Watch on the Rhine (Warner Bros.) (1943)

BETTE DAVIS, PAUL LUKAS FEATURES Paul Lukas Reforms Bette Davis Discovered America in 1942 — And It Took a Bond-Selling Tour to Do It After 13 Years Of Villainous Roles Herman Shumlin Makes A Hero of Actor in ‘Watch on the Rhine’ It took Herman Shumlin, famous director, to make a hero of Paul Lukas, who stars with Bette Davis in Warner Bros.’ “Watch on the Rhine,” motion picture | version of Lillian Hellman’s | prize winning play. For thirteen years Hollywood had | been casting | him as villains —sinister, sly and sleek—until § Shumlin engaged him to play Kurt Muller, leader of the underground movement in Germany in_ the Broadway production of “Watch on the Rhine,’ for which he received the New York Drama League’s award for the finest performance of the year. By way of commemorating his divorce from villainy, Lukas shaved the moustache that, from the days of the ten-twenty-thirties, has served to denote treachery. Actually, he felt that a man wanted by. the Nazis, as he is in the Lillian Hellman drama, would not wear an obvious a badge of identification as a moustache. Mat 11C—15¢ Paul Lukas Variety of Roles Although screen audiences have seen him chiefly in menacing assignments, Lukas’ only Broadway appearance prior to “Watch on the Rhine’ was in a sympathetic role, that of Dr. Rank, the friendly invalid of “A _ Doll's House.”’ In his native Hungary, however, he has played a variety of parts as great as the theatre has to offer in dramas by Shakespeare, Chekhov, Wilde, Shaw and Galsworthy. Born in Budapest, he fought in the Hungarian air force during the first World War, turning to acting after he had been well peppered by Russian bullets. Jesse Lasky and Adolph Zukor, on a continental talent trek, saw him at the Comedy Theatre in Budapest and signed him to play opposite Pola Negri in pictures. The advent of talkies coincided with his arrival in Hollywood and he was obliged to learn English in short order. Pictures like “Shopworn Angel” and “Strictly Dishonorable” immediately established him as one of the more accomplished screen heavies. Several years ago Lukas played a Nazi agent for Alfred Hitchcock in the English motion picture, “The Lady Vanishes,” and in Hollywood he was another Hitler stooge in “Confessions of a Nazi Spy,” which makes his present anti-Nazi assignment all the more welcome to the actor, who is now an American citizen. Beulah Bondi Wastes No Effort Beulah Bondi is an actress who believes in using every opportunity to do her bit in the war effort. When a scene in Warner Bros.’ “Watch on the Rhine,’ now at the Strand Theatre, called for her to work in a sewing room for two days, Miss Bondi brought along her Red Cross mending. The garments she stitched before the camera will be put to real use. Bette Davis discovered America in 1942. Columbus did, for a fact, arrive at the Bahamas in a boat much earlier, but Bette points out with clear logic that the gentleman never explored St. Joe, Joplin or Springfield, Mo., an iron works near Sedelia, or the Oklahoma City Municipal Auditorium before an audience of 10,000. Nor, for that matter, have many other so-called Americans. Miss Davis says this is regretful. “The chief trouble with insular people, like us in Hollywood or New York, is that we don’t understand our own country. And the chief reason for that is that The Chief arrives at Kansas City at 3:45 a.m. and the Super Chief at 5:45 a.m. That means that most of us sleep right through the middle of America.” Treasury Department Tour Miss Davis’ recent exploration was under good auspices, to wit, the United States Treasury Department, and her intentions were sound: i.e, to sell War Bonds. But she approached her trip in a spirit of doubt. “Steinbeck’s fault, maybe,’ she said. “Or Sinclair Lewis’. At any rate, the novelists haven’t done right by the mid-west. Take Missouri. I just didn’t know about Missouri. The first thing I noticed, as we began to scoot through smaller towns out of Kansas City, was that the people talked with a Southern accent. They all denied this. They didn’t con Trouble with Most Americans Is That They Don’t Understand Their Country, Actress Feels Still WR 563; Mat 101—15c BETTE DAVIS sider themselves Southern. But they said ‘youall’ and ‘Ma’am,’ and had very pretty manners. Reminded me of my own New Hampshire. “You don’t understand that? Well, the South and New England are a lot alike. Old, with traditions and customs and prejudices. I didn’t know Missouri was so old. Or so beautiful. Most wonderful farms you ever clapped eyes on. “Real people. Kind people, with a lot of pride and genuine simplicity. I wanted to stay. Have you ever been in St. Joe? And there was a little hotel in Sedalia that is just about the nicest hotel in the world.” Informal Treatment In Sedalia they gave Bette a donkey, name of Oscar. She went on to Oklahoma City and they gave her a heifer, name of Bette Davis. It was all pretty informal, none of that firstlady-of-the-screen stuff, no Miss-Davis-of-thecinema. A good time was had by all, and a lot of War Bonds were sold, incidentally. Bette’s trip through the mid-west brings her close up to date on the state of the nation, past and present. For a while, she seemed devoted to the Confederacy, what with pictures like “Jezebel” and ‘The Little Foxes.” She turned to her own New England in “Now, Voyager,” and explored a few inhibitions peculiar to that region. “Watch on the Rhine,” her current picture, now at the Strand Theatre, gave her ample opportunity to study Washington, D. C., at close hand. “People ought to get better acquainted,” she says. Bette Davis, currently starring in Warners’ “Watch on the Rhine”, works hard for any cause she joins. She is president of the Hollywood Victory Committee, clearing house for film talent supplied to camp tours, bond drives and radio entertainment here and abroad. Bette Davis, currently in “Watch on the Rhine” at the Strand Theatre, has amazed even hard-working Hollywood — wit her war activities. The Warner Bros.’ star personally heads two large-scale canteens and welfare centers for service men; one is patterned along the lines of New York’s famous Stage Door Canteen, the other is a personal venture, in cooperation with Ann Lehr’s Hollywood Guild, which specializes in providing food and sleeping quarters for service men on leave. Less than two weeks after Bette completed her unusually difficult role in “Watch on the Rhine” she began a bond-selling tour that Here she is at the dedication of the Hollywood Canteen, which she helped establish, and which she is helping to run successfully by constant plugging. BETTE DAVIS WORKS HARD TO HELP WIN THE WAR! U. S. Treasury officials fully expect to be an all-time individual record for War Bonds and Stamps sales in current and past campaigns. But in spite of continued film activity, Miss Davis will continue her war activities, not the least of which is her current presidency of the Hollywood Victory Committee. She never was so busy but she loves every minute of it. She’s a trooper—and an American. In the interests of her country, Bette gives unsparingly of her time. Here the famous Warner Bros. actress gives a dramatic treatment of the “Star Spangled Banner” over a coast-to-coast hook-up. Bette takes leave of her friends in Hollywood as she boards a train to go on a bond-selling tour. Treasury officials fully expect it to be an all-time high individual record for War Bond Sales. Knitting for the Army and Navy has by now become a habit of Bette’s. Here she is putting the finishing touches to a warm sweater that will make some sailor or soldier happy. Art and caption type only is available in mat form. Order “WR Mat 401 B°°—6O0c—from the Warner Bros. Campaign Plan Editor, 321 West 44th Street. New York 18. New York.