The Mayor of Hell (Warner Bros.) (1933)

Sete your Ist story *‘The Mayor Of Hell’’ Turns Spotlight On Reformatory Abuses A picture so out of the beaten path, so extraordinary in its conception and portrayal that it will shock the spectator with its grim revelations, comes to the GNOAETOLON 5 opie si cs , under the startling title of ‘‘The Mayor of Hell,’’ with James Cagney in the stellar role. The story by Islin Auster is a burning indictment of a certain class of so-called Reform Schools in which boys of tender years are subjected to almost unbelievable cruelties. While the author has painted these conditions in flaming drama that burns into the heart, he has based his story on facts brought to light in recent investigations of boys’ reformatories. ‘‘The Mayor of Hell’’ deals with an institution ruled by cheap politicians and honeycombed with graft. Boys are caged like wild animals in barbed wire enclosures, and _ half starved in order that its supervisors may fatten on the purchase of foodstuffs. The youths sent to the institntion are boys brought up in the poverty stricken environment of the slums with little or no parental guidance. Sent to such an institution in their formative stage, they come out hardened and embittered, potential ¢rimi nals. Under a system of espionage, beaten for the slightest infringement __af.2ules, subjected to confinement in damp _ dung : j While the Warner’ Bros. production lays bare these grim conditions with unsparing realism it has its brighter m 0ments in showing how these same boys become responsible and _ self governing under a proper admin ALLEN JENKINS repeats his comic istration. Nor success in “The is the picture Mayer of Hell,” 18 p J ames Cagney’s without its romance for it is the love of a politician for a nurse who is trying to reform the school, and not the boys, that changes a tough ward heeler into man of kindness and understanding. With pathos embodied in the pitiful condition of boys helpless under the cruelties heaped on them, tragedy in the breaking of hearts and spirits. thrill in the action of boys braving death in battles with guards in vain efforts to escape, the picture is said to have the punch and virility of ‘‘I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang.’’ new hit coming to the Strand. Cut No. 11 Cut 15ce Mat 5c James Cagney as the ward heeler, who despite his own shortcomings, has a sympathetic understanding of the boys who had been reared in the same environment as himself heads the east. Madge Evans plays the part of the nurse who brings about the reform of the school, while others in the cast inelude Allen Jenkins, Dudley Digges, Arthur Byron, Sheila Terry, Robert Barrat, Harold Huber and George Pat Collins. Three hundred and fifty boys are in the east with Frankie Darro, Farina, Mickey Bennett, Sidney Miller, Raymond Borzage, George Offerman and Charles Cane as the leading characters in the reformatory. The screen play by Edward Chodorov was directed by Archie Mayo. Page Fourteen me S HEL | S BOSS JAMES CAGNEY in one of the most dramatic roles in his spectacular screen career, “The Mayor of Hell,’ his latest new Warner Bros. hit which comes to the Strand Friday. Cut No. 19 your 2nd story Tremendous Cast. of ae, 86 Ueod see \Sagney | Hit “Mayor of Hell” One of the largest casts of the “| year went into the making of the Warner Bros. picture, “The Mayor of Hell,” the juvenile edition of “I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang,” starring James Cagney, which comes tO= the ee ee Theatre next Some five hundred men, women and children, all playing bits and principal roles, were used in this stirring story which deals with a dramatic fight against graft and corruption in a boys’ reform school. Approximately 350 young boys between the ages of 12 and 16 worked throughout the making of the film as inmates of a reform school, at which the treatment is worse than that of some of the chain gang camps. A number of these youngsters play roles equal in importance to those of the adult players. Among the young boys assigned outstanding parts are Frankie Darro, Farina, George Offerman, Jr., Sidney Miller, Mickey Bennett, Raymond Borzage and Charles Cane. The leading feminine role in the picture was given to Madge Evans, who appears for the first time opposite James Cagney. The rare comedy of Allen Jenkins is given opportunity in another prominent part. Other screen favorites who have roles of importance include Dudley Digges, Arthur Byron, Sheila Terry, Robert Barrat, Harold Huber, Dorothy Peterson, George Pat Collins, Edwin Maxwell, John Marston, William V. Mong, Charles Wilson, Hobart Cavanaugh and George Humbert. The story by Islin Auster is a revelation of shocking conditions in a certain so-called reformatory where boys are caged like wild animals, half starved and flogged with a cat-o’-nine-tails for the slightest infraction of harsh and arbitrary rules. It is a picture of pathos, tragedy and thrills, relieved by a glowing romance in which love brings about the reform of the abuses. The screen adaptation was made by Edward Chodorov and directed pby Archie Mayo. Cut 30c Mat10c Boy Actor Realizes Ambiti, in Film With { Cagney It took young Frankie Darro two years of manoeuvering around Hollywood to finally accomplish his most cherished wish; but when he did it, he did it with a bang. Two years ago, Frankie had a good part in ‘‘The Public Enemy,’’ the picture which suddenly raised James Cagney to stardom. Frankie and Cagney met and became pals, but they did not work in any scenes together. Since then, Frankie to play in another picture with Cagney. Being sixteen years old, energetic and impressionable Frankie conceived a great deal of hero worship for FRANKIE DARROW Cut No. 13 Cagney whom Cut 15e Mat 5c he patterns after in ‘‘The Mayor of Hell.’’ His wish was realized when he won the most important boy role in Cagney ’s latest Warner Bros. picture, ‘¢The Mayor of Hell,’’ which comes {oO =the2e Ss Se eee Theatre on Sto cee ees the bulk of the action of which revolves around a reform school operating under such a system of eruelties as to merit the title of Se Hels? 2 Frankie has the role of the leader of a gang of boys, all of whom are sent to a reform school for petty offenses. In this school the boys are half starved, flogged for the slightest offense, caged in barb wire enclosures and locked in a damp dungeon which kills one of their pals. The story by Islin Auster, based on actual facts, is a shocking revelation of the cruelties practiced on boys of tender years. It also carries a glowing romance in which love brings about the reformation both of the school and the newly appointed head of the institution, a part played by Cagney. Madge Evans has the leading feminine role. has been wishing your 4th story your 5th story “The Mayor of Hell’’ At Last Madge Evans Parallels Facts in Reformatory Expose Motion pictures are doing a great deal when they faithfully mirror life; but sometimes the phenomenon of picturing future events happens with almost psychic preciseness. A most unusual case came to light in connection with James Cagney’s latest picture for Warner Bros. “The Mayor of Hell,” which opens at the Theatre on The entire background of the story is a boys’ reform school, with an exposition of conditions so corrupt and practices so cruel that the picture may well be classified as the junior successor to “I Am a Fugitive from a Chain -| Gang.” Although prisons and _penitentiaries have figured in exposes and shakeups in the public news for many years, nothing much was ever done or said about reformatories where delinquent boys are sent for violating the law. The story of “The Mayor of Hell” had been in production for two weeks when newspapers suddenly broke with a story of conditions and happenings under investigation in a certain reformatory for boys that paralleled the abuses aepicted in the picture. The most unusual part about the coincidence is that the climax of the film story, and the pivotal incident in the newspaper story are identical—and the latter happened long after the screen play was written. both cases, is of an undernourished young boy in a uisgaea who was broken into the reforniatory store to satisfy their hunger. The boy died. In the case of the film story, it resulted in the climatic turn of the story; and in the case of the real life incident, it precipitated the investigation whieh brought to light the almost unbelievable conditions under which the institution was conducted. Even the general conditions as depicted in both cases are identical. As the newspaper story put it; “all of the officials were fat and the boys were all undernourished.” Madge Evans has--the leading feminine role in “The Mayor of Hell.” Others in the cast include Allen Jenkins, Dudley Digges, Arthur Byron, Sheila Terry, Frankie Darro and Farina. Archie Mayo directed. Triumphs In Big Role most important rol in FRANKIE DARRO’S carreer is that of “Jimmie” in “The Mayor of Hell,” coming to the Strand Friday, and starring James Cagney. Out No.6 Cuti15c Mat de This particular incident; alike in) 5 Gets Chance to Play in Film with Cagney Madge Evans, who has appeared with most of the notable players of the screen in the past several years, ‘has a role opposite James Cagney for the first time in the Warner Bros. startling and picturesque melo drama, “The Mayor of Hell,” which Theirs opens at the ON aoe mes Although she has known Cagney from the days several years ago in New York when he was a struggling young stage actor, this hard hitting tale of life in the raw at a boy’s reformatory, is her first effort in a Cagney picture. She has been in pictures a long time. She remembers John Gilbert as a script clerk; Josef von Sternberg as a cutter; Clarence Brown herding extras as an assistant; and Evelyn Brent when she was known as Betty Riggs. A> lot of film has gone through the cameras since Madge Evans entered the movie business sixteen years ago. The director who gave her her first chance is now a Hollywood extra. Very few of the stars with MADGE EVANS Cut No. 12 whom she Out 15ce Mat 5c wae shine on the screen anylonger, excepting perhaps John Bar rmore whose leading lady she was in “Peter Ibbetson” when she was thir me Richar Eirelmexs | , enti on his fellow inmates after they had | Some of the other stars of 4 teryear with whom she played we Robert Warwick, Ethel Clayton Pearl White, Herbert Rawlinson, Holbrook Blinn, Montagu Love and many others. In “The Mayor of Hell,” Miss Evans appears in the role of a pretty nurse in a reformatory, through whose efforts the brutalities that had turned the alleged corrective institution into a hell hole worse than chain gang camps, are finally eliminated. She succeeds in her work by enlisting the aid of a tough politician, a part played by Cagney. The screen play by Edward Chodorov, based on a story by Islin Auster, is a terrible indictment of the conditions that exist in such schools. your 6th story “‘The Mayor of Hell’’ Deals With Present Day Social Problem An unusual solution to the problem of training delinquent youths in the state reformatories is offered in the Warner Bros. picture, “‘The Mayor of Hell,’ James Cagney’s latest starring picture which comes to the Theatre 0n=.i2.05.:52. The picture first presents a revel tion of conditions in the reformatory almost as shocking as those seen in “I Am a Fugitive From a ChainGang.” The solution is provided by a pretty nurse, who prevails on a ward heeler politician through his love for her, to put it into effect. After kicking out the grafters, the political boss institutes a plan of self government by which the boys rule themselves. They hold regular elections and name all the community officials such as mayor, chief of police, judge, treasurer, etc. The glowing romance and _ the eventual working out of a system which the boys carry on with enthusiasm, lends a bright touch to a production that pictures with grim realism the cruelties practiced on boys of tender years.