The Old Maid(Warner Bros.) (1939)

(Mat 204—30c) Bette Davis as the bride who didn’t get married in the title role of ‘‘ The Old Maid,’’ at the Strand Theatre. Bette Davis Slated For Third Academy Award ETTE DAVIS, two time win ner of the annual award of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (“Dangerous” in 1935 and “Jezebel this year) is, so everyone agrees, almost a certain winner of the same golden token for next year. It will be for her performance in “Dark Victory.” Many of the erities think it the finest motion picture ever made. There certainly is no doubt that Bette’s performance is a soul-stirring triumph. “Of course I’m flattered and immensely. proud,’ Miss Davis said just recently on the set of her latest film for the Warner Bros. Studio, “The Old Maid,” from Zoe Akins’ Pulitzer prize play. Miriam Hopkins co-stars in this and it opens Friday at the Strand Theatre. “I’d be an awful hypocrite to pretend otherwise. All my life I’ve wanted not only to be a good actress but a really great one. I’ve worked hard toward that end, awfully hard. When Bette confesses that to act has been the single ambition of her life she’s speaking literal truth. From the time she was able to talk, her mother, Mrs. Ruthie Davis recalls, she was mentally carrying the mantles of Duse and of Bernhardt, all the great actresses of the past. When she got through ordinary school Bette went to John Murray Anderson’s dramatic school in New York and there studied intensely, acting, acting, acting, through every waking moment. In 1929 Bette Davis went to Cape Cod to get a job in a summer theatre. None developed so she accepted work as an usherette until an opportunity came for a small part in a Rochester stock company. On the opening night the leading lady sprained her ankle and Bette, who had understudied the part, stepped into the leading role. Two months later she was set in the part that opened Hollywood’s portal to her, the role as Hedvig in “The Wild Duck.” Universal immediately offered her a contract and she came to Hollywood in 1930. Her first three pictures were “Bad Sister,” “Seed,” and “Waterloo Bridge.” Because she is, and was at that time, a truly great actress, she played each picture differently, becoming a real character in each. This confused Hollywood. ’ “Bette Davis,” one of them pro claimed, “is utterly colorless.” As he happened to be the boss she lost her contract. But the loss was her gain, really, for she got the role opposite George Arliss in “The Man Who Played God.” She was on her way. Next came her role as Mildred in “Of Human Bondage,” and she was established solidly. The 19385 Academy Award was Bette’s. From that time on Jack L. Warner, his production aide, Hal Wallis and the Warner producers have handed Bette Davis nothing but stories beautifully hand tailored to her talents. In 1938 she won it again for “Jezebel.” “Juarez” and her role as the Empress Carlota followed “Dark Victory.” “The Old Maid” is her latest. Then will come “The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex,” with Errol Flynn. With such stories, and such a star, it appears fom here that the Academy might just as well set up a permanent statue. The inscription would be simple. Just a bronze plate inscribed: “Miss Bette Davis. Annual winner of the Academy award.” (Opening Day) Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins Co-star in “The Old Maid” Presenting as co-stars two of the screen’s greatest actresses — Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins —the long-heralded motion picture version of Edith Wharton’s famous story, “The Old Maid,” will be offered on the screen of the Strand Theatre today. It is said to be the most gripping and realistic showing of human emotions that Warner Bros. have offered this season, which has been remarkable in their history. Miss Davis and Miss Hopkins advance from girlhood to middle age, as the action progresses in the story of two women who dwell in the same home but whose hearts are filled with hatred of each other. It is the tale of two girls cou sins of a proud old Philadelphia | family, and its period ranges from the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 up into the 1880's. Across that stretch of years the two live under the same roof— hating each other, never achieving reciprocal sympathy or understanding until both are well into middle age, and the young daughter of one is leaving the ancient homestead for matrimony. Miriam Hopkins is a widow, with two children of her own. The old maid is Bette Davis. She has never wed, yet the sweet young girl of the house is her daughter, born of a farewell night with the man that both she and her cousin loved, and who was killed in the war. This role is played by George Brent, and the role of the daughter is played by Marlene Burnett, as a child, and by Jane Bryan, as a grown-up. The daughter grows up without knowledge of her true origin, and gives her love and affection to the woman she calls “Mummy,” (Miriam Actresses Don Boxing Gloves Thoroughly anneyed by persistently printed rumors that they were not speaking, that they fought openly on the set and that their director, Edmund Goulding, had to use every ounce of his displomatie suavity to keep them from each other’s throat while they played their scenes as two women, both in love with the same man, and hating each other, in “The Old Maid,” which comes Friday to the Strand Theatre, Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins hit upon the perfect way to correct the errors and bring out the truth. Getting a pair of boxing gloves from the property man, they “fought” a brisk one-minute round of boxing while the “still” cameraman on the set, Bert Six, snapped a series of action shots which they sent to every gossip columnist who had intimated that they were unfriendly. Goulding refereed the peace-propaganda bout, and appeared in all the shots. “Tt’s easy to understand how the rumors started,’ Miss Davis said. “It’s a Hollywood tradition that two female stars can’t get along together in the same picture. Like all other traditions, it’s stupid and old-fashioned. [8] Hopkins) rather than to her true mother. It is only on the eve of the girl’s own wedding that she comes to realize some measure of the sacrifices that her “old maid aunt” has made for her. And after the wedding, the two women go back to the empty house to live out the rest of their lives together. “The Old Maid” is well known to novel readers and later to theatre-goers, since it was made into a play by Zoe Akins four years ago that not only achieved finaneial and artistic success on Broadway but also won the Pulitzer Prize as the best theatrical offering of its season. The characters played by Miss Davis and Miss Hopkins were taken on the stage by Helen Mencken and Judith Anderson. The play had a long successful run on Broadway, followed by a triumphant tour of America’s stages from coast to coast. Associated with the co-stars are such noted players as George Brent, Jane Bryan, Donald Crisp, Louise Fazenda, James Stephexson, Jerome Cowan, William Lundigan, Cecilia Loftus, Janet Shaw, DeWolf Hopper and Rand Brooks. The picture was directed by Edmund Goulding from a screen adaptation by Casey Robinson — the same combination that made “Dark Victory” with Bette Davis and George Brent, which was, according to the erities, the most outstanding dramatic event of the past season. Donald Crisp, Financier And Veteran Actor More than $18,000,000 in motion picture money has passed through the hands of Donald Crisp since Crisp became a personage in Hollywood, but this is not money that he himself received in his professional capacities as actor, writer and director. It is money which the Bank of America lent to studios as financing for pictures. Crisp is chairman of the Bank of America’s special board on motion picture loans. He is now in Warner Bros.” drama, “The Old Maid,” co-starring Miriam Hopkins and Bette Davis and currently showing at the Strand Theatre. Mat 101—15c "The Old Maid," a story by Edith Wharton, first appeared as a serial in Red Book magazine in 1922; in 1924 it was published as a novel by Appleton and Co.; in 1935 it was produced at the Em ire Theatre, New York, as a play by Zoe Akins and that year it won the Pulitzer award. On the stage it costarred Helen Menken and Judith Anderson. Now as a pier it is unanimously ailed as a screen success by the press and public. i teeeeeennttinenenenenameeeniaceennmmeemmemmenemeene