The Murder of Dr Harrigan(Warner Bros.) (1936)

PUBLICITY ah Peter Melady (ROBERT STRANGE), head of a drug company, has a formula for a valuable new anaesthetic called Slaepan. Several doctors have worked with Peter on the drug, and he plans to cheat them out of their interest in it. Peter is about to be operated on by Dr. Harrigan (JOHN ELDREDGE), whom Peter has cheated, and Agnes (ANITA KERRY), Peter’s daughter, fears Harrigan will kill her father. Harrigan has Peter wheeled to the operating room and leaves word for Sally Keating (Kay Linaker), a nurse to come to the operating room at once. She goes and finds Peter’s stretcher empty. She looks in Peter’s room, but he has vanished. Stepping into an elevator she finds Dr. Harrigan’s body with a surgical knife in his chest. Lieut. Lamb (JOSEPH CREHAN) arrives with his homicide squad. Several persons are suspected: Ina Harrigan (JOAN BLAIR), the doctor’s wife, because she hates her husband and has been flirting with a gigolo named Ladd (GORDON ELLIOTT); the gigolo, because he is known to have fled from the hospital by a fire escape; Lillian Ash (MARY ASTOR), a nurse and divorced wife of Harrigan; Sally because she took the Slaepan from Melady’s room; and Agnes because she sent Sally for the drug. SCT STE ENOL Tee re ate ee A ee George Lambert................ ERAT AY CMD «GY nescitette NRae oe Pe Oe Oe ere ee eC DLP EIO GI oe ee ea eee in VELOC MUA NO sacar ae es ct eT ag DOE gL CL (0 2 ara Nant li at heal meetin i Sey ope aE > LE {ROC Sane, Re Se ea aE RN ERR i) a otra PIR OS = tre cea ets Pe Cl Cie MCLQU Yor tecieaica heat ie ate Margaret Brody ...... 1 Di fe eRe Ser aa ah OTIS ae ays en Wentwort Ina SRT OTER Rin gis sBricea ame MR pa LDL BSS) ERS SOS aca dee an oe ere oe esas SATS Screen Play by....... PSE al 0) ea Dialogue by............. Photography by...... = PUN HOAUOT sic Art Director............ Musical Director Mary Astor Mary Astor was born in Quincy, Illinois, where her father was an instructor in the local schools. Later she went to Chicago. She took part in a beauty contest conducted by a motion picture magazine and won an honorable mention in the preliminaries. So she went to New York, got into the finals and came out second, which lead to motion picture contracts. Among her most recent pictures are “Page Miss Glory,” “Dinky,” and “Red Hot Tires.” She is now appearing in ‘“The Murder of Dr. Harrigan,’”’ which comes to the Peer er oak Theatre on Official Billing THE MURDER OF DR. HARRIGAN 100% with Kay Linaker Ricardo Cortez Mary Astor 15% John Eldredge Joseph Crehan 15% Directed by Frank McDonald 20% A First National 40% Productions Corporation 5% PICTURE 25% LENGTH OF FILM 6150 ft. RUNNING TIME 67 min. Dr. Lambert (RICARDO CORTEZ) an interne, and Sally, with whom he is in love, search for the vanished Melady. Entering the cellar of an old church next door, they find the body of a negro, who had died in the hospital the same day as the murder. They rush to the morgue and find the body of Melady there, the two bodies evidently having been switched by the murderer. As Sally is preparing to leave with the police, she is attacked on a dark stairway. Lambert and Lamb rush to her aid when she screams. The assailant escapes by a fire escape. Officers, however, see a man trying to climb up a gable of the hospital and shoot him. Picking him up wounded they discover he is an orderly, Simon (PHILLIP REED). It develops that Agnes had poured the Slaepan into a glass of water left for Dr. Harrigan in her father’s room, hoping to anaesthetize him so he could not perform the operation. He had taken it just before having Melady sent to the operating room. Simon, who also claimed a share in the drug, slipped into the operating room and threatened Melady with a knife, the latter dying from shock. Simon then found °Harrigan in the elevator and killed him, hoping to get the drug. He then switched the bodies of Melady and the negro to cover up the crime. SER Gnes ere soearesins ICY bin aker ante Ricardo Cortez eee ee Mary Astor eis ec eh ae ae John Eldredge Fe 8 ris TE Joseph Crehan Frank Reicher Riiou aa Anita Kerry IS a oe eee Phillip Reed een Sens Robert Strange Sagas steams vera ieaetel ce tne Mary Treen Rect cee per ee ee Gordon Elliott Gr PRR eer ee Pee end Don Barclay ..Johnny Arthur are Joan Blair Sei, SERS oe Bere ae ees Frank McDonald 2 Be ae hee Peter Milne and Sy Bartlett Sted REE RT ee tee Mignon G. Eberhart pee ere eee Charles Belden bests. Sint Sm Arthur Todd eRe sen tree, Hat! William Clemens Be tee Robert M. Haas Leo F. Forbstein Ray Linaker Kay Linaker was born in Pine Bluff, Ark. She was educated in private schools and later at New York University from which she went to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Her first stage work was in stock at Ivoryton, Conn., and later had a lead ing role in “Nothing Up Her Sleeve’. on Broadway. She was playing in “Damn Deborah” when she was called to Hollywood for her first film role, the lead in “The Murder of Dr. Harrigan” which comes to the........................ Theatre Rieardo Cortez Ricardo Cortez was born in Vienna but moved to New York with his parents when three years of age. His contact with the theatre was as a super in a theatrical spectacle. He got a job as an extra at a Fort Lee studio, and quickly advanced. His more recent pictures include “Special Agent,” ‘The White Cockatoo,” and ‘The Firebird.” His latest production is ‘‘The Murder of Dr. Harrigan,’ which comes to the Fae et Theatre on John Eidredge John Eldredge is a native Californian. having been born in San Francisco. He was educated at the University of California where he made a specialty of dramatics. He has recently appeared in “Dr. Socrates,” “The Girl From 10th Avenue,” and “The Goose and_ the Gander.”’ Eldredge has an important role in “The Murder of Dr. Harrigan,” now showing> at=the..30 Theatre. Accused Kay Linaker and Ricardo Cortez, who have the leading roles in the First National picture “The Murder of Dr. Harrigan” which comes LOREM Ras erin, ch Theatre on Mat No. 101—10c¢ Clue Club Murder Mystery Film is Booked by Strand A baffling new mystery melodrama, “The Murder of Dr. Harrigan,” comes to the................ Theatre. 0nsee > under the auspices of First National’s Clue Club. The picture is based on the story by Mignon G. Eberhart, an author famous for hair raising mysteries that are practically unsolvable until the very end. In this picture the plot is woven around a strange new anaesthetic, which the head of a drug company claims as his own, but is the bone of contention of a number of doctors, who have worked on the formula. In the unweaving of the story the head of the drug company strangely vanishes, as though into thin air, the doctor who was to have operated on him is found mysteriously murdered by a surgical instrument. Underlying’ it all there is a romantic love story between an interne and a nurse accused of the murder. Kay Linaker, new to the screen, but a well known Broadway stage star, has the leading role, that of a nurse who is the chief suspect in the crimes committed. Ricardo Cortez, playing the part of an interne who is in love with her, believes in her innocence. Mary Astor, a nurse, is also one of the suspects, she being the divorced wife of the slain doctor. Joan Blair, in the role of the doctor’s widow, is also suspected because she is having an affair with a gigolo, a part enacted by Gordon. Elliott. John Eldredge is the physician who claims to have a chief interest in the anaesthetic, Slaepan, and who is slain in an elevator just before he is to perform an operation on the head of the drug company; the patient who mysteriously disappears from the operating room. The latter part is played by Robert Strange, the stage star, while his daughter, Anita Kerry, is also a suspect in the case. Phillip Reed plays the character of a strange and mysterious orderly, in love with Anita Kerry. The tense action of the drama is relieved by hilarious comedy. A man with a nervous disorder and a dipsomaniaec are the victims of a queer comedy of errors. The former role is played by Johnny Arthur and the latter by Don Barclay, famous stage comedian. The picture winds up in a most thrilling and unsuspected climax. The picture was directed by Frank McDonald from the screen play by Peter Milne and Sy Bartlett. _ Latest Clue Club Mystery Picture at Strand Today “The Murder of Dr. Harrigan,” First National’s new Clue Club mystery thriller, opens at the........ Theatre today with Kay Linaker, Ricardo Cortez and Mary Astor in the featured roles. ; ; Based on the story by Mignon G. Eberhart, famous author of mystery dramas, the picture is said to carry a most baffling, as well as most exciting, plot in which one man is spirited away from an operating room of a hospital without leaving a trace, the attending surgeon is strangely slain, his body being found in an elevator with a surgical knife in the chest, and three women are attacked and choked by an unrecognized person. The murder plot is tied up with a new anaesthetic which is believed to be worth a fortune, and the formula for which the head of a big drug company steals from the various physicians and chemists who have worked on it. This is mixed up with a scandalous flirtation between the wife of the doctor who is eventually slain, and a gigolo. There is hilarious comedy also, centering around a merry mix-up in the hospital between a nervous patient. and an inebriate, roles played by Don Barclay and Johnny Arthur. The story cumulates in intensity from one terrifying situation to another to the astonishing climax. Others in the cast include John Eldredge, Joseph Crehan, Frank Reicher, Anita Kerry, Phillip Reed, Robert Strange, Mary Treen, Gordon Elliott, Don Barclay, Johnny Arthur and Joan Blair. Frank McDonald directed the picture from the screen play by Peter Milne and Sy Bartlett. Kay Linaker Played Nurse on Stage “The uniform of a nurse is nothing new to me,” said Kay Linaker, who has the role of a nurse in the First National mystery drama, “The Murder of Dr. Harrigan,” which comes to the........... Theatre ONG: SAR aA. “T played several nurse parts on stage in New York,” said Miss Linaker. “As a matter of fact, when I was given my successful screen test I was enacting the role of a matron in an institution for the feeble-minded.” “The Murder of Dr. Harrigan,” featuring Miss Acker, ' Ricardo Cortez and Mary Astor in principal parts was directed by Frank McDonald. New Faces Come to the Screen in Clue Club Drama Many new faces appear in the First National production “The Murder of Dr. Harrigan,’ which comes to -the..........:....... Theatre on director, this is the first time that Frank McDonald has ever had full charge of a picture. In the capable cast, Kay Linaker, new Broadway “find” plays her first screen role, the leading woman opposite Ricardo Cortez. Martha Tibbetts, Anita Kerry and Joan Blair, all recent graduates from the stage into screen work, were taking their first major picture parts. Robert Strange, who played the part-of one of the victims in the mystery, is a veteran of Broadway and has played with important stage companies for many years in Chicago and on the road. Yet he is playing his first screen part in “The Murder of Dr. Harrigan.” Supervising the picture was William McGann, former director, who has just been advanced to supervisor. — The picture is a hair raising murder mystery drama based on the story of Mignon G. Eberhart. Others in the cast include Mary Astor, John Eldredge, Joseph Crehan, Frank Reicher and Phillip Reed. Police Officers Act as Technical Advisers on Film Hospital and police details of the new First National mystery drama, “The Murder of Dr. Harrigan,” which comes to the.................. Theatre on co are —all technically correct, according to Frank McDonald, director. Paul M. MacWilliams, former police surgeon at the Los Angeles Central Station emergency hospital, and now superintendent of the First National Medical Service, was assigned to the picture as technical adviser. As special guest of McDonald and MacWilliams, Lieut. Chester Lloyd of the Police Department, visited the set and watched several scenes. “The Murder of Dr. Harrigan,” is an exciting murder mystery mystery melodrama, based on the story by Mignon G. Eberhart. Kay Linaker and Ricardo Cortez head the cast which also includes John Eldredge, Joseph Crehan, Krank Reicher, Anita Kerry and Phillip Reed. End of Murder Trail Phillip Reed (center) and Joseph Crehan (right) in the thrilling climaa of the Clue Club’s latest murder mystery picture “The Murder of Dr: Harrigan,” based on the most exciting of Mignon G. Eberhart’s best selling novels, which opens at the .. ee Ae = ee Theatre ons... Mat No. 202—20c Page Seven