U.S. Navy Careful Of Who Wears Its Uniform

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 70, 15 December 1939, Page 14

U.S. Navy Careful Of Who Wears Its Uniform

r JpHE United States Navy reserves the right to accept or reject actors who are advanced by film studios for roles in motion pictures based upon activities in the navy.

This sometimes disturbs the efforts of a film studio to east the actors for a “service” film. The navy maintains a serene unconcern about an actor’s glamour rating, the magniture of his salary, or his availability from a casting director’s point of view. For instance, the navy is dubious of actors who may have become known in former pictures by their portrayal of drunk, undignified or crooked, characters. This may explain why some good character men never get on the quarterdeck of an American battleship. The Warner Bros. Studio, when it was filming “Wings of the Navy” had no difficulty when it suggested the actors to fit into its star roles. George Brent became the devoted flying officer who helps train the fledgling sea-hawks at Pensacola Naval Air Training Station. John Payne is the student flier who is Brent’s brother, and for Frank McHugh, the navy’s heart was already open. He had already played in such “service” hits as “Son of a Sailor,” “Here Comes are Navy,” “Devil Dogs of the Air” and “Submarine D-l.”