The Petrified Forest (Warner Bros.) (1936)

FOREST” Two Brilliant Stars Bette Davis, whose portrayal of the desert girl loved by Leslie Howard is said to be even greater than her acting in ‘‘Of Human Bondage a? as shown above with Charley Grapewin, noted stage star, playwright and songwriter of the ‘‘Nineties’’ who is also in the cast of ‘‘The Petrified Forest’’ now at the Se a ee ee Theatre. Mat No. 2183—20c His Own Gags Rise Up To Haunt Charley Grapewin Actor In ‘Petrified Forest” Says His Own Old Jokes Are Now A Torture To Him Every time Charley Grapewin turns on the radio he hears things that make him sorry he ever lived. For, through the loud speaker come such bromides as these: ‘‘How are you?’’ ‘‘I’m afraid I’m all right.”’ ‘‘What wrong number can I eall to get Hollywood 1251 right away?”’ ‘What do you think of that soprano’s execution??? ‘‘I’m in favor of 16.2 ‘“She’s a beautiful dancer — so light on her feet.’’? ‘‘She’ll light on her head in a minute if she isn’t careful.’’ An explosion is heard so the comic says: ‘Someone dropped the set out of his ring.’? And with that, Grapewin, now playing bewhiskered Gramp Maple in Warnar Bros.’ picture, ‘‘ The Petrified Forest,’’ at the .......25...:... Theatre, shuts off the radio. You see, he was the father of all those gags with which comedians torture their listeners every day. He’s pretty well ashamed of himself. There is one often used joke for which Mr. Grapewin denies responsibility. That is the ‘who was that.lady I-sce you. with last night—sue “wasn t a lady, she was nry wife’? Bay: Grapew.n ciaims that the blackface tein of “John Wray and George Drew used this chestnut first m 1838. ‘*T vefuse to let my conscience bother me for that one,’’ Grapewin said. j Liowever, if pressed, Mr. Grapewin will admit committing worse crimes. It was he, who in his show ‘¢Mismated Pair’? in 1896 first had a Duteh comedian lift a telephone receiver from its hook and ask: ‘‘Is this the middle?’’ And every Dutch comedian since has called central the ‘‘middle.’’ Grapewin shudders just to think about it. Grapewin can name offhand two or three score gags that comedians are still using as instruments of torture. He thinks he was the first Page Twenty-two Dick Foran ts Dick Foran, the ‘‘Singing Cowboy’’ film star has an important role with Leslie Howard and Bette Davis in ‘‘The Petrified Forest’’ the Warner Bros. drama coming COANG oe ECOG, 01 2.2 le Mat No. 101—10c one to answer, ‘‘no it only seems longer.’’? 9 the question ‘do married men live longer than single men??? Leslie Howard and Bette Davis have the stellar roles while others in the cast besides Grapewin, Inelude Genevieve Tobin, Humphrey Bogart, Dick Foran, Porter Hall and Joseph Sawyer. “THE PETRIFIED Perfect Desert Windstorm Made By Movie Magic Raising the wind, once a simple matter of turning on a big propeller, became a more difficult movie problem in Warner Bros.’, production of ‘‘The Petrified Forest,’? now showing at the ........... SR aaee nee Theatre. In one of the big desert scenes, it is necessary for a wind storm to sweep across the sandy waste. When the old propeller system was tried, Director Archie Mayo was dissatisfied. Desert winds, he claimed, blew in gusts and set up little eddies. A special system of ducts was devised with control valves for each, These operated at different velocities and were aimed at different: points. The big fan was retained for what was termed ‘‘ general wind,’’ and the controlled wind-streams were synchronized with the main propeller so that when the big wind was reduced, the small effectgusts became effective. This is said to be the first time that engineers have succeeded in simulating real desert wind. The picture is the thrilling drama of a man who has drained the bitter cup of disillusionment but who finds himself through an: heroie sacrifice for love. Leslie Howard and Bette Davis have the stellar roles while others in the cast include Genevieve To bin, Humphrey Bogart, Charley Grapewin, Dick Foran, Porter Hall and Joseph Sawyer. The screen play is by Charles Kenyon and Delmer Daves based on the drama by Robert Emmet Sherwood. Leslie Howard Upholds Typing Of Film Actors Leslie Howard, star of the Warner Bros. picture ‘‘The Petrificd Forest,’?? now showing at the a ee Theatre, has come forward in defense of ‘‘typing.’’ ‘6J believe actors should play only parts that fit their types,’’ he said. ‘‘It is. folly to believe that an actor can play any part.’’ It has long been a tradition of the theatre that an actor wasn’t an actor if there was 4 part he couldn’t play. Stage stars weren’t considered competent unless they could be Shylock one night and Romeo the next. Of late years this has been the feeling of nearly every Hollywood star. But Howard, star of the stage and screen, admits there are many characters he would not attempt to portray. ‘Tf a part calls for elaborate make-up that changes the actor’s identity, he should refuse to play it,’?? Howard said. ‘‘If possible, he should only play characters that have a little of himself in them. No player should object to being typed. I don’t. I wouldn’t think of playing Shylock. ‘<T hesitated a long time before I agreed to play Romeo on _ the screen because of Romeo’s extreme youth. I aecepted the role only after I had made up my mind that Romeo, though young in years, was old in mind. Hamlet is my type. So is Alan Squier in ‘‘The Petrified Forest.’’ So was Peter Standish in ‘Berkeley Square.’ But I wouldn’t have attempted to portray ‘Captain Blood’.’’ ‘‘The Petrified Forest’’ is Robert Emmet Sherwood’s thrilling drama of love and heroism, starring Howard and Bette’ Davis. Others in the cast include Genevieve Tobin, Humphrey Bogart, Charley Grapewin, Dick Foran, Porter Hall and Joseph Sawyer. Archie Mayo directed the picture. Publicity e Striking Film Portrait Painted By Bette Davis Star Portrays Most Unusual Character In Sherwood’s ‘Petrified Forest” Bette Davis has added a new and striking portrait to her film gallery by her characterization in the Warner Bros, piecture, ‘‘The Petrified Forest’’ which comes to the ...................... (RieatrerOn =a. ier ee : It is the portrait of a strange desert girl, a girl created out of thin air by Robert Emmet Sherwood, the playwright— Gabby Maple, who serves whisky, beer and hamburger sandwiches in a barbecue stand, who reads Francois Villon and paints pictures in wild colors, who rolls her own cigarettes. There are other portraits in Miss Davis’ gallery. There is Joyce Heath, the once great actress, living under the shadow of a jinx in “Dangerous.” There is the unforgettable Mildred, the cruel cockney girl, who held the crippled Phillip under her spell in “Of Human Bondage.” There is Marie, the hard, cheap dance hall girl who murdered her husband in “Bordertown.” There is Ellen Garfield, the wise-cracking girl who proved in “Front Page Woman” that she was not a bum newspaperman. No matter how you look at her, Gabby Maple, the girl in “Petrified Forest” is not the type of woman Henry James wrote about in his “Portrait of a Lady.” Character A Paradox But Bette doesn’t mind. She doesn’t like to paint ladies on the silver screen. To Bette, Gabby is the strangest character she has ever portrayed, stranger than Mildred, or Joyce Heath or Marie. Hfere’s Sherwood’s description of Gabby: “She is young and pretty with a certain amount of style about her. Her principal distinguishing feature is an odd look of resentment in her large, dark eyes.” That’s all Miss Davis had to go on when Director Archie L. Mayo handed her the script of “The Petrified Forest.” Bette was bewildered the first time she read it. Everything Gabby did was contradictory. One moment she was soft, the next, hard as desert | Their Strangest Bondage rock. One moment she was naive and wondering, the next wise as Solomon and bitter in her wisdom. She hated the desert with all her being, yet was able to put on canvas its life and color and warmth. She read the poems of Villon the while making plans to learn about Jove from an overgrown and mentally undeveloped football player. “T don’t think such a girl ever lived,” Bette said. “Perhaps Sherwood knew such a person, but I doubt it. I feel that she was born in his mind. “Tt was no easy task to make her live, much harder than to make Mildred or Joyce Heath live. For those women were not changeable. They ran true to form from the beginning. Has Reason For Living “T read the script again. Then I got a copy of the play and read it. And after a while I found the reason for Gabby. “She is the sum of all the ehildren born in that chaotic period between 1918 and 1929 when the world was mad. Squier, Gramp, Duke Mantee, Jason Maple, Chisholm, his wife and other characters are symbols of a dying race. Gabby is the only one in this small group of ill-assorted individuals, thrown together by chance, who has any reason for living or dying.” Director Mayo feels that Bette’s portrait of the desert girl is a work of art. And because Gabby is intangible, because she is a bundle of contradictions, Director Mayo thinks that Bette’s portrayal is a finer piece of work than was her portrait of the cockney girl in “Of Human Bondage.” Leslie Howard was willing to sell his life for $5,000 to buy Bette Davis a love he wasn’t strong enough to give in the Warner Bros. film version of the Broadway stage success ‘‘The Petrified Forest’’ which opens at [9 (eS peen oicrne eye career PNOCGULOS ON ocssrccs cckcte eats : Mat No. 210—20c