Showmen's Trade Review (Apr-Jun 1944)

April 29, 1944 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW 33 Dear Mr. Exhibitor's Wife: Jean Arthur and Charles Coburn are teamed in a picture called "Impatient Years" over at Columbia. So how about visiting them today? Soldiers, babies and hasty marriages form the theme of the picture, with Miss Arthur and Lee Bowman as the young couple around whom the story revolves, and Coburn as Miss Arthur's father. Matters have become terribly complicated since that day, a year and a half ago, when they married after knowing each other for only one day . . . and he was shipped the day after the wedding. They've come to the parting of the ways, and now they stand before a divorce court judge. The courtroom scene, which is being set up as we «nter, needs no description, for it looks like any courtroom in the average American community. Seated in the judge's chair is Edgar Buchanan, in the witness chair is Coburn, and at one end of the large counsel table is Bowman ... in uniform. As we sit around and chat, waiting for things to get going, we observe Director Irving Cummings going over details with the three actors. When the set is ready. Miss Arthur emerges from her dressing room and takes her place at the other end of the table. After seated, she is given a baby (doll) : the son she has borne Bowman during his absence. It's strange, but although she looks like a glamor girl when she enters — in her grey-checkered suit with its white weskit, her black velvet beanie and veil, and white gloves -she immediately becomes one of us when they put that baby in her arms. Scene starts when Cummings calls for a rehearsal and Coburn says: "And he did. Your Honor" (meaning Bowman slapped Miss Arthur). There are numerous rehearsals before the final "take," for Coburn has so much to say in telling his story, that he muffs a line, or changes a word here and there, making it necessary to repeat. When Bowman, in an irate mood, stands up and raises his hand in a threat to slap Miss Arthur, the scene is completed. As they leave the set, we meet the principals and chat with them for a while. When they excuse themselves to make necessary changes for subsequent scenes, we leave. Until next week. Ann Lewis Light Opera Baritone Is Signed For Romantic Leads by RKO Eden Nicholas, singing lead of the light opera stage and radio, has been signed by RKO Radio to a contract and will be groomed for romantic singing leads. Film talent scouts discovered Nicholas while he was singing in the St. Louis Municipal Opera Company's production of "New Moon." He has been a leading baritone on radio shows originating in Chicago. More 'Mast' Roles Filled Kathleen Lockhart has been signed by Paramount to play Alan Ladd's mother, the wife of a wealthy New England shipowner, in "Two Years Before the Mast," which John Farrow will direct. Also signed for important roles are Howard Da Silva and Luis Van Rooten. Heading the cast are Alan Ladd, Brian Donlevy and William Bendix. Nob Hiir for MacMurray "Nob Hill," a Technicolor production of Eleanore Griffin's story of San Francisco in the 1860's, will star Fred MacMurray in the actor's first picture under his new 20th Century-Fox contract. Gregory Ratoff will direct, and Andre Daven will produce. Plays Same Role in Sequel Seven-year-old Diana Hale, who scored in "My Friend Flicka," will portray the same character in the sequel, "Thunderhead, Son of Flicka," which 20th Century-Fox will produce. 25 Stars, 52 Featured Players On Warner Bros. Talent Roster Talent roster at Warner Bros, has hit another new high, with 25 stars and 52 featured players now under contract. Recent additions niclude Jack Benny, Joan Crawford, Paul Lukas, Rosalind Russell and Barbara Stanwyck. Others in top-billing position are Robert .Alda, Humphrey Bogart, Jack Carson, Nancy Coleman, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Errol Flynn, John Garfield, Sydney Greenstreet, Paul Henreid, Walter Huston, Priscilla Lane, Joan Leslie, Ida Lupino, Irene Manning, Dennis Morgan, Ann Sheridan, .A-lexis Smith and Jane Wyman. Chili Busy Mailing Pinups Chili Williams, famous New York model now under RKO Radio contract, will spend her first month's salary filling the thousands of requests for pictures of her. Forty thousand service men asked for pin-up pictures of her after seeing her photograph in Lije. Four secretaries have been engaged for this detail by Miss Williams, whose film debut will occur in "Having Wonderful Crime." Art Smith in 'Lonely Heart' Art Smith, who has appeared in almost all of Clifford Odets' plays, has been signed for the role of Marjoribanks in RKO Radio's screen version of Richard Llewellyn's "None But the Lonely Heart." Odets is directing Gary Grant from his own screenplay. White to Produce 'Men of Deep' Columbia has assigned Sam White to produce "Men of the Deep," a drama which will have the training of deep sea divers as its background. The story is beuig written by H. V ernon Dixon. STUDIO UOU]\D-LP Four studios started production on a total of six new pictures during the week, matching new production for the same week last year when six new productions also started, fhe new pictures : MONOGRAM WEST OF THE RIO GRANDE— Principals : Johnny Mack Brown, Raymond Hatton. Director, Lambert Hillyer. METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER ZIEGFELD FOLLIES (Technicolor) — Principals : Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Fannie Brice, Jimmy Durante. Director, George Sidney. PARAMOUNT TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST— Principals ; Brian Donlevy, Alan Ladd, William Bendix, Barry Fitzgerald. Director. John Farrow. MURDER, HE SAYS— Principals : Fred MacMurray, Marjorie Main, Mabel Paige. Director, George Marshall. 20th CENTURY-FOX SOMETHING FOR THE BOYS (Technicolor) — Principals: Carmen Miranda, Michael O'Shea, Vivian Blaine. Director. Lewis Seiler. LAURA — Principals: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Judith Anderson. Director, Rouben Mamoulian. TITLE CHANGES "America's Children" (Col.) now THEY LIVE IN FEAR. "Wing and a Prayer" (Fox) now QUEEN OF THE FLAT TOPS. IN HOLLYWOOD IT'S NEWS... Columnist and radio commentator Erskine Johnson appears as an actor in Republic's current musical novelty, "Trocadero" . . . Phil Baker and his former vaudeville partner, Sid Silvers, will star in a musical comedy, "Napoleon Without Brandy" . . . Dorothy Peterson starts with International Pictures in "Once Off Guard" . . . Martin Eisenberg, secretary and treasurer of Jack Votion Productions, will be executive assistant to Frank Melford on the Lum and Abner picture, "What's the Rush?" . . . An appeal to parents to approve their daughters joining the Wac was recorded on film by Lionel Barrymore at MGM . . . Bette Davis has been reelected Hollywood Canteen president for the third successive year . . . Arthur Gutmann is recording his Goebbels Suite, from the original score of W. R. Frank's "The Private Life of Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels," for Decca . . . Bill Goodwin is making a special trailer plugging Paramount's "Incendiary Blonde" . . . Orry-Kelly, famous designer, has signed contracts witli two majors, Warners and 20th Century-Fox . . . Theodore Sparkuhl will shoot "Murder, He Says," the Fred MacMurray starrer . . . "Tall in the Saddle," the picture at RKO with a distinguished cast and a decided western flavor, seems to lack only Russell Simpson for all the people audiences associate with westerns . . . Abner Biberman will play another bandit role in "Keys of the Kingdom" ... A quarter of a mile of Marine barracks were designed by Joseph Sternad for "Abroad With Two Yanks" . . . Dick Irving Hyland will write "Night Life" for Producer Frank Gross . . Paul Lukas joins "Strangers in Our Midst" at Warners . . . Joe Beiiser, the comedian, will have a top comedy spot in "Eadie Was a Lady" . . . Lynn Merrick just returned from a service-hospital tour to do "Stars on Parade" . . . Robert Z. Leonard has wound up "Marriage Is a Private Affair" . . . Steve Broidy, Monogram sales manager, is setting up important first-runs for "Lady, Let's Dance" . . . The "Road to Utopia" is hard to tread and the studio had to dispose of the menagerie of 62 animals used in the film . . . Wild Bill Elliott, faced with the problem of what brand to use on his ranch, evolved the name Bar-Bar-A after his daughter Barbara . .. After five weeks of filming "None But the Lonely Heart," Producer David Hempstead will continue to shoot until May 20 for a schedule of 11 weeks ... In "Irish Eyes Are Smiling" the dance director, Kenny Williams, will sing . . . Jerry Phillips, who arranged the music for "Sensations of 1945" has become the first woman ever admitted to the American Society of Music Arrangers . . . Carmel Myers returns to the screen in Warners' "Give Me This Woman" . . . Training of deep-sea divers is the theme of "Men of the Deep," a Columbia future . . . Charles Laughton will be "The Suspect" for Universal. Name Players for Western Cast signed for "One Alan Law," Alonogram western starring Johnny Mack Brown with Raymond Hatton, includes Dennis Moore, Christine Maclntyre, Jack Rockwell, Lloyd Ingraham, Kenneth McDonald, Hugh Prosser and Edmund Cobb.. The picture, now in production, is beingdirected by Lambert Hillyer, with Charles J. Bigelow supervising. Hall Cast as Fifth Husband Paramount has signed Porter Hall to plaj' the role of Marjorie Main's fifth husband in the hillbilly comedy-drama, "Alurder, He Says," which will star Fred MacAIurray, with George Marshall directing. In the picture the first four husbands have perished under mysterious circumstances. Casting Assignments at 20th-Fox Twentieth Century-Fox announced some casting assignments this week. William E>i;he has been named for the lead in "Sunday Dinner for a Soldier." \'incent Price will have an important featured role in "Laura." which will star Gene Tierney. Sheila Ryan is to have an important role in "Something for the Boys." Bond, Hatton Join Cast \\'ard Bond, husky portrayer of virile western characters, and Raymond Hatton draw important roles with Tohn \\'avne and Ella Raines in RKO Radio's "tall in the Saddle."