The White Angel (Warner Bros.) (1936)

English Stage Star THE WHITE ANGEL PiU G@ S60 iTS vl lan Hunter, noted English stage and screen star, has one of the leading roles opposite Kay Francis in “The White Angel,” the First National picCUTE COMING CO ENE csserscerserereererees TREALTE ONeerrecersererssssoees The film is declared to be as great as the first screen biography made by Warner Bros., “I'he Story of Louis Pasteur.” Mat No. 203—20c lan Hunter Learns How To Be Reporter For Film Leading Man In “The White Angel’? Makes Close Study Of Work | As leading man for Kay Francis, in her current First National picture, “The White Angel”, now showing at the Pee reer eeeeeesesseevereseee Theatre, Ian Hunter plays the part of a reporter. He represents the correspondent of the London “Times”, on duty at the front during the Crimean War in 1854. Miss Francis is Florence Nightingale, the immortal British nurse. As leading man for the same star in her most recent previous picture, Hunter likewise played a reporter. He was one of those Johnny-on-the-spot newshawks for a sensational London daily of the 1935 vintage. That was in “I Found Stella Parish,” which dealt with the quest of the newspaperman for a missing actress. “Never having been a reporter, I put in a lot of study in each case, trying to learn a correspondent’s duties, problems and _ the like,” Hunter said. “In doing so, I learned a great lesson about how the world has progressed between 1854 and the present day. “The ‘Times’ correspondent at the front in the Crimean war had to go afoot, or ride a horse, to the scenes of battle he was to write about. There were no telegraphs or telephones; there were no typewriters. “When he got back to his tent, he had to sit down and write out his despatches with a quill pen. Then he had to figure out how he could get them back to London. There was no such thing as dashing down to the cable office, filing them and calling it a day. Submarine cable telegraph systems did not come into effect until 20 years later, in 1874. “The oldtime war correspondent had to hustle around and find out when the next ship was sailing for England, and somehow get his stuff aboard, not knowing whether the vessel would reach its home port in a month, or ever. “Look at the difference nowadays. Recently, from my radio, came the voice of an American newspaperman in Addis Ababa, right on the scene of the battle, telling the whole world about it. A couple of years ago when China and Japan were at war, I heard Floyd Gibbons, speaking by radio from an airplane riding high above the fighting front. “Then there’s the transatlantic wireless telephone to help the modern newspaperman in his work. Page Thirty Four In ‘I Found Stella Parish’ the action of the play called for me several times to telephone New York from London from a ship in mid-ocean. Recently, as you will remember, a London reporter from his desk in Fleet Street telephoned San Quentin, California, 6,000 miles away, and had a condemned prisoner brought to the warden’s office to talk to him. “Journalism, I think, is the most exciting and fascinating profession there is, and I often regret I did not turn to it instead of to the stage after the World War.” Life. of Adventure Ian Hunter, however, has managed to lead an_ interesting enough life without being a newspaperman. When he was just a youngster, early in 1914, he sailed his own 24-foot sloop, Etain, from his birthplace, Capetown, South Africa, to England, arriving just as the famous “First 100,000” British volunteers were about to start for France at the beginning of the war. He joined the outfit, fought through the war, and was wounded twice. During invalid periods, he played with amateur companies entertaining the soldiery, and after the Armistice managed to get a little “walk-on” part in a London theater. Slowly but certainly he advanced in stage work. “The White Angel” is the dramatic story of Florence Nightingale’s battle against ignorance and prejudice to serve humanity. It pictures terrific scenes of her fight to help the soldiers during the Crimean war. Besides Miss Francis and Hunter, the cast includes Donald Woods, Nigel Bruce, Donald Crisp, Henry O'Neill, Billy Mauch and hundreds of others. William Dieterle directed the picture from the screen play by Mordaunt Shairp. Actors Suffer Many Mishaps On Rice Snow Artificial snow used in the production of a motion picture is made of pulverized rice and bleached corn flakes but it entails just as many, if not more, hazards than the real thing. On location near Simi, forty-odd miles from Hollywood, the First National company making “The White Angel” which comes to the Sie inetaiantas PE RG@S@ETEON ssciescaccascss ss suffered several minor mishaps on account of artificial snow. Several of the one hundred and fifty extras on the set, a reproduction of a field hospital in the Crimea, turned their ankles walking on the slippery pulverized rice snow piled to a depth of three or four inches over an area of half an acre. Kay Francis who plays Florence Nightingale, doing a scene with Ian Hunter, her leading man, choked when a man-made blizzard blew a cornflake down her throat and Hunter, late in the afternoon, suffered a mild case of snow-blindness as a result of the brilliant sunlight on the artificial snow. Hunter, who portrays Fuller, a war correspondent who aids Florence Nightingale in her fight to save the lives of wounded soldiers, was unable to work the remainder of the afternoon. The company shot around until next day, when he took the precaution of wearing dark glasses between scenes. Other players followed his example. “The White Angel,” a dramatic story of the life of Florence Nightingale, was directed by William Dieterle from the screenplay by Mordaunt Shairp. Kay Francis Buys First Costly Car Kay Francis, the raven-haired First National star, who has the role of Florence Nightingale in “The White Angel”, now showing at. thes aantscats Theatre, is driving a new car, a coupe of the type described by many writers as “Juxurious”, The motor car is the first of an expensive make Miss Francis has ever owned. Previously she had always driven an inexpensive car of very popular make. Labor Of Love How Florence Nightingale turned her back on'the luxury with which she had been surrounded from birth and spent weary months scrubbing in a German hospital is portrayed by Kay Francis, most glamorous of ‘film stars, in “The White Angel,” the First National PIClUre COMING CO ENE crereresereereereeeee TREGITE “OM crcurvecossoracesvaesses Mat No. 102—10c ¥ Kay Francis Learns How To Scrub Floor For Film But The Beautiful Actress Bruises Her Knees As **The White Angel” By Dan Mainwaring . Kay Francis is an ornamental sort of a person. kind of a girl you would expect to find scrubbing floors. She isn’t the Mops and scrubbing brushes seem out of place in her hands. She hasn’t done much floor scrubbing around Hollywood these past few years. It is usually her lot to play a sophisticated, well groomed heroine, as she did in “The Goose and the Gander’, or a lovely actress as in “I Found Stella Parish’. Miss Francis isn’t above good, clean manual labor like floor washing. But she hasn’t had to do it on or off the screen. Your correspondent was a little taken aback when he was told that Miss Francis was going to do some floor scrubbing. He hurried right over to the set of “The White Angel”, the First National picture which comes to the.............. AGREE COM sivacniciccssecte tock , to have a look at the operation—to criticize, if necessary, Miss Francis’ technique. He was even ready to act as technical adviser, having done considerable mopping in his time. The set was a long corridor and it was supposed to be part of a German nursing school—the school at Kaiserswerth where Florence Nightingale received her training as a nurse. Lessons In Serubbing Miss Francis, in the uniform of a probationer, was on her hands and knees in the center of the hall. Besides her was a wooden bucket. Also beside her was Barbara Leonard. Both girls had scrubbing brushes, cakes of yellow soap and huge wash cloths in front of them. This was a rehearsal and Director William Dieterle was standing in front of the camera watching the two young women. “We'll try it,” he said. Miss Francis began wielding the brush. Miss Leonard dipped the cloth in the bucket and _ sloshed water on the floor. “No, no, no,” said Dieterle. “Not that way. You are washing the floor not swimming.” “It’s my knees that are swimming,” Miss Francis said. “There is roughly about six inches of water under me. These white cotton stockings are like blotters.” Incongruous Stockings Your correspondent blinked. He didn’t like the thought of Miss Francis in white cotton stockings. That seemed incongruous. It was like spraying narcissus perfume on an orchid. “That’s just the trouble,” said Dieterle. “You mustn’t use so much water. Good floor washers use very little.” “I’m not a good floor washer,” Miss Francis said. “I have never been a good floor washer. It hurts my knees.” “Maybe you could show us,” Miss Leonard suggested. Dieterle looked at his clean pants and hesitated. Then he shrugged and dropped down beside the two actresses. “This way,” he said. He took the cloth, wrung all the water out of it and began mopping with a sure, deft touch. Your correspondent could see at a glance that Dieterle was no novice. His technique was beautiful. A Matter of Dampness The drive was graceful and the’ follow through was perfect. Once he had removed the water he began wielding the brush with quick, circular strokes. “See?” he asked. Miss Francis nodded. Miss Leonard. “My knees hurt,” said Miss Francis. “What does one do about that?” “Suffers,” said Dieterle. “Will we get housemaids’ knees” Miss Leonard wanted to know. “That takes quite a lot of mopping,” said Dieterle. “We seem to be doing quite a lot of mopping,” said Miss Francis. “Weve been here for an hour.” The two girls began to mop. Miss Francis forgot to ring out So did her cloth and the floor was cov ered with water. Dieterle sighed. He jumped to the rescue and wrung out the cloth and sopped up the water. “Sorry,” said Miss Francis. She was looking at the director’s wet knees and there was a gleam in her eye. “You’re getting all wet, too,” she said. Dieterle looked at Miss Francis sharply. “So it seems,” he said. “It’s not very pleasant, is it?” Miss Francis asked. , Dieterle didn’t answer that. “We'll take it,” he said. “We've rehearsed the scene enough.” Expert Moppers They took it. Miss Francis and Miss Leonard mopped and scrubbed like old timers. And after the scene was over Dieterle disappeared. He came back wearing a dry pair of pants. “That was fine,’ he said. “We won’t_ have to take it over. It was a perfect scene.” “The White Angel” is the romantic story of Florence Nightingale’s battle to take care of wounded soldiers. Ian Hunter and Donald Woods have the leading masculine roles while others in the cast include Nigel Bruce, Donald Crisp, Henry O’Neill, Billy Mauch and Charles Croker-King. © The screen play is by Mordaunt Shairp. “White Angel” The screen's most glamorous star, Kay Francis, as Florence Nightingale, lady of wealth and breeding, before she began her life-long war for the right of woman to alleviate suffering and care for the sick. The scene is from the First National picture “White Angel,” now playing Ab tNE ..scscscccerssesees Theatre. It is acclaimed as equally a great film biography as was “The Story of Louis Pasteur.” Mat No. 109—10c