FOOTLIGHT FLASHES

Evening Star, Issue 23817, 22 February 1941, Page 5

FOOTLIGHT FLASHES

JoHlngs on tfia people of the Stage and Screen and on the latest recorded Music.

S By “Loiterer.”

MICHAEL REDGRAVE DISCUSSES * KIPPS ’ Michael Redgrave, who stars in the screen adaptation of H. G. Wells’s classic story, ‘ Kipps,’ has made a careful study of the character of the little ship assistant from the author’s viewpoint. Michael has met H. G. Wells on several occasions, and says that these meetings have made it much easier for him to transfer Kipps to the screen without in any way spoiling the effects for which the author worked. H. G. Wells described Kipps as “ a simple soul.” and went on to deplore “ the stupid little tragedies of these clipped and limited lives! Stupidity! -Mr Kipps lives in its shadow,” AVells laughed at his Kipps, and invited readers to laugh, too, although at the same time he saw the tragedy ot a world in which such a character could he made a laughing stock. Michael Eegrave said that he, too, was inviting screen audiences to laugh at Kipps, hut he hoped it would be a kindly, sympathetic laughter—a laughter nearer -to tears. He thought it should be the laughter of friends for a simple soul whose simplicity turns out to be his most cherished possession because it makes him lovable. Kipps is, in Michael Redgrave’s opinion, one of the most difficult characters to portray, because it can so easily become ridiculous instead of sympathetic.

THE YOUNGEST BARRYMORE lie incomparable and unpredictable £ohn Barrymore might never have become one of the most colourful and able stars if the late Arthur Brisbane had not fired him from the art department of a Nevy York newspaper. A son of America’s first and greatest theatrical family, John was born on Februarv 15, 1882, in Philadelphia. His father was Maurice Barrymore and his Georgianna Drew. John’s mother died while he was still a small boy, and his early training was largely in the hands of Ids maternal grandmother, Louisa Lane Drew, also a famous actress. . John at first did not display the same interest in acting shown, by his Sister, Ethel, and his brother, Lionel. John preferred art to acting, and went to Europe to study art until he ran up so many bills that his father recalled liim. After 18 months as a newspaper artist John was fired by Brisbane, who urged him to follow in the theatrical footsteps of the rest of the family. John complied, with indifferent success until a role in ‘ The Dictator ’ allowed him to display his comedy talents. In this play he toured America and Australia. Barrymore essayed his first Shakespearean role as Diehard the Third. The triumphant success of this performance paved the way for his worldrenowned interpretation of ‘ Hamlet.’ Barrymore was persuaded to appear in several silent pictures, notably ‘ Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,’ ‘ The Tempest,’ * The> Sea Beast,’ ‘ Beau Brummel,’ and ‘ Beloved Hogue. Later, the actor took his production of ‘ Hamlet ’ to London, where it proved to be the most profitable Shakespearean performance in- 300 years. On his return to America he renewed his motion picture career and appeared in ‘ Grand Hotel ’ and many other hits. After a brief return to the stage, during which he starred in ‘ My Dear Children,’ Barrymore is once again on the screen. He is currently appearing in his thirty-fifth picture, Universal’s The Invisible Woman.’

PERSONAL PORTRAIT OF PRISCILLA It is a long lane that has no turning, and that applies to Priscilla Lane as much as to whatever Jane the author of the maxim had in mind. Though by no means the ugly duckling of the Lane family, Priscilla has more or loss enjoyed that status in her screen career until very recently. When she and her sister, Rosemary, accompanied Fred Wariug’s band to Hollywood to participate in the Warner musical, ‘ Varsity Show,’ it was Rosemary who held all the aces. Rosemary was considered the prettier of the two; Rosemary was rated the better actress, and it was Rosemary who was given the feminine lead opposite Hick Powell in the picture. Priscilla, who was a member of the supporting east, was known as “ the funny-looking ” Lane. That was two years ago. Then, lo and behold, Priscilla’s fairy godmother put in an appearance and turned her pumpkins into golden carriages. Exactly what happened to reverse the situation so completely no one knew) AVas it because Priscilla had blossomed from a gangly, funnyfaced 19-year-old kid into a lovely young lady, as so often happens? The best theory is that Priscilla isn’t the startling beauty type with whom men fall in love at first sight. Priscilla grows on you. One by one, you become cognisant of her numerous superior qualities, her fresh-

blown wholesomeness, her sincerity and straightforwardness, the depth of emotion in her eyes, her generosity of spirit and her ebullient nature. The first suspicion that Priscilla “ had something ” came when she costarred with Wayne Morris in ‘ Love, Honour, and Behave.’ The suspicion grew stronger—very mucli_ stronger —when she played the feminine lead in 1 Cowboy From Brooklyn.’ The suspicion was definitely and filially confirmed in ‘ Four Daughters,’ when Priscilla wrapped _ up the picture and walked away with it. Priscilla’s nickname is “ Pat.” It was given to her by Rosemary as a child, because she had difficulty in pronouncing “ Priscilla.” She is just as cute and wholesome off the screen as she is on. She doesn’t drink and she doesn’t use make-up except for a bit of lip rouge and nail polish. She hates night clubs and parties and all things that are formal. She loves mystery and adventure stories, and loves to frighten herself at night with blood-curdling thrillers. She also leads every book on horses she can obtain. Priscilla’s own description of herself is, “ I’m the girl that looks as if she’d stepped out of a shower and was in a hurry afterwards.” SUCCESS OF ‘ THE GREAT DICTATOR ’ Chaplin’s picture is now in its seventh week of continuous screening at the Plaza Theatre, Sydney, and has shattered all records held by the theatre. Queues still line up at 8 in the morning for the first session at 11. The evening sessions have been booked up for weeks ahead. It is estimated by competent judges that this Chaplin picture will register in Australia, the highest takings ever grossed by a motion picture. Negotiations are now taking place for the simultaneous release of the picture in the four main centres of the Dominion at an early date.

DRIVING TWENTY MULES IS HD JOKE During liis 30 years in show business, Wallace Beery has learned a smattering of scores of trades lor the roles he has played; sea captain, police sergeant, fireman, explorer, pony express rider, prize-lighter, wrestler, air pilot, industrialist, circus trainer, saloon keeper and horse doctor, to list just a few. But never has he had to learn a trade ns thoroughly as that of the ninleskinnor in the saga of the horax pioneers, 1 20 Mule Team.’ “ You can’t kid a mule, about whether you know how to handle him,” remarked Beery. “ And when you have 20 of them, you need to convince each one of them separately that you know your job. Otherwise those borax wagons are liable to end up in the cameraman’s lap.” Which explains why the star spent a week driving the animals assembled for the picture, before a camera turned. In 1892, the period of the story, the job of the ninleskinnor who hauled horax out of Heath Valley was to bring his load from Furnace Creek over 162 miles of parched and shifting desert sands and the dry and rocky ravines of the Funeral Range and Panamints, to the nearest railroad point, Mojave. There was not a single habitation on the entire route. One stretch of 60 miles was completely without water. From 16 to 18 miles was the maximum distance that could be covered in a day, with the sun likely to reach a temperature of between 135 and 150 degrees and with wagons and driver enveloped in a cloud of alkali dust. Though referred to as a 20 mule team, the team actually consisted of 18 mules and two horses, the latter nearest the wagon, with the driver riding the “ nigh wheel horse ” and not the wagon itself. Beery’s first job was to learn to handle the team from this horse. “ Thank goodness, Curley Eagles, in charge of training the mules, had got

in his work before I bad to start.” grinned Beery, “ because mules, like people, vary greatly in intelligence. They’d do most of the things they were supposed to if you shouted to them each by name. My hardest job was to remember their names. “ A successful niuleskiniier in the old days had to he a practical veterinary, a blacksmith, and a pretty good wheelwright. We had men in the film crew who could take care of those jobs for me, if Fd been actually stuck there alone in Death Valley with those beasts 1 don’t know bow my reputation as a frontiersman would have bold out.” Actually, of course. Beery had one assistant to help him out of difficulties: Leo Carrillo, as his Indian “ swamper,” Piute Pete. The swamper’s job in the old days was to cook the food wherever the team made camp, wash the dishes, and collect the sagebrush or greasewood fuel. In going up grade he had to get out and walk alongside the team: on the down grade ho operated the brake on the rear wagon; in camp he also assisted in unharnessing and feeding the nudes. In tho picture, Carrillo also adds to these duties, that of “ feeding ” Beery his comedy linos. AUTRY TO APPEAR IM SUPER FILM The cowboy star. Gene Autry, is being promoted to what is known in show business as tho “ big lime.” Gene is one of Hollywood’s one-man gold mines. His “ horse operas ” cost very little to make, but the returns, mostly from tho small cinemas in the country, make the producers of epics envious. Now, Republic, to whom Gone is under contract, is to do the star proud. No expense is to he spared in his new picture, ‘ Melody Ranch ’ —or, at least, the studio has scheduled £50.000 for it, which is big money for a Western. It is now looking for a leading lady with a name sufficiently important to go with this unusual magnificence. One rather sad result of Gene’s elevation is (lie breaking up of Hie team of Autry and “Smiley” UunieUe, who supplies (lie comedy relief, ami a ventriloipiist act in Gene’s films. The studio felt that the presence of liunietle would mislead the fans into believing that ‘ Melody Ranch ’ was just another Autrv Western.

A GREAT IHSORRIOH In most motion pictures the plot is keyed to build up to one tremendous climax, Darryl Zanuck’s production of ‘ Brigham Young—Frontiersman,’ by Louis Bromlield, has many spectacular sequences, any of which woidd make a thrilling climax for most pictures. ' Brigham Young ’ is the story of the pioneer trek westward. Tyrone Power is starred with Linda Darnell in the leading feminine role and Dean dagger as Brigham Young. The size and scope of 1 Brigham Young—Frontiersman ’ can be judged by the epic scenes it contains. Among them are:— The crossing of the Mississippi in tne dead of winter by thousands of pioneers fleeing before guns. The massacre at Xarvoo when masked raiders pillaged the city and struck down defenceless hundreds. The historic trek of 20,000 people across endless miles of wasteland. The plague of millions of crickets during the first year at Great Salt Lake City -and the miracle of the seagulls which arrived in time to devour the insects and rid the pioneers of their pestilence. STAMPEDE The largest and most realistic cattle stampede ever attempted in motion pictures was successfully filmed for one of the spectacular sequences in Columbia Pictures. ‘ Arizona.’ starring .Jean Arthur, with William Holden and Warren 'William. For the stampede Columbia purchased a herd of 700 white-faced Hereford cattle, and, alter .a month of rehearsals, spent three weeks in filming it in Battlesnake Canyon, 18 miles from Tucson, Arizona. Also participating in the stampede were 150 Papa go Indians and 100 American “ pioneers,” headed by Miss Arthur and Holden.

ANOTHER FREHGH STAR Newest Hollywood personality is Michele Morgan, ‘2O-y ear-old French star, who surprises all and sundry by her unaccented and unimpeachable Fnglish. When she met Orson Welles at RKO-Radio, which studio brought her from the French Riviera to make lour pictures, the latter, charmed hy her diction, said: “ Whatt No 00-lu-la f” Poised, collected, the star of ■ Port of Shadows ’ and other notable French movies of the past three years, arched brows above greenish-green eyes, remarked: “And you have no heard. What a disappointment.” So they got along famously, and Mademoiselle Michele, completely captivating ’Welles, told how she learned Knglish by conversing regularly on the Riviera with an American, an Fnglishrnan, and an Australian. TOM MIX -KNIGHT ERRANT! In (he corner of the liar room set used in • Riders of Death Valley ’ there was a large painting of an oNotio Spanish dancer. The painting was in excellent condition, except for a bullet hole which pierced the canvas at the dancer's hare shoulder. How the Indict hole got there makes a story, told hy Henry Maellne, the producer of the Vniversal million-dollar sopor-serial, who directed the late Tom Mix in the star’s last- picture, ‘The Rustler’s Round-up.’ They were shooting on the same kind of a set, when Mix, across the room, suddenly noticed a spider crawling on the handsome sennrita in the painting. He drew his gun, casually took aim, and “ got ” the insect, saving: “ Thai’ll leach him to annoy a Indy.” Six of Ihe 10 best pictures of ID-10 chosen hy Hie National Hoard of Review in America on the' basis of “artistic merit ami importance ” were United Artists releases: ’The Great Dictator,’ ‘ Of Alice ami Men,' ‘ Our Town,’ ‘ The Hong Voyage Home.' ‘ Foreign Correspondent,’ and ' Rebecca.'

WAR FEATURE FILMS UNLIKELY YET Except for genuine! “ shuts ” depicting military operations in the various theatres of war, which were becoming an everyday feature of moving picture /programmes, New Zealanders would sec very few full-length films this year which had the war as a background, according to a Wellington film exchange representative. Light comedy, sophistication, and a smattering of historical drama -were the main ingredients of films to he released during the coming 12 months, and ho doubted whether war stories would ho filmed in any great numbers till the world was at peace again. “ The general trend will be for entertainment of a lighter type,’’ hr said, “ aimed to take tin* minds of the people away from the war. It is interesting to note that a poll was recently taken in the United States as to the views of producers on the typo of picture most welcomed by the public. The result was overwhelmingly in favour of non-war pictures.” The public would get all the war pictures they wanted, he added, from the newsreels and from the films released hv the British Ministry of Information. Out of 34 pictures produced hv M.G.M. to he released in New /('aland this year, only two had a war theme. Tlie war had not so far affected the supply of American and British films to the Dominion, he added. Despite the obvious handicaps, British producers were still going strong, and he had not heard that the war had caused any decrease in the volume of British film production. QUINTS IN SERVICE From the Hollywood news front comes the news that the Dionne Quintuplets have been mobilised to do their bit for the British Empire. Misses Yvonne, Cecile, Mario, Emilie, and Annette have not been ordered into the

front lines. As a matter of fact, they won’t even carry toy guns. Still, it is true. The quints have been mobilised. Their job is to help keep up morale. One way they will do it is to sing Britain’s new war anthem, ‘ There’ll Always Be An England,’ in their latest motion picture. It is an RKO Rathe special two-reeler, entitled 1 Growing Up.’ Dr Roy Allen Dafoe, who brought the quints into the world and has been their personal physician ever since, will serve as narrator for the production. DISNEY DATA One of the few things people know about Walt Disney is that Walt himself is the voice of Mickey Mouse. Disney has been Mickey's alter ego ever since the famed mouse acquired sound in 1 Steamboat Willie.’ He acts as animator’s model for the character, too. During the filming of ‘ Fantasia.’ the well-known Disney studio democracy practically wrecked the dignity of two of music’s most dignified gentlemen, Deems Taylor and Leopold Stokowski. Taylor was simply “ Deems ” to everybody. Stokowski was addressed by all and' sundry merely as “ Stokie.” He liked it so much that he even autographed his photographs that way. Disney is boss when it comes to animating figures, but his brother, Roy. is boss when it comes to using them in connection with matters of business and finance. Five years ago Disney had less than 200 employees. To-day he has more than 1,000. Before he made ‘Snow White.’ Disney had never issued a full-length feature. To-day his schedule calls for three of them a year, plus 26 short subjects. All and all, his artists grind out about 2,000 miles of film over the year's production schedule, and an ordinary ten-minute short subject contains about 1-1,600 separate drawings. It takes nearly 150,000 drawings for a full-length feature. Walt Disney’s next feature after ! Fantasia ’ will he called ‘ The Reluctant Dragon.’ For the first time in Disney history it will present flesh-and-blood and pen-and-pencil actors in the same film. Heading the human cast will be Robert Bencliley. Margaret Sullavan has learned to drive an 1808 model Stevens-Dnryca automobile for scenes in ‘ Back Street.’

THE ACTOR'S REVENGE Director Alfred Hitchcock probably didn’t know for what he was letting himself in when he invited Carole Lombard to direct in his place for a day while he undertook to play a role in her current starring production. The picture being produced by RKO Radio, co-starring Miss Lombard and Robert Montgomery, was the gay comedy ‘ Air and Mrs Smith.’ It was nearing the finish. Hitchcock, famed director of ‘ ;19 Steps,’ 1 Rebecca,’ ‘ Foreign Correspondent,’ always plays a minor bit in his pictures. As he had to get busy or miss this time he issued his invitation to his star. , “ Love to,” said she. witli a gleam in her eye. Perhaps the poor fellow missed the gleam. With his Falstaflian form encased in a business suit, soft hat on his customarily unhatted dome, he came to work - on the fateful day. His scene, which was to be played with Robert -Montgomery, called for him to loiter outside the latter’s New York apartment. greet him as he emerged with : “ Good morning, Air Smith. How is Airs Smith?” To which Alontgomery, fresh from a (inarrel with his wife (Aliss Lombard). was to reply absently and go on. They played that scene and, they replayed it all morning. Director Lombard, occupying the directorial chair in the shade while Actor Hitchcock loitered on the sidewalk in the sun, seemed hard to please. She said variously: “Do it again. It's no good. Too overdone, Alfred.” Said Hitchcock at nightfall: “This day should he labelled ‘ The Actor’s Revenge.’ ” SLEEPLESS COMEDIAN Our of the script, of the Universal comedy, ‘Who's Crazy Now?’; Attendant in an insane asylum : “ Did yon sleep well last night, Air Mansfield ?” Hugh Herbert, as Mansfield. a patient: “ Not so good. The room was full of sheep.” Attendant; “Did you count ’em?” Mansfield : “ Count ’em ? I counted ’em, sheared the wool, shipped it, had it made into suits—and lost 300dol on the deal!”