By Unusual Theater Partnersfultonhistory.com/Newspapers 21/Buffalo NY Courier...6-D 81FFAU> CU,...
Transcript of By Unusual Theater Partnersfultonhistory.com/Newspapers 21/Buffalo NY Courier...6-D 81FFAU> CU,...
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6 - D 8 1 F F A U > CU, iUE.1- EX PRESS, Sunday, February 28, 1943
Unusual Theater Partners • • • •
Gordon and Kaufman Important Pair • • . • • • •
Other Notes of Show Field By W. E. J . MARTIN
rpHERE'S AN UNUSUAL association in the presentation •*• of The Doughgirls, the Joseph Fields comedy which
'will be at the Erlanger this weekend. It is produced by Max Gordon, of both Broadway and Hollywood note, and staged by George S. Kaufman, playwright and director, and their union is important f— •
takes over production jobs in Hollywood at times. He made screen versions of two of his plays. Abe Lincoln In Illinois and My Sister Eileen.
Associates say he literally eats, drinks and sleeps theater. He has been known to visit a dozen playhouses in a single night while in New York. He is jus t as interested m other managers ' productions as in his own.
There's a good chance tha t the names of Kaufman and Gordon will be linked in several other productions.
Broadway had little OtoiDt about Kaufman being successor to the lat« Sam Harris , who died about eighteen months ago. They had been business par tners and the closest of friends for a dozen years. Everything Kaufman wrote automatically went to the man who built the Music Box. and producer of at least a smash hit a year for more than two decades.
Remamber t hem? There were June Moon. Of Thee I Sing, Once in a Lifetime. Dinner a t Eight, Merrily We Roll Along. First Lady, Stage Door. You Can't Take I t With You, I d Rather Be Right, The American Way and The Man Who Came to Dinner.
Tha t Mr. Gordon would be a Harr i s legatee, too, also was accepted. In all the Harris-Kaufman ventures, Gordon had a small, though silent interest. Only for The American Way was he billed as co-producer.
The Harris-Gordon association began more than twenty years ago, when Gordon and his partner, Al Lewis, began taking plays to Harris, feeling tha t his judgment would be helpful. Prior to tha t they had been vaudeville agents and producers. Among the plays jointly presented were The Nervous W r e c k . Rain and W e l c o m e , Stranger .
Then Lewis went to Hollywood, and Gordon went on his own, but still in for a part of every Harr is production. Kaufman, having a financial interest in all his plays, became a Gordon business partner. He wrote the sketches, incidentally, for one of the most successful of Gordon musicals. The Band Wagon.
Gordon has produced a great variety of diversified plays and musical shows, perhaps greater than any one else in America.
They include Noel Coward's sophisticated comedy. Design for Living; the Edith Wharton tragedy, E than Frome: Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen; Dodsworth, by Sinclair Lewis; tha t musical spectacle. The Great Waltz; the first s t a r r ing vehicle for Maurice Evans, S t Helena: the musicals. Three's a Crowd and Flying Colors, and tha t radical departure. The Women.
Aside from Broadwav. Gordon
FILMLAND RAMBLES «?
By ANTNE M McILHENNEY
Hollywood's curvesome chorus cuties are queens in every sense of the word. Coronets and ermine are old ha t to these shapely little lassies, although their regencies wane as the spotlight, which singles them out for a moment, turns away.
Take Gloria Gale, for Instance. A silken voiced brownette, Gloria k. currently lending eye appeal, with a dozen other lovelies, to I Dood It, Metro-Goldwyn - Mayer's comedy musical co-starring Red Skelton and Eleanor Powell. Gloria has a t ruly regal background. Twice her coiffure has been caressed by diadems. Once as Queen of Newport Bay's Walter Pageant , again as Queen of Boulder Dam's Electrical Parade. But Gloria is most proud of a crown she copped in Idaho some two decades ago. At a roundup sponsored by the State 's Doctors' Association toothsome M m Gale outstripped all competitors by toddling of" with a blue ribbon proclaiming her Idaho's healthiest baby!
Hither and Yon An exceptional character actor,
and a decidedly entertaining companion has departed from the Hollywood scene. He was Lynne Overman, summoned a few days ago . . . At the moment his photographic identity is in S ta r Spangled Rhythm . . . Lynne was in Buffalo back in 1939, when Paramount sent out that railway train with him. Brian Donlevy, Robert Preston. Patricia Morison and several others, to exploit the picture. Union Pacific. Quiet, unassuming, but obviously knowing his stuff, Lynne added greatly to friendships here, as well as wherever else he went with the exploiters. . . . Several pictures still await ing release include him in their player rosters, among them The Desert Song, with Dennis Morgan and Irene Manning, and Dixie, with Bing Crosby, and he was listed for others of importance. Unobtrusive, thoroughly competent, he aided many in rises to stardom.
Several well-knowns of variety —there still is some—now are in Australia, entertaining troops a t Yankee bases. Among the performers in the two units are Stan Kavanaugh and Bob Ripa. jugglers; John Fogarty, Will Aubrey and the Memosy Lane Trio, singers ; Bobby del Rio and Pete r Kova, accordionists; Nino Milo, mimic: F a r r y Mendoza, magician, and George Prentice. P a t Lane, Barney Grant and Bobby Gilbert, comedians. USO-Camp Shows, Inc., sent the triple quintet into the South Pacific war zone.
Scheduled for showings soon after mid-March is a 40-minujte movie titled At the Front. I t ' s an all-color picture of the invasion of North Africa, filmed under the direction of Col. Darryl F . Zanuck— an official combat report, unre-
! hearsed and photographed under fire. Zanuck brought the pictures back from Africa, where they were made by 42 cameramen. Sequences include the first engagement of American and German tanks near Tebourba, Tunis, and fighting a t several other places. None of the
A lot of other film chorines boasted tangible proof tha t they must have been beautiful babies. Mitzie Uehiein. later to kindle a gleam in masculine eyes as Miss Long Beach of 1938, got into the swim early by entering (and winning) a Baby of the Year competition. Sheilda Rae, still remembered around the campus as hands-down winer of Mt. Vernon (N. Y.) Junior High School's Most Perfectly Proportioned Girl contest, took her novitiate in trophy snagging by capturing top billing in a newspaper-sponsored Bet ter Babies' competition. Sable-haired Donna Mas-sin garnered a similar distinction in a similar contest.
To be crowned queen of a beauty parade is easier than winning a wink from an elderly gentleman for these shapely ladies. Per t Dorothy Gilmore captured the
No More Horse Operas
Erlanger Has Doughgirls As Next Offering
Fields Comedy Hit Is Set in Washington
Broadway's reigning stage comedy, The Doughgirls, produced by Max Gordon, staged by George S. Kaufman and writ ten by Joseph Fields, author of My Sister Eileen and Junior Miss, will come to the Erlanger Theater Thursday for three nights and a Saturday matinee, giving Buffalo theatergoers an early view of an outstanding hit before it is presented to Chicago audiences for a spring nm.
It is described as a frankly bawdy and gleeful s tudy of the amours of three girls, temporarily residents of one of Washington's swanky hotels. The social writhings of tha t overcrowded city are said to come in for some kidding by the author and their a re quite a few topical gags.
In the cast coming here are Taylor Holmes, Peggy French, Betty Lawford, Russell Hardie, Leila Ernst, Ann Mason, Tom Hume, Viola Roach. Donald Faster. Kim Spalding, Royal Beal. Joe Marks. LeRoy Operti, Donald MacKenzie, Lenore Ulric and others.
Billie Burke Back on Stage • « e • • •
Critics Hoot Her Play, This Rock • • • • • •
Stay Is Likely to Be Short By BURNS MANTLE
NEW YORK, Feb. 27—Billie Burke has come bac. o the scenes of her early stardom after twelve yean
and brought a comedy with her called This Rock, written by Walter Livingston Faust, and he the vice-president of the Socony Vacuum Company, no less.
Perhaps it would be nearer the€> — — facts if I were to say tha t Mr. Faust ' s comedy brought Billie back, because it is fairlv obvious
C Rj;
Continued on Next Page
urtain ItVises Opening hours for shows in Buf
falo today, as supplied by theater managers, a re :
Shea's Buffalo—The Ink Spots and Luckv Millinder's orchestra, in revue, 1.04, 3.14. 5.24, 7.34 and 9.52 p. m. Chetniks, melodrama (Philip Dorn, Anna Sten) 1144 a. m., 1.54, 4.04, 6.14, 8.24 and 10.42 p. m.
Shea'* Great Lakes—Random Harvest, romantic d rama (Ronald Colman, Greer Garson) 11.45 a. m., 2.25. 5.05, 7.45 and 10.25 p. m.
Shea's Hippodrome — S t a r Spangled Rhythm, musical comedy, (Crosbv, Hope, Lamour, Tone, Mil-land) 12.40, 3.50, 7 and 10.05 p. m. Time to Kill, melodrama (Lloyd Nolan) 2.40, 5.50 and 9 p. m.
Lafayette-—Shadow of a Doubt, melodrama (Teresa Wright. Joseph Cotten) 1.19, 4.25, 7.31 and 10.37 p. m. Behind the 8-Ball. comedy (Ritz Brothers) 12.08, 3.14, 6.20 and 9.26 p. m.
20th Century—Hitler 's Children, romantic melodrama (Bonita Granville, Tim Holt) 12.25, 2.30, 4.30, 6.30, 8.35 and 10.35 p. m.
Mercury—What Price Innocence, romantic melodrama (Betty Grable, Jean Parker ) 1.26, 3.54, 6.14, 8.34 and 10.54 p. m. Secrets of a Co-ed, melodrama (Otto Kruger) 12.11, 2.38, 4.58, 7.18 and 9.38 p. m.
Palaee-^Follies Comique, burlesque revue featuring Marion Miller, 2.30, 5, 7 and 9.40 p. m.
As leading woman in high school a t Long Beach, CaL, Frances Gif-ford discovered an unsuspected liking for the drama. When sheiwas offered a contract In the movies the same week site enrolled a t «-JCLA, she accepted. After serving her apprenticeship In Westerns she has just been signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
coveted title of Miss ROTC in a Kansas City tourney. Lois James earned a stick of type in the local press when she was chosen Miss Foreign Trade in Los Angeles, 1937. Blonde Je tsy Parke r represented Miss Colifornia in an AH American Majorette competition.
Pocketing prizes in beauty parades is but one of a successful chorus girl 's accompishments. To be crowned Queen of the Coat Hanger Drive, a yearly phenomenon celebrated in her home town, is considered a ra re achievement by copper-haired Beth Renner. Eleanor Bayley shimmered in sequins as Queen of the Ji t terbugs, just reward for winning a dance contest. Ri ta Dunn, once chosen Frui t Basket Queen, never
equalled tha t distinguished appellation.
The Pulitzer Prize of petticoat competitions, however, was won by dimpled Joyc t Murray. After dancing 78 minute* without cease, Joyce found herself crowned World's Champion Endurance Toe Dancer. In addition to other notices, she won mention in Robert L. Ripley's Believe I t or Not.
To Feature Musical The Central Pa rk will show
Springtime ia the Rockies and The Navy Comes Through today, tomorrow and Tuesday. Tha t Other Woman and Wildcat are set for Wednesday and Thursday, and The Man in the Trunk and Call of the
has Canyon for Fr iday and Saturday
SCOOP! EXCLUSIVE SCOOP!
SEE AN ACTUAL COMBINED AIR AND TANK OFFENSIVE BY YANK FORCES AGAINST NAZI FORCES. OFFICIAL ARMY SIGNAL CORP PICTURES SHOWING
ACTUAL BATTLE SCENES IN NORTH AFRICA. SEE AMERICAN AND NAZI TANKS AND ARMORED
FORCES FIGHTING IT OUT.
35c TILL 2:30 LAFAYETTE
Drama af Riviera Casablanc id McGuerins from
Brooklyn today will open a four-day run a t the Riviera, North Ton-awanda. Gone With the Wind is set for Thursday, and They Got Me Covered and Highways by Night for Friday and Saturday.
Melodrama at Granada Commandos Strike a t Dawn and
Laugh Your Blues Away are the Granada's filmplays for four days, opening today. White Cargo and the Undying Monster are scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
tha t playing This Rock is a paid job ra ther than an inspiration with her. A Simple Affair
The play is a simple affair tha t Mr. Faus t pumped up after he had lived some years in England as a representative of his company. It has to do with the evacuation of children from London's Eas t End to the castle and estate countryside of rural England during the London blitz.
In part icular it has to do with the adventures of the two Mac-Masters boys, tough Douglas and Johnny, who were billeted with the Malcolm Stanleys, ship builders, a t their thousand-acre place on the River Tyne. A t least Johnny stayed with the Stanleys. Douglas was an embittered ground crew mechanic with the RAF.
Cecily Stanley ( tha t would be the flighty Miss Burke) thoroughly resented the British government 's dumping twenty terrible children upon her; resented the dir t and grime with which they were encrusted; resented the body odors their unwashed persons exuded; resented their noise, their insults, their ruthless t rea tment of her flower garden.
But, as you probably have
guessed, after she had had _m scrubbed and had outfitted them with fresh and expensive clothes, she began to take an interest in them and they in her. Twelve-year-old Johnny, who w a s the leader of his gang (and the best actor among them, na tura l ly) , interested her particularly.
Douglas, for his part , whenever he came to see how Johnny and the others were ge t t ing along, delighted in cursing the aris tocracy and the government. Doug was a bit of a Communist or would have been if he didn't feel in a confused sort of way that , after all. a fellow's country should come firet-Anyway, Doug was so different from any man Margare t Stanley (she was the Stanleys' handsome daughter and wore the pret t iest gowns) had ever seen t h a t she promptly fell in love with him. Once she kissed him full upon the mouth and he hated her for that , or said he did.
So it comes to pass (as you probably also have guessed) tha t little Johnny worms his way into the hear ts of the proud country folk.
Douglas, of course, became a flying lieutenant, by which t ime he had acquired a different idea
Continued on Next Page
5 BIG STAGE SHOWS TODAY It 1:04. 3:14, 6:24, 7:34 and 9:52 . . , COME EAILY TODAY WITH THE FAMILY!
A 5 '5c
TH€ DYNAMAeSTRO
ILUHDE A $ ORCHESTRA
and blr c u t of soloists featuring "Sister" Rotefta Tharpe
tt&m Peg-Leg Bates Gordon & Rogers
"fiSF PHILIP
DORN ANNA
STEN John
SHEPPERD
GREAT LAKES
VICTORIA VARSITY W. N a n & Grant I 3165 Bailey
W I O . TO SAT —MAR. 3 to 6
PERFORMANCES
DAILY 2 45 . 7 : 4 5
DOORS OPEN ONC HOUR EARLIER PRICES (Inc. Tax*
MAT. 40c - EVES. 50c CHILDREN 17c ANYTIME
CHILDREN (Bo
SO W! THE MERRY WIDOW STRANGLER IS HERE
TERESA WRIGHT JOSEPH COnEN ^
AJfred HirCHCOOTS
Shadow of t Do ubl MCDONALD CAREY 1 »'ih
6 C O M P L E T E S H O W S T O D A Y ! Feature at 12:25, 2:30, 4:30, 6:30, 8:35 and 10:35
B o o m t o w n , D . C. PLUS
I t
Behind the- icene story of wartime Washington, D. C.
Walt Diiney'j Cartoon
" P L U T O A T T H E Z O O " In Technicolor
MAIN UTICA
- «• ZORAH BERRY CONCERTS" T U E S . EVE. , M A R C H 9 . a t 8 : 4 5 — K l e i n h a n s M u s i c H a l l
FRANCESCATTI "The magnificent playing of Francescatti entitles him to a
place among the greatest performers on the violin." N. Y. Times
TICKETS—$2.75. $2.20, $1.65 ON SALE AT ZORAH BERRY'S OFFICE, 3D FLOOR DENTON. COTTIER & DANIELS—32 COURT ST. WA. 6532
ITS FUN
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2ND BIG FEATURE'
T H E R I T Z B R O T H E R S in "BEHIND THE 8 BALL1
MAIN at N0*THl\Ut> • U ' H i H I . U
#2f 10MAWANQA ST AT BOTH THEATRES — TODAY THRU WEDNESDAY —- AT BOTH THEATRES
PAUL MUNI - ANNA LEE - LILLIAN GISH
IN BUf- rALO 3 BALL R O O M ' BF A U T I f UL
WEEKLY PROGRAM ta ts . S i t 12:15 . Adn. 45c
Wed. S f t 12:15 Adm. 45c
Frl. S t t 4 :10 . . Adn. 50c
Stt, 9 to 12:15 . Adn. 50c
Sun. 9 to 12:15 Adm, 50c
Harold Antra's (2-Ptoca Oreh. FRRntuin itrrtmjMA
3 rd BH3 T w t*T R i — s6s MAIN
WEEK! M E R C U R Y
Paul Muni - Anna Let
"COMMANDOS STRIKE AT DAWN'
^o-hit MAN IN THE TSUNK-
* E j T O D * TON A WANDA
Diana Bjrrvmore - Brian Donlevy
" N I G H T M A R E " Co-hit ' G I T HEP TO LOVE"
— CO-FEATURE —
JINX FALKENBURG * "LAUGH YOUR BLUES AWAY"
COLUMBIA > -Continuous 2 to 11:30 P. M.
SONJA JOHN JACK HENIE * PAYNE * 0AKIE
i t ICELAND ff Richard GREENE-Carla LEHMANN
"FLYING FORTRESS"
U N I T Y "*\**+ Continuous 1 to 11:30 P. M.
CLARK LANA
GABLE * TURNER a
. •
ELLEN TERRY Corner Grant and Potomac
PAT OBRIEN -GEORGE MURPHY
"Navy Comes Through" MARSHA HUNT - RICHARD CARLSON
"The Affairs of Martha" PLUS—COMEDY—CARTOON
$en*L_ SECRET CODE —Sun Mat.
CENTRAL PARK £L Betty Grable. John Payne. Jack Oakie
"Springtime ,?. Rockies" Pat 0 Brian. Jackie Cooper,
Gcorqe Murphy
"Navy Comes Through"
SOMEWHERE I'LL FIND YOU''
CRAIG STEVENS-FAYE EMERSON
" S E C R E T E N E M I E S "
NEWARIEL Continuous 1:30 to 11:30 P. M.
MICKEY R00NEY F r e d d i e B a r t h o l o m e w
A YANK AT ETON"
LLOYO NOLAN-CAROLE LANDIS " M A N I L A C A L L I N G "
COLONIAL Continuous 1 to 11:30 P. M.
BETTY JOHN CARMEN GRABLE • PAYNE • MIRANDA
"SPRINGTIME IN THE ROCKIES
U N TECHNICOLOR
WARREN WILLIAM-ERIC BLORE
" C o u n t e r - E s p i o n a g e "
PLAZA WILL IAM AT MONROE
NEWS I
WALLACE FORD - LUANA WALTERS
"INSIDE THE LAW" BUCK JONES - MONA BARRIE
"Dawn A Great Divide" Serial— Overland Mail —Chapter 13
T j ia ld Duck Comedy—' Trujnt Officer"
RIVIERA tOttxitt^t- St*' / -n. tht. ~r5~nai*\t>uMMi
A picture you'll" never forget Meeting Place of F D R . and Churchill!
* • CASABLANCA »» Humphrey Bogjrr . Ingrid Bergman
Paul Henreid
CO-HIT "McGUERINS OF BROOKLYN' William Bend.x . Grace Bradley
PLUS CARTOON AND NEWS
for VICTORY!
Gat 'am Today
In
Any SHEA
Theatre
MES33 Herts* at No. Parti
ROBKRT CHARLKS T A Y L O R - L A U G H T O N "Stand By For
Action" Plus 'McGurrtas From Brooklyn'
•EBSSLS BJBJNI BOB
C R O S B Y H O P E "Road to Morocco" Plus — "I LIVE ON DANGER"
» i e s » * i i . i •
"Road to Morocco" with Bob Hope-D. Lamour-B. Crosbv
And " I LIVE ON DANGER"
HKDV _ WALTER
g g j LAMARR - PIDGEON mnmssm " W H I T E C A R G O "
Plus—"THAT OTHER WOMAN" with Virginia Gilmore
STRAND ISOO CUN T ON %
"GENTLEMAN JIM" with Errol Flynn b Alexis Smith
And "North to tht Klondike
it?«!.Hi'i^^yireai?HriTf eoRMe* Lack
FRED MacMURRAY • PAULETTE G0DDARD
"THE FOREST RANGERS" Plus—"HENRY ALDRICH, EDITOR" with Jimmy Lydon
BROADWAY
The Navy Comes Thru with Pat O'Brien tr Geo. Murphy
And "BETWEEN US GIRLS"
ROXY 0 2 5 WILLIAM wswsmmmmmwmm
"FOR ME & MY GAL" with Judy Garland & Geo. Murphy
And "APACHE TRAIL"
770 PARK M A X I N E
2228
SENECA
20c—ANYTIME—20c CAPITOLS "FOREST RANGERS" "For Me and My Gal" With Fred MscMurr.iv Paulettc Goddard With Judy Garland. George Murphy
Gene Kelly
"Henry Aldrich, Editor" I "APACHE TRAIL" With Jimmy Lydon. Charlie Smith With Donna Reed. Lloyd N?lan
NEWS—CARTOON A"" Avars NEWS—CARTOON
JEFFERSON Jftc <T fc.F£M
"Pardon My Sarong" with Abbott fr Coitello
And "Careful, Soft Shoulders"
LA SALLE • NUkOAl » C * .
"ARABIAN NIGHTS'1
with Sabu. Maria Monte*. Jon Hall
And "Strictly in the Groove"
Untitled Document
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