You Can't Get Away With Murder (Warner Bros.) (1939)

CURRENT PUBLICITY —‘YOU CAN’T GET AWAY WITH MURDER’ PAGE: 21 stage and cinematic knavery. Just as the character exceeds in venality all the other rogues Bogart has ever played, so does his performance show his talents to better advantage than anything he ever did before. Young Billy Halop, always hereto-fore the leader of the ‘‘Dead End’’ kids is featured with Bogart. This picture is the first in which he has appeared without the other members of the famous juvenile sextette, and the solo acting opportunity serves to reveal young Mr. Halop as a youth who is well on the road toward achieving his declared ambition, which is to be, when he matures, such an actor as Paul Muni. | Salty Speeches | With Bogart and Halop setting the pace for them, the other members of a truly distinguished cast make the most of the excellent material provided for them in the bristlng sequences and_ salty speeches written by the scenarists —Robert Buckner, Don Ryan and Kenneth Gamet—who adapted the stage play, ‘‘Chalked Out,’’ which was a collaboration by Warden Lawes and Jonathan Finn. Gale Page, again playing the sister of Halop (as she did in **Crime School’’), easily captures the heart of the audience, for her role permits her to display again that sympathetic, human quality that is so characteristic of this talented girl. A notable portrayal, somewhat different from the comedy roles with which he has been mainly identified heretofore, is contributed by that distinguished veteran, Henry Mat 103—15c Travers. Th nie he Humphrey moving role of Bicact S ayoung man sentenced to die for a murder he did not commit is finely handled by Harvey Stephens. | Lawes Is Author | As is to be expected of a story dealing with prison life written by Warden Lawes, ‘‘You Can’t Get Away With Murder,’’ has an air of utter authenticity, even though it deals with a situation that most people would deem impossible —the conviction of a man for a murder of which he was entirely guiltless. So entirely possible is it, as the famous penologist’s tale indicates, that one does not wonder why Warden Lawes is a frank and open foe of capital punishment. The drama in ‘‘ You Can’t Get Away With Murder’’ comes when Bogart, who is the real murderer, and young Halop, who has been his kid accomplice in a number of robberies, are sentenced to Sing Sing for one of their lesser crimes at the same time that Stephens is awaiting execution there for the murder he did not commit. The prison scenes, as might be expected are grimly realistic, and a breathtaking jail-break scene forms the thrilling climax which brings home its point — that ‘*You Can’t Get Away With Murder.’’ (Review ) Sets Pace For Hit Drama At Strand “You Can’t Get Away With Murder,” a Warner Bros. melodrama of prison life, based on a play of which Warden Lewis E. Lawes of Sing Sing is co-author, opened yesterday at the Strand Theatre, and it proved to be a tense, gripping, grim and powerful piece of dramatic fare. Its star is Humphrey Bogart, playing a more ruthless and cruelly villainous character than any he has ever before portrayed in a long career of Mat 205—30c Gale Page, Billy Halop, Detectives, and Humphrey Bogart in a Away With Murder,” which opened yesterday at the Strand Theatre. scene from the smash Warner Bros. melodrama, “You Can’t Get | | dressing room. ““T’ve got to hurry over to the projection room to see the daily rushes,’’ she might or might not explain (it depended on whether she had time to explain). ‘‘Then I’ve got a dinner engagement at seven-thirty and after that I simply must study my lines for tomorrow.’’ The next day, perhaps, she would have a breathing spell of thirty or forty minutes between scenes. But would she retire to her dressing room to relax? Indeed, she would not. ‘*T simply must hurry over to wardrobe for a fitting,’’ she’d explain to the assistant director. ‘*They’ve been waiting for three days to fit a dress for my next picture. ’’ At noon time she might, or again she might not, have time for lunch. Either the director of her next pieture wanted to talk to her or she had to go over to the makeup department to try a new hairdress or publicity needed some new portraits of her in a hurry. Even between picture assign ments Gale is always in a hurry to go somewhere to do something. She takes singing lessons, she takes diving lessons, she goes horseback riding. She looks at new huuses. That last is Gale’s hobby. She loves to explore small, new houses, examining improvements and new designs. She thinks’ she’d make a good real estate agent. However, Gale is far from the fluttery, breathless type of woman who is always in a hurry to get somewhere but who never seems to quite get there. Tall, dark-haired, dark-eyed Miss Page is as serene and undisturbed about it all as a moonlit pool on a quiet night. Gale Page Gets Rep | As kilmdom’s Busiest Gale Page is unquestionably the busiest young woman in Hollywood. She’s always in a hurry to get somewhere. At the conclusion of a day’s work on her latest Warner Bros. picture, “You Can’t Get Away With Murder” which is now playing at the Strand Theatre, she would hurriedly collect her personal effects from her | JOHN LITEL IS | | | | | | CHAMPION TIE GIVER -AWAY John Litel’s haberdashery bill is mounting by leaps and bounds. In the last few months Litel has become known as Hollywood’s outstanding necktie-giver-awayer. He enjoyed the reputation for a time, but now he’s wondering whether the expense is worth it. It all began about six months ago. On the set of the picture he was working in at the moment, one of the technicians expressed admir ation for the necktie Litel was wearing. Without a word Litel removed the tie and gave it to the man. A few days later another technician admired one of Litel’s neckties. He also was rewarded with the tie. News of Litel’s spread like wildfire. ‘“All you have to do if you need a necktie is to tell Litel you like the one he’s wearing,’’ was the word passed around. Soon the Warner actor was giving away an average of three or | four neckties a day. “*T didn’t mind that so very much,’’ Litel remarked one day on the set of ‘‘You Can’t Get Away With Murder,’’ which is now at the Strand Theatre, ‘‘but when Humphrey Bogart visits you in your dressing room, opens your wardrobe door and says: ‘What a swell necktie collection you have,’ it’s carrying things too far.’’ generosity a Harvey Stephens Went *““Killer’’ Bogart oe Eastward To Suecess When Harvey Stephens, who is currently featured in “You Can’t Get Away With Murder,” left the University of California at Los Angeles after two years, he confesses, he seriously considered the advice of Horace Greeley. To the west, however, lay the Pacific Ocean and he didn’t want to become a sailor. So, instead, he went east and beeame an actor. He has been one ever since; a competent one, too. He admits that if, for any reason, he should be forced to discard dramatics as a means of earning a living he’d probably starve to death unless he could somehow make gliding pay. That, he says, is the only other thing he knows besides acting, but he’s afraid there wouldn’t be much chance of earning a living with the motorless sailplane he designed and built himself. From the speectator’s standpoint there are more thrills watching a powered airplane perform, and the people of America just don’t seem interested in buying gliders, there being fewer than 200 in existence in this coun try. Stephens took up gliding, or soaring, as the devotees of the sport prefer to call it, about five years ago and it has figuied as his sole outside activity. He was one of the pioneers of the sport in this country and he has competed in several of the major gliding competitions in America. Stephens is a native son of California, having been born in a neighborhood that now borders the heart of metropolitan Los Angeles on August 22, 1907. When he went east after two years of college, he got a job with Walter Hampden in the latter’s Shakespearean repertory company. Then followed nearly eight years of stock, three years of it on the Pacific coast, in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland, Ore., after which he returned to New York | and appeared in several Broadway hits, including ‘‘ The Animal Kingdom.’’ Then M-G-M held a motion ture contract in front of him Stephens accepted. He spent pieand two SHORTS Does a Fancy Dive! Gale Page, who plays the feminine lead opposite Humphrey Bogart in the Warner Bros. film version of Warden Lewis E. Lawes’ play ‘‘You Can’t Get Away With Murder,’’ is taking faney diving lessons. Her repertoire now comprises twelve difficult dives. Seore Was Perfect Harvey Stephens, who plays the romantic male lead in ‘‘ You Can’t Get Away With Murder,’’ the Warner Bros. picture at the Strand Theatre next Friday, was a member of the first football team of the University of California at Los Angeles. There were only about eighteen men on the squad, he recalls, and they lost every game. Coaches Baby Brother Billy (Dead End) Halop, who is featured in the cast of ‘‘You Can’t Get Away With Murder,’’ spends an hour each evening coach ing his 4-year-old brother, Joel, in dramatics. Billy says Joel is the best actor in the family and that someday, perhaps, he’ll let the youngster enter pictures. Lifetime of Acting Henry Travers, who plays the role .of .““Pop,’”: the: trusty,.in ‘*You Can’t Get Away With Murder,’’ has been an actor for fortythree of his sixty-two years. years with Metro, moved to Paramount for another two years of playing leading men and then he decided to try freelancing for a change.. Which brings him up to his latest assignment, the Warner Bros. picturization of the Warden Lewis E. Lawes play, ‘‘You Can’t Get Away With Murder’’ which opens next Friday at the Strand Theatre. BILLY HALOP NIXES LOVE Billy (Dead End) sworn off romance. Halop has ‘*T’ve decided,’’ he explained on the set of his current Warner Bros. picture, ‘‘You Can’t Get Away With Murder,’’ now playing at the Strand Theatre, ‘‘that I’m _ too chivalrous to become involved any more in romance. ’’ Although he wouldn’t disclose the names of the gentlemen in question, Billy declared that he has lost his last three girl friends because his chivalry got a stranglehold on his better judgment and he made the mistake of introducing them to young men he thought were his pals. Halop’s first loss was Parish, young Universal contract actress. His second was Judy Garland. Billy didn’t say so, but it’s common knowledge around Hollywood that his fellow Dead-Ender, Bobby Jordan, beat his time with the M-G-M starlet. Now, young Halop disclosed, he has lost out with Georgiana Young, Loretta Young’s kid sister. Helen Studio So he decided he will do without romance for a while. ‘At least for a couple of weeks,’’ he hastily added. Bil TS “ABOU FT VRLEOP-LAYERS Meet the Winnah! Billy Halop has a new ear, which puts Bernard Punsley back in seeond place in the wheelbase ratings of the ‘‘Dead End’? kids. Among the six youngsters Halop had always had the car with the longest wheelbase until a few weeks ago, when Punsley bought one that was two inches longer than Halop’s. Then one day not long afterward Halop drove to the Warner Bros. Studio in a new, fiery-red convertible coupe. ‘‘And its wheelbase is exactly three inches longer than Punsley’s,’’ he boasted. Learned From Expert Humphrey Bogart took Billy (Dead End) Halop under his wing and gave the youngster plenty of good advice on the art of being a screen meanie while they were working in ‘‘You Can’t Get Away With Murder,’’ the Warner Bros. picture now showing at the Strand Theatre which was adapted from a play by Warden Lewis E. Lawes of Sing Sing Prison. Seore Now 39 Humphrey Bogart has ‘‘killed’’ thirty-seven persons during his stage and screen career. He adds two more slayings to his synthetic career in crime in Warner Bros.’ picturization of Warden Lewis E. Lawes’ play, ‘‘You Can’t...Get Away With Murder.’’