Showmen's Trade Review (Jul-Sep 1943)

40 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW August 14, 1943 STR West Coast Offices 6777 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood, Calif. Telephone, Hollywood 2055 PRODUCTION NOTES FROM THE STUDIOS Dmytryk to Direct Ginger Rogers/ Ernest Pascal Signed by Bronston/ New Jules Levey Assignment for Estabrook ►The cover girls at Columbia have made their movie debut. All have had scenes to speak with Rita Hayworth in the Technicolor picture, "Cover Girl" produced by Arthur Schwartz and directed by Charles Vidor. ►PRC has signed Leo Erdody and Lew Porter to write nine songs for "Jive Junction," which will be the first musical produced by the company on its own. With Leon Fromkess taking personal production charge, Edgar Ulmer will direct. ►W. R. Frank has signed Wolfgang Zilzer to portray the Nazi propaganda Minister in "Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbles, His Life and Loves" which will go into production Sept. 10. Zilzer's most recent role was in "The Strange Death of Adolph Hitler" at Universal. Alfred Zeisler, the director of "Goebbels", directed Zilzer while working for the UFA studios in Berlin before fleeing the Nazis. ►The screen version of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" with Herbert Marshall, an MGM opus, directed by Albert Lewin and produced by Pandro S. Berman, will have the benefit of paintings by Ivan LeLorraine Albright, painter of the fascinatingly horrible, whose works bring from $10,000 to $200,000 each. ►Producers Sam Katzman and Jack Dietz have signed Jack La Rue for the heavy role in "East of the Bowery", Monogram's East Side Kids picture with William Beaudine directing. ►Dorothy Lamour and Johnnie Johnston will play the romantic leads in "Rainbow Island" forthcoming Technicolor musical production at Paramount. Eddie Bracken, William Bendix and Gil Lamb will have other top roles in the picture which will be produced by E. D. Leshin. ►Jules Levey, producing for United Artists, was so satisfied with Howard Estabrook's screenplay on "The Hairy Ape" that he set the writer to do another picture, the title of wjiich he will announce within a few days. Script for "The Hairy Ape" is so written that elimination of a few lines at the end will bring the plot up to date should the war end before the picture goes into release. ►Irving Pichel, who recently signed to direct a picture for Paramount, will direct "Tomorrow's Harvest" a love story concerning a novitiate nun and an Allied flyer in France, which will be produced by David Lewis. ►Leon Fromkess, PRC production chief, has assigned Alexander Stern to produce "Circus Time" from an original by John Klein, formerly with the Los Angeles district attorney's office. Production starts in November. ►Hunt Stromberg has signed Barbara Bel Geddes, daughter of the designer. Normal Bel Geddes, stealing a march on a number of stage and screen impresarios who have been bidding for the girl's talents. ►With cameras slated to roll in mid-August on David O. Selznick's "Since You Went Away," nationwide promotion of the Margaret Buell Wilder book, which will serve as basic matcial, is under way. ►Robert Benchley, who goes from shorts to features, then back shorts again, has just signed to play the father of Donna Reed in MGM's "See Here Private Hargrove". Robert Walker plays the title role and the picture will be directed by Wesley Ruggles and produced by George Haight. ►Sole feminine role in RKO's "The Ghost Ship" opposite Richard Dix, will be played by Edith Barrett, producer Val Lewton announced. The picture, newest of RKO's unusual chiller mysteries, will be directed by Mark Robson. ►The role of Katherine Mary, chief femme character in "The Sullivans" falls to Anne Baxter. ►All solo-singing records for one motion picture have been broken by Roy Rogers in Republic's recently completed "Man From Music Mountain." The King of Cowboys warbles nine original songs. His next picture, "Hands Across the Border", will be directed by Joe Kane and the start is set for t'ne last of Aug. ►Edward Dmytryk will direct Ginger Rogers in RKO's "Tender Comrade" which producer David Hempstead will launch this month. Announced for the male lead opposite Ginger is Robert Ryan, and Katina Paxinou has been signed for a major role in the pic. ►20th Century Fox has agreed to shoot Merle Oberon's scenes first in "The Lodger" which goes into production this month, in order to clear her for a commitment to a picture to be made in England in September. ►Harry Sherman, who now holds Rod Cameron under personal contract, advises that Cameron will go before United Artists cameras as the star of "Wherever the Grass Grows" Civil War love story. He joins Richard Dix, William Boyd, Andy Clyde, Jimmy Rogers, Victor Jory and several others under Sherman. ►Samuel Bronston, currently producing the life story of "Jack London" has signed Ernest Pascal to a producer-writer contract. Under the Bronston banner, Pascal will make six pictures in the next three years. ►Gyula Zilzer, internationally known artist, has been commissioned by Universal to do special cartoons and art drawings to exploit "The Strange Death of Adolph Hitler." ►Marjorie Henshaw has reported to Warners to fulfill a long term contract signed two years ago. Her assignment will be an important role in "The Devil, George and Rosie" which Robert Buckner will produce. Warners Sign Barbara Stanwyck W arners have signed Barbara Stanwyck to star in "Instruct My Sorrow" which is now being prepared under the title of "My Reputation." Henry Blanke has been assigned to produce the screen version of the Clare Jayne's novel. Catherine Turney is doing the screenplay and the picture is scheduled for early Fall production. Huddle on Scene for 'Angela' Patrlc Knowles, Susanna Foster, Assistant Director Charles Gould and Director Felix Feist hold a between-scenes conference during an interlude in the filming of "Angela" at Universal studio. Cecfle Kramer, Story Editor, Returns to Sherman Studio Cecile Kramer, story editor, writer, and coordinator for Harry Sherman on his production of "The Life of Buffalo Bill" for 20th CenturyFox, returned to the Sherman lot where she will assume supervisory capacity on the writing of two special screenplays. They are titled "Hank Johnson's Brother" which will be adapted from Samuel Taylor's Esquire magazine yarn, and "Utah," cattle-epic recently registered by Sherman as his next Technicolor opus. Miss Kramer was on loan-out to Fox Studios for the "Buffalo Bill" stint, in cooperation with Aeneas MacKenzie and Clemente Ripley. PRC Readies Ten for Early Start Ten pictures will be placed in production by PRC during this month and September, according to a new schedule announced yesterday by Leon Fromkess, in charge of production. The lineup : August, "Career Girls," "Return of the Texas Rangers," "Drums of the Jungle," "End of the Road," "Billy the Kid." Sept., "My Son," "Jive Junction," "Texas Rangers," "Manhattan Rhythm," and "Oh Say Can You Sing." Paramount Buys Molnar Play Paramount has purchased screen rights to "Olympia," play by Ferenc Molnar, and Charles Brackett will produce it with Billy Wilder directing. They will also work on the screen adaptation. A gay and romantic story of the Austria of 1920, "Olympia" was filmed by MGM in 1929 under the title of "His Glorious Night" with John Gilbert starred. Turgend a Paramount' Producer Harry Turgend, author of "Star Spangled Rhythm" and other screen hits, has been promoted to producer status at Paramount. His first will be "California." Columbia Termer to Leigh Jason The directorial career of Leigh Jason was put on a sold basis the other day when Columbia signed him to a long term contract.