George Cukor In the 30's
7/14/1934 EHE Harrison Carroll
Man o' War, one of the greatest horses of all times, may come out of his retirement to play a role in Paramount's Lemon Drop Kid.
Marshall Neilan, director of the film, today wired Samuel Riddle, Kentucky turfman, to see if he will permit the all-time champion to be shipped across the country to Hollywood to act before a motion picture camera.
Man o' War, now 17 years old, will not have to do the actual racing scenes for the Damon Runyon story. Like any other star, he'll have a double to do the dangerous and difficult work. He'll be used only in the closeups.
The studio believes that many racing fans will be glad to see once more the horse that was never beaten but once and that won a total of $249,465 in purses. They gauge his box office power by the fact that as many as 30,000 people a year still come to see the horse in his stall at the Riddle stables in Kentucky.
Since retiring from the track Man o' War has made a fortune for his present owner, who bought him in 1918 from August Belment. The famous racer has sired many winners of more recent track annals. Mata Hari, American Flag and Crusader all have the blood of the champion coursing in their veins.
In case they win Turfman Riddle's consent, the studio is prepared to bring Man o' War to Hollywood in a special car and with all possible safeguards against his injury or illness.
....
The marital status of Lupe Velez and Johnny Weissmuller is still Hollywood's most exciting topic of the day. With Lupe's divorce complaint only three days old, the Mexican star shows up for rehearsals at the Columbia studio yesterday with Johnny Weissmuller in two. Members of The Girl Friend troupe report affectionate scenes between the two with Lupe calling for her "Darleeng" every few breaths. Another episode in the diverting comedy was staged last night when the "estranged" couple attended the prize fights together at the Hollywood stadium, with director W.S. Van Dyke along as extra man.
"I don't know whether I am supposed to be chaperon or referee," was the director's dry comment.
....
Very dramatic, the scene that took place yesterday on a Warner Brothers set. Since her family fortunes were affected by the market crash, Marcorita Hellman, Los Angeles society girl and daughter of banker Marco Hellman, has been working in motion pictures under contract to Warners. Yesterday, she was doing a small part in the film, I Sell Anything, featuring Pat O'Brien. The action called for the hero to step out of a swank automobile and the director instructed the property department to provide one. Presently a luxurious machine rolled upon the set. Most of the company scarcely noticed its arrival. But Marcorita did. For she recognized the car as one that formerly belonged to her father.
....
James Blakely, New York socialite and one-time fiancé of Barbara Hutton, wonders how come. For 15 days the young society man, now an actor at the Columbia studio, has been receiving mysterious postcards. They come one a day and each bears but a single letter. So far the message reads:
"Do you recall a nig?
....
Maybe it's the late summer, but not a single one of the 62 featured players one Warners' contract list has moved to the beach this year.
....
It's hard to remember what a kid Jean Parker is. But this incident will give you an idea. MGM's newest star entertains a lot of young people at her home. One of them is Aubrey Austin, a student at a Hollywood military school. The other day, after he left, Jean found a note and a class pin. Her bashful admirer didn't have to offer it any other way. Jean was equally embarrassed about the way to return the pin. She finally did it this way. When the boy called, she left the pin and a note on the hall table at her home. Then she went upstairs and stayed in her room until he found it.
....
Knick-Knacks: A lot of Hollywoodites could take a lesson in kindness from Fannie Brice. Since arriving in the film capital Fannie has spent many hours at the hospital with Mae Clarke, who has been so ill, but who now is said to be much improved. In the old days, you know, Mae was married to Fannie's brother, Lew.....Strange thing, coincidence. George Johns was employed to give technical advice on The Fountain at RKO because he once escaped from a German prison camp near the Swiss border. On the same set is Otto Krauss, who was guard at the time of the escape and almost got court-martialed for his laxity....John Barrymore is one of the movie enthusiasts over skeet-shooting and has the finest course in the country installed on his hillside estate.....Phyllis Bottome, the novelist, is visiting Hollywood....Jack Oakie and the Claude Binyon are off to join the Richard Arlens on a cruse....and John Boles and Irene Dunne will give a private concert for the cast of The Age of Innocence.
....
Did You Know: That Bing Crosby once played the trap drums in an orchestra while Sally Rand did a toe dancing act?
....
Did You Know: That Francis Lederer owns 30 volumes on world's superstitions and follows as many of them as he can remember?
George Cukor In the 30's
ABBREVIATIONS
DN – Daily News (Los Angeles)
EH -- Los Angeles Evening Herald
EHE -- Los Angeles Evening Herald Express
FD -- Film Daily
HCN -- Hollywood Citizen News
IDN – Illustrated Daily News (Los Angeles)
LAR -- Los Angeles Record
LAPR – Los Angeles Post-Record
LAX -- Los Angeles Examiner
MPH -- Motion Picture Herald
10/26/1929 EH Scouting the Sinema
By Dorothy Herzog
Speaking of Universal's All Quiet on the Western Front, there's a report circulating that directors Lewis Milestone and George Kukor are anxious to sign Douglas Fairbanks Jr. to play the lead. Corking good part, whoever gets it. A few names have been added to the cast, including Ben Alexander, Phillip Holmes, and Billy Bakewell. Ben Alexander is an ex-boy star making good in his adolescence without the Harterschaft & Marx.
3/19/1930 LAX Louella O. Parsons
Lilyan Tashman in the latest spring suits, lunching at the Embassy with George Cukor.
6/13/1930 HDC Elizabeth Yeaman
George Cukor, the successful Broadway stage director who was responsible for the direction of Ethel Barrymore in "The Constant Wife," Jeanne Eagels in "Her Cardboard Lover," Laurette Taylor in "The Furies," and Dorothy Gish in "Young Love," has signed a new contract to direct talking pictures for Paramount. This contract follows his work on Grumpy, the Cyril Maude starring picture, in which Cukor co-directed with Cyril Gardner. His next assignment will be announced in the near future.
7/9/1930 HDC Society In Filmland
By Rachel Rubiin
Novel costumes featured the dinner dance with which Miss Kay Francis entertained Saturday evening in the Castellamare Inn, honoring Louis Bromfield and Sidney Howard..
Women of the party appeared in lounging pajamas of various hues and their escorts dressed informally in white flannels and other sports clothes. Miss Francis, who is known as one of the most smartly-dressed young women in the film colony, received her guests in regulation sailor garb.
Those bidden included Messers. And Mesdames Arthur Hornblow, Humphrey Bogart (Mary Phillips), John Gilbert (Ina Claire), Barney Glazer, Samuel Goldwyn, Edmund Lowe (Lilyan Tashman), Basil Rathbone (Ouida Bergere), George Fitzmaurice, Al Kaufman, David Selznick (Irene Mayer), Charles MacArthur (Helen Hayes), Guthrie McClintock (Katherine Cornell), Ralph Forbes (Ruth Chatterton), John Cromwell (Kay Johnson), Edwin Knopf, Frederick Worlock (Elsie Ferguson), Leslie Howard, Oliver Garrett, Florenz Ziegfeld (Bille Burke), Robert Ames, King Tuttle, B.P. Schulberg, Chandler Sprague, Ben Lyon (Bebe Daniels), Mrs. Patrick Campbell, the Misses Ilka Chase, Constance Bennett, Aileen Percy and Fay Bainter; Messrs. Charles Bromfield, Kenneth McKenna, William Emmerick, James Creelman, John Halliday, Stu Erwin, Lothar Mendes, Eddie Kane, Gene Markey, Mischa Auer, Mary Tilman, George Cukor, Edmund Goulding, Jacques D'Arcy and Count de Luart.
8/13/1930 HDC Elizabeth Yeaman
Two interesting cast announcements have come from Paramount, where Kenneth MacKenna and Jobyna Howland have been signed for two of the four leading roles in The Virtuous Sin, which will be a talking adaptation of Lajos Zilahy's play, "The General." Walter Huston and Kay Francis already have been engaged for the other two leads. The story is a melodrama of the World War, with a Russian general, a young scientist, his wife and the hostess of a cheap night club opened for the entertainment of the boys at the front. Huston will be the general, Kenneth MacKenna the scientist, Kay Francis his wife, and Jobyna Howland the night club hostess. All four of these players won recognition on the legitimate stage before entering pictures. MacKenna was a stage star and producer until last year when he signed a contract with Fox. Miss Howland was a Broadway headliner for almost a decade, appearing in "Lightin'," "Kid Boots," and "The Gold Diggers." Her first picture role was in Honey with Nancy Carroll. Lous Gasnier and George Cukor will handle the direction of the picture together.
8/14/1930 IDN Grumpy
Grumpy is a picture that the discriminating and diversion-loving film-goer should include in the list of "musts."
Cyril Maude, the distinguished actor, has been playing the grouchy old criminal lawyer for more years than he has fingers and toes and it is a production of such rare quality and charm that it has survived the ravages of time and in 1930 meets the requirements of entertainment as much as it did in the fore part of the century.
SHOULD CLICK
Grumpy opened at the United Artists theater yesterday with a fair audience in attendance, and it is to be presumed that the late performance would have double-interest as Frances Dade was scheduled to appear in person on stage.
"Grumpy" is a darling. He's a quaint old chap with one eye on Eros, one eye on world events, and a husky voice that calls for his many small wants, which he always wants in a hurry.
Cyril Maude's screen characterization of the stage role that he has played 1400 times is smooth, picturesque and comical.
"Grumpy," you will remember, was frightfully interested in the love affairs of his granddaughter Virginia, and she, the darling, could see beneath his walrus-like hide of camouflage, and snickered a bit at his idiosyncracies.
There was intrusted to Ernest Heron the dangerous job of protecting a precious diamond on a lengthy excursion, and alas, the lad failed, for jewel thieves were on the trail of the gem. And the beautiful granddaughter of "Grumpy" became the unwitting agent in the delicate maneuvering of the thieves for transporting the jewel.
But "Grumpy" in his craftiness, psychologized the stone from its unlawful possessor back to the owner in a daring and clever maneuver.
CLEVERLY DONE
Now the story means nothing, really, it is the skill in which Cyril Maude presents the venerable character that counts. Just as "Old English" is a definite part of George Arliss' career, so does "Grumpy" seem a part of Cyril Maude.
His funny pretense at snoring, his pseudo coughing, his distinctive manner of leaning over and chortling like a doddering old fuss-budget; all these little things are lovely and should appeal to the lover of good theater.
Phillips Holmes, the adolescent who failed his duty, is a young man generally seen in pictures with a bandage around his head, as in Devil's Holiday.
Miss Dade reminds one of Joan Bennett a great deal, especially her voice, and she does some excellent work as the granddaughter. Miss Dade has charm.
Paul Cavanagh is the heavy—a handsome man who is more interested in jewels than girls, but he finds a powerful ally in the skillful old "Grumpy."
Doris Luray, Olaf Hytton, Colin Kenny, Halliwell Hobbes and Robert Bolder are well cast.
WELL DIRECTED
Grumpy, from the original play be Horace Hodges and Thomas Wignet Percyval, had additional screen dialogue furnished by Doris Anderson, while Cyril Gardner and George Cukor did some nice directing.
8/14/1930 LAX Grumpy
By Jerry Hoffman
Toward the finish of Grumpy, which opened in the United Artists Theater yesterday, a young lady leaned over to her mother (I presume it was her mother) and gurgled ecstatically.
"That's the sweetest play I've seen in years."
After which there seems to be little left for a reviewer to say.
Grumpy will be new to current talkie fans. It is many years since Theodore Roberts played it in silent pictures, and a longer time since Cyril Maude was seen in the original play version. In the new Paramount production, Maude is back in his early role of the lovable, though fussy and fuming old "Grumpy." The charm that was present in the stage production is equally powerful in this talkie adaptation. It is highly modern in treatment, concentrating not upon the stage manner, but that of the screen.
Grumpy, for the enlightenment of the unfamiliar, is good old English slang for grandpa. It remains for Grumpy, with his fussing and his fuming, to bring about the romance of two young people dear to him. Grumpy was formerly a criminal lawyer. Hence, when the young man's future and his romance are threatened by the theft of a jewel intrusted to him, Grumpy comes to the rescue.
I'm glad the effervescent young lady said "Sweet" in her description. It wouldn't do for a male to use that word, but Grumpy is just that. It contains silent chuckles, audible snickers and loud laughter. There are times when certain members of the cast, display a tendency to become very—oh, in fact, "vurry, vurry, legitimate," m'deahs. You know, the kind that step aside and listen to themselves talk.
Most of those moments have been nipped, however, and there is still the delightful performance of Cyril Maude. Grumpy, after all, is a one-man play, with the other characters almost incidental. Phillips Holmes does very well with the juvenile role and Halliwell Hobbes is particularly good as Ruddick, friend and valet to the aged "Grumpy." Frances Dade is the young lady and presents a new and rather pleasant screen personality. Paul Cavanagh makes a convincing menace.
George Cukor and Cyril Gardner has done very well with their joint direction. The temptations to make Grumpy too much theater and not sufficient movie must have been many, but they were avoided. The result is plenty of suspense and a fast-moving story. Horace Hodges and Thomas Wigney Percival wrote the play which Doris Anderson adapted. Screamingly funny on the United Artists program is Neighborly Neighbors with Lulu McConnell.
8/14/1930 HDC Grumpy
By Elizabeth Yeaman
Fortunately talking pictures were perfected in time to immortalize Cyril Maude in Grumpy. Those of us who have heard our grandparents laud the voice of Jenny Lind or the consummate art of Duse, may have been skeptical about their enthusiasm. But when we have become grandparents, we can point to the talking film of Grumpy as justification for our praise of the incomparable acting of Cryil Maude.
This picture which opened yesterday at United Artists Theater, is based on the story of a diamond theft. From that you might suppose that it is a blood and thunder plot filled with action, thrills and suspense, and done in the typical cinema manner of underworld themes.
LEISURELY STORY
But Grumpy is a leisurely picture, which slowly finds its way to your heart and leaves there a characterization which always will be cherished. Kindly beneath his irascibility, romantic in spite of his gruff exterior, with a mind which keenly penetrate the motives of mankind while he appears to be dozing. Cyril Maude has given a portrayal that never will be forgotten. He has made Grumpy as immortal as Hamlet.
There is humor in this picture, not the boisterous comedy which provokes roars, but the gentle, smiling humor which reflects a warm, inner glow of sympathetic appreciation. Also, there is romance, of a sweet and pure character, and an undertone of suspense which gains momentum until the audience is tense, with excitement at the climax.
CHARACTER STANDS OUT
Still, when you leave the theater, it is the characterization of Grumpy which stands out above the plot, the lovable, shrewd, querulous, and brilliant Grumpy whose creaking joints make your bones fairly ache and whose wheezing respiration is so real that your lungs contract at the sound.
Phillips Holmes give a splendid performance as the young Englishman who has been entrusted with the safe-keeping of the diamond. Frances Dade is his blonde sweetheart, and Paul Cavanaugh realizes his opportunities in the sinister role of Jarvis. An interesting and delightful character bit is contributed by Doris Luray as the maid, and other members of the cast include Paul Lukas, Halliwell Hobbes, Olaf Hytton, Robert Bolder and Colin Kenny.
DIRECTION PRAISED
In every instance the direction of George Cukor and Cyril Gardner is beyond reproach. It is they who have silenced the cinematic protests of our lofty Broadway critics. The art of Grumpy is perfection itself, but the picture is more than art. It is a human delineation which should appeal to one and all. Paramount may be justly proud of itself for this production.
An unusually beautiful travelogue, newsreel, comedy, and organ concert are included on the bill.
10/26/1930 FD The Virtuous Sin
Paramount Time, 1 Hr., 20 mins.
Trite story material and dialogue put this Russian drama in weakling class, slow and obvious stuff.
Based on a story, The General, by Lajos Zilahy. Paramount must have dug deep into the files to dust this yarn off. It's the moth-bitten one about the lady who sets out to give all, including her honor, in order to save her husband from execution. Her objective is a war-steeled general who falls for her pronto—and she for him. He releases the husband just before his shooting engagement but sours on the wife for her trick. Hubby, when free, endeavors to kill the general but no such luck. Eventually he takes a sensible view on the situation and agrees to let his wife divorce him. Then there's the happy ending. An intelligent treatment might have helped matters but it wasn't provided. The players struggle the story as best they can but the results remain beyond the realm of real entertainment. The production has been mounted in excellent fashion.
CAST: Walter Huston, Kay Francis, Kenneth MacKenna, Paul Cavanaugh, Eric Kalkhurst, Oscar Apfel, Gordon McLeod, Victor Potel, Youcca Troubetskoy.
Directors, George Cukor and Louis Gasnier; Author, Lajos Zilahy; Adaptors, Martin Brown, Louise Long; Editor, Opho Lovering; Cameraman, David Abel.
Direction, Weak. Photography, Good.
10/31/1930 EH The Virtuous Sin
By Lazos Zilahy. Directed by George Cukor and Louis Gasnier. Opened at Paramount, Oct. 30, 1930.
CAST: Walter Huston, Kay Francis, Kenneth MacKenna, Paul Cavanagh, Eric Kolkhurst, Oscar Apfel, Victor Potel and Youcca Troubeltskey.
By W.E. Oliver
If prewar Russians made love as assiduously as the soldiers do in The Virtuous Sin, I begin to catch on to Soviet strategy in putting everybody to work.
This new Paramount picture is adapted from one of Broadway's popular plays, "The General." It tells the story of a girl of the caviar classes who pits her its and charm against a Cossack general with allegedly blunted nerve ends in order to save her officer-husband from execution.
The general, however, proves he is no anomaly from the River Don, and the girl finds herself soon loving him in return and participating in one of those extra-military operations which Tolstoi's memoirs of the Carpathians lead us to believe were not so rare among the Slave soldiery.
And now, my dear screengoers, if this has you rushing down to the theater, I have done my bit.
Walter Huston, who, has lately distinguished himself in other roles, draws the assignment of proving that a Cossack knows his cossetting, and while he is on a horse and has good lines to say, he puts you very much at ease.
The role of sacrifice is undertaken by Kay Francis, and while she is playing the gay coquette she is very acceptable, too. Paul Cavanaugh, Eric Kalkhurst, Oscar Apfel, Gordon McLeod, with Youcca Troubetskey included to give the setting its proper cachet, all play officer roles.
Standing almost alone in this expanse of pomp and gold braid is Victor Potel, who, with his few minutes of buffoonery, provides a refreshing touch of comedy in the first half of the picture, which incidentally is the better half, being light and frolicksome.
George Cukor and Louis Gasnier take credit for the direction. The adaptation and screen play (I am still in the dark as to which is which) are accredited to Martin Brown and Louise Long. I think a great title for the picture would have been The Coquette and the Cossack.
The hit of the bill—as far as impromptu applause indicates—is one of those clever song cartoons, Sky Scraping.
Rubinoff leads his orchestra through a noisy tribute to Strauss' melodies and Ray Bolger is master of ceremonies for a bright stage show, "Collegiate." A new organist, Earl Abel, makes his appearance this week on The Virtuous Sin bill.
10/31/1930 LAX The Virtuous Sin
By Jerry Hoffman
Relentless, and yet fascinating in its dramatic power, The Virtuous Sin came to the Paramount Theater yesterday, bringing a new twist to an old story. For a moment one dreaded the outcome of the plot, almost certain of what was to happen, yet absorbed by the splendid performances of Walter Huston and Kay Francis. It was worth waiting through, for the climax brought an angle, possibly not new to fiction, but surely rare on the screen.
The Virtuous Sin seemed to unfold a story promised by the title. One about a woman who sacrifices herself for the love of her husband. In this case it has a war background and one imagines the greatly tortured spouse about to be lined up before a firing squad while airplanes rush with a reprieve shouting through a magna vox" Stop! Everything's jake. Your wife has sinned—virtuously!"
It isn't anything like that. The wife sins—and whether it was virtuously or not depends upon the point of view. She finds happiness through her action, and also saves her husband. I suppose that is what really matters. Lajos Zilahy's story, "The General," is the basis for the screen story by Martin Brown and Louise Long, which was done excellently. The greatest credit belongs to Walter Huston and Kay Francis, and, by all means, Kenneth McKenna, who, naturally, have the greatest number of scenes. George Cukor and Louis Gasnier, who codirected, are also entitled to much recognition for some departures in the unfolding of a story that enhance the values of this one greatly.
Jobyna Howland, as the mistress of a café, is fine. In fact, the entire cast makes a very unusual collection of quality performances. There are Paul Cavanagh, Eric Kalkhurst and Yucca Troubetzkoy among them.
For the first time, in all honesty, I have no hesitation in recommending the current week's show at the Paramount as the best of this seen there in years. There is one young man, Ray Bolger, who actually makes master of ceremonying a pleasure to the audience. Added to the pleasant and youthful personality young Bolger has are the displays of dancing ability and his humor, which should go far to make him a great Los Angeles favorite. There should be more of him. There are also Lester and Garson, recently with the "Temptations," who are very clever; Everett Hoagland's Band, quite a prolific group, and Maureen and Sonny.
11/1/1930 EH NECESSARY TALENTS TOLD
What qualities are necessary for histrionic screen success?
The answer is simple, according to George Cukor, co-director of The Virtuous Sin, which presents Walter Huston, Kay Francis and Kenneth MacKenna currently at the Paramount.
Provided basic talent is present, the pantomimic ability of the silent screen actor blended with the elocution prerequisites of the stage player will completely fit the thespian for sound pictures, Cukor states.
"It is conceded," the director continues, "that talking pictures are a channel distinct in themselves. They are neither the stage nor the screen, but a composite of both. Because the novelty of talking films has focused attention on the human voice, the legitimate player, with his long training in diction, surely has not been at a disadvantage.
"Some have said that those coming from the legitimate theater have had a tendency to overact, but this is a matter that can be ironed out after a few days in a studio."
11/22/1930 EH Screenographs
By Harrison Carroll
When London's favorite toast, Tallulah Bankhead, returns to her native land to make a picture Paramount is going to do right by her in the way of supporting cast.
Clive Brook will go east to play opposite the stage star in Her Past.
The story and dialogue are by Donald Ogden Stewart, one of this department's favorite purveyors of smart comedy. Direction is to be by George Cukor and Cyril Gardner.
New York will see Miss Bankhead about Jan 13.
11/28/1930 HDC The Virtuous Sin
By Elizabeth Yeaman
Three excellent performances distinguish a story with a surprise ending in The Virtuous Sin, which opened yesterday at the Pantages Theater. On the same program an unusually spectacular Fanchon and Marco revue is offered.
Although Walter Huston obtained star billing, the picture really belongs to Kay Francis. Do not infer that Huston does not give a fine portrayal, but his part is not as large as that taken by Miss Francis, for there is hardly a scene in which the actress does not appear.
It is an unusual role in which Miss Francis has been cast, and one which demands unusual acting ability. We see her as the rather platonic wife of a Russian scientist who has just discovered a new serum at the outbreak of the World War. She, too, is skilled in scientific research and has been wedded more by mutual scientific interest than by love.
DRAFTED INTO ARMY
On the eve of his great discovery, her husband is drafted by the Russian army. The life of a soldier is repulsive to him, and he is found guilty of repeated negligence of duty because he attempts to continue his study in the military camp. Ultimately he is court martialed and sentenced to the firing squad.
In desperation Miss Francis seeks a pardon from "iron face" General Platoff. This man cannot be moved by reason, justice or tears. With but one recourse left open to her, Miss Francis seeks to move him by love. The manner in which she succeeds is colorful and exciting, but do not thing that this is the ending of the story, for the unique twist at the close brings a smashing surprise.
The work of Miss Francis is distinguished by charm and finesse. She has given a subtle portrayal, leaving something to the imagination. Already an actress with a wide screen following, her work in this production promises to bring her even greater popularity.
Huston has given a strong characterization that at times is marked by brilliance. There is a confidence about his work, for although his role almost becomes that of a "heavy" he shows no desire to weaken his portrayal to enlist the sympathy of the audience. This man is a great actor, and although he is homely of features, he wields a magnetism that is undeniable. His performance of the general is daring and sincere.
MacKENNA WELL CAST
Kenneth MacKenna also is well cast as the scientist. He displays emotional fire inmost of the scenes, and manages to make his idealism at the end satisfactory with the audience. Other members of the cast include Paul Cavanagh, Oscar Apfel, Gordon McLeod, Victor Potel and Youcca Troubetzkoy.
The direction of George Cukor and Louis Ganier is admirable. There are many artistic touches in this picture; and the scene in the cabaret of doubtful repute is unusually fine.
In Fanchon and Marco's "Society Circus" revue, there is an extraordinary peacock ensemble with a remarkable acrobatic dancer. Shetland ponies go through their tricks with a bevy of girls in another number, and the stilt dance and ball-rolling acrobatic dancers present a thrilling spectacle.
A Knute Rockne football, special and current newsreel complete one of the most entertaining programs that has been presented at the Pantages.
12/28/1930 FD Royal Family of Broadway
Paramount Time, 1 hr., 8 mins.
Sparkling comedy with a knockout amusing performance by Fredric March. Expertly handled in all departments.
This talker version of the stage hit, in which Broadway's leading stage family is travestied for a fare-the-well, is about as choice a piece of amusing entertainment as the screen, or the stage, has to offer. With Fredric March looking almost more like John Barrymore than Barrymore himself and mimicking that star's supposed characteristics for a flock of robust laughs, the action of the story gallops at a gay clip. Dashing and audacious mockery, clever lines and a story that is dramatically human despite its bombastic make-believe, combine to make the production consistently fascinating as well as richly humorous. Fine performances are given by Henrietta Crosman, Ina Claire and Mary Brian.
CAST: Ina Claire, Fredric March, Mary Brian, Henrietta Crosman, Charles Starrett, Arnold Korff, Frank Conroy, Royal C. Stout, Elsie Emond, Murray Alper, Wesley Stark, Hershel Mayall.
Directors, George Cukor, Cyril Gardner; Authors, Edna Ferber, George S. Kaufman; Adaptors, Herman Mankiewicz, Gertrude Purcell; Dialoguer, not listed; Editor, Edward Dmytryk; Cameraman, George Folsey; Recording Engineer, C.A. Tuthill.
Direction, Smart. Photography, Excellent.
1/29/1931 LAX The Royal Family of Broadway
By Louella O. Parsons
The Royal Family of Broadway definitely establishes Ina Claire as a fine actress. Heretofore, motion picture fans were wont to look upon her as Mrs. John Gilbert, losing complete sight of the fact that before her marriage to Jack Gilbert and before her entrance into films Miss Claire was one of Broadway's most brilliant actresses.
The Royal Family of Broadway, now occupying the screen at the Criterion Theater, has done for Miss Claire what no other motion picture has been able to do. It has proved that she is able to give as superb a performance before the camera as she does on the stage. The Royal Family of Broadway, supposedly a closeup of the famous Barrymores, to this writer at least, is one of the best pictures ever made by Paramount and certainly as good entertainment as either stage or screen has given us in many and many a day.
At the time the George Kaufman-Edna Ferber play was produced on Broadway, those who were in the know in theatrical circles wondered if the fine subtleties would be lost on those who do not know the history of the Barrymores. The Barrymore family is so well known that I hardly think anyone could fail to get the excellent situations and the characterization of the eccentric John and the delightful Ethel.
Fredric March is so good as Tony Cavendish that you rub your eyes and wonder if John Barrymore hasn't at the last moment decided to play himself. You see Tony Cavendish with all the mannerisms of John Barrymore. Burlesque is too strong a word for the characterization that is done so subtly. When Fredric March arrives in the Cavendish household there is a turmoil like nothing else in the world. The whole family sits at his feet and adores him, especially is doting mother.
Then there is that splendid artist, Henrietta Crosman. After seeing Haldee Wright on the stage it seemed no one could approach her as Fanny Cavendish, the first of the line of Cavendishes, but Miss Crosman is excellently dramatic as this amazing woman who dies literally with her boots on.
In the stage play Fanny Cavendish never returns to the stage but Herman Mankiewicz and Gertrude Purcell who wrote the screen play, have taken the liberty of writing a different end and it's an improvement. I like the Fanny Cavendish exit from life in the screen play.
Mary Brian, who has never really had a chance, gives her first performance of any consequence as Gwen, the youngest of the family and the child of Julie. Frank Conroy, who should know the Barrymore temperament, having played opposite Ethel Barrymore on the stage, is convincingly dignified as Gilbert Marshall in love with Julie. Charles Starrett is satisfactory in the unimportant role of Gwen's husband.
The Royal Family of Broadway (and the Broadway was added for those who might think the former title indicated a costume play) was directed by George Cukor and Cyril Gardner. These two young men lost none of the subtleties of the play but put in a few on their own account. To me it's a grand picture and I want to see it again. I advise those who like good pictures to lose no time in paying the Criterion Theater a visit.
In addition to The Royal Family of Broadway there is Birds of a Feather and a Tom Terriss Series, Wizardland, also the Fox Movietone News.
1/29/1931 EH The Royal Family of Broadway
Opened at Criterion, Jan. 28. Directed by George Cukor and Cyril Gardner. Play by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman.
CAST: Ina Claire, Fredric March, Mary Brian, Henrietta Crosman, Charles Starrett, Arnold Korff, Frank Conroy, Royal C. Stout, Elsie Edmund, Murray Alper, Wesley Stark, Hershel Mayall.
By Harrison Carroll
In the gayest of veins, The Royal Family of Broadway reveals a few hectic episodes in the lives of those delectably mad stage aristocrats, the Cavendishes.
If anything, the new picture at the Criterion improves upon Edna Ferber's and George S. Kaufman's "The Royal Family," which was one of the high spots of its season on Broadway.
Rarely have satire and sentiment been so cleverly combined as in the story of these high-spirited, mercurial, ever-theatrical Cavendishes. Three generations of them swoop through The Royal Family of Broadway. There is old Fanny Cavendish, who indomitably clings to life and carries on. There is Julia, who sacrificed her first love to her career. There is Tony, the great lover, mad as a hatter. There is Gwen, daughter of Julia and granddaughter of Fanny. All of them eat, drink and breathe the theater.
THEY'RE CLANNISH
Their other great loyalty is to each other. The Cavendishes stick together.
The scene of the picture opens on one of the many crises of their topsy-turvy lives.. Tony is fleeing from an infatuated Polish actress who has followed him from Hollywood. Julia is a little shaken by the return of her childhood sweetheart. Fanny is facing that dim, final curtain of a glorious life. Gwen is at the crossroads—love or a career.
With infinite gusto the makers of the picture have trailed them through the pell-mell course of their adventures.
CAST SUPERB
And with positive inspiration a grand cast has brought them to life. What a fine portrait Henrietta Crosman draws of the stout-hearted matriarch. As for Ina Claire, she really finds herself on the screen as Julia. Fredric March is perfect as the melodramatic Tony. His famous invitation to the family to attend him while he takes a bath is enlarged upon with hilarious results in the screen version. In this fast company Mary Brian does exceptionally well as the storm-torn Gwen. Every member of the cast, in fact, is good. Special mention, perhaps, is due Arnold Korff as the manager and old family friend, and Frank Conroy as Julia's returned lover.
Praise belongs as well to co-directors George Cukor and Cyril Gardner, to adapters Herman Mankiewicz and Gertrude Purcell, to George Folsey, the photographer, and to Paramount for providing such a cinema lark.
My word for it, you'll laugh immoderately, and perhaps shed a tear over The Royal Family of Broadway.
6/3/1931 LAX Tarnished Lady
By Jerry Hoffman
Tarnished Lady came to the United Artists Theater last night bringing a new personality for screen fans in Tallulah Bankhead. In fact, it might be said that Tallulah Bankhead registers tremendously by making her personality stand out in a picture such as Tarnished Lady.
As with all new faces brought to the screen, one searches for resemblances to established favorites. It is difficult to classify Tallulah Bankhead. The face shifts through the memories the fans have of Garbo, Dietrich and even Joan Crawford. Her voice brings back the huskiness of Constance Bennett. The comparisons really do not matter. Tallulah Bankhead proves herself a very accomplished actress, Possessing all those vague and mysterious elements that go to make a "star."
There is also Clive Brook, who is co-featured with Miss Bankhead in Tarnished Lady The estimable Mr. Brook continues to make his very solid presence a comforting one and particularly in this instance, proof that the makers of this picture couldn't be kidding. For, you see, Tarnished Lady was written by Donald Ogden Stewart, who has a reputation as a humorist. Possibly Mr. Stewart did mean it as a joke and was taken seriously—oh, so seriously!—by the producers. The dialogue was no help and George Cukor didn't add any relief with his direction.
There is a supporting cast consisting of Phoebe Foster, De Alexander Kirkland, Osgood Perkins and Elizabeth Patterson. In writing those names, I may have confused the actual names of the players with those of their characters. And wouldn't they be glad of that!
You will like Tallulah Bankhead. The augmenting program, with Jack Benny; a golf musical novelty; the tarkartoon are also worth while.
6/3/1931 IDN The Tarnished Lady
By Eleanor Barnes
Poor Tallulah Bankhead!
If the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences awarded medals for the worst film of the year, Tarnished Lady, which opened at United Artists' last night, might be in line to capture it.
Miss Bankhead, let it be stated hastily, is a person of tremendous screen charm, beauty of a sort and a talent so distinguished that she is able to overcome shortcomings in story, plot, and treatment.
Just like Innocents In Paris, was the most stupid vehicle in which Maurice Chevalier could have bowed to an American audience, this production is a directorial frost by George Cukor that makes future Bankhead starring vehicles things to look forward to.
BUT IS IT ART?
Donald Ogden Stewart, the humorist, tried to be serious. He wrote the story and adapted it to the screen with funnier results than those supposed to make audience laugh.
Nancy Courtney, you see, was a society girl of fine family, but broke. Then came a half-starved writer that she loved, but alas, couldn't marry because he couldn't support her and her extravagant mother. So she wedded Norman Craveth, worth $3,000,000.
She still loved the other fellow and gave up her rich husband coincidentally with the stock market crash. She learned, too late, that her favored man was a social climber and playing up the Germaine Prentice, her constant nemesis.
Then Nancy went right down to the gutter, tried getting jobs of all sorts, and winding up with a child–her husband's child–and eventually being taken back by the cruel, but genuine husband.
THE PLOT
Ridiculous situations provided laughs at the wrong places, but Miss Bankhead's acting, her keen savvy of timing, redeemed much of the film. Clive Brook, unusually formal and unbending, turned the husband into a frozen fish, while Phoebe Foster showed to disadvantage as the disagreeable girl friend. The cracked voice of Elizabeth Patterson furnished a good comedy note, while Osgood Perkins lifted a silly role out of mediocrity by adroitness.
Jack Benny, in Cab Waiting; a golf musical novelty, The Fair and Square Ways; a newsreel, a talkartoon and Gaylord Carter at the organ completed the offering.
6/19/1931 HDC
George Cukor is preparing to direct Cobra, the Martin Brown play in which Paramount will costar Paul Lukas and Kay Francis as the romantic aristocrat and the unscrupulous woman whose fascination makes him her victim. Cukor has just returned to Hollywood from New York, where he directed Tallulah Bankhead in Tarnished Lady.
7/16/1931 EH Screenographs
By Harrison Carroll
After making several pictures for RKO-Pathe, Joel McCrea is going over to Paramount to play in Girls About Town, a story of two gold diggers by Zoe Akins, who wrote along the same lines in The Greeks Had a Word For It. The feminine roles will be taken by Lilyan Tashman and Kay Francis. That ought to insure flying sparks. George Cukor directs.
7/29/1931 LAX Louella O. Parsons
Victor Varconi, Carl Laemmle Jr., George Cukor, Gilbert Roland, Mike Levee and scores of others glimpsed on the beach.
9/25/1931 LAX Louella O. Parsons
One good job in the United States is worth a dozen in German. Jeanette MacDonald had many European offers, but she turned them down pronto when Paramount cabled her an offer to play opposite Maurice Chevalier in One Hour With You. Chevalier doesn't get here until the twenty-ninth of October, and that gives Jeanette ample time to finish her European trip and be on the set when George Cukor, the director, calls the roll. Chevalier had a talk with Jeanette when she appeared in concert in Paris. At that time he expressed the hope that she might again be his leading lady. Miss MacDonald's voice, one of the best on screen, was a decided asset in The Love Parade.
11/10/1931 HCN TROUPERS SLATE HORTON GREETING
A host of his friends from motion picture and stage circles will greet Edward Everett Horton when he opens tomorrow night in "Private Lives" at the Hollywood Playhouse.
It will be Horton's first footlight venture after a successful career in films. The play in which he will make his stage comeback is described as a delightfully risque comedy which is expected to do a thriving box office business.
The management announced today that the following theatrical folk have made reservations:
Ernst Lubitsch, Joan Crawford, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Kay Francis, Kenneth McKenna, Kay Johnson, John Cromwell, Paul Bern, Ona Munson, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Block, Mrs. Lydia LaPlante, Violet LaPlante, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Conlon, Mrs. Charles Seiter, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Tuttle, Mr. and Mrs. David Day, Mr. and Mrs. Herman Mankiewicz, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Jaffe, Rouben Mamoulian, Rose Hobart, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Bellamy, Mrs. Barney Glazer, Mr. and Mrs. Chandler Sprague, Mr. George Cukor, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Barthelmess, Mr. and Mrs. John McCormick, Mr. and Mrs. Melville Brown, Dean Cornwall, Mrs. Murell Finley, Eddie Woods, Dolores Brown, Kay Hammond, Henry Wetherby, Rene Denny, Mr. and Mrs. Clive Brook, Ruth Chatterton, Ralph Forbes, Lois Wilson, Edmund Breese, Hedda Hopper, Johnny Hines, Wallace Smith, Shirley Grey, Bill Keighley, Janet McLeod, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Ruggles, Dr. and Mrs. Schulman, and Mr. and Mrs. R. Burman.
Man o' War, one of the greatest horses of all times, may come out of his retirement to play a role in Paramount's Lemon Drop Kid.
Marshall Neilan, director of the film, today wired Samuel Riddle, Kentucky turfman, to see if he will permit the all-time champion to be shipped across the country to Hollywood to act before a motion picture camera.
Man o' War, now 17 years old, will not have to do the actual racing scenes for the Damon Runyon story. Like any other star, he'll have a double to do the dangerous and difficult work. He'll be used only in the closeups.
The studio believes that many racing fans will be glad to see once more the horse that was never beaten but once and that won a total of $249,465 in purses. They gauge his box office power by the fact that as many as 30,000 people a year still come to see the horse in his stall at the Riddle stables in Kentucky.
Since retiring from the track Man o' War has made a fortune for his present owner, who bought him in 1918 from August Belment. The famous racer has sired many winners of more recent track annals. Mata Hari, American Flag and Crusader all have the blood of the champion coursing in their veins.
In case they win Turfman Riddle's consent, the studio is prepared to bring Man o' War to Hollywood in a special car and with all possible safeguards against his injury or illness.
....
The marital status of Lupe Velez and Johnny Weissmuller is still Hollywood's most exciting topic of the day. With Lupe's divorce complaint only three days old, the Mexican star shows up for rehearsals at the Columbia studio yesterday with Johnny Weissmuller in two. Members of The Girl Friend troupe report affectionate scenes between the two with Lupe calling for her "Darleeng" every few breaths. Another episode in the diverting comedy was staged last night when the "estranged" couple attended the prize fights together at the Hollywood stadium, with director W.S. Van Dyke along as extra man.
"I don't know whether I am supposed to be chaperon or referee," was the director's dry comment.
....
Very dramatic, the scene that took place yesterday on a Warner Brothers set. Since her family fortunes were affected by the market crash, Marcorita Hellman, Los Angeles society girl and daughter of banker Marco Hellman, has been working in motion pictures under contract to Warners. Yesterday, she was doing a small part in the film, I Sell Anything, featuring Pat O'Brien. The action called for the hero to step out of a swank automobile and the director instructed the property department to provide one. Presently a luxurious machine rolled upon the set. Most of the company scarcely noticed its arrival. But Marcorita did. For she recognized the car as one that formerly belonged to her father.
....
James Blakely, New York socialite and one-time fiancé of Barbara Hutton, wonders how come. For 15 days the young society man, now an actor at the Columbia studio, has been receiving mysterious postcards. They come one a day and each bears but a single letter. So far the message reads:
"Do you recall a nig?
....
Maybe it's the late summer, but not a single one of the 62 featured players one Warners' contract list has moved to the beach this year.
....
It's hard to remember what a kid Jean Parker is. But this incident will give you an idea. MGM's newest star entertains a lot of young people at her home. One of them is Aubrey Austin, a student at a Hollywood military school. The other day, after he left, Jean found a note and a class pin. Her bashful admirer didn't have to offer it any other way. Jean was equally embarrassed about the way to return the pin. She finally did it this way. When the boy called, she left the pin and a note on the hall table at her home. Then she went upstairs and stayed in her room until he found it.
....
Knick-Knacks: A lot of Hollywoodites could take a lesson in kindness from Fannie Brice. Since arriving in the film capital Fannie has spent many hours at the hospital with Mae Clarke, who has been so ill, but who now is said to be much improved. In the old days, you know, Mae was married to Fannie's brother, Lew.....Strange thing, coincidence. George Johns was employed to give technical advice on The Fountain at RKO because he once escaped from a German prison camp near the Swiss border. On the same set is Otto Krauss, who was guard at the time of the escape and almost got court-martialed for his laxity....John Barrymore is one of the movie enthusiasts over skeet-shooting and has the finest course in the country installed on his hillside estate.....Phyllis Bottome, the novelist, is visiting Hollywood....Jack Oakie and the Claude Binyon are off to join the Richard Arlens on a cruse....and John Boles and Irene Dunne will give a private concert for the cast of The Age of Innocence.
....
Did You Know: That Bing Crosby once played the trap drums in an orchestra while Sally Rand did a toe dancing act?
....
Did You Know: That Francis Lederer owns 30 volumes on world's superstitions and follows as many of them as he can remember?
George Cukor In the 30's
ABBREVIATIONS
DN – Daily News (Los Angeles)
EH -- Los Angeles Evening Herald
EHE -- Los Angeles Evening Herald Express
FD -- Film Daily
HCN -- Hollywood Citizen News
IDN – Illustrated Daily News (Los Angeles)
LAR -- Los Angeles Record
LAPR – Los Angeles Post-Record
LAX -- Los Angeles Examiner
MPH -- Motion Picture Herald
10/26/1929 EH Scouting the Sinema
By Dorothy Herzog
Speaking of Universal's All Quiet on the Western Front, there's a report circulating that directors Lewis Milestone and George Kukor are anxious to sign Douglas Fairbanks Jr. to play the lead. Corking good part, whoever gets it. A few names have been added to the cast, including Ben Alexander, Phillip Holmes, and Billy Bakewell. Ben Alexander is an ex-boy star making good in his adolescence without the Harterschaft & Marx.
3/19/1930 LAX Louella O. Parsons
Lilyan Tashman in the latest spring suits, lunching at the Embassy with George Cukor.
6/13/1930 HDC Elizabeth Yeaman
George Cukor, the successful Broadway stage director who was responsible for the direction of Ethel Barrymore in "The Constant Wife," Jeanne Eagels in "Her Cardboard Lover," Laurette Taylor in "The Furies," and Dorothy Gish in "Young Love," has signed a new contract to direct talking pictures for Paramount. This contract follows his work on Grumpy, the Cyril Maude starring picture, in which Cukor co-directed with Cyril Gardner. His next assignment will be announced in the near future.
7/9/1930 HDC Society In Filmland
By Rachel Rubiin
Novel costumes featured the dinner dance with which Miss Kay Francis entertained Saturday evening in the Castellamare Inn, honoring Louis Bromfield and Sidney Howard..
Women of the party appeared in lounging pajamas of various hues and their escorts dressed informally in white flannels and other sports clothes. Miss Francis, who is known as one of the most smartly-dressed young women in the film colony, received her guests in regulation sailor garb.
Those bidden included Messers. And Mesdames Arthur Hornblow, Humphrey Bogart (Mary Phillips), John Gilbert (Ina Claire), Barney Glazer, Samuel Goldwyn, Edmund Lowe (Lilyan Tashman), Basil Rathbone (Ouida Bergere), George Fitzmaurice, Al Kaufman, David Selznick (Irene Mayer), Charles MacArthur (Helen Hayes), Guthrie McClintock (Katherine Cornell), Ralph Forbes (Ruth Chatterton), John Cromwell (Kay Johnson), Edwin Knopf, Frederick Worlock (Elsie Ferguson), Leslie Howard, Oliver Garrett, Florenz Ziegfeld (Bille Burke), Robert Ames, King Tuttle, B.P. Schulberg, Chandler Sprague, Ben Lyon (Bebe Daniels), Mrs. Patrick Campbell, the Misses Ilka Chase, Constance Bennett, Aileen Percy and Fay Bainter; Messrs. Charles Bromfield, Kenneth McKenna, William Emmerick, James Creelman, John Halliday, Stu Erwin, Lothar Mendes, Eddie Kane, Gene Markey, Mischa Auer, Mary Tilman, George Cukor, Edmund Goulding, Jacques D'Arcy and Count de Luart.
8/13/1930 HDC Elizabeth Yeaman
Two interesting cast announcements have come from Paramount, where Kenneth MacKenna and Jobyna Howland have been signed for two of the four leading roles in The Virtuous Sin, which will be a talking adaptation of Lajos Zilahy's play, "The General." Walter Huston and Kay Francis already have been engaged for the other two leads. The story is a melodrama of the World War, with a Russian general, a young scientist, his wife and the hostess of a cheap night club opened for the entertainment of the boys at the front. Huston will be the general, Kenneth MacKenna the scientist, Kay Francis his wife, and Jobyna Howland the night club hostess. All four of these players won recognition on the legitimate stage before entering pictures. MacKenna was a stage star and producer until last year when he signed a contract with Fox. Miss Howland was a Broadway headliner for almost a decade, appearing in "Lightin'," "Kid Boots," and "The Gold Diggers." Her first picture role was in Honey with Nancy Carroll. Lous Gasnier and George Cukor will handle the direction of the picture together.
8/14/1930 IDN Grumpy
Grumpy is a picture that the discriminating and diversion-loving film-goer should include in the list of "musts."
Cyril Maude, the distinguished actor, has been playing the grouchy old criminal lawyer for more years than he has fingers and toes and it is a production of such rare quality and charm that it has survived the ravages of time and in 1930 meets the requirements of entertainment as much as it did in the fore part of the century.
SHOULD CLICK
Grumpy opened at the United Artists theater yesterday with a fair audience in attendance, and it is to be presumed that the late performance would have double-interest as Frances Dade was scheduled to appear in person on stage.
"Grumpy" is a darling. He's a quaint old chap with one eye on Eros, one eye on world events, and a husky voice that calls for his many small wants, which he always wants in a hurry.
Cyril Maude's screen characterization of the stage role that he has played 1400 times is smooth, picturesque and comical.
"Grumpy," you will remember, was frightfully interested in the love affairs of his granddaughter Virginia, and she, the darling, could see beneath his walrus-like hide of camouflage, and snickered a bit at his idiosyncracies.
There was intrusted to Ernest Heron the dangerous job of protecting a precious diamond on a lengthy excursion, and alas, the lad failed, for jewel thieves were on the trail of the gem. And the beautiful granddaughter of "Grumpy" became the unwitting agent in the delicate maneuvering of the thieves for transporting the jewel.
But "Grumpy" in his craftiness, psychologized the stone from its unlawful possessor back to the owner in a daring and clever maneuver.
CLEVERLY DONE
Now the story means nothing, really, it is the skill in which Cyril Maude presents the venerable character that counts. Just as "Old English" is a definite part of George Arliss' career, so does "Grumpy" seem a part of Cyril Maude.
His funny pretense at snoring, his pseudo coughing, his distinctive manner of leaning over and chortling like a doddering old fuss-budget; all these little things are lovely and should appeal to the lover of good theater.
Phillips Holmes, the adolescent who failed his duty, is a young man generally seen in pictures with a bandage around his head, as in Devil's Holiday.
Miss Dade reminds one of Joan Bennett a great deal, especially her voice, and she does some excellent work as the granddaughter. Miss Dade has charm.
Paul Cavanagh is the heavy—a handsome man who is more interested in jewels than girls, but he finds a powerful ally in the skillful old "Grumpy."
Doris Luray, Olaf Hytton, Colin Kenny, Halliwell Hobbes and Robert Bolder are well cast.
WELL DIRECTED
Grumpy, from the original play be Horace Hodges and Thomas Wignet Percyval, had additional screen dialogue furnished by Doris Anderson, while Cyril Gardner and George Cukor did some nice directing.
8/14/1930 LAX Grumpy
By Jerry Hoffman
Toward the finish of Grumpy, which opened in the United Artists Theater yesterday, a young lady leaned over to her mother (I presume it was her mother) and gurgled ecstatically.
"That's the sweetest play I've seen in years."
After which there seems to be little left for a reviewer to say.
Grumpy will be new to current talkie fans. It is many years since Theodore Roberts played it in silent pictures, and a longer time since Cyril Maude was seen in the original play version. In the new Paramount production, Maude is back in his early role of the lovable, though fussy and fuming old "Grumpy." The charm that was present in the stage production is equally powerful in this talkie adaptation. It is highly modern in treatment, concentrating not upon the stage manner, but that of the screen.
Grumpy, for the enlightenment of the unfamiliar, is good old English slang for grandpa. It remains for Grumpy, with his fussing and his fuming, to bring about the romance of two young people dear to him. Grumpy was formerly a criminal lawyer. Hence, when the young man's future and his romance are threatened by the theft of a jewel intrusted to him, Grumpy comes to the rescue.
I'm glad the effervescent young lady said "Sweet" in her description. It wouldn't do for a male to use that word, but Grumpy is just that. It contains silent chuckles, audible snickers and loud laughter. There are times when certain members of the cast, display a tendency to become very—oh, in fact, "vurry, vurry, legitimate," m'deahs. You know, the kind that step aside and listen to themselves talk.
Most of those moments have been nipped, however, and there is still the delightful performance of Cyril Maude. Grumpy, after all, is a one-man play, with the other characters almost incidental. Phillips Holmes does very well with the juvenile role and Halliwell Hobbes is particularly good as Ruddick, friend and valet to the aged "Grumpy." Frances Dade is the young lady and presents a new and rather pleasant screen personality. Paul Cavanagh makes a convincing menace.
George Cukor and Cyril Gardner has done very well with their joint direction. The temptations to make Grumpy too much theater and not sufficient movie must have been many, but they were avoided. The result is plenty of suspense and a fast-moving story. Horace Hodges and Thomas Wigney Percival wrote the play which Doris Anderson adapted. Screamingly funny on the United Artists program is Neighborly Neighbors with Lulu McConnell.
8/14/1930 HDC Grumpy
By Elizabeth Yeaman
Fortunately talking pictures were perfected in time to immortalize Cyril Maude in Grumpy. Those of us who have heard our grandparents laud the voice of Jenny Lind or the consummate art of Duse, may have been skeptical about their enthusiasm. But when we have become grandparents, we can point to the talking film of Grumpy as justification for our praise of the incomparable acting of Cryil Maude.
This picture which opened yesterday at United Artists Theater, is based on the story of a diamond theft. From that you might suppose that it is a blood and thunder plot filled with action, thrills and suspense, and done in the typical cinema manner of underworld themes.
LEISURELY STORY
But Grumpy is a leisurely picture, which slowly finds its way to your heart and leaves there a characterization which always will be cherished. Kindly beneath his irascibility, romantic in spite of his gruff exterior, with a mind which keenly penetrate the motives of mankind while he appears to be dozing. Cyril Maude has given a portrayal that never will be forgotten. He has made Grumpy as immortal as Hamlet.
There is humor in this picture, not the boisterous comedy which provokes roars, but the gentle, smiling humor which reflects a warm, inner glow of sympathetic appreciation. Also, there is romance, of a sweet and pure character, and an undertone of suspense which gains momentum until the audience is tense, with excitement at the climax.
CHARACTER STANDS OUT
Still, when you leave the theater, it is the characterization of Grumpy which stands out above the plot, the lovable, shrewd, querulous, and brilliant Grumpy whose creaking joints make your bones fairly ache and whose wheezing respiration is so real that your lungs contract at the sound.
Phillips Holmes give a splendid performance as the young Englishman who has been entrusted with the safe-keeping of the diamond. Frances Dade is his blonde sweetheart, and Paul Cavanaugh realizes his opportunities in the sinister role of Jarvis. An interesting and delightful character bit is contributed by Doris Luray as the maid, and other members of the cast include Paul Lukas, Halliwell Hobbes, Olaf Hytton, Robert Bolder and Colin Kenny.
DIRECTION PRAISED
In every instance the direction of George Cukor and Cyril Gardner is beyond reproach. It is they who have silenced the cinematic protests of our lofty Broadway critics. The art of Grumpy is perfection itself, but the picture is more than art. It is a human delineation which should appeal to one and all. Paramount may be justly proud of itself for this production.
An unusually beautiful travelogue, newsreel, comedy, and organ concert are included on the bill.
10/26/1930 FD The Virtuous Sin
Paramount Time, 1 Hr., 20 mins.
Trite story material and dialogue put this Russian drama in weakling class, slow and obvious stuff.
Based on a story, The General, by Lajos Zilahy. Paramount must have dug deep into the files to dust this yarn off. It's the moth-bitten one about the lady who sets out to give all, including her honor, in order to save her husband from execution. Her objective is a war-steeled general who falls for her pronto—and she for him. He releases the husband just before his shooting engagement but sours on the wife for her trick. Hubby, when free, endeavors to kill the general but no such luck. Eventually he takes a sensible view on the situation and agrees to let his wife divorce him. Then there's the happy ending. An intelligent treatment might have helped matters but it wasn't provided. The players struggle the story as best they can but the results remain beyond the realm of real entertainment. The production has been mounted in excellent fashion.
CAST: Walter Huston, Kay Francis, Kenneth MacKenna, Paul Cavanaugh, Eric Kalkhurst, Oscar Apfel, Gordon McLeod, Victor Potel, Youcca Troubetskoy.
Directors, George Cukor and Louis Gasnier; Author, Lajos Zilahy; Adaptors, Martin Brown, Louise Long; Editor, Opho Lovering; Cameraman, David Abel.
Direction, Weak. Photography, Good.
10/31/1930 EH The Virtuous Sin
By Lazos Zilahy. Directed by George Cukor and Louis Gasnier. Opened at Paramount, Oct. 30, 1930.
CAST: Walter Huston, Kay Francis, Kenneth MacKenna, Paul Cavanagh, Eric Kolkhurst, Oscar Apfel, Victor Potel and Youcca Troubeltskey.
By W.E. Oliver
If prewar Russians made love as assiduously as the soldiers do in The Virtuous Sin, I begin to catch on to Soviet strategy in putting everybody to work.
This new Paramount picture is adapted from one of Broadway's popular plays, "The General." It tells the story of a girl of the caviar classes who pits her its and charm against a Cossack general with allegedly blunted nerve ends in order to save her officer-husband from execution.
The general, however, proves he is no anomaly from the River Don, and the girl finds herself soon loving him in return and participating in one of those extra-military operations which Tolstoi's memoirs of the Carpathians lead us to believe were not so rare among the Slave soldiery.
And now, my dear screengoers, if this has you rushing down to the theater, I have done my bit.
Walter Huston, who, has lately distinguished himself in other roles, draws the assignment of proving that a Cossack knows his cossetting, and while he is on a horse and has good lines to say, he puts you very much at ease.
The role of sacrifice is undertaken by Kay Francis, and while she is playing the gay coquette she is very acceptable, too. Paul Cavanaugh, Eric Kalkhurst, Oscar Apfel, Gordon McLeod, with Youcca Troubetskey included to give the setting its proper cachet, all play officer roles.
Standing almost alone in this expanse of pomp and gold braid is Victor Potel, who, with his few minutes of buffoonery, provides a refreshing touch of comedy in the first half of the picture, which incidentally is the better half, being light and frolicksome.
George Cukor and Louis Gasnier take credit for the direction. The adaptation and screen play (I am still in the dark as to which is which) are accredited to Martin Brown and Louise Long. I think a great title for the picture would have been The Coquette and the Cossack.
The hit of the bill—as far as impromptu applause indicates—is one of those clever song cartoons, Sky Scraping.
Rubinoff leads his orchestra through a noisy tribute to Strauss' melodies and Ray Bolger is master of ceremonies for a bright stage show, "Collegiate." A new organist, Earl Abel, makes his appearance this week on The Virtuous Sin bill.
10/31/1930 LAX The Virtuous Sin
By Jerry Hoffman
Relentless, and yet fascinating in its dramatic power, The Virtuous Sin came to the Paramount Theater yesterday, bringing a new twist to an old story. For a moment one dreaded the outcome of the plot, almost certain of what was to happen, yet absorbed by the splendid performances of Walter Huston and Kay Francis. It was worth waiting through, for the climax brought an angle, possibly not new to fiction, but surely rare on the screen.
The Virtuous Sin seemed to unfold a story promised by the title. One about a woman who sacrifices herself for the love of her husband. In this case it has a war background and one imagines the greatly tortured spouse about to be lined up before a firing squad while airplanes rush with a reprieve shouting through a magna vox" Stop! Everything's jake. Your wife has sinned—virtuously!"
It isn't anything like that. The wife sins—and whether it was virtuously or not depends upon the point of view. She finds happiness through her action, and also saves her husband. I suppose that is what really matters. Lajos Zilahy's story, "The General," is the basis for the screen story by Martin Brown and Louise Long, which was done excellently. The greatest credit belongs to Walter Huston and Kay Francis, and, by all means, Kenneth McKenna, who, naturally, have the greatest number of scenes. George Cukor and Louis Gasnier, who codirected, are also entitled to much recognition for some departures in the unfolding of a story that enhance the values of this one greatly.
Jobyna Howland, as the mistress of a café, is fine. In fact, the entire cast makes a very unusual collection of quality performances. There are Paul Cavanagh, Eric Kalkhurst and Yucca Troubetzkoy among them.
For the first time, in all honesty, I have no hesitation in recommending the current week's show at the Paramount as the best of this seen there in years. There is one young man, Ray Bolger, who actually makes master of ceremonying a pleasure to the audience. Added to the pleasant and youthful personality young Bolger has are the displays of dancing ability and his humor, which should go far to make him a great Los Angeles favorite. There should be more of him. There are also Lester and Garson, recently with the "Temptations," who are very clever; Everett Hoagland's Band, quite a prolific group, and Maureen and Sonny.
11/1/1930 EH NECESSARY TALENTS TOLD
What qualities are necessary for histrionic screen success?
The answer is simple, according to George Cukor, co-director of The Virtuous Sin, which presents Walter Huston, Kay Francis and Kenneth MacKenna currently at the Paramount.
Provided basic talent is present, the pantomimic ability of the silent screen actor blended with the elocution prerequisites of the stage player will completely fit the thespian for sound pictures, Cukor states.
"It is conceded," the director continues, "that talking pictures are a channel distinct in themselves. They are neither the stage nor the screen, but a composite of both. Because the novelty of talking films has focused attention on the human voice, the legitimate player, with his long training in diction, surely has not been at a disadvantage.
"Some have said that those coming from the legitimate theater have had a tendency to overact, but this is a matter that can be ironed out after a few days in a studio."
11/22/1930 EH Screenographs
By Harrison Carroll
When London's favorite toast, Tallulah Bankhead, returns to her native land to make a picture Paramount is going to do right by her in the way of supporting cast.
Clive Brook will go east to play opposite the stage star in Her Past.
The story and dialogue are by Donald Ogden Stewart, one of this department's favorite purveyors of smart comedy. Direction is to be by George Cukor and Cyril Gardner.
New York will see Miss Bankhead about Jan 13.
11/28/1930 HDC The Virtuous Sin
By Elizabeth Yeaman
Three excellent performances distinguish a story with a surprise ending in The Virtuous Sin, which opened yesterday at the Pantages Theater. On the same program an unusually spectacular Fanchon and Marco revue is offered.
Although Walter Huston obtained star billing, the picture really belongs to Kay Francis. Do not infer that Huston does not give a fine portrayal, but his part is not as large as that taken by Miss Francis, for there is hardly a scene in which the actress does not appear.
It is an unusual role in which Miss Francis has been cast, and one which demands unusual acting ability. We see her as the rather platonic wife of a Russian scientist who has just discovered a new serum at the outbreak of the World War. She, too, is skilled in scientific research and has been wedded more by mutual scientific interest than by love.
DRAFTED INTO ARMY
On the eve of his great discovery, her husband is drafted by the Russian army. The life of a soldier is repulsive to him, and he is found guilty of repeated negligence of duty because he attempts to continue his study in the military camp. Ultimately he is court martialed and sentenced to the firing squad.
In desperation Miss Francis seeks a pardon from "iron face" General Platoff. This man cannot be moved by reason, justice or tears. With but one recourse left open to her, Miss Francis seeks to move him by love. The manner in which she succeeds is colorful and exciting, but do not thing that this is the ending of the story, for the unique twist at the close brings a smashing surprise.
The work of Miss Francis is distinguished by charm and finesse. She has given a subtle portrayal, leaving something to the imagination. Already an actress with a wide screen following, her work in this production promises to bring her even greater popularity.
Huston has given a strong characterization that at times is marked by brilliance. There is a confidence about his work, for although his role almost becomes that of a "heavy" he shows no desire to weaken his portrayal to enlist the sympathy of the audience. This man is a great actor, and although he is homely of features, he wields a magnetism that is undeniable. His performance of the general is daring and sincere.
MacKENNA WELL CAST
Kenneth MacKenna also is well cast as the scientist. He displays emotional fire inmost of the scenes, and manages to make his idealism at the end satisfactory with the audience. Other members of the cast include Paul Cavanagh, Oscar Apfel, Gordon McLeod, Victor Potel and Youcca Troubetzkoy.
The direction of George Cukor and Louis Ganier is admirable. There are many artistic touches in this picture; and the scene in the cabaret of doubtful repute is unusually fine.
In Fanchon and Marco's "Society Circus" revue, there is an extraordinary peacock ensemble with a remarkable acrobatic dancer. Shetland ponies go through their tricks with a bevy of girls in another number, and the stilt dance and ball-rolling acrobatic dancers present a thrilling spectacle.
A Knute Rockne football, special and current newsreel complete one of the most entertaining programs that has been presented at the Pantages.
12/28/1930 FD Royal Family of Broadway
Paramount Time, 1 hr., 8 mins.
Sparkling comedy with a knockout amusing performance by Fredric March. Expertly handled in all departments.
This talker version of the stage hit, in which Broadway's leading stage family is travestied for a fare-the-well, is about as choice a piece of amusing entertainment as the screen, or the stage, has to offer. With Fredric March looking almost more like John Barrymore than Barrymore himself and mimicking that star's supposed characteristics for a flock of robust laughs, the action of the story gallops at a gay clip. Dashing and audacious mockery, clever lines and a story that is dramatically human despite its bombastic make-believe, combine to make the production consistently fascinating as well as richly humorous. Fine performances are given by Henrietta Crosman, Ina Claire and Mary Brian.
CAST: Ina Claire, Fredric March, Mary Brian, Henrietta Crosman, Charles Starrett, Arnold Korff, Frank Conroy, Royal C. Stout, Elsie Emond, Murray Alper, Wesley Stark, Hershel Mayall.
Directors, George Cukor, Cyril Gardner; Authors, Edna Ferber, George S. Kaufman; Adaptors, Herman Mankiewicz, Gertrude Purcell; Dialoguer, not listed; Editor, Edward Dmytryk; Cameraman, George Folsey; Recording Engineer, C.A. Tuthill.
Direction, Smart. Photography, Excellent.
1/29/1931 LAX The Royal Family of Broadway
By Louella O. Parsons
The Royal Family of Broadway definitely establishes Ina Claire as a fine actress. Heretofore, motion picture fans were wont to look upon her as Mrs. John Gilbert, losing complete sight of the fact that before her marriage to Jack Gilbert and before her entrance into films Miss Claire was one of Broadway's most brilliant actresses.
The Royal Family of Broadway, now occupying the screen at the Criterion Theater, has done for Miss Claire what no other motion picture has been able to do. It has proved that she is able to give as superb a performance before the camera as she does on the stage. The Royal Family of Broadway, supposedly a closeup of the famous Barrymores, to this writer at least, is one of the best pictures ever made by Paramount and certainly as good entertainment as either stage or screen has given us in many and many a day.
At the time the George Kaufman-Edna Ferber play was produced on Broadway, those who were in the know in theatrical circles wondered if the fine subtleties would be lost on those who do not know the history of the Barrymores. The Barrymore family is so well known that I hardly think anyone could fail to get the excellent situations and the characterization of the eccentric John and the delightful Ethel.
Fredric March is so good as Tony Cavendish that you rub your eyes and wonder if John Barrymore hasn't at the last moment decided to play himself. You see Tony Cavendish with all the mannerisms of John Barrymore. Burlesque is too strong a word for the characterization that is done so subtly. When Fredric March arrives in the Cavendish household there is a turmoil like nothing else in the world. The whole family sits at his feet and adores him, especially is doting mother.
Then there is that splendid artist, Henrietta Crosman. After seeing Haldee Wright on the stage it seemed no one could approach her as Fanny Cavendish, the first of the line of Cavendishes, but Miss Crosman is excellently dramatic as this amazing woman who dies literally with her boots on.
In the stage play Fanny Cavendish never returns to the stage but Herman Mankiewicz and Gertrude Purcell who wrote the screen play, have taken the liberty of writing a different end and it's an improvement. I like the Fanny Cavendish exit from life in the screen play.
Mary Brian, who has never really had a chance, gives her first performance of any consequence as Gwen, the youngest of the family and the child of Julie. Frank Conroy, who should know the Barrymore temperament, having played opposite Ethel Barrymore on the stage, is convincingly dignified as Gilbert Marshall in love with Julie. Charles Starrett is satisfactory in the unimportant role of Gwen's husband.
The Royal Family of Broadway (and the Broadway was added for those who might think the former title indicated a costume play) was directed by George Cukor and Cyril Gardner. These two young men lost none of the subtleties of the play but put in a few on their own account. To me it's a grand picture and I want to see it again. I advise those who like good pictures to lose no time in paying the Criterion Theater a visit.
In addition to The Royal Family of Broadway there is Birds of a Feather and a Tom Terriss Series, Wizardland, also the Fox Movietone News.
1/29/1931 EH The Royal Family of Broadway
Opened at Criterion, Jan. 28. Directed by George Cukor and Cyril Gardner. Play by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman.
CAST: Ina Claire, Fredric March, Mary Brian, Henrietta Crosman, Charles Starrett, Arnold Korff, Frank Conroy, Royal C. Stout, Elsie Edmund, Murray Alper, Wesley Stark, Hershel Mayall.
By Harrison Carroll
In the gayest of veins, The Royal Family of Broadway reveals a few hectic episodes in the lives of those delectably mad stage aristocrats, the Cavendishes.
If anything, the new picture at the Criterion improves upon Edna Ferber's and George S. Kaufman's "The Royal Family," which was one of the high spots of its season on Broadway.
Rarely have satire and sentiment been so cleverly combined as in the story of these high-spirited, mercurial, ever-theatrical Cavendishes. Three generations of them swoop through The Royal Family of Broadway. There is old Fanny Cavendish, who indomitably clings to life and carries on. There is Julia, who sacrificed her first love to her career. There is Tony, the great lover, mad as a hatter. There is Gwen, daughter of Julia and granddaughter of Fanny. All of them eat, drink and breathe the theater.
THEY'RE CLANNISH
Their other great loyalty is to each other. The Cavendishes stick together.
The scene of the picture opens on one of the many crises of their topsy-turvy lives.. Tony is fleeing from an infatuated Polish actress who has followed him from Hollywood. Julia is a little shaken by the return of her childhood sweetheart. Fanny is facing that dim, final curtain of a glorious life. Gwen is at the crossroads—love or a career.
With infinite gusto the makers of the picture have trailed them through the pell-mell course of their adventures.
CAST SUPERB
And with positive inspiration a grand cast has brought them to life. What a fine portrait Henrietta Crosman draws of the stout-hearted matriarch. As for Ina Claire, she really finds herself on the screen as Julia. Fredric March is perfect as the melodramatic Tony. His famous invitation to the family to attend him while he takes a bath is enlarged upon with hilarious results in the screen version. In this fast company Mary Brian does exceptionally well as the storm-torn Gwen. Every member of the cast, in fact, is good. Special mention, perhaps, is due Arnold Korff as the manager and old family friend, and Frank Conroy as Julia's returned lover.
Praise belongs as well to co-directors George Cukor and Cyril Gardner, to adapters Herman Mankiewicz and Gertrude Purcell, to George Folsey, the photographer, and to Paramount for providing such a cinema lark.
My word for it, you'll laugh immoderately, and perhaps shed a tear over The Royal Family of Broadway.
6/3/1931 LAX Tarnished Lady
By Jerry Hoffman
Tarnished Lady came to the United Artists Theater last night bringing a new personality for screen fans in Tallulah Bankhead. In fact, it might be said that Tallulah Bankhead registers tremendously by making her personality stand out in a picture such as Tarnished Lady.
As with all new faces brought to the screen, one searches for resemblances to established favorites. It is difficult to classify Tallulah Bankhead. The face shifts through the memories the fans have of Garbo, Dietrich and even Joan Crawford. Her voice brings back the huskiness of Constance Bennett. The comparisons really do not matter. Tallulah Bankhead proves herself a very accomplished actress, Possessing all those vague and mysterious elements that go to make a "star."
There is also Clive Brook, who is co-featured with Miss Bankhead in Tarnished Lady The estimable Mr. Brook continues to make his very solid presence a comforting one and particularly in this instance, proof that the makers of this picture couldn't be kidding. For, you see, Tarnished Lady was written by Donald Ogden Stewart, who has a reputation as a humorist. Possibly Mr. Stewart did mean it as a joke and was taken seriously—oh, so seriously!—by the producers. The dialogue was no help and George Cukor didn't add any relief with his direction.
There is a supporting cast consisting of Phoebe Foster, De Alexander Kirkland, Osgood Perkins and Elizabeth Patterson. In writing those names, I may have confused the actual names of the players with those of their characters. And wouldn't they be glad of that!
You will like Tallulah Bankhead. The augmenting program, with Jack Benny; a golf musical novelty; the tarkartoon are also worth while.
6/3/1931 IDN The Tarnished Lady
By Eleanor Barnes
Poor Tallulah Bankhead!
If the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences awarded medals for the worst film of the year, Tarnished Lady, which opened at United Artists' last night, might be in line to capture it.
Miss Bankhead, let it be stated hastily, is a person of tremendous screen charm, beauty of a sort and a talent so distinguished that she is able to overcome shortcomings in story, plot, and treatment.
Just like Innocents In Paris, was the most stupid vehicle in which Maurice Chevalier could have bowed to an American audience, this production is a directorial frost by George Cukor that makes future Bankhead starring vehicles things to look forward to.
BUT IS IT ART?
Donald Ogden Stewart, the humorist, tried to be serious. He wrote the story and adapted it to the screen with funnier results than those supposed to make audience laugh.
Nancy Courtney, you see, was a society girl of fine family, but broke. Then came a half-starved writer that she loved, but alas, couldn't marry because he couldn't support her and her extravagant mother. So she wedded Norman Craveth, worth $3,000,000.
She still loved the other fellow and gave up her rich husband coincidentally with the stock market crash. She learned, too late, that her favored man was a social climber and playing up the Germaine Prentice, her constant nemesis.
Then Nancy went right down to the gutter, tried getting jobs of all sorts, and winding up with a child–her husband's child–and eventually being taken back by the cruel, but genuine husband.
THE PLOT
Ridiculous situations provided laughs at the wrong places, but Miss Bankhead's acting, her keen savvy of timing, redeemed much of the film. Clive Brook, unusually formal and unbending, turned the husband into a frozen fish, while Phoebe Foster showed to disadvantage as the disagreeable girl friend. The cracked voice of Elizabeth Patterson furnished a good comedy note, while Osgood Perkins lifted a silly role out of mediocrity by adroitness.
Jack Benny, in Cab Waiting; a golf musical novelty, The Fair and Square Ways; a newsreel, a talkartoon and Gaylord Carter at the organ completed the offering.
6/19/1931 HDC
George Cukor is preparing to direct Cobra, the Martin Brown play in which Paramount will costar Paul Lukas and Kay Francis as the romantic aristocrat and the unscrupulous woman whose fascination makes him her victim. Cukor has just returned to Hollywood from New York, where he directed Tallulah Bankhead in Tarnished Lady.
7/16/1931 EH Screenographs
By Harrison Carroll
After making several pictures for RKO-Pathe, Joel McCrea is going over to Paramount to play in Girls About Town, a story of two gold diggers by Zoe Akins, who wrote along the same lines in The Greeks Had a Word For It. The feminine roles will be taken by Lilyan Tashman and Kay Francis. That ought to insure flying sparks. George Cukor directs.
7/29/1931 LAX Louella O. Parsons
Victor Varconi, Carl Laemmle Jr., George Cukor, Gilbert Roland, Mike Levee and scores of others glimpsed on the beach.
9/25/1931 LAX Louella O. Parsons
One good job in the United States is worth a dozen in German. Jeanette MacDonald had many European offers, but she turned them down pronto when Paramount cabled her an offer to play opposite Maurice Chevalier in One Hour With You. Chevalier doesn't get here until the twenty-ninth of October, and that gives Jeanette ample time to finish her European trip and be on the set when George Cukor, the director, calls the roll. Chevalier had a talk with Jeanette when she appeared in concert in Paris. At that time he expressed the hope that she might again be his leading lady. Miss MacDonald's voice, one of the best on screen, was a decided asset in The Love Parade.
11/10/1931 HCN TROUPERS SLATE HORTON GREETING
A host of his friends from motion picture and stage circles will greet Edward Everett Horton when he opens tomorrow night in "Private Lives" at the Hollywood Playhouse.
It will be Horton's first footlight venture after a successful career in films. The play in which he will make his stage comeback is described as a delightfully risque comedy which is expected to do a thriving box office business.
The management announced today that the following theatrical folk have made reservations:
Ernst Lubitsch, Joan Crawford, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Kay Francis, Kenneth McKenna, Kay Johnson, John Cromwell, Paul Bern, Ona Munson, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Block, Mrs. Lydia LaPlante, Violet LaPlante, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Conlon, Mrs. Charles Seiter, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Tuttle, Mr. and Mrs. David Day, Mr. and Mrs. Herman Mankiewicz, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Jaffe, Rouben Mamoulian, Rose Hobart, Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Bellamy, Mrs. Barney Glazer, Mr. and Mrs. Chandler Sprague, Mr. George Cukor, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Barthelmess, Mr. and Mrs. John McCormick, Mr. and Mrs. Melville Brown, Dean Cornwall, Mrs. Murell Finley, Eddie Woods, Dolores Brown, Kay Hammond, Henry Wetherby, Rene Denny, Mr. and Mrs. Clive Brook, Ruth Chatterton, Ralph Forbes, Lois Wilson, Edmund Breese, Hedda Hopper, Johnny Hines, Wallace Smith, Shirley Grey, Bill Keighley, Janet McLeod, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Ruggles, Dr. and Mrs. Schulman, and Mr. and Mrs. R. Burman.
Labels: Fannie Brice, George Cukor, Irene Dunne, Mae Clarke
posted by GDH at 2:43 PM
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