Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1943)

38 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW January 16, 1943 PROGRAM NOTES FROM THE STUDIOS Claude Rains Wins Famed Chaney Role in New Technicolor Version of 'Phantom of Opera Plan Film About Will Ro gers ►Helen Walker will play the romantic lead opposite James Brown in "The Good Fellows." She will be cast as the daughter of Cecil Kellaway, who plays the lead role. Jo Graham will direct for Paramount. yCreer Garson has returned to the MGM lot after a short vacation to begin preparations for the filming of "Madame Curie," ivhich will roll next month under the direction of Albert Leivin, ivith Sidney Franklin producing. ►Monogram has bought two originals: "Wings Over the Pacific," which will be produced as part of its 1942-43 program, and "Girls They Left Behind," which has been added to its backlog of stories. yprank McDonald has been signed to direct the untitled radio musical featuring Lulubellc and Scotty for Republic. Arniand Schaefcr is associate producer. ►Bert Gilroy's production of "Petticoat Larceny" for RkO with Ben Holmes at the megaphone will have a new romantic team in Ruth Warrick and Walter Reed. The two will be supported by Wally Brown, a new recruit at RKO, and Paul Guilfoyle, plus 10-year-old Joan Carroll. ^As a sequel to its successful "A Night to Remember," co-starring Loretta Young and Brian Aherne, Columbia has purchased the novel, "If the Shroud Fits," by Kelley Roos, author of "A Night to Remember." All concerned in the original ivill participate, zvith Sam Bischoff producing and Richard Wallace directing. ►Sig Neufeld has signed George Zucco for an untitled mystery picture for PRC, with shooting scheduled for January 30. Sam Newfield will direct. Neufeld is also preparing number 4 in his "Billy the Kid" series, starring Buster Crabbe. yClaude Rains has been signed by Universal to play the title role in "Phantom of the Opera," which ivill be filmed in Technicolor, zvith Nelson Eddy and Susanna Foster in the top singing spots. Thus Rains falls heir to the characterisation which Lon Chaney made famous. George Waggner will produce. ►"The Life of Will Rogers" will be put in work as one of Warner Bros.' major undertakings for 1943, under the production guidance of Mark Hellinger, following his current 48-star musical, "Thank Your Lucky Stars." ^Erskine Caldzvell, prominent American novelist, has been signed by 20th Century-Fox to zvrite the screenplay for "Grand Street Boys," first 1943 production of Boris Morros and S. P. Eagle. The deal zms arranged by William Goets, zvhich gives a hint of the importance the studio attaches to the film zvhich zvill be directed by Lezvis Milestone. ►Paramount has launched "Five Graves to Cairo" with Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter, Akim Tamirof¥ and Erich Von Stroheim heading the roster. Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder wrote the screenplay and, between them, are directing and producing it. Fortunio Bonanova, colorful opera star, has stepped from "For Whom the Bell Tolls," where he was a Spanish guerrilla, to this picture where he will be an Italian general. yMGM has cast Marilyn Ma.vzuell in the feminine lead opposite Kay Kyser in "Right About Face," and Miss Ma.vzvell, zvho is a singer, zvill be a singer in the picture. Tim Whelan zvill direct the Irving Starr production. ►Howard Bretherton has been signed to direct Republic's Don "Red" Barry western, "Carson City Cyclone," on which Eddy White is associate producer. ^Producer David Hempstead has signed Ella Mae Morse and Freddie Slack's orchestra for spots in RKO's "The Sky's the Limit," formerly titled "Look Out Below," an intimate musical starring Fred Astaire and Joan Leslie. Edivard H. Griffith directs. ►William Beaudine has been signed to direct the East Side Kids version of the "Grand Street Boys" at Monogram which Sam Katzman and Jack Dietz will produce. ^Director Alexander Ilall has returned to his Columbia desk to help work on the screenplay of "My Client Curly," zvhich zvill co-star Rita Hayzvorth and Humphrey Bogart under the production guidance of Lou Edelman. ►Alexander Stern Productions have added Carl Shrum and his Rhythm Rangers to the cast of "Fighting Men," second of PRC's "Texas Rangers" series starring Dave O'Brien and Jim Newill with Guy Wilkerson. Al Herman' is directing. The next Stern production to go before the cameras will be "The Ghost and the Guest," to be based on a Milt Gross story. ^With Ken Goldsmith sei-ving as associate producer and Erie C. Kenton directing. Universal has launched the neiv Andrczvs Sisters' "Alzvays a Bridesmaid ," zvith Patric Knoivles and Grace McDonald in the romantic leads, and Billy Gilbert, Charles Butterzvorth and Edith Barrett in pyoniincut supporting roles. ►After viewing the first draft of the script of "Night Shift," Jack L. Warner, executive producer for Warner Bros., has scheduled the film as one of the most important productions on its 1943 schedule with Ann Sheridan, Olivia de Havilland and Joan Leslie nominated for tliree of the top roles. y.4ffcr months of qiiict preparatory ivork, 20//i Century-Fox announces that it zvill soon put into production a full-length screen biography of Gen. Henri Honore Giraiid, the French zvar leader. Robert Bassler has been named as the producer b\< JVilliam Gocts, production head at 2Qth-Fo.\-. ►Danny Dare will create and direct the dance {Continued on Page 39) The Executive and Miss Jones Jennifer Jones, daughter of Phil R. Isley, veteran showman and circuit operator in six towns near Dallas, Texas, has her first story conference with William Goetz, vice-president in charge of production for 20th Century-Fox, about the script for "The Song of Bernadette" in which she will have the leading role. Jennifer Jones' contract is shared equally by 2Gth-Fox and David Selznick, who placed the young actress, native of Tulsa, Okla., under contract last year. Dinah Shore Cast in Danny Kayc Musical Dinah Shore was signed last week-end by Samuel Goldwyn to appear with Danny Kaye in "With Flying Colors," a musical comedy with a military background which Don Hartmaii and Allen Boretz are writing for Kaye's screen debut. The Broadway comedian was signed by Goldwyn last May for one picture at a reported salary of $100,000. In May he will leave the cast of the long-running Broadway musical, "Let's Face It," to come to the coast to fulfill his first screen assignment. Now appearing in "Thank Your Lucky Stars" at Warner Bros., Miss Shore will have the role of an Army nurse in "With Flying Colors," which will be photographed in Technicolor. Sherman Plans Ten Pictures Harry Sherman has announced plans to produce ten pictures this year for United Artists release. These will include six Hopalong Cassidy adventures, two Richard Dix starring vehicles, a historical drama and a Technicolor opus. The Dix pictures are expected to be two modern stories recently bought by Sherman : "Wherever the Grass Grows," a Saturday Evening Post story, and "Hank Johnson's Brother," an Esquire story with some psychological turns in a western background. RKO Signs Casey Robinson RKO has announced the signing of Casey Robinson, long a top screen writer and director, to a writer-producer contract. First picture under the new agreement will star ballerina Taniara Toumanova in "This Is Russia," an original story by Robinson and to be ]irodnced by him.