Moonlight on the Prairie (Warner Bros.) (1935)

PUBLICITY i Thrills At The Strand All the action, excitement, thrill and romance of the old time Western are included in “Moonlight on the Prairie,” the Warner Bros. drama of the old West. Above is seen Dick Foran, the singing cowboy, landing a fast one on the button of a cow rustler. . Mat No. 202—20c Tiger Courage Won Film Stardom For Dick Foran Singing Cowboy Now Has the Stellar Role in “Moonlight on the Prairie” Five years ago Dick Foran, the new singing cowboy star of the Warner Bros. romantic Western thriller, ‘*Moonlight. on the Prairie,’’ now showihe at fhe? s.sac acres o:* : theatre, was seated on the sidelines at Palmer Stadium, Princeton University, waiting for the word from the late Coach Bill Roper to go into the game. The Princeton Tiger was having a rather bad time of it with Navy. The Middies had turned their big guns loose early in the game and by the beginning of the second period they were out in front by two touchdowns. Finally Coach Roper Dick Foran over and said: “Foran no Navy team is that good. Get out there and slow down that Navy backfield. Stop Chung Hoon (Navy backfield star who was mentioned for AllAmerican honors) and don’t forget a Tiger has plenty of courage.” Those last words of a great eoach, “A Tiger has plenty of courage” meant a great deal to Dick Foran then and ever since. It was this same courage that won him the starring role in the new series of Westerns being made by Warner Bros. Dick Foran, or John Nicholas Foran as he was christened, was born at Flemington, N. J., on June 18, 1910. He received his primary school education in Flemington and then went to Mercersberg Academy and to Hunn School to prepare for entrance into, Princeton University. At Princeton he majored in Geology and was an outstanding all-around athlete. He played on the football, baseball, lacrosse and ice-hockey teams. Two successive years, while at Princeton, he spent his summer vaeation period with two other members of the football team by shipping as an able seaman on board freighters, visiting most of called the South American countries and the West Indies. After matriculating from Princeton University he went to work for the Pennsylvania Railroad as a special investigator. One of these investigations took him to Los Angeles. He met Lew Brown, of the musical com LS edy producing organization of De Sylva, Brown and Henderson and was persuaded to take a screen test. A contract was the result. He was assigned by Warner Bros. to play a leading role in “Gentlemen Are Born” and did such an excellent job that he was east in the role of “Midshipman Gifford” in “Shipmates Forever,” the new Cosmopolitan Production released by Warner Bros. It was while this production was under way that a series of tests were conducted for a cowboy star for the six westerns to be made by Warner Bros. Associate Producer Bryan Foy had seen Foran’s work and asked him to make a test. He was immediately contracted for the starring role in the series. Dick Foran has never been on the professional stage but played leads in prep school and college. He has an excellent baritone voice and has sung on many radio programs mostly as a courtesy to friends and for experience. Foran is six feet, three inches tall, weighs 190 pounds and has flaming red hair and blue eyes. “Moonlight on the Prairie,” is a thrilling romance of the “Old West” with plenty of hard riding, fast action and a stirring plot. Besides Foran, the cast ineludes Sheila Mannors, George E. Stone, Joe Sawyer, Gordon Elliott, Joseph King, Robert Barrat and Dickie Jones. Music and lyries are by M. K. Jerome and Joan Jasmyn and Vernon Spencer and Bob Nolan. D. Ross Lederman directed the picture from the screen play by William Jacobs. Barrat Blames Injured Arm On Lucky Horseshoe Robert Barrat has become a horseshoe pitching fiend. Any horseshoe he finds he pitches but not over any stake. He throws them as far away from him as he can and he has plenty of arm and shoulder to hurl them. Barrat, who has the “heavy” role in “Moonlight on the Prairie,’ the Warner Bros. picture which comes to the.......:..:-: Theatre Owe. ewe hace , had one unfortunate experience with a horseshoe and has become prejudiced. When returning from _ the High Sierras, where he had been working with the company on location, Barrat found a _ horseshoe. Believing it to be a lucky omen, he tossed it into the back of the car and went on his way. Shortly afterward his car suddenly slipped into a soft shoulder of a dirt road and rolled over three times into a ditch. A rancher heard the crash and extricated him from a_ badly wrecked ear. Bob suffered a crushed arm. Now he’s off horseshoes for life. “Moonlight on the Prairie” is the first of a series of six western feature productions starring the singing cowboy, Dick Foran. It is packed with romance, thrilling action and with the spirit of the “Old West.” In the cast besides Foran and Barrat are Sheila Mannors, George E. Stone, Joe Sawyer, Gordon Elliott, Joseph King, Robert Barrat and Dickie Jones. D. Ross Lederman directed the production from the screen play by William Jacobs. Singing Cowboy Puts Horse to Bed in Kitchen Dick Foran, singing cowboy star of the Warner Bros. picture, “Moonlight on the Prairie,” which comes» to the,» .<..5...: ThOaAtNe. ON cere vene , has been warned by his landlady that if he ever again attempts to turn his Hollywood home into a stable, he will be evicted. Foran returned from location at Kernville, Calif., at daybreak, one day during the filming of the picture, on a roan stallion he had purchased in the High Sierras. He could not find stable accommodations for the horse at that hour and having a sizeable kitchen and an ample door leading from his lawn, he took the animal into the house and proceeded to make it comfortable. Everything might have been all right about stabling “Smoke” in the kitchen and the neighbors might not have been aware of this strange boarder at the Foran house but along about noon the animal began to whinny. It seems that there had been no provision made for food. Foran had become so accustomed to horses neighing that he slept through it until awakened by neighbors who had become curious about the strange sounds. He explained to his landlady, who had arrived with early complainants, that bringing “Smoke” into the kitchen was just an emergency measure. “Moonlight on the Prairie” is packed with romance and thrilling action. It is a big production typical of all Warner Bros. pictures. The cast includes Sheila Mannors, George E. Stone, Joe Sawyer, Gordon Elliott, Joseph King, Robert Barrat, Dickie Jones and others. D. Ross Lederman directed the production from the screen play by William Jacobs. Cowboys Still Punching Cattle In The Back Hills But They’re Off Beaten Paths, Says Dick Foran, Star of “Moonlight on the Prairie” The ‘‘passing of the Old West’’ has been the subjectmatter of newspaper and magazine scribes for at least two decades or more. Much of the Old West, it is true, has passed away, construction of highways due to the motorization of America and the through the far-lying places of the cow country. Nevertheless, the Old West—and some of its most picturesque manners and customs—is by no means dead. Particularly in the relatively inaccessible mountain country of Western states where mere trails discourage the motorist and where a horse is still man’s best friend, the old “ridin’ an’ ropin’ ” romance still holds its own. This was discovered by members of the troupe of the new western picture, “Moonlight on the Prairie,’ the Warner Bros. picture now showing at the ae Shee Sahel s2 theatre, when on location for this galloping screenplay. Even in California, which state is generally not reckoned among the bronco-busters, the company came upon rolling ranges in the mountain mesas where much of the pristine simplicity of the “good old days” still obtains. Dick Foran, hard-riding, singing cowboy of the picture, who has pounded leather ever since he was tall enough to swing up on a cayuse, explains, logically, why most persons have the settled conviction that true cowpunching is as dead as the dodo. “Most folks these days,” said Foran, “never get off the paved highway. Automobiles have just naturally spoiled people. They won’t even turn onto a dirt road, for fear it will be a little rough, or maybe will get their shiny ears dusty. “So what do they see? Well, they see towns, and some billboards. They look off in the distance, maybe, and see the far mountains and mesas and prairies. But, because the pavements they’re riding on are so smooth, they get a kind of notion that the whole blamed country is paved. “As a matter of fact, there are millions of square miles right in the American West where there really are no roads—nothin but trails. This is especially true of Warner Bros.’ new type story 0 name now showing at the__-------- Moonlight On The Prairie the mountain country where there’s still unfenced open range, and the canyons and arroyos are no place for anything less safe than a sure-footed horse or packburro.” “But isn’t it true,” Foran was asked, “that horses have largely been displaced by cars? One never sees a horse these days.” Foran snorted. “That’s because one sticks to the city. We’re still eating beefsteak, so you can figure there must be plenty of cattle. You can’t rope and tie a dogie from a flivver—though it’s been done for a novelty stunt. “You can’t roundup cattle with autos—you couldn’t even ride night herd with a ear. Try it, and you’d ‘have cattle milling till there’s a first-class stampede on your hands. No sir — there are plenty of horses still holding their own here in the West.” “Moonlight on the Prairie,” first of the new Western comedydramas to be made in recent years by Warner Bros. will bring to the screen much of this adverturesome and city-lost background, it is declared. The hunger of pavement-reared persons for the cool, clean breath of the open spaces will be somewhat satisfied, it is believed, by this screen story, rich in the sights and sounds of the colorful West. Sheila Mannors plays the femjinine lead opposite Foran. Others in the cast include George E. Stone, Joe Sawyer, Gordon Elliott, Joseph King, Robert Barrat and Dickie Jones. D. Ross Lederman directed the picture from the screen play by William Jacobs. Music and lyrics are by two noted song teams, M. K. Jerome and Joan Jasmyn and Vernon Spencer and Bob Nolan. Moonlight on the Prairie means either song, romance or battle in f the Old West in'the film of that RDO ST Theatre. Here it means bullets, with Dick Foran, the singing cowboy (right) and George E. Stone, his film pal, handing them out. Mat No. 204—20c Page Nine