NERVES AT HOLLYWOOD.

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 100, 29 April 1937, Page 21

NERVES AT HOLLYWOOD.

Those unsung and unheralded heroes of Hollywood—the character actors and actresses who bear the brunt of so many productions—come into the spotlight of the Hal Roache-M.G.M. feature comedy, "Mr. Cinderella." In featured roles with Jack Haley and Betty Furness are Arthur Treacher and Raymond Walburn, and in important supporting, parts are Robert McWade, Rosina Lawrence, Monroe Owsley,' Kathleen Lockhart, Edward Brophy, Charlotte Wynters, Tom Dugan, Iris Adrian, Toby, Wing, Morgan Wallace, Arthur Ayles'worth, John' Hyams,' and Leila Mclntyre. All are experienced celebrities of the stage who have excellent opportunities in "Mister Cinderella," with character portrayals to add to the enviable records they have established in motion pictures. A recent survey by a New York newspaper credits Treacher and Walburn as ranking one and two and Edward. Brophy number four on the list of the finest character actors in Hollywood. Among the younger players, captivating Rosma Lawrence, has a fine role and performs up to the standard of being leading lady for that stellar comedian, Charley Chase, in his lastjhreo short features. CAST FOB "THE KING AND THE CHORUS GIRL" . j - One of Broadway's;greatest:,,stars;,pf.. a few years ago, Mary Nash;1 has been signed for the role of Duchess, Ann in Warner Bros.1 "The:' King and the Chorus Girl."'The;,new picture, i.which will be produced ahdpersbnally directed by Mervyn L'e Roy, 'will star Fer- 1 nand Gravet, sensational Parisian actor, in his first' American /appearance., :M.. Gravet arrivedjin.'Hollywood about twomonths ago', vo: Jane ■W.yman:;Oias also been added-to .the cast -of."The".King and the Chorus' ; Girl.',':. Sh- will- play Babette. . 'Joan ;■ rBlondell; '• will have , the leading'1 ffemihine role. •';;■:.':^ •- ■ PLAYWKKJHT-MECHANiC.? V^-i John Davison,"the author of the play' "Wuthering .Heights," is an interesting dramatist: v.He" .was' a young me.- . chanic in locomotive, '.works, at Mcx? borough when-he won: the annual': prize ■ offered by the Sheffield Playgoers .with his play "Shadows and \Strife':" 'He ' could not. afford to'.get1; it typed;'and all the plays that follow^ have. been, in. his own handwriting., ' Sir .Barry .'• Jackson asked him to write" I'The ■ Brontes of. Haworth Parsonage,"-which-.1; was done at Malvern last year, and no1 less a personage than "G. 8.5." told Mr. Davison, that, he had ■ kept him'■• interested and .awake until the last word of the last act—"a thing no playwright had done to him in the last twenty years." There is another ver-. sion of "Wuthering Heights" that had recent presentation in London—at the Strand—and its co-authors 'are Mary Pakington (Whose one-act plays are popular with amateurs) and Olive, Walker, the actress who ran . the Greater London' Players. The Strand" performance was'by the 1930 Players. , headed by John Clements as Heathcliff and Mavis Edwards as Catherine. CO-RESPONDENT UNKNOWN. | A play that had a good reception in ' New York when it was presented there was "Co-Respondent Unknown," a " comedy by Mildred Harris and Harold ■ Goldman. The plot concerns the diffi- < culty of getting a divorce in the State , of New York, where adultery is the ' only acceptable ground. A famous i economist and his actress wife decide to sever the tie so.that he may go his . way, and they hire a professional co- j respondent. The lady and the hus- t band get together to await the raid, ', but various, things occur which inter- 1 fere1 considerab!y""with' Twell-laid"',pla"ns".'"' and give the authors a play. ',:The play ' was priesented by-a" new-theatrical firm.1 —McKenna, Mayer, and Mielziner. the ' first and last being brothers of some J importance in the'thea't're, Kenneth Me- f Kenna, actor and screen star, and Jo Mielziner, the eminent scenic artist. Mildred Harris, one of the authors of j the comedy, is a former wife of Charles r Chaplin. Peggy Conklin acted the co- t respondent in the New York product tion and gave a sterling performance, with James Bennic (former husband of Dorothy Gish). o ' ' ;' BURNS "AND'FALLEN.,::";- ] :r Q George Burns and Gracie Allen have ;iened a straight two-year", contract vith Paramount. They are currently 'eatured in "College Holiday," with rack Benny, Mary Boland, and Martha 3aye.