » began his motion picture career as a Keystone cop. Belasco Graduate Claude Gillingwater, who appears in the supporting cast of Dorothy Mackaill’s “The Flirting Widow,” First National picture coming to the aS ries A RGACLO. Ss eee wg gS WAS for eight years featured by David Belasco in his stage productions, Basil Rathbone, Leila Hyams, William Austin and Emily Fitzroy are prominent in “The Flirting Widow.” Father of the Stars Claude Gillingwater, who has played sereen fathers so often that he has been called “father of the stars,’’ appears as Dorothy Mackaill’s father in “The Flirting Widow,” First National picture at the Theatre. Basil Rathbone, Leila Hyams, William Austin, Emily Fitzroy, Anthony Bushell and Wilfred Noy have supporting roles. vice “be yourself.” Even. while at school in Brighton, Wilfred Noy was thinking only about the theatre and the career which later made him famous as actor, director, and producer both on the London stage and in English films. The entire cast agrees that English fe has been faithfully depicted in an American motion picture and that ‘heir countrymen will find “The Flirt g Widow” an accurate picture of amusing incidents that might transpire in English high life. London is the film’s locale. Most of the action takes place in the home f an English squire, the interior of which makes an attractive setting. Farciecal situations are built around one Celia Faraday who acquires a mythical husband in order that her father will give his consent to the marriage of her younger sister. elder Faraday doesn’t want a daughter left on his hands to wear, even figuratively, the traditional green stockings which an ancient custom deerees for the eldest daughter whose younger sisters precede her in marriage. William A. Seiter directed ‘The Flirting Widow,” which is an adaptation of “Green Stockings,” a story by to follow literally the oft-repeated ad-|A. E. W. Mason. Pa rae ; recently moved from the The Love Tests At Movie Studio William A. Seiter, Dorothy Mackaill and Basil Rathbone Cut No. 15 Cut 30c Mat 10c ¢ And now love-teams cast in the talkies have to take a “‘love test” before production begins, according to recent notices from Hollywood. These reports, however, fail to say definitely just what these tests prove. Above is pictured William A. Seiter, director, putting Dorothy Mackaill and Basil Rathbone through the test just before the first scene of ‘‘The Flirting Widow,’’ which is due at the next was taken. LIKES BEACH HOUSE Dorothy Mackaill who heads the east of “The Flirting Widow,” First National and Vitaphone production opening at the Theatre GRANITE WOMAN Emily Fitzroy, who has been called the “granite woman of the screen,” has a role different from any she has ever done in films in “The Flirting Widow,” Dorothy Mackaill’s First National picture which comes to the Theatre... .. Miss Fitzroy displays a heretofore unsuspected flair for comedy as an English dowager. i Angeles apartment house where she has resided for the past five years to make her year-around residence in a cottage at Santa Monica Beach. Detroit Roars Its Approval Dorothy ackaill a “BASIL RATHBONE Leila Hyams, Wm. Austin She's. breaking alllong-distance ~ laugh records at the Strand. ‘Laughs you've known before are only titters now. Come and roar with ‘the crowds that are calling it the best comedy of the year. A William A. SEITER Production PEF Based on story “Green Stockings” y A. E. W. Mason A FIRST NATIONAL & VITAPHONE PICTURE ‘Vitaphone’ is the registered trade mark of the Vitaphone Corp. Cut No. 11 Cut 4oc Mat roc Page Seven