The Matrimonial bed (Warner Bros.) (1930)

“THE MATRIMONIAL BED” — A Warner Bros. and Vitaphone Production Her second ry husband had to listen day and night to the virtues of her first spouse. She worshipped the dead man’s memory until he unexpectedly dropped around one evening very much. alive. screened! Don’t miss the hilarious solution to this domestic tragedy that is the funniest comedy ever Two Col. Ad—Style F—Cut or Mat (Short Feature) BEDS AND THE PART THEY PLAY IN OUR LITTLE LIVES ‘The Matrimonial Bed,”’ Warner Bros. and Vitaphone Farce Now Playing at the “In bed we laugh, in bed we cry, and, born in bed, in bed we die” sang good old Isaac Benserade who died somewhere near the end of the seventeenth century. The sort of bed we are born in or die on, depends wholly on the amount of worldy goods with which our parents have endowed us or which we ourselves have acquired. From the golden bed of a Du Barry to the straw pallet of a pauper is all the range of life. Strangely enough the humblest beds have ushered in those who have given most to their fellows. Rude indeed was the bed on which Nancy (Current) TEMPO OF PICTURE IS CONTAGIOUS Tempo is one of the vital secrets of good comedy and in “The Matrimonial Bed,” latest Warner Bros. and Vitaphone French farce, now playing at the Theatre, furiously. This accounts, in part, at least, for the rollicking spirit which every member of every audience feels as soon as the comedy opens. The suppressed expectancy of the players as well as the racy humor of the story and the subtle handling of delicate situations, wins the audience at the very outset. “The Matrimonial Bed” is a comedy built for adult and sophisticated minds. Lilyan Tashman, Florence Eldridge, Vivian Oakland, Beryl Mercer, Marion Byron, James Gleason, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Frank Fay and James Bradbury, Sr., are in the east. Michael Curtiz directed. = things happen fast and 2 ee Theatre Hanks went through her hours of travail that Lincoln might live. Charles Dickens and his parents and brothers and sisters slept for months on the iron cots of a debtor’s prison. It was on such a couch that Bunyan dreamed out “Pilgrim’s Progress.” Who has forgotten the nursery rhyme about the “old man who wouldn’t say his prayers. . .take him by the left leg and throw him down the stairs.” It was when evening light was over the campus, and the lads played cricket, that gentle old Colonel Newecome on his death bed raised himself to answer to the roll, imagining himself a child again. What sentimentality has been built in song and story about the old-time “trundle bed.” The four-poster has a puritanic dignity. There may still be people who remember the beds with erisscrossed ropes instead of springs, straw tick, and smotheringly deep feather tick instead of the modern sleep-in: viting appliances. The sailor’s bed is a swinging hammock or the swaying deck. Haymows are sacred to the vanishing race of the Weary Willies. And there is a certain order of silent monks who make their own coffins their beds. Most sinister of all beds one known mildly enough as the “folding.” How many a well-meaning person has been snapped up and snuffed out by the sudden and unexpected determination of some such bed to go out of commission and shut up for good and all. In Secotland still exists the bed which is entered by opening doors in the wall. All of which leads up to the fact that “The Matrominal Bed,” one of the funniest French farees ever written, a Warner Bros. and Vitaphone production, is now playing at the ... Theatre. is the | (Review) HUGE FIRST NIGHT CROWD FINDS KEEN AMUSEMENT IN GAY FRENCH FARCE THEATRE: Warner Bros. present “The Matrimonal Bed.” From the French of Yves Mirande and Andre Mouezy-Hon. Adaptation and dialogue by Harvey Thew. Directed by Michael Curtiz. THE CAST BUSING ee a a LILYAN TASHMAN WULELIOCOLON. ss a re eC FLORENCE ELDRIDGE Grstaye: COLOR or Se ee ee JAMES GLEASON COTS a a ep BERYL MERCER PET O 1) GO LO eee os ores NS ee I ES FRANK FAY Marianne Suzanue Trebes as 7s 3 a ie ep DY FP YISdand et ee ee Oe ARTHUR EDMUND CAREW pete Sear eee eh eee er ee JAMES BRADBURY THEME SONG—“‘Fleur d’ Amour” The funniest comedy to come from Hollywood since the advent of talking pictures is Warner Bros. French farce, “The Matrimonial Bed,” which opened last night at the Theatre. The hero, the genial master of ceremonies of other days and more recently the swashbuckling hero of “Under A Texas Moon,” has a new kind of leading role, and one that is most admirably suited to his amazing talents. “The Matrimonial Bed” is mature comedy with never a dull moment. The hero is almost able to carry such a picture on his own shoulders, but instead of letting him do this Warner Brothers have supplied him with a supporting cast that deserves to be rated as “all star.” The story concerns the confusion that overcomes a modern French family when a first husband, supposedly dead for five years, turns up at an inopportune time as a victim of amnesia. Without knowledge of the intervening years, he proceeds to take up life where he left off. This is eomplicated by the fact that his wife has remarried and has a child by her second husband and eventually by the development that the husband has also been busy during that five year period of lost memory and has a wife, two sets of twins and a multitude of lady friends. It is all handled in expert manner. That is smooth, deft and highly amusing. dialogue, sophisticated situations, and clever direction. It builds surely and cleverly to a dramatic climax, a twist that is as unexpected as it is sincere drama. Lilyan Tashman and Florence .Eldridge acquit themselves with their usual ease and perfection of interpretation. Beryl Mercer has built a bit part into one of the important touches of the production. James Gleason as the irritable second husband runs Fay a good second in laughs and every member of the fine cast seems to have been hand picked for the part. Harvey Thew is credited with the dialogue and adaptation and both are smartly done. Michael Curtiz directed. The hero is always funny but “The Matrimonial Bed” is seriously recommended as the best screen characterization he has done to date. (Review) “Matrimonial Bed” Wins Uproarious Approval Here ———_— Bros. present “The Matrimonal Bed.” From the French of M. Yves Mirand and M. Andre Mouezy-Eon. Adaptation and dialogue by Harvey Thew. Cast includes Lilyan Tashman, Florence Hildridge, James Gleason, Beryl Mercer, Frank Fay, Marion Byron, Vivian Oakland, Arthur Edmund Carewe and James Bradbury, Sr. Directed by Michael Curtiz. (Review) : LAUGHTER EVOKE BY FRENCH FARCE LOUD AND LONG What seems to the writer to be the most amusing French farce in years is “The Matrimonal Bed” which roused last night’s audience at the Theatre to such continuous and spontaneous laughter. “The Matrimonal Bed” gives a unique twist to the ancient story of the absentee husband who returns after things have changed. Everybody knows “Rip Van Winkle” and “Enoch Arden”’—the first a mingling of tears and laughter, the second frankly a matter for tears. The story in hand, however, is all gayety, except for a few moments at the end when a note of seriousness enters like an intruder. Adolphe Noblet, who has_ supposedly been killed in a railroad accident five years before the opening of the story, returns to his home in the capacity of a hairdresser, suffering from los of memory, and like his former self only in his. ability to surround himself with adoring femininity. A hypnotist restores his identity, at which he recalls his first wife (now happily remarried) and forgets his lately acquired wife and two sets of twins. What happens when all the ladies get going, makes the story. And what a story! Don’t miss it! ADVERTISEMENT Fhe big crowd at -thé= 225 >. 3 Theatre last night showed its uppoarious approval of “The Matrimonial Bed,” the latest Warner Bros. and Vitaphone production. The piece is an adaptation of a farce written by M. Yves Mirande and M. Andre Mouezy-Eon. It was prepared for the screen by Harvey Thew. The east ineludes Lilyan Tashman, Florence Eldridge, James Gleason, Beryl Mercer, Frank Fay, Marion Byron, Vivian Oakland, Arthur Edmund Carewe and James Bradbury, Sr. Michael Curtiz directed. “The Matrimonial Bed is a new version of the old story of the husband who absents himself for a time and returns to find himself supplanted. Unlike most of the creations of this theme, the play in hand is all gayety. Adolphe Noblet, after an absence, oresumably enforeced—as he was the victim of a railroad accident five years before the piece opens—returns to find his wife happily remarried and with a child. Noblet’s mob is out of order, and he has forzotten all things prior to his accident. He returns as an amorous hairdresser, with a bevy of feminine satellites. A hypnotist restores his memory, after which he claims his first wife to the discomfiture of her new husband—and forgets his own later marital acquisition and the two sets of twins which he has fathered. Be sure to treat yourself to a squint at “The Matrimonial 1-Col. Slug—Style G—Cut or Mat Bed.” WARNER BROS. Present The MATRIMONIAL rls It is marked by smart } Selected by James Gleason Shirking Repsonsibility Physician—“Tell your wife not to worry about that slight deafness, as it is merely an indication of advaneing years.” Husband—“Doctor, would you mind telling her yourself?” — La Vie Parisienne. The Black Future “You’ve lost your husband, my dear madam, That’s a terrible misfortune.” “Certainly, it is. We know what we lose, but we don’t know what we’re going to find.—Pele Mele. Hard to Spell Gendarme (producing notebook)— “What’s your name?” Chauffeur—“Demetrius Athanasius Kyriatopoulos.” Gendarme (putting book away)— “Well, don’t let me catch you speedng again.”—Parisiana. Late for the Concert Patron — “What infernal delays! What is being played now?” Ticket Seller — “The Ninth Symphony of Beethoven.” Patron—“Good Lord! And we’ve missed eight of them!”—-Le PeleMele, Paris. Unanswerable The youth was just home from school, and, wishing to show his little sister what a lot he knew, pointed to a star and said: “Do you see that bright little dot? It’s bigger than the Z “No, it isn’t,” declared his sister. “Yes, it is,’ said the youth, beaming with pride at his knowledge. “Then who doesn’t it keep the rain off?” was the triumphant rejoinder— Le Pele-Mele, Paris. "he 2 taal A Short Answer “Ow—oh—oh—Mr. Policeman, I’ve lost my mama.” “Why didn’t you hold on to her skirts.” “T eouldn’t reach them.” — Pele Mele. (Current) MISS TASHMAN’S CLOTHES ALWAYS SWANKIEST OUT Lilyan Tashman is one of the best dressed women in pictures. Also one of the best actresses. Few people, on or off the stage or sereen, have ever learned to wear clothes with the easy graceful sophistication that Miss Tashman has. And twenty million women envy her that ability. In “The Matrimonial Bed,’ the Warner’ Bros. comedy now at the Theatre, Miss Tashman wears smart French frocks and gowns imported for the picture. The way she wears them is one of the big attractions of the production. The actress is famous in the picture colony as well as with the public for the beauty and smartness of her clothes. She is one of half dozen film favorites who own and dare wear a chincilla coat. The way she throws a Spanish shawl about her shoulders has been the despair of many a well dressed companion. If Hollywood has actually become the center of the world’s styles, as many now claim, Miss Tashman is certainly the most clothes-copied woman in the world. What she wears one night is displayed in a hundred copies a few days later, in Hollywood, New York and in all the cities and villages in between. — Miss Tashman plays the feature: lead in “The Matrimonial Bed.”