Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 October 1937 — Page 33

Alice Fay Wins Fight For Fame

Gains Dramatic Roles Despite Being Typed

It's practically a union rule that 2 comedian should want to play Hamlet and a chorus girl want to play dramatic leads. Some do even more than merely want vainly; some actually make the leap. There's Alice Faye, for instance, soon to appear in the spectacular “In Old Chicago” in a very dramatic role as the living proof that fairy picture plots sometimes true. Of course, Alice—she’s Mrs. Tony Martin now-—-sings and aances in “In Old Chicago”; even In the interests

producers wouldn't hide her licht, to say nothing of her lovely legs under a bushel of clothing. Choose Faye for Luck, Miss Fave decided to be a dramatic actress way back when was a fourteen-year-old kid in Bill Newsome’s old dancing school New York. In those days, she was Alice Leppert, daughter of one of “New York's Finest.” The name Faye she took for luck—Frank Fave was rolling em in the aisles at the Palace—when she got her first chorus job with a Chester Hale unit after a year of dance schooling. The first active step Miss Faye took to come out of the chorus was to take singing lessons. Singing lessons, good ones, cost money and Alice was lucky to get a job in the floor show at Broadway's Hollywood restaurant which paid her a little more than vandeville had. Later she switched to the Palais D'Or where

wood

she came under the astute eye of | George White, who, as usual, was |

busy casting for an edition of his Scandals. Now # happens that it was that edition of the show that Rudy Vallee was with, and a friend of the maestro’s, having heard Alice sing, offered to get her an audition hefore the orchestra leader, Alice hesitated. not yet ready Did Her Work Well. The Scandals closed and Alice was out of a job. Then she received a summons from the Vallee organization for an audition. She went up and made the test. That really started it. She became za featured singer with the Connecticut Yankees, and when that outfit was haled to Hollywood for a film version of the Scandals, Alice trotted along to sing a8 solo number. She sang the number and was given the lead in the show. That is what's technically known as “skyrocketing to fame” or perhaps “taking Hollywood by storm.” Miss Faye is a young woman with determination though. She took each singing and dancing role that came her way with good grace. And since she was a cut above the mere specialty class that always meant she had some lines at least to speak Into these she put everything she had. Perhaps her first turn toward the path of straight drama occurred in “King of Burlesque.” From there to “In Old Chicago’ was only a short distance, but several steps like “On the Avenue.” “Wake Up and Live’ and. “You Can't Have Everything” interv®ed.

tales and motion | do come |

period |

Her voice, she feared, was |

|

she |

in|

| |

|

Beautitul Myrna Loy will play in two Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer productions this season. First, "Double Wedding," with William Powell, then "The Four Marys," with Franchot Tone.

3

|

Comedians Serious on the Job, ~Danger—Love at Work” Reveals |

| What happens when a lot of comedians get together on a movie lot? Well, that all depends on the comedians. With the Ritz Brothers, | anything can happen and usually does. On the other hand, on the set! of “Danger-Love at Work,” where Jack Haley, Edward Everett Horton | and Mary Boland, comedians gall « iu, were in action, there wasn't a hot foot given and not a jar of cold cream turned out to be spiced with lamp black. Nor, according to Director Otto I, Preminger, was there anv of that scrambling the center the camera's focus, which one might expect from three comedians. | Miss Boland explains the forbearance thus: —“That stuff really went out with silent pictures. And it was { mostly small-timers who went in [for it any way. It would be a silly

that not only has scene larceny gone out of fashion since directors have become sharper, but that in this! particular production the competi- | tion would be too good for anybody | to start anything of the sort, { “The whole cast is made up of | comedy actors of long experience. A man isn’t going to take a scene from | such old-timers at Etienne Girardot | or Maurice Cass. Why, those lads have been on every stage in the | country for more than thirty years, and there isn’ ick i r | stunt these days to upstage another | they Ri ik in the trade (actor, because as soon as he turned| “Miss Boland and Horton know [away from the microphone the se-| their way around, too. Anybody |quence would be spoiled for sound.| trying to take a scene from them | Then it ‘would just be a matter of | would soon fine himself backed right (doing the scene right the next time.” | out of the picture. And, of course New Parts for All you can't take anything from a Mr. Horton, on the other hand, | Pretty girl or a child actor, so Ann thinks that the script itself had | ocinern and Bennie Barlett don't

i ; haw » something to do with it. “It really e to worry

Rehearse Their Lines, offered new parts for all of us. Gave| And So, one set at least, containme, for instance, a chance to get|Iing a nollection of assorted comics, (away from the absent-minded | was quite without that harum- | “double take,” which was getting to | Scarum air that one associates with | [be a sort of undesired trade-mark [professional funny men. Director [of mine. Of course, this time I play | Preminger says they spent most of [& ninny—I always do—but it's a de- | their time learning their lines, or | cisive, brisk ninny. And Miss Bo- | going over bits of business with each | land, who usually plays domineering | other. { (parts, this time is as vague but per-| “It's probably just as well,” Prem- | VasiVe as an ectoplasm. That sort | inger went on, “for sophisticated of shift keeps a comic busy minding | comedy calls for such delicate and I his own busine i precise timing that there's no such! Haley's feeling in the matter is thing as t00 much rehearsal,”

fpr Ot of

THE INDIANAPOLIS

No one in all Hollywood is busier these days than vivacious Olivia de Havilland. Having finished her role in the Warner Brothers' historical * drama, ''The Great Garrick,” in which she plays opposite Brian Aherne, she will be featured in "it's Love I'm After”! and "Gold Is Where You Find It."

RepudiiC ricTures win Make & musicale, - vanhharran merry-Go-Round," this season, and Ann Dvorak will appear with Phil Reagan and Leo Carillo.

MOLNAR FILM A "LAUGH VOLCANO!

From a Ferenc Molnar play “laugh volcano” which adapts Director Richard Thorpe has Be of the shrew premise stripped everything that might ey a oh maples make for pompous amusement, determined to have her way, not ard the result is "Double Wed- | only with her own affairs, but with ding,” an M-G-M production | the affairs of the people around Which brings Myrna Ioy and her, Mr, Powell is an auto-trailer William Powell back to the screen Bohemian with no sense of responthis fall, sibility, and no desire to win Motion Picture Daily calls it » | friends or influence people,

PAGE 9

Robinson Reveals Cang Role

Little Caesar Proud of His Part In Film Crusade Against Mobsters By Edward G. Robinson,

Languorous Ann Sothern has drama, "There Goes the Groom," his film debut.

I'm a tough guy. The can dish it out. And I can t a slight nostalgic sadness a | Gangster.” | Mayer picture. |

[with which I have been {you see, I was the “Iirst gangster” lin a little number called “The | Racket,” which made dramatic his-

tory. And marked a new era in the

American scene, Not, mind you, that I regret a departure from gangster characterizations, There are plenty of colorful recreated, the screen. But I sorrow at the ending an era marked by courage and heroism he courage of the hophead killers? The heroism of the machine-gun mass murderers? 1 should say not! Nor do I refer too much to the courage of the fellows on the side of the Law. What I mean is the bravery displayed by the motion pic- | ture industry in arousing public sen- | timent agginst the criminal control [of the nafion through pictures like | “Little Caesar.” It wasn't an TI. clogce to the Prom coast to was the grip whose more politically government, and whose terrorism hv torture

upon

of

easy thing fo do, as scene, can testify, oe column

coast 1} sin sttht le through every

in of ter =conn-

drels influences: extended of svmhoal was ain homb, knife and | The motion picture producers defied this unholy alliance and brought a | frightened, sheep-like, apathetic { public to a realization that banditry

hranch outward

and

{ An aroused people insisted that its officers stamp out this plague of | rats. I'm proud to have played a part in doing so. Reveals Personal Threats, There was, perhaps, more than met the eye in the difficulties encountered by the Warner Brothers and Darryl Zanuck in lashing the public conscience through visual exposure of mobsmen, Aside from personal threats, there were mysterious influences striving to prevent the presentation of these | pictures, Why, there are communi-

by

the

a -

the rewuing role in RKO-Radio's in which Burgess Meredith makes

Stand-Ins Hardest Working ‘Members of Movie Industry

A stand-ins life is not an | of Hollywood's love and foibles of | the hardest working members of t securely intrenched in a sinecure sheds quite a bit of perspiration It is the stand-in's duty to | the star's place under the | before the actual shooting begins

aaa +1

take | lights

Often considered as another extravagance, the stand-in he movie industrs Instead of being he stand-in, ih his or her daily work,

one

often came perilously close to con- £ fusion.

Director Harold Young has

personalities to be created, or |

| was seizing the reins of government. |

is one of

Threats

movies have made me so. 1 ake it, too. But I confess to t the thought of "The Last

That's the title of my present Metro-Goldwyn-With its completion a cycle ends. prominently identified.

A cycle For

| ties where “Scarface,” for instance, {has never yet been shown! But the battle went on despite the opposition of gang-linked politicians | who feared the light of exposure on | their venality and inefficiency. De= | spite the organized, professional, commercial reformers who fattened on such movements as prohibition, Despite denouncing publicity-seekers, Despite agencies aw their own little rackets falling before the vivid propaganda of pictures, And, ev tually, the war was won A major achievement of Hoover's administration was the flank atfack on mobsmen through the tax evasion laws. And this followed the screen's campaign Hesitated at First, I admit great hegitaiion in plaving my first gangster The Racket.” I theatrical precedent to create a void audience sympathy risked my dramatize the public it, 1 that to a was

na

role in

was against character de

But I

{ar

of career to the menace that confront to re

I'n

hours

had reazon A bad hrought to e,

ea ve nevel

gret decision Ithough half to me that bovs wanted see me! There are, of cour two schools of thought regarding the purpose of motion pictures, The producers | aren't professional crusaders, such films as “Bullets or Ballots” note withstanding. They are, primarily, purveyors of entertainment, of amusement, rather than educators or guardians of public conscience, And even as purveyors of entertain= ment they are peculiarly hedged in and circumscribed in their activities by organized minorities which have strac-

confess few when word “the e,

fo tnreaten tne entire the democracy hesitated

the

come Lure Personally, 1 regarding 1 wished Or an

of in

selection

my of a a preacher, Because 1 these three callings proopportunities te by which

vouth | career, a lawyer believe that | vide the greater | show the people the light | they will find their way. Finally, I decided that, of pulpit, bar and stage, the theater held the greatest potentialities teaching. Having | this viewpoint, 1 naturally believe in a more important mission for thes movies than the provision of a romantic means of escape Until the arrival of the millens« | num there must always be evils t4 | be corrected. In the verv genesis of | the theater one finds it used as a | means of propaganda, and in the | control of honest men, a medium ( for the betterment of mankind. | There are plenty of public enemies | today. And there will be tomorrow. And my emotions regarding the | passing of an era with “The Last | Gangster” reflect, after all, a hope= { ful view. For I believe that, with precedent established, the screen will find » means of flouting villainy where= ever found. And in hanging up my | trusty “gat” 1 look forward to play= | ing my role in the new crusade, | whatever it may be, and whatever | that role may be. For I can still dish it out. And take it, too!

“Snow White” Ready Xmas

Disney Uses Color

to be

actor

for

In a Wider Range.

Three in the making, the first full-length animated cartoon ih cinema history, Walt Disney's muclhe heralded “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” is scheduled for releases | “somewhere around Christmas time,” | according to Disney's New York rep= | resentatives, The film, taken from the Grimm fairy tale, will be released by RKO Radio Pictures. Radical changes in colored cars toon technique were made to fit the needs of the feature-length picture, For example, the bright, pure colors of the Silly Symphonies have been | replaced by more subtle and subse dued tones to avoid tiring the eyes, | Also, color has been used in a much | wider range and does triple duty in that it explains characters, points in the story and creates mood. Voices Carefully Selected. | All the care of a radio network casting department was given to the selection of the voices for the cars {toon characters, more than fifty radio siation: being checked over a period of fwe years before the voice [of “Snow White” was found. Abou 200.000 of the nearly 2.000 600 sketches made will finally he put together into the finished film. More than 250 people were employed oh tha million-dollar prgject With the fourth consecutive award for short subjects offered by the Ife ternational Film Exhibition in Vene ice safely tucked away, Disney is sparing no pains make “Snow White” his greatest production, Eight sOngs, several of which the studio

VeArs

to

[If the actors themselves were forced | habit of calling the stand-ins by | 6XPects to equal in popularity Diss

"to take their places while electri-

cians were eliminating shadows their working efficiency would be cut down and a greater expense would be incurred by the studio.

the name of the star for whom they are working, with the result that there were sometimes eighteen people around under the lights. After a conference he agreed to add a

{ ney's “Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad | Wolf” and “The World Owes Me a Living,” are in the picture, | Gruesome Details Omitted, | ‘Gruesome details of the original

| Recently a new record was set| “junior” after the name, and the OTIMM story have been eliminated,

at the Walter Wanger studios in regard to the use of stand-ins. In tne filming of “52nd Street,” which is soon to be released throughout the country, nine stand-ins were on the set at all times, There are nine principals in “52na Street”"—Ian Hunter, Pat Paterson Kenny Baker, Marla Shelton, Leo Carrillo, Zasu Pitts, Sid Silvers Jack White and Flia Logan—and each one had his or her stand-in. With nine principals and nine standins on the set at once, the shooting

situation was cleared.

Simone Simon to Make 'U. S. Film Singing Debut.

Simone Simon, who co-stars with Walter Winchell and Pen Bernie in Love and Hisses,” new 20th Cen-tury-Fox musical comedy, will make her American debut as a singer in that picture, She will sing one of the five numbers just completed for the score hy Mack Gordon and Harry Revel,

In the lurid fairy tale the wicked queen dances herself to a horrible | death with red-hot iron shoes on her | feet. Not so in the film. In the { Disney feature the queen is chased over a cliff by the droll dwarfs a death that is just as certain but more merciful, Unlike Mickey and other Disney characters, the animated players in ‘Snow White” are in their first and last picture. They will hot be res vivad, Disney states emphatically, because, in his apinion, that would

| mean an antivclimax,