Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 November 1936 — Page 11
' Drama for $o ohisticated |
Comedy Role
in Picture
Movie Representative Says Fu Was Created Over|| Selection of Cast and Director ; Goes Wi, to Open at Loew's.
F Sami Stratton, Columbia Pictures publicity man, dropped
in to tell us what a furor the
making of Irene Dunne’s new
picture, “Theodora Goes Wild,” eaused in the screen colony. ~The picture opens at Loew’s Friday, which is why Mr. Stratton is in town. But he was on the lot while it was in
the making, and has some interesting back-stage notes on
his cuff.
Hollywood, according to Mr. Stratton, is no different than any other good American hamlet. Every one is inter-
ested in everybody else. So
when it became known that
Miss Dunne was to do a comedy, the party lines started |:
buzzing.
Type casting, he explained, has become such a usual thing that any deviation falls right into the ‘man-biting-a-dog” class. Miss Dunne, as every one knows, has been steeped in heavy drama ever since she entered the films, so the pervading Hollywood question was “Can she do it?” Lighter Touch Possible
Not only that, but there were other departures from tradition. Richard Boleslawski, actor, writer . and former director at the Moscow Art Theater, had been chosen to direct. In Hollywood he had done a grand job with such solemn things as “Men in White,” “Clive of India,” “Les Miserables” and the forthcoming “Garden of Allah.” But how about the lighter touch? And Melvyn Douglas. Every one knew that he had thrice deserted Tollywood for the stage, and records showed that it was ap unsafe practice. The “inside” on the new picture, said Mr. Stratton, was that Miss Dunne put her foot down. She was tired of being “typed.” She wanted 2 sophisticated .comedy role, and that was that. So the studio started
. to work. 300 Plots Considered
Literary agents found the “welcome” mat on Columbia’s doorstep. In all, 300 eligible plots were considered before the right one turned up. It was an original story by Mary McCarthy. A brief synopsis was cabled to Miss Dunne in Paris at the time, and her reply came "back in two words: “Buy it.” The first day on the set, Director Boleslawski took Miss Dunne aside and confided that, although he had been identified with “heavy” pictures, he was “just a clown- at heart.” She needn't worry, the director said. The star replied that she wasn’t “worrying. . She was as sure that Mr. - Boleslawski could direct comedy as she was that she could”play it.
Preview Ended Doubts
Whatever doubts remained were dispelled at the Hollywood preview, our informant told us. Perhaps his opinion is a little biased, but he said Miss Dunne has given the screen “the season’s best comedy.” And Mr. Douglas, he added has come back stronger than ever. Mr. Stratton, who' admits being “an old-timer of the ten-twent’~ ‘thirt’ school, said he met a great many old friends during “Theodora’s” filming. | “Don’t misunderstand, the friends are not as old as I am. But they are all graduates of the legitimate theater,” he remarked. “There was Thurston Hall, who ‘plays the role of the publisher. He was of the Denman Thompson school, when ‘The Old | Homestead’ was a yearly road attraction, and on the screen he gives all the dig“nity of. the old school.
Leading Character Actor
“There was Thomas Mitchell, in one of the outstanding character parts. He is one of the theater's most versatile men. The Jdst time we met’ was about two years ago, when I was with Tally lah Bankhead in ‘Something Gay." Mitchell was directing the sho, in . the Booth Theater, New York; doing a part in a play at. the Masque Theater, a half block away, and finishing up a play of his own which he expected to do in his spare time. “There was Spring Byington, who has been in many a. play that I have piloted. And Nana Bryant, from the musical comedy stage. I remember her distinctly in ‘The Circus Princess’ She [played op- - posite Guy Robertson, who had the leading role in ‘The Great Waltz, in Indianapolis last week. “They all were doing their bit in ‘Theodora Goes Wild." If ought to get a wild reception,” said Mr. Stratton.
‘Wingless
Katharine Cornell
her latest production, * Wing-
less Victory,” by Maxwell Anderson,
ENGLISH
1k Ih | qi Ii
Guilds” Ticket Leader Named
Mrs. Lloyd Mcinturf to Be in Charge of Sales.
Mrs. Lloyd McInturf, president of the White Cross Music Guild, is to be in charge of the White Cross Guilds’ downtown headquarters in the Washington Hotel, it was announced today.
The Guilds, local sponsors of the Indianapolis Concert Guild, are to use the new quarters as a central ticket office for season tickets for concerts, as well as single admissions to the John McCormack recital at Cadle Tabernacle, Dec. 13. ~ Mrs. Isaac Born, president of the White Cross Guilds of the Methodist Hospital, appointed Mrs. McInturf to the new post.
Hope to Buy Glass Boot The Guilds already have purchased an infant resuscitator for the hospital’s maternity department, and hope within a few days to place an order for a glass boot
to be used in treating gangrene of co!
the foot.
The headquarters in the Washington are to be open daily, with various Music Guild members assisting Mrs. McInturf. Other downtown ‘stores are to have booths where tickets may be purchased for Mr. McCormack’s farewell Indianapolis appearance. The McCormack recital is the second of the Concert Guild’s initial series.
Sears’ Revelers
Coming to Roof
Chic ‘Meyers Is to Provide Thanksgiving Music.
The Indiana Roof, ordinarily closed on ‘Thursday, is to be open tomorrow night for a special Thanksgiving dance. Chic Meyers’ Orchestra and Jane: Rubey, who close a two-weeks engagement Sunday night, will furnish the music. They will be replaced next week by Walt. Sears and his Georgia
Revelers, which was one of the first'| Fan )“swing” bands to hit Indianapolis.
They have been heard during the past months over WLW from Cincinnati, where they played an extensive engagement. The Revelers are. on a one-night stand tour following several weeks at the Willows in Pittsburgh. Dorothy Goff, singer, Bobby Meeks, accordionist, and “Buck” Houchens, former clarinetist with Art Jarrett, are featured. T#e Sears orchestra’s engagerhent will be interrupted on Sunday night, Dec. 6, when Wayne King and his orchestra are to play a one-night engagement.
BRIDGE COMPANIONS
Brian Donlevy and his fiancee, Marjorie Lane, planed to gan Francisco as special guests Congressman Frank Havenner, - the formal the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Donlevyl. broadcast a “Bridge of Friendship” message picked up by a Tokio Wane and rebroadcast throughout Japan.
BEAUTI (ERVIN
i y Sig I gr | ! , 4 Is. 4 i / {0¢
antil Broadway is finished :
vith a play before converti to screen material. Bu
evidently producers gave up hope that” “Three Men on a||
orse” ever would close in New York, so they went
|ahead i the picture.
success at English’s
the story of the greeting card
: [iE year, you will remember that 1 it
Dr. Rober{ Heger-Goetzl, associate conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, is an organist as well. He is shown above at the organ console in Odeon Hall of the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music, where he heads the theory department. Dr. Heger-Goetzl will male his first appearance with the local orchestra at a special concert
in the Murat at 3 p. m. Sunday.
Peter Lorre Deserts. ‘Horror’
Film Star Will Leave Hollywood for Broadway Play
Written for Him by
BY R
Ferdinand Bruckner.
'H M'TAMMANY
Times Hollywood Correspondent
HOLLYWOOD, Nov. 25.—Peter ‘Lorre, Hollywood's number one “horror” man of the screen, has said farewell to murder and anarchist roles. He is in rehearsal of Ferdinand Bruckner’s play “Napoleon, the First,” which will open Sunday in New York. “I have wanted to play or rather be, Napoleon for many years,” ait
Lorre before he left for New York.
“Several years ago Bruckner and I
talked the idea over in Vienna. He said then that he would write a Napoleon play provided I would enact Napoleon.
“Much has happened since that
child murderer in ‘M,” ‘Mad Love, ‘Crime and Punishment’ and other tragedies. ‘Napoleon, the First’ though dramatic will take me a long way from the torture man I am be-
g on the screen. It is a great play and at the close of its run I shall return to Hollywood.” Darryl Zanuck tried to persuade Peter Lorre to postpone his appearance on Broadway until he had made several pictures under his new contract. But Lorre refused—he in-
Artists to Present Early .Day Music
-5-4 Tonight's concert by the Young Artists Group of Berlin, at’ English’s, is to present representative music from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, played on replicas of ancient instruments. : The complete program is as fol-
lows: Music of France and the Netherlands.
Instruments to be used—Recordérs, tid- |.
dles, oa viole da braccio, gambas, Das pieho .Guillaume Dufay (1400-74)
a Frans Soeur... . ouce 2 > Johannes Ockeghem (1430-95) “" regretz’’ Mille - Jos squin des Pres (1450-1521) Music o a, “Tierra -y bielos” ..Anonymous (1450) nSalabaza, no se” ...Anonymoius (1450) “Enemiga’ . Anonymous (1450) “Ayre de danza ai instrumentos”
de la forre" (1450) Hie of Germally. } erziges Herz 8 He Io oh Finck (1445-1527) Fantas Thomas Stoltzer Musis "oi the Netherlands and Prance. onymous (1571) “Bavane Lesquercarde.. Anonymous {1571 “passomezo la Doucle’..Anonymous (1571 “Gaillarde la ‘Fanfare’ -Anonymous (1571) “Bransle de Poytier legier” Beli i : Anonymous (1571) “Belle qui tiens ma vie” g Thoinet Arbeau {ise)
Gioyamar Palestiina (1525- i400) “0 felici occhi mei”
i occhi me: Dies > ortiz. 11553) (viola da g
amba Italy, Prance nd Germany (after 1660). Instruments to be played Transverse flute, violins, gambas, harpsichords “Lasciate mi morire laudi Toccata (harpsichord) Claudio 3 Monteverdi (1567-1643) Jean) Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) ate’ 'ohann Sebastian Bach (1685- 1
pr ano, tenor, bass, flute, string in struments, harpsichord.
PAPPY. LES GO .TO TH' CIRCLE | FRIDAY T'SEE MARTHA RAYE INHIDEAWAY
“Zetiro”. .
.conversation. I played the horrible
sisted on a clause in the contract ‘which would enable him to remain | i
with the Napoleon production to its finish, whether it ran a month or two years. Ferdinand Bruckner who wrote “Napoleon, the First” is one of Europe’s leading dramatists. He was putting the finishing touches to his play in‘ Paris when Sidney Kingsley, author of “Men in White,”
called on him and asked to produce Ww
it. That was three months ago. “Most Napoleon : plays tell the story of his rise to power,” says Bruckner. “Mine starts as Napoleon reigns and tells ghout the man—unfortunate in love and private life— the man who suffered—the man who died, disillusioned. I have tried to do that without taking away from his greatness—for he was a great man.” 2
WALTZ TONIGHT
CHIC MYERS and His Orchestra 25¢ Before 9
SPECIAL DANCE
THANKSGIVING NIGHT
40¢ Aly Evening COMING SUN. DEC. 6
WAYNE KING
KEITH'S [5% | Federal Players in the Rollicking Farce Comedy
“TAMED, AND. HOW" By Chas. B. Harrison MATINEE SATURDAY
NIGHTS 15¢, 28e, 40¢ | SAT. MAT. 10¢, 20¢,
Tonight's Prese
..Johann Jakob Prohberger. (1600-67) |
WEST SIDE
STATE Tl foe “YELLOWSTONE’ Also Selected Comedy
BELMONT "Sif ffm: |
Double ] Gertrud
2540 W. Mich. St. Double Feat eature : ‘ “LET'S SING AGAIN” “THE FARMER IN THE DELL” NORTH SIDE
Double Fred As
rse writer who has 8 way of pik. the winning poni
he meets a trio of small-time amblers furnishes the rest of the ot.
McHugh as Verse Writer
| Frank' McHugh won the role of the verse-writing Erwin Trowbridge m a field of worthy competitors. in the cast are Guy Kibbee,
Hughes and Edgar Kennedy. From e New York cast Director Mervyn leRoy drafted Sam Levene and reddy Hart, who with Mr. Jenkins, are the “three men” of the title. i 'Mr. McHugh insists that his presant, role comes naturally to him, ce he is a prognosticator by inct and inheritance. | “Predictions come natural in the 2 cHugh family,” the actor claims. ncle Horace: McHugh was the rent who predicted that the World ar would last about three weeks, while Grandfather Sweeney McHugh predicted the rapid decline of the automobile as a means of transportation.
: ey own last prediction was the
uis-Schmeling fight. We'll skip that. And here's what I predict you're going to see on the screen this year: Picture Predictions
| “Ten pictures in which a comeian puts a nickel into a telephone ‘and gets a “jackpot in return. ' “Twelve pictures in which the leading man takes a course in memsory training, ‘and then forgets to ear a pair of pants to his own wedding. | “At least two pictures in which the leading lady will go -through seven reels in an old dress and a air of horn-rimmed glasses. In e eighth reel she will change her iress, ‘take off the cheaters and emerge a ravishing beauty.”
THE STRETCH” Continuous Matinee Thanksgiving
Doors Open 12:45—15¢c to 2 P. P. M. TACOMA _ Sn Bihe i wade Starwysk
“POSTAL INSPECTOR”
XEDO eo
3 4 Illinois and 34th ture
Joan Blondell, Allen Jenkins, Carol |
Roles to Play Napoleon
gl maiiun
aoe of 1031. on oy) at Lu sie 1a * with Jane Have at 1138, 213
“Yellow Cargo,” with Conrad “Nagel. Also es Oliver Curwood's = AMBASSADOR
A Amons. with LOE as Youn “Isle of Fury,”
OHIO 4 h James Ca aot Jos RAL Sh hme Co Ricardo Cortes.
In His Steps’ at Ambassador|
Plot Involves Feud Between “ Principals’ Families.
Sd
As its Thanksgiving presentation, the Ambassador is presenting the first Indianapolis showing of “In His Steps,” based on ‘the famous novel by Charles M. Sheldon, and starring Eric. Linden and Cecelia Parker. The story is of a feud between the families of the principal characters. The two elope, and the boy is sought for kidnaping the girl. After their ‘marriage, the youngsters go to live with a farmer, who persuades the boy to surrender. Climaxing the picture is a courtroom scene in which the boy defends his right to love and marry. “In His Steps” is one of the first major releases of the new Eastern studios, Grand National. The stars will be remembered as the young lovers in “Ah, Wilderness.” -
’
Here's “Oiwin” who led a
double life—the verdant werse-writer who became the poet laureate of the paddock ese With Frank McHugh m He role that every comedian in Hollywood coveted!
—FRIDAY— You'll Never Know How Funny Love Can Be Untill You See
Irene Dunne
wf pps
“Theodora Goes Wild”
Prediction] | We believe: ‘‘Theodora’’ will {i - Establish a New } Laugh Record!