The Public Enemy (Warner Bros.) (1931)

Ben Ads That Reflect The Vital Drama Of The Picture Irresistible! Arresting: MISS LOIS HORN, WHO TEACHES MOVIE CHILDREN, TELLS WHY THEY APPEAR TO SURPASS PUPILS OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS Cast of ‘“The Public Enemy,” the Warner Bros. Picture Now at Theatre, Includes Score of Her Scholars : (Interesting Home Page Feature) : : The motion picture studio has one aspect which is cause for both admiration and wonder. This is the matter of the educa tion of the children who work as principals and extras, year in and year out. The requirements of their profession, the seeming confusion on the set, and what appears to be the intermittent snatches of learning which they appear to get, would all seem to point to haphazard and efficient schooling. But the opposite result has proven to be the case. As a whole, movie children are quicker in their work, and seem to get more of a concrete understanding of their lessons than children who attend public schools regularly, and there are reasons for this. Just recently, an opportunity presented itself for the study of this situation at the Warner Bros. studio on the set of “The Public Enemy,” now at the Theatre. Twenty-five youngsters were used by Director William Wellman in a street scene. Most of these children, ranging between the ages of five and fifteen, have been in motion pictures since before they can remember, and have received at least fifty percent of their schooling on studio lots. Two typical cases are Junior Coghlan and Frankie Darro, aged fourteen and thirteen respectively. Junior has been in motion pictures for nine years and has seen almost constant activity in his work. He is enrolled in a Los Angeles junior high school, where he is the president of his class, with a high scholarship rating—yet he is not there half of the time. Frankie Darro’s case is almost similar at the pro— fessional school which he attends. They represent the class of principals. Their work is featured and they have the opportunity to study a week or two at a time under one teacher at one studio. In “The Publie Enemy,” a picture depicting the evolution of two gangsters from childhood on, they play the leading parts in the childhood sequence. Then there are the extra children who will work one day at one studio and next day at another, continually under different teachers and under different conditions. An interesting example of this type is little Dorothy Gray, who also worked in “The Public Enemy.” Dorothy is only seven years old, yet she has appeared in some sixty productions PUBLIC ENEMY Cut No. 15 Cut sic Mat 5c Dynamic — James Cagney the underworld in ‘‘The Public Enemy’’ Warner Bros. picture, nNow.-at: ne =. Theatre. since she was two years old. Her first appearance was as Lillian Gish’s child in “The Scarlet Letter.” More than fifty percent of her education was acquired in some nine or ten studios. Yet the child ranks high in the latter half of her third grade—and she started her education only two years ago. Nanci Price, the twelve year old youngster who features in this picture, has appeared in one hundred |STRAND F« PUBLIC ENEMY. REE MOT SY Now Playing REAL! —life dredged to its depths. REAL!! —truth stripped to the bone. REALM —drama from the heart of the world. with James Cagney Jean Harlow A Warner Bros. & Vitaphone Picture drained Don’t Miss It! Cut No. 25 Cut goc Mat roc "age Twelve as | Tom Powers, ruthless boss of| silent pictures and twelve talking pictures during the past ten years. Without. being overly precocious, she possesses a very thorough school training. Helen Virginia Parrish, seven years old, who appears in scenes with Nanci, Frankie and Junior, has also proved a point in movie education. MISS HORN TELLS WHY The reasons set forth by Miss Lois Horn, head teacher at the Warner Bros. studio, show clearly that movie children are provided with more constructive means for imbibing knowledge. In the first-place, they are constantly in contact with older] ’ people. The business of making motion pictures involves continual use of action, dialogue and properties which stimulate the children’s imagination. They pick up from the director, the property man, the camera man and everyone else on the set, useful bits of information. An instance can be cited in the case of “The Public Enemy.” The children were used in a street scene, supposedly during the year 1909. The costumes, quaint automobiles and other means of transportation and the thousand and one details which went to depict the era excited their curiosity. They asked innumerable questions, many of which were answered by the technicians in charge of these details. Later, the scene changed to 1917, A change of wardrobe was made all around. The set was altered to depict the change in time. Transportation had made a stride forward. Under their very noses, they saw a concrete example of the change in means, manners and methods in American life. The scene shows the street crowds on April 6, 1917—the day America went into the war. People talked of the hostilities, President Wilson, and of the happenings of the past three years. No text book or class lecture could have given these children as much of an insight into this phase of American history than they received there. ‘Imagine then, a child working in sixty pictures. Some of them depict past eras. Others take them to different countries. It is all visual and of absorbing interest. After such experience, the child will have picked up enough knowledge of the world at large and its past history as it would ordinarily take a library full of books to make clear. BOARD OF EDUCATION As for the actual class work on the set, the Board of Education requires that out of eight hours, the child may work four, have three hours of school and one hour recreation. In this three hours, more can be accomplished than in two days in a public school room. The maximum allowed under one teacher is ten children. In this way more individual attention can be given than in a classroom of thirty to forty youngsters. They bring their public school assignments with them and work them under the teacher’s supervision, besides taking up advanced work which will make them not feel the loss of time out of school. In every ease of these little troupers, it is found that they are free from the taint of the parrot-like. For everything they study they have a background of experience. They have learned to visualize things and to apply them to actual life. Whether they work on location or in the neat and modern school house which Warner Bros-First National has erected on its lot, they are given the opportunity to combine the theoretical with the actual. The teacher is more than pedagogue. Her duties also include supervision of physical surroundings, guardian of diets and rest. In this work she receives the co-operation of the director and his assistants. Another requirement is that the mothers of the children be al- ways at hand on the set. The teacher also works out with the mother any and all problems pertaining to the child which may come up during the day. Even if only one child is used on the set, as is often the case, the same care and attention is given as though there were fifty. In this -O Reach His HEART Is By a BULLET! greed—he hates men — he _—< \ : woman! e Foo \\\ Ni i Enemy J 3— Spawn of lust and ‘PUB He is real—yet inconceivable! He lives — yet he is deadly! I Begins Tomorrow! RPHE UME One Week Only! The Only Way to: all no Y 4 ¢g of Enemies! Picture of Pictures! JAMES CAGNEY JEAN HARLOW A Warner Bros. oe & Vitaphone Hit! Cut No. 13 Cut goc Mat 15¢ instance, it is easily to be seen that the child has every advantage. The instruction is absolutely individual and amounts to the status of having a combined tutor and Cook’s tour guide. Above all, their Work—the Precision demanded ca in dialogue and action and the training in co-operation with the other players, young and old, give them an amount of responsibility which sharpens their wits and throws their minds into a creative channel. Under the rulings of the Board of Education and of the studio, this keeps up until the youngster has reached the age of eighteen, at which time it is discovered that he or she is the possessor of a constructive education second to none. “The Public Enemy,” which features the gay crowd of movie youngsters, was written by Kubee Glasmon and John Bright and adapted for the screen by Harvey Thew. The cast includes James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods, Joan Blondell, Beryl Mercer, Donald Cook, Mae Clarke, Mia Marvin, Leslie Fenton, Robert Emmett O’Connor, Murray Kinnell, Ben Hendricks, Jr., Rita Flynn, Clark Burroughs, Snitz Edwards, Adele Watson, Junior Coghlan and Frankie Darro. William Wellman directed. the requir ements of BEER OUSTS MILK AS BATH LUXURY Front page stories no longer feature the milk bath, but the beer bath may prove a worthy rival. In a scene in “The Public Enemy” the Warner Bros. picture which comes to the one gang of bootleggers has lost the patronage of a “blind pig” to an opposing group who break open the kegs of the stuff that made Milwaukee famous, and flood the place. Each retake of the _ scene called for a new supply, and by night the whole cast including director Wellman was literally soaked with the foamy beverage. “It’s an ill wind’— remarked Jimmie Cagney who is featured in the thrilling expose of the most mysterious of modern evils. P. S. It was only near-beer. Big Ben Commandeers. Little Ben to Play Himself in Youth — 99 UEP “The Public Enemy vV¥ar-— ner Bros. Latest Film, Now at Theatre (Current Story) Ben Hendricks II plays the part of Bugs Healy in “The Public Enemy,” ‘which William Wellman directed for Warner Bros. and which is at the Theatre. As the picture shows the rise and development of the characters from childhood on, it was necessary for the casting director to look about for youngsters who would look somewhat like the older players. It turned out quite simply in the eases of James Cagney and Edward Woods. Their childhood prototypes were successfully played by Junior Coghlan and Frankie Darro. But when it came to Ben Hendricks, II, there was a little difficulty in finding the right type of youngster. It was all settled by Ben II taking Ben IIT out of school temporarily to play the part of the young Bugs Healy. The younger Ben looks just as his father did when he was thirteen, which is the young boy’s age. There seems no escaping the acting profession for the Hendricks family. Ben Hendricks I, was famous on the stage for over forty years. James Cagney is featured in “The Public Enemy.” Others in the cast are Jean Harlow, Edward Woods, Joan Blondell, Beryl Mercer, Donald Cook, Mae Clark, Mia Marvin, Leslie Fenton, Robert Emmett O’Connor, Murray Kinnell, Rita Flynn, Clark Burroughs, Snitz Edwards, Adele Watson, Junior Coghlan and Frankie Darro. William Wellman directed. SEE PAGE 2 FOR NOVEL LOBBY FRAMES