Ten Thousand Kisses a Year in Hollywood

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 266, 6 August 1937, Page 16

Ten Thousand Kisses a Year in Hollywood

JT has been estimated that more than 10,000 romantic kisses are filmed each year in Hollywood for feature productions alone. In addition, many thousands of kisses are exchanged in the making of featurettes and comedies. Yet, despite the fact that movie audiences ever since the earliest days of the films have given unmistakable evidence of their desire to see the manly heroes clasp the heroines to their strong bosoms and seal the romance with a kiss, there'still Is heard much discussion, pro and con, in the movie colony about screen kisses.

Many stars are somewhat opposed to the performance of osculation in their ardent love scenes. They claim that the scenes have become commonplace and thereby lost their appeal to audiences. They are not subtle or sophisticated. Kay Francis, the raven-haired Warner Bros, glamorous actress, is not among the anti-kissers. “Take the kiss out of screen romance, as has sometimes been threatened, and what have you got?” asks Miss Francis. “Practically nothing,” says she, answering her own query. And she has been kissed by some of the most charming men in pictures—George Brent, William Powell, Errol Flynn, lan Hunter and Maurice Chevalier—to name just a few. During the filming of Miss Francis’s most recent Warner Bros.-First National picture, “Another Dawn," there was enacted what is believed to be the i longest kissing scene in motion pictures —at least in point of time required to film it. It took almost two whole days to photograph the culmination of her romance with Errol Flynn, and it was reported that Miss Francis and Flynn kissed 50 times, with the camera trained on them from every conceivable angle, including over their heads. Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Anita Louise and Jean Muir, other Warner Bros, actresses who have come in for a fair share of screen kissing, back up Miss Francis in her views on the efficacy of ending films with a fervent embrace. Many of the male stars are much in favour of kisses, too, although they do not admit it for publication. However, Paul Muni, Edward G. Robinson, and Al Jolson will not kiss on the screen. If, perchance, the script for one of their pictures calls for a kiss, even for one of lower-scale proportions, it must lie changed. Only when there is absolutely no way out of it do they submit, and then not with very good grace. Bonita Granville Secures Long Contract the basis of her performance lu the screen version of “Call It a Day,” Bonita Granville has been awarded a long-term contract by Warner Bros, and has gone into the cast of “The Story of Emile Zola.” She will play the role of an English girl who befriends the great French novelist during a stay in England. Paul Muni and Josephine Hutchinson are to be starred in “The Story of Emile Zola," which is based on the life of the writer and his activities on behalf of Captain Dreyfus in the sensational Dreyfus treason case. i