Comet Over Broadway (Warner Bros.) (1938)

4 Mat 203—80c MOTHER MEETS DAUGHTER — Kay Francis (right) meets her film daughter (Sybil Jason) who has been raised from babyhood by Minna Gombel (center), in a dramatic scene from "Comet Over Broadway," based on the Faith Baldwin story, coming to the Strand Theatre on Friday. Kay Francis And Director Staged Mimic War On Set Visitors Watching ‘Comet Over Broadway 3 Filming, Treated To Off-Stage Scene Somewhere some erstwhile tourist — long since back at home — must still be wondering whether seeing and hearing are believing or whether all Hollywood folk are just a bit insane. These tourists, visiting in Hollywood, were permitted to tour the Warner Bros. Studio and were taken about with a studio policeman as guide. They were not the first visitors to the set where Kay Francis was working in ‘‘Comet Over Broadway,’’? the Warner Bros. picture coming to the Strand Theatre next Friday, but they were the first and only tourists to see the scene they witnessed. They arrived just in time to see Busby Berkeley, the director, go into a fit of temperament. He raged and ranted, tore the air and what is left of his hair and demanded to know what Kay Francis meant by keeping him waiting two solid hours while she had alterations made on a silly gown. ‘<Tf you can shout I can shout,’’ shouted Kay, whereupon she proceeded to tell what she thought of Berkeley. When that was over, she flounced off to her dressing room, announceing she was through for the day. As she left, Berkeley minced over to the awestruck, open-mouthed tourists, struck an exaggerated Bing Crosby pose and sang, ‘‘ Booboo-ba-boo.’’ The tourists were leaving when Kay, laughing heartily, returned. ‘¢Please stay and watch a scene,’’? she said. ‘‘We were only fooling.’’ The visitors stayed. When they left, the policeman was still explaining in his most eloquent way that of course Miss Francis and Mr. Berkeley were only fooling; that it was an act put on just for the benefit of the visitors. ‘¢And we were only fooling,’’ Kay remarked after they had gone. ‘‘I haven’t asked to have visitors barred from the set and we’ve had a great many today. So, ‘Buzz’ and I thought we’d give them something to take home with them, and incidentally, break the monotony with a little fun for ourselves.’ Whether or not the visitors believed it was an act, has never been ascertained. Their perplexity was certainly a tribute to the histrionic talents of Kay and ‘‘Buzz,’’ this sentiment being voiced by one of the visitors who Page Eight was overheard mumbling as he left the set, ‘‘It certainly looked good.’’ ‘*Comet Over Broadway’’ is a highly dramatic story of the meteoric rise and fall of a great actress who discovers for herself that she loves her daughter and a normal home life even more than the bright lights and glamour of the stage. She hears the plaudits of her enraptured audiences while yearning for the arms of her husband. ; Adapted by Mark Hellinger and Robert Buckner from the widelyread Cosmopolitan Magazine tale by Faith Baldwin, the cast besides Miss Francis, includes Ian Hunter, John Litel, Donald Crisp, Minna Gombel, Sybil Jason, Melville Cooper and many others. Star’s Diplomacy SavesBaby’sScenes Kay Francis nearly became (cinematically) the mother of twins one day. The only thing: that saved her were the production difficulties such an event would involve. Victoria Scott portrays Kay’s daughter at the age of two in ‘“Comet Over Broadway,’’ the Warner Bros. picturization of a popular Faith Baldwin story, which will be the next attraction at the Strand Theatre. Victoria’s stand-in was a lovely, life-like image of the two-year old actress. The fact that the grownups on the set called it a stand-in meant nothing to little Victoria; to her it was nothing but a great big beautiful doll to be loved and played with. There just didn’t seem to be any way to separate her from her new love, either, and this presented some very real difficulties. They couldn’t have the doll in the picture and they couldn’t have Victoria without the doll. How did they keep the doll out of the picture? They didn’t. It is in every scene in which Victoria appears but it can’t be seen. Kay Francis finally convinced Victoria that the doll should sleep while Victoria was working, so the doll was placed in a little crib on the set where the child player could see her but the camera couldn’t. On Getting Propped By A Prop Man— Holding up a sneeze until a take is finished on a film set is common practice. Holding up a director until a take is finished is most uncommon. That’s what happened during the filming of a scene in which Kay Francis, Minna Gombel and a buneh of girls representing burlesque queens participated for ‘*Comet Over Broadway,’’ the Warner Bros. picture coming to the Strand Theatre next Friday. It was a ‘‘dolly’’ shot, in which the camera followed the action by moving back on rails. The set was a Pullman ear, and to allow for the mechanism needed to show movement of the train, it was on a platform some ten feet above the floor of the stage. The action was started and Director Busby Berkeley watched intently from behind the camera. When the camera started back, Mr. Berkeley started back. Completely forgetting he was on a platform, he reached the edge and a 45 degree angle. As he started to fall, the prop man, Bud Friend got under him. With upraised hands, he held Mr. Berkeley at the 45 degree angle until the scene was finished. The take was saved, the day was saved and so was Mr. Berkeley’s neck. Just Once He'd Like To Get That Girl! Tan Hunter is a patient soul. At home he is constantly going around turning off the electric lights other people leave. On the screen he is forever losing the girl. Some day he hopes to remedy both situations—but not very hopeful. There is as much chance, he feels, of educating people in the economy of turning off lights as there is of convincing a seript writer he would look nice with a girl in his arms at the end of a picture. He loses Kay Francis again in his latest Warner Bros. feature, ‘‘ Comet Over Broadway,’’ which opens next Friday at the Strand Theatre. Off the screen Hunter lives happily with his wife and children at his beach home. He has his dogs, his boating and other diversions of the English gentlemen. He is jovial and congenial and lives the good life. So he thinks there is no reason why he shouldn’t win the girl once in a while in pictures. ‘*T might impress my wife even more if I did,’’ he says. Mat 103—15e¢ IAN HUNTER Made Quick Progress Minna Gombel, who has an important role in ‘*Comet Over Broadway,’’ the Warner Bros. picture opening Friday at the Strand Theatre, won her first stage role at the age of 16 in competition with fifty other girls. Within six months she was playing leads and at 20 she owned her own stock company in Syracuse, N. Y. Knows Bard Well Ian Keith, who is featured in “‘Comet Over Broadway,’’ the Warner Bros. picture opening Friday at the Strand Theatre, is one of the country’s foremost authorities on Shakespeare. He has studied the Bard’s works since he was in his teens, although his ambition then was to become a writer and cartoonist. 1927-28 CURVES PRESENT PROBLEM Just what the curvacious state of burlesque girls was in the years around 192728 was the problem confronting Director Busby Berkeley when he selected girls to comprise the burlesque troupe which Kay joins in ‘‘Comet Over Broadway,” the Warner Bros. picturization of a popular Faith Baldwin story, which opens at the Strand Theatre next Friday. Berkeley threw up his hands and sent a messenger hot-footing it to the studio’s research department. Much scholarly work resulted in the findings that the chorus girls were to have perfect figures, not too fat and not too lean, because the Ziegfeld influence had penetrated to the burlesque theatres by that time. Recital Gave Minna Gombel Acting Start If Minna Gombel were given her choice between a champagne supper and a Dutch lunch with beer, she’d choose the latter. That’s the kind of person she is. She has been on stage and screen since she was 16, and she portrays a burlesque queen so realistically in ‘*Comet Over Broadway,’’ the Warner Bros. picture coming to the Strand Theatre, that one could easily believe that she had had ex perience in burlesque in real life. That is, however, about the one type of show business in which she has never worked. She is the daughter of a doctor, the granddaughter of a minister, and her uncle, Dr. Henry Salzer of John Hopkins Hospital, invented the stomach pump. She completed her education at the Bard-Avon School at Mt. Vernon, playing basketball and leads in school plays. To correct awkwardness, she took vocal, expression and pantomine lessons after finishing school. At a school recital she gave a reading of ‘‘The Piper’’ for an hour and a half and teachers advised her to go on the stage, and unknown to her family, she got her first stage job at the age of 16 in competition with 50 other girls. Finally Sees Prison Though John Litel scored an international triumph in ‘‘ Aleatraz Island,’’.he had never been inside a real penitentiary until just before he started working in ‘‘ Comet Over Broadway,’’ the Warner Bros. picture opening Friday at the Strand Theatre. His first prison visit was made to San Quentin in the course of a trip he took to show some visiting relatives the sights of California. Allergic To Wallets John Litel, who plays Kay Francis’ husband in the Warner Bros. picture, ‘‘ Comet Over Broadway,’’ which opens Friday. at the Strand Theatre, never carries a_ billfold. Before becoming an actor, he spent some time in a middle-western factory making billfolds, a very monotonous job, and when he left it, he swore never to carry a billfold. Doesn’t Dry Her Face Before applying make-up, Kay Francis, lovely star appearing in Warner Bros. ‘‘Comet Over Broadway,’’ coming soon to the Strand Theatre, always pats her face with a soft cloth dipped in ice-water. Then she pats on powder without drying her face. ADVANCE STORIES John Litel Is Authority On True Love If love dies, it is not and never has been love, says John Litel. Litel should know. On the stage and screen he has experienced love in all its phases, fancied and real. In ‘‘Comet Over Broadway,’’ Warner Bros.’ absorbing picturization of the romantic Faith Baldwin story, which comes next Friday to the Strand Theatre, Litel is the husband of .Kay Francis jand goes to ‘prison because .of love for her. Litel acci roadway.’’ Mat 104—15¢ JOHN LITEL strikes his head and is killed. Litel is convicted and sentenced to prison. Realizing she is responsible, indirectly, for his prison sentence, Kay devotes her life to freeing him. And John sits in his prison cell thinking of her, never questioning her fidelity, counting the days until he returns to her. And that, says Mr. Litel is love. In real life he is happily married to a non-professional. Together they have travelled extensively. Marriage has converted him into a most domesticated companion. Litel likes to cook, and particularly enjoys good food and wines. “Comet Over Broadway,’’ which was adapted by Mark Hellinger and Robert Buckner from Miss Baldwin’s original story which ran in Cosmopolitan Magazine, was directed by Busby Berkeley. 9-Year Old Star Is One-Girl News Staff A new newspaper made its bow in Hollywood recently. It was the Hollywood edition of the Capetown (South Africa) Daily News. The owner, publisher, editor and staff of the paper was nine-yearold Sybil Jason. Sybil personally put out the paper every day on the set while she was working in ‘‘Comet Over Broadway,’’ the Warner’ Bros. production featuring Kay Francis, which is coming to the Strand Theatre. Every feature of the modern newspaper was offered in the Daily News, which Sybil printed neatly with a lead pencil on a page about six by eight inches. Page one earried the news of the day and there was a page devoted to comics, which Sybil drew; a screen column in which she puffed ‘‘Comet Over Broadway’’ in a way far beyond the talents of a press agent; a woman’s department in which she offered home-making hints, fashions; an editor’s mailbag and editorial page, among other features. And the price of the paper is two cents, ‘‘if anybody wants to buy it,’’? she announced naively. ““T’ve got a reporter’s badge,’’ she explained, ‘‘so I decided I had to be a real reporter.’’ Kay Prefers Skirts Kay Francis, considered one of the best feminine tennis players in the film colony, agrees with Helen Wills in the shorts vs. dress court argument. Kay nearly always wears a frock. Her favorite is sheer white wool, zippered up the back in red, fashioned without sleeves, medium full bodice and short flaring skirt. Kay’s latest Warner Bros. picture, ‘‘Comet Over Broadway,’’ is playing at the Strand Theatre.