Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 September 1942 — Page 10

"actors and—achoo!—Othman.

“For Movies Is Too Real

Even : Bogart's Pants Are Aflame and Massey Is Singed. By FREDERICK C. OTHMAN United Press Hollywood Correspondent "HOLLYWOOD, Seut. 17—Every-

body on Warner Brothers’ stage six had on gas masks today except the

That was fair -enough. Messrs. Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey were suffering . for

The|

their art and getting singed in the|& ass

bargain. The Othman was there out &

of curiosity and if he got gassed it was his own lookout. So: “Action in the north Atlantic” was the name of the picture; A tanker loaded with aviation gasoline had just been torpedoed and there was Director Lloyd Bacon yelping for action and, wowie! ‘The fire department eventually put out the flames.

Flames Shoot Up 50 Feet

The life-size tanker, made of plywood and sticum, was moored on stage six. Flames roared from her funnels 50 feet in the air; fire licked her decks; black smoke bilJowed from her ports; occasional explosions sent ‘flame searing the]

ceiling, and through this holocaust

ran the intrepid Bogart and the intrepid Massey. Without their gas

' masks.

During one take, Mr. Bogart’s pants caught on fire, The experts extinguished him before = serious damage was done, and Mr. Massey announced that he’d like a slice of Mr. Bogart, well done. Burning a boat at sea inside a sound stage is quite a trick; the trick is keeping from burning down the whole studio.

' Smoke Flies Across Ship

The boys were ‘cooking mostly with gas. The whole ship was studded with jets, all of which had pilot lights like a cook stove. Here

‘and there were magnesium flares * wired to a switchboard at one side.

At strategic spots were big flat pans of flaming crude oil. Steam whistled from the ship’s smashed pipes. This came from the Warner brothers’ trusty fire engine parked outside the stage and used these many years for volcanos, laundries, turkish baths and leaky radiators in the movies. A little gent in overalls, who danced like a dervish because sparks seemed to be getting do neck, furnished the smoke. Hé€ carried a kind of Roman candle, which spewed flame and clouds of the blackest. smoke this side of you-know-where. The wind machine, consisting of airplane propellers

. powered by electric motors, picked

up the smoke and sent it across the stricken ship. : Plenty of Action

The cameramen were on the end of a steel boom. Bacon and masked assistants were on a platform nearby. When Bacon cried “Action,” the men at the gas valves sent fire in spurts 40 feet high. The lad at the switchboard touched this button and that and explosions blasted at the heels of the actors as they fled across the bridge. The steam came in puffs. The smoke man set off his torch. and the wind machines whined. And if anybody says this fire was a fake, the Warner brothers are going to punch him in the nose. Even after Bacon said “cut,” the flames continued to- play over the ship. Nobody was controlling them. They were burning the deck. The fire department rushed up with hoses and wet down the ship, while the cameras were reset for a dif- - ferent angle. Bogart and Massey have been playing with fire for a week. Next

shot, a tricky one, will show the

boat crack in two and plunge to the bottom of the sea in a plume of fire and steam. Then the camera will show the heroic crewmen swimming through a flaming ocean. That'll be shot in about four more ‘days. Even now the experts are pouring oil on the waters in the Warner's private ocean, setting it ‘afire and figuring out exactly how much of this an actor can take until he’s past resuscitation. At

- whatever danger to life and limb, ~ we'll try to be on hand for a re-

port in: these precincts.

~ Times Amusement « Clock

OPENING TODAY KEITH'S

“Hi Nelghbor,” with Jean Parker,. § John Archer and. Bill Shirley, at 12:19, 2:54, 5:29, 8:03 and 10:99, ‘ On stage, vaudeville, at 1:45, 4:20, | 6:54 and 929.

CURRENT FEATURES INDIANA

“Tales of Manhattan,” with Rita Hayworth, Charles Ginger ers, Henry Fonda, Baul . Robeson, Ethel Waters, rar ' Charles Laughton, Thomas Mitchell, Sugens Pallette, Cesar Roero, Gall Patrick, Roland 1 Young, Fisa "La ghesies, George Sa Eonard a. bihson, mes yh son and The Hall Johnson choir at EEE 131, 2, 4:29, 6:58 and 9:27. “The Battle of Midway, ayy's. official

ndrocas, oF t 11 3%, 3:58 Q a » » and 8 LOEW'S

of the Town,” with gary a Arthur. and Ronal ‘at 10:45, 2:30, 6:15 and

Away,” y a Bs. © Mil hway, at 1:85, with Lee oes and 530. “Roger, Ji LYRIC , part plgiaroe,” with Harry ck 'Fo 55, 5 Bans Tong 1, 155

ttle ‘of Miway,” 12:10, 56 dna 3 way, a 10

This is a scene from the navy’s “Battle of Midway” now playing at the Indiana, Loew's and Lyric and opening tomorrow at the Circle. Storage tanks are burning®on Midway island. in technicolor by Comm. John Ford, former Hollywood producer.

The film was made

by RICHARD LEWIS

A Robe for the Monarch

in the kingdom. But no go, bo,

[ blow. It was all fluff in the rough,

as they used to say in those days. Well, this king finally offered a special award, the hand of his daughter, I forget exactly which hand, to the gent who could invent this extra-stupendous style. Naturally, this announcement caught the eye of a guy name of Looey the roue, who -had been playing hookey with a bookie at the chariot races and was short of old gold, which they used in those days for money. No back door for Looey the roue, so he walked into the main portal and chortled here he was, the king’s robe in mind, put him to work, jerk, here’s a “can-do” man from the woods with the goods. Naturally, Looey the roue gets the contract and sets up his loom in a room full of gloom. Nobody can see what Looey the roue is doing, if anything, and when the time comes for an inspection; he tells the boys at the palace that this material is strictly ethereal, an invisible pink you can see only if you're the right kind of a gink, otherwise invisible,

Thin Air SO THEY FALL for it. Comes the day of the big celebration and among the tourtiers is some consternation when they find nothing on the loom but the air in the room. But not a word, fellas, for only right guys can see it’s there; to wrong guys, it’s, only thin air. So they rave wnat a gob of a job, this new robe, and the king pretends he’s putting it on and he can’t see a thing. Then down the street he rides in his invisible zoot through which is showing his union suit, but nobody says any--thing, being right guys. All except a little kid who hollers out something about seeing nothing. For a little kid, this is okay, see, because how can a little kid be a wrong guy, and if so, what can you do to him? Then the courtiers all sobbed, we wuz robbed, it’s a sting on the king, phooey, where's Looey the roue? Ha! By this time, with the swag in the bag, Looey, too, is invisible.

® 8 8 “TALES OF MANHATTAN,” which opened at the Indiana this week, has a fast:'cast of 18 (eighteen) high-priced personnel, was written by no less than 10 (ten) terrific men with pen and. direct-

” # »

of us ordinary guys ever heard of him before. It cost a fortune or more, kind of an Arabian Nights series of episodes in the daytime in New York, hung together by a tailcoat which passes from hand to hand and brings luck. As I say, it reminds me of this fable from my fourth-grade reader, because all the right guys in

Hollywood say it’s the most stu-

pendous thing they have ever done this year, but ethereal material, visible only to other right guys. Everybody, it seems, is a ht guy. They all say it ts terrific. Millions, it cost. Me, I don’t see any fancy robes or any drape shape with a flash sash., Just an ordinary moving picture with some highlights, big wigs and ringing singing. So what can they do to me? I can’t see it. » tJ »

"Talk of the Town'

AT LOEW'S this week is “Talk of the Town,” ‘a good-natured melodrama with Cary Grant, Jean Arthur and Ronald Colman

. talking a lot of philosophy about

the law to the confusion ofa number of people in the audience, including this Patron; ‘

ONCEUPONATIME, there lived a king, see? He got hep one day and passed the word around that he was in the market for one superduper deluxe set of robes, something strictly in the zoat line, with a drape nape, a twinge of fringe and a flash sash. There came knocking at the side entrance all the tailors, haberdashers and purveyors of kings’ custom-made robes, new and used,

There is a flash or two of a

’ famous civil liberties case in the

story, which deals with the fram-

*ing of Mr. Grant in a factory fire.

But it is only g flash of SaccoVanzetti. Mr. Grant is cleared by the exposure of the frame-up and the local politicians are foiled. Mr. Colman shaves off his beard and assumes his seat on the supreme court bench while ‘Mr. Grant wins the girl, to live happily

.ever after foiling politicians. It's

a good stunt if you can do it. Politicians are pretty smart. So is George Stevens, who made this picture. It keeps you interested from beginning to end. But after that you are inclined to forget about it. tJ » ” THE LYRIC blossoms forth with a first-run double bill this week, “Private Buckaroo” and “Men of Texas.” Harry James, the Andrews Sisters and a mighty cute dancer, Dorothy - Babb, are the leading reasons for being of “Private Buckaroo,” which makes no more sense than its title would indicate, “Men of Texas” is about an ace reporter from Chicago who is a quiet, soft-spoken guy, a seeker after truth. Need I say more to show it is a very unusual picture?

ed by a guy so artistic that none

TALES OF

we seu WAR BONDS - " STAMPS!

“BATTLE OF MIDWAY"

in Technicolor

A ter 6

mw. c-30¢ (Plus Tax) * oe Tax)

TL:

REL SEAR y

age o TNT to Blast the Ry. Blues Away

Featuring

Hectic Life For Boyer

He Not Only Acts but Now He Produces, Too.

HOLLYWOOD, Sept. 17 (U. P.. —We give you today, Charles ‘Boyer, a harried man. He's He’s also playing one of the leading roles, that of a circus acrobat. Not only is he ‘liable ‘to fall off the high wire and break his neck, but he’s got to sit up; most of the night working on the script, and then try to fool the customers next morning into believing he had a good night's sieep. Last week he really had trouble. Julien Duvier, his director, became ill. The 'picture shut down for three days. Miss Barbara Stanwyck, the leading lady, said, fine; she’d take a rest and not charge for the time off.

Went Into It With Eyes Open

Boyer, the actor, was tough, but Boyer, the producer, slapped his ears down and had no further trouble with him. Last night Producer Boyer sat up until after 1 a. m. working on the story. This morning Actor

| Boyer got up at 5, rushed over to

Universal studios, put on his overcoat -and spent the rest of the day acting on one of the hottest sets in town. Between takes, Producer Boyer paced and worried. So it was that Boyer, the man, never did get to sit down. He got himself into this predicament with his eyes wide open. He is an honest man and he, admits he’s not getting any younger. He is 43 and he can’t be a matinee idol the rest of his life. Therefore, and eventually, he’s got to do something else. Producing movies seems to be the solution. This is- his first try in Hollywood, though he used to help with the production in France. Being a producer, he said, has its adi vantages. He doesn’t have to wear a necktie or a coat. He doesn’t even have to shave. All he has to

producing a movie called ; | “Flesh and Fantasy.”

the Circle tomorrow. It’s

trio of the “The Maltese Falcon.”

do is make decisions, but he can make them in an air-conditioned office. “It is when you are a producer

John Carroll and Ruth Hussey draw a bead on another Hollywoodite in “Pierre of the Plains,” a Canadian Northwest drama at twin-billed with with . Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor and Sydney Greenstreet, the

“Across the Pacific,”

a little hectic,” he said, coming up out of his overcoat for a breath

and an actor, too, that things get

[Aa

Fall Opening FRIDAY

Charlie Agnew

His NBC Orch. and Lovely Jean Carroll,

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1 First U. S, Fe SOI

“BATTLE OF MIDWAY"

IN TECHNICOLOR

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War Bonds and Stamps on Sale in the Lobby at All Times —Fill Your Stamp|§

PLUS 6rax)

rec employes smi No he gu ymin bg WIBC: at 11:15 o’clock tonight A

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Z LOEW'S | { Cary Jean § GRANT-ARTHUR 1 Ronald COLMAN

. EX! ! “THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY” 25¢ to 6 (Plus Tax)

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MIDNITE ar, A Pg SATURDAY Rab LE

Social Activities for Newcomers

® Junior Civic Theater ® Backstage Club

“Eve of St. Mark” ; “Out of the Frying Pan” % “Skylark” o SN “Boy Meets Girl”

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SH ; and Salute Your Hero at the Circle

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GREATER FOR ROMANCE! * Humphrey turns loose a new technique on . Mary Astor that no woman ¢ can resist...or § wants tol

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