Wonder Bar (Warner Bros.) (1934)

New Style Gowns Worn by Del Rio Dolores Del Rio illustrates the new trend in evening frocks with two dance gowns of OrryKelly design in the First National musical drama, “Wonder Bar,” coming to the Theatre. One is of palest green chiffon, a “Waltz Gown.” Its brief train is dotted with ostrich feathers, extremely graceful in movement. Its nude back is strikingly complimented by a bib front held in place by a halter neck set with the ostrich feathers. A long boa of pink tipped white ostrich winds around the shoulders and drops to the floor. More spectacular because of the black sequins from which it is made, is a design called “Tango.” Miss Del Rio wears it while performing a dance number. The skirt flares widely from oo below the hip line, and sways rhythmically in the movements of her dance. Once again the nude back decolletage is seen, but a demure note is struck with a tiny reversible collar of white attached to the sequin neckband. DOLORES DEL RIO Mat No. 13-106 which is the setting for the picture. Dolores Del Rio in Dizzy Dance With Ricardo Cortez Dolores Del Rio doesn’t like to get dizzy. The dance began as a close-up. Then the camera, mounted on a huge crane, swung back and up until the two dancers were small figures on a high stage. Behind them many tall white pillars slid aside to disclose a chorus of two In the big waltz number, ; : . hundred girls, performing an in “Don’t Say Good Night” for ‘Wonder Bar,” the First National picture now showing at the............ Theatre, Dolores Cortez perform a dance number on the floor of the Parisian Cafe The Artist Sees .... tricate routine. While all this happened, Cortez was swinging Miss Del Rio round and round. On the first “take,” she slipped and nearly fell at and Ricardo Dolores Del Rio, colorful, glamorous, charming, graceful, in her latest role as Inez, dancer extraordinary at the “Wonder Bar.” The picture of the same name is now at the Strand, featuring a host of dancers, beautiful girls, and thrilling spectacles. Mat No. 26—20c Page Ten Gaucho, Exotic New Dance Invented For ‘Wonder Bar’ Strange Elusive Steps Worked Out by Dolores Del Rio and Ricardo Cortez T was going to be an apache dance. Dolores Del Rio and Ricardo Cortez were going to perform it during the production of ‘‘ Wonder Bar,’”’ the First National mammoth musical and dramatic spectacle which comes to the .................... Theatre on 2.000.000.0000... They appear as a famed continental dance team. They performed the dance, but it was no longer an apache dance. Lloyd Bacon, director of the production, is responsible for that. Jose Fernandez, well known both as specialty dancer and instructor on the west coast, had been engaged to supervise the routines of the Del Rio-Cortez team. He had started his two pupils on their apache number— and then gone out to Junch. So had the company. Miss Del Rio and Cortez returned early from the studio cafe that afternoon. While they were waiting, just off the big “Wonder Bar” set, for Fernandez’ return, they asked a couple of the “Wonder Bar” waiting too, to give them some music. Then they slipped into a It was, as Miss Del Rio pointed out later, “only fooling.” Only Lloyd Bacon happened back just then musicians, who were tango. fooling or not, from his own lunch. For five minutes or so, he stood at one side, watching from the shadow of the set, while they danced on, unnoticing and unconcerned. He watched them—and so did the returning company, standing their distance, silent and intent, mak the close of the number. “TI get so dizzy, Buzz,” she called to Berkeley. “Please! Those turns—they take so long. I don’t know where I am.” Dolores doesn’t like to get dizzy. Berkeley could see justice in her argument. So in three subsequent takes of the same number, those turns were reduced by almost half, “Wonder Bar” is a gigantic musical drama with 300 girls in spectacular numbers. There is an all star cast which includes besides Miss Del Rio and Cortez, Kay Francis, Dick Powell, Hal LeRoy and Al Jolson. Lloyd Bacon directed the picture from the screen play by Earl Baldwin. Music and lyrics are by Harry Warren and Al Dubin. Lamps on Film Stage Would Light Big City “Twenty-one! Kighteen! No, not football signals, but a Thirty-seven! Ninety-six!” languid looking young man ealling signals to the electricians on the set of the First National studios, where Al Jolson, Kay Francis and other stars were working on “Wonder Bar,” now showing at the ............... Theatre. He was calling for the numbers of the big lamps on the catwalks overhead which he wanted turned on for the particular scene then shooting. Not all the lights were on at once for there were enough lights up there, believe it or not, to light a city of a million peo ple for a week! ing no sound to break in on the dance. Miss Del] Rio and Cortez came to a stop, and looked about astonished. By that time, Bacon had pounced upon Jose Fernandez and was deep in conversation with him. From that moment on, the apache dance, as such, was out. “Why waste a swell tango like that?” Bacon wanted to know. Doing That New ‘Gaucho’ number with his dancing partner, Carmen LaRoux, who closely resembles Miss Del Rio and who has been acting as her “stand-in” for this picture. Miss Del Rio and Cortez approved, Lloyd Bacon approved, and the new dance, half-tango, half-apache, was given a name. And that, gentle reader, is how the Gaucho dance in “Wonder Bar’ was born. And it was named the Gaucho because of the wild, weird and elusive steps that characterizes the Gaucho, the restless, gypsy race, half Indian, half Spanish descent, that roams over the pampas, the vast, treeless plains of South America, south of the Amazon and especially Argentina. This is but one of the many mystic dances in the internationally famous musical drama, “Wonder Bar,’ in which Al Jolson starred two seasons on the American stage and which was adapted to the screen by Earl Baldwin. The gigantic musical spectacles, in which 300 beautiful girls appear, were created and staged by Busby Berkeley with Harry Warren and Al Dubin writing the music and lyrics. Dolores Del Rio and Ricardo Cortez snapped during their sensa tional dance specialty from ‘‘Wonder Bar,” musical drama now at the Strand, and featuring, in addition to these stars, Kay Francis, Dick Powell, Al Jolson, Hal LeRoy and many others. Mat No. 17—20e “Can’t we combine ’em? Can’t we use that, and some apache too?” Fernandez agreed that of course if could be done. An hour later he had worked out a new Al Jolson heads the all star picture cast while others include Kay Francis, Dick Powell, Hal LeRoy, Guy Kibbee, Hugh Herbert, Louise Fazenda, Fifi d’Orsay and Merna Kennedy. Exotic Star who forms Dolores half of the dancing team of Del Del Rio, Rio and Cortez, in “Wonder Bar,” First National’s hit musical now at the Strand. Mat No. 8—10c Use 700 Big Lamps To Light Film Set The “Wonder Bar” set, peopled as it was by six stars, several dozen featured players and several hundred extras, all working in the extravagant brilliance of a great night club, required a tremendous quantity of lights. That restaurant in which Al Jolson and Dick Powell sing, in which Dolores Del Rio and Rieardo Cortez and Hal LeRoy dance, where Kay Francis and others play dramatic or comedy parts, occupied an entire First National sound stage. Seven hundred great lamps as well as innumerable “spots,” “floor rifles” and individual lighting effects were used to light it. The picture, a mammoth musical spectacle, comes to the DIOAUEO OW nitcesctasesszpanse