You're in the Army Now (Warner Bros.) (1941)

ee PUBLICITY — “YOU'RE IN THE ARMY NOW” New Rookie Comedy, ‘You're In The Army Now’ Starts Today Jimmy Durante, Phil Silvers and Jane Wyman _ star in new picture, “You’re In The Army Now,” which goes into the Strand today. An all-out for the defense of fun comedy, the new Strand picture promises a real laugh-fest, with Durante and Silvers pooling their considerable talents as comics in the story of two rookies who are just trying to get along. Pretty Jane Wyman and Regis Toomey carry the romance, and the supporting cast also includes Donald McBride, George Meeker, Joseph Sawyer and William Haade. There’s pulchritude aplenty in the Navy Blues Sextette, those six Hollywood lovelies, who got their title from their recent appearance in the musieal “Navy Blues.” The girls have deserted the navy for the time being, to join the hilarious goings-in in “You’re In The Army Now.” Matty Malneck and his orches Mat 101—15c JANE WYMAN tra are heard and seen in the musical sequences of the picture. Durante and Silvers join the army quite inadvertently when they attempt to sell a vacuum cleaner to a recruiting sergeant. Signing what they imagine to be a bill of sale, they find that, instead, they have enlisted in the army. Let it not be said that they don’t try to succeed as soldiers. They try hard, especially when they are trying to convince a die-hard cavalry colonel that the tank is superior to the horse, but as rookies they are very good vacuum cleaner salesmen. Everything they touch turns to trouble, of which they are invariably in the middle, and each mix-up into which they fall is just a little more hilarious than the one before. Their attempts to foster the romance between the colonel’s daughter and, one of the young officers leads to the maddest of all their entanglements and to an all’swell ending that has a clever and novel twist. Was He Mortified! In the new rookie . comedy, “You’re In The Army Now,” Jimmy Durante was surrounded by the Navy Blues Sextette. Jimmy scrutinizes each one of the girls and then exclaims, “Six pairs of beautiful lips.” As he closes his eyes and pushes his lips toward those of Peggy Diggins, she pushes him gently aside and says, “In Alaska, Eskimos kiss with their noses.” Jimmy then turns, puts his arms around Georgia Carroll, rubs noses with her and laughs, “Say, I’d be the Errol Flynn of dat joint.” Mat 301—45c THEY'RE WHACKY ABOUT KHAKI—The Navy Blues Sextette deserts the navy to play in "You're In The Army Now," which opens at the Strand today. Here they devote their attention to Phil Silvers and Jimmy Durante who are happy about the whole thing. Carroll, Durante, Kay Aldridge and Alice Talton. (L. to r.) Peggy Diggins, Lorraine Gettman, Silvers, Marguerite Chapman, Georgia ‘You're In The Army Now’ Scores Tremendous Laugh Hit at Strand “You’re In The Army Now,” the new Warner Bros. picture which opened yesterday at the Strand, launches the new comedy teant of Jimmy Durante and Phil Silvers, and as a team they’re a scream. Add to this a top-notch story that is geared for laughs throughout, Jane Wyman and Regis Toomey as the young romantic pair, the beauteous Navy Blues Sextette for eye appeal, and the music of Matty Malneck’s orchestra, and you have a picture which stacks up as one of the tastiest entertainment dishes of the current film season. It was pure inspiration to team up Durante and Silvers, each ace comedians in their own right, put them in khaki, and pit them against the army. For that is what it comes down to in the final analysis — Durante and Silvers, rugged individualists, vs. the Manual of Arms. They try, but they just can’t do anything right. If Durante’s pants won’t stay up long enough Jimmy Durante is homesick for the piano bench on which he used to sit for hours when he was entertaining in night clubs and on the stage. “T never appreciated that hard bench until today,” exclaimed Durante. “It’s spending a day like this that makes me think I made a mistake when I started a screen career.” Jimmy had to join the army for his current role in Warner Bros.’ “You’re In The Army Now.” During the past few months, he has drilled, paraded and presented arms until he thought his own would drop off. Never a murmur came from Durante during those hard days. For a fellow whose exercise had been limited to runnig for subways, he came through with flying colors. But Jimmy had another new experience waiting for him when the drilling was finished. The script called for him to don a disguise and pose as a test pilot of the tanks. When he arrived on the set and took one look at the six-ton light tank he had to ride in, he exclaimed, “Dis looks big enough and safe enough. But Jimmy was unaware of the course mapped out for him. During the day he _ tanked colonel’s (Prepared Review) for dress inspection, if they inadvertently drop some alum into the lemonade they make for the officers’ party, if they carelessly let some shells fall close to the house and demolish part of the foundation, well, at least you can’t say they didn’t try. And every one of their tries is good for a laugh. Briefly, “You’re In The Army Now” tells the story of two vacuum cleaner salesmen who try to sell their wares to an army recruiting sergeant. They’re good salesmen, but he’s a better one, and before they know it, they have signed themselves into a three-year enlistment. The division to which they are assigned is a cavalry unit which is in the process of being mechanized. The colonel is resentful of this order, and also of the young officer who is put in charge of the work. As the young officer also happens to be his future son-in-law, things are tough on the colonel’s daughter, who is forbidden to Jimmy Durante—Marshal of Mirth! see her sweetheart. The two rookies undertake to straighten the matter out for her by convincing the colonel that the tank is really superior to the horse. Their efforts are madly hilarious but strikingly unsuccessful with the colonel. Durante’s antics have long entertained stage, screen and radio audiences, but he has seldom been more genuinely funny than he is in this picture, and Phil Silvers is one of the few comedians who can match him — madcap antic for madcap antic. If we’re not mistaken, “You’re In The Army Now” marks the birth of a comedy team you'll be seeing often. As the colonel’s daughter, blonde Jane Wyman is charmingly vivacious and_ Regis Toomey does a good job as her officer sweetheart. Lewis Seiler has done a smooth job of direction and the script by Paul Gerard Smith and George Beatty keeps up a running fire of gags. Mat 204—30c HEY! YOU ROOKIES! Phil Silvers and Jimmy Durante have a run-in with authority in the person of Joe Sawyer (center) in their new comedy "You're In The Army Now,'' which opened today at the Strand Theatre. through one end of a barrack and emerged from the other end—a distance of 80 feet. He had to drive through a swamp, and discovered the tank wasn’t waterproof. He mowed down a row of tents and knocked a car into a thousand pieces. Over rocky hills and mushy dale he drove. “Sitting in a cactus patch with Bette Davis would have been refreshing compared to that tank,” he moaned. Zle. Ex-Ball Player Gets To First Base —n Hollywood! One would never think to look at Phil Silvers, the comedian, that he came very close to holding down the hot corner on a major league baseball team. In 1927 Phil played third base on the New Utrecht high school baseball nine. The team won the Brooklyn, state, and national interscholastic championships. Ps There were many major league baseball scouts in the stand to watch the young talent during the final play-off game. Phil had an exceptionally good day at bat. He hit four out of five times and didn’t make an error at his position, third base. After the game he was approached and offered a contract with two major league clubs. Before making a decision, he decided to return home and talk over the propositions with his folks. As quickly as a home run Mat 104—15¢ PHIL SILVERS brings a gasp from the grandstands, Phil’s eyes suddenly went bad. He had to wear glasses. His chance for a big league baseball career vanished into thin air. It didn’t take long for Phil to turn his one-time liability into an asset. When he started his stage career he didn’t wear his regular glasses. Instead he donned a pair of horn-rimmed goggles, which didn’t have any glass in them. Phil, who is now making a name for himself in motion pictures, still wears the same glasses in front of the camera. Recently signed: to a long term contract by Warner Bros. and currently teamed with Jimmy Durante in the new rookie comedy ‘You’re In The Army Now,” currently showing at the Strand Theatre, Phil said, “IT wouldn’t have a chance of breaking even with Durante in a scene unless I had _ those glasses to combat his schnoz “I may walk into a few props now and then while I’m working, but the bumps are worth it. These glassless glasses have proved invaluable to me.” Answer of the Week! An out-of-town tourist visiting his first motion picture studio say Kay Aldridge on the set of Warner Bros.’ “You’re In The Army Now,” and asked her, “Are we going to see very much of you in this picture?” Kay, who was wearing an abbreviated costume, replied, “Not any more than you are seeing right now.”