Old Acquaintance (Warner Bros.) (1943)

rites, fires right back. STORIES ABOUT THE PRODUCTION ———. +S 7 Dolores Moran Rates Collegians —And Will Harvard Men Be Sore! Touched off by a recent collegiate blast fired in the direction of Hollywood, more particularly at Hollywood’s blondes, Dolores Moran, one of Warner Bros.’ pin-up favo Miss Moran found enough time off from her work in “Old Acquaintance,” now at the Strand Theatre, to evaluate and reach these decisions: Of all collegians, Notre Dame men are the best husbandcandidates; Tulane produces the worst conversationalists ; Harvard men are the most ungentlemanly; U.S.C. men are the poorest dancers; U.C.L.A. men are the worst dressers ; Georgia Tech men have the fastest and most entertaining “lines”; Columbia produces bores with the least sense of humor; N.Y.U. lads are the most fickle; Stanford men are the handsomest; Princeton men are the smoothest dancers; Yale men rate as “best dressed”; Michigan’s industrialists are the best spenders and the boys from Texas A. and M. are by far the most enjoyable, all-around dates. Dolores seems to get around. Ni are errant ye ey Applecart’s Upset —Man Jilts Girl! The “Old Acquaintance” set on Stage 1 at Warner Bros. was strangely quiet. being jilted. The same Bette Davis who has doublecrossed so many men in her film career was being told the bad news by an actor who recently was an unknown. Gig Young is his name. Jilting Bette is no minor matter, even for motion picture purposes. Bette, who usually does the jilting, was to take it on the chin in this. The man whom she had declined to promise to marry the day before but about whom she had changed her mind, was telling her of the strange fact that he had fallen in love. With someone else. Dolores Moran, no less. Another youngster listed as one of the most promising of the new actresses. Gig sat uneasily on his chair’s edge, fingering a. champagne glass and told Bette that what had happened to him would surprise her no more than it had surprised him. He was in love—that was all and there seemed to be nothing either of them could do about it. Bette “took it big’—just as she always does in pictures or in life. She absorbed the shock with one little gesture of resignation and then told Gig that she was happy for him. She said nothing about having previously changed her mind. The scenario writer hadn’t written any such lines for her, either. “Old Acquaintance,” co-starring Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins, opens Friday at the Strand Theatre. Bette Davis was Mat 105—15c Gig Young Acquaintance,” the Warner Bros, Strand Theatre. Says Hairdresser Is Indispensable Among the “indispensables” of her professional life as an actress, Bette Davis lists just one—the studio hairdresser. Miss Davis is very definite about her opinion that she or any other actress can, if necessary, get along without almost any other kind of service at the studio. “A woman can put on her own make-up,” Miss Davis, starred with Miriam Hopkins in Warner Bros.’ “Old Acquaintance” at the Strand Theatre, explains, “and she can learn to do it properly for the camera. She could even sew her own clothing, I suppose, if that became necessary, or wear the clothes she buys from the stores. But hairdressing is different. No woman on earth can dress her own hair exactly alike day after day so that the camera, which knows no time lapses when a picture is being made, will never show the slightest change. “Someone else has to do a woman’s hair if that hair-do is to appear on the screen without a pompadour that waves up and down during scenes or a part that gallops all over the head.” History Repeats For Film Players Roscoe Karns and Jimmy Conlon, who play reporter, photographer, respectively, in Warner Bros.’ “Old Acquaintance,” the Bette DavisMiriam Hopkins starrer now at the Strand Theatre, played the same parts together in “Woman of the Year.” This is Karns 50th reporter role in his career. Conlon played iow comedy roles in vaudeville for 20 years until Saroyan yanked him away to play a dramatic Spaniard in his short, “A Good Job.” Still OA 51* ; Mat 204—3éc Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins drink a toast to the future in “Old picture opening Friday at the Bette Davis Plays Bedroom Scene for ‘Old Acquaintance’ Bedroom scenes handled delicately are quite numerous in modern Hollywood productions. However, it is rare indeed that Bette Davis has such a_ scene. On the Warner Bros. set of “Old Acquaintance,” now at the Strand Theatre, Bette and Miriam Hopkins have one of these typical childhoodgirlfriends-gettogether later on bedroom bits. Mat 110—15c Bette Davis The camera is trained on a clothes closet from which Bette, while undressing, is relating her experiences as a suc cessful author. Her bare arms as they throw discarded clothes onto a chair are the only parts of her body visible. Miriam Hopkins sits dreamy-eyed on a chaise lounge commenting on Bette’s future—and her own. Bette then comes out of the closet dressed only in long pajama tops (of course, underneath are shorts not visible to the camera). Director Vincent Sherman wants Bette to come out of the closet dressed in both pajama tops and bottoms. He takes the scene again but Bette can’t make it. There isn’t enough time during her talk with Miriam to get both parts of her pajamas on. There are two solutions—either write in a few more lines to give Bette more time, or train the camera above Bette’s waist. The latter course of action is decided upon. “Action!” says Sherman and the girls go through the scene. It’s done perfectly and it’s a take. Just then a messenger boy hands Bette, still dressed in her pajama tops, a note. “Listen to this,” Bette calls to the camera crew and prop men. “Some army officials from the Hollywood Canteen want me_ to meet them outside right away.” She looks down at her abbreviated costume and laughs. “Tell them,” she says to the messenger boy, “I’ll be out as soon as I change into a dress.” The men and camera get a big kick out of Bette having fun. Syrup Replaces Tea In Film Cocktails Because tea balls are difficult to get today because of the war, studio prop men have had to figure out a new harmless color mixture to simulate the various martinis, manhattans and cocktails served in night club scenes for films. On the set of “Old Acquaintance,” the Bette DavisMiriam Hopkins starrer now at the Strand Theatre, prop men used burnt sugar syrup and water to simulate the various drinks, using more syrup if the drink was to be darker. This drink isn’t ‘unpalatable and photographs perfectly. Bette Davis who had to sip her way through three martinis said she liked the syrup better than the tea which pales after a while. Cellophane is still used to substitute for ice but even that simple commodity is getting scarce and prop men are beginning to work on another substitute for ice which won't clink in the glass. Beer is still the most difficult of all drinks to simulate. Ii it isn’t to be drunk, prop men can use the syrup water with cotton on top. However, if the players are to drink the beer, real beer must be used. No substitute for foam has ever been found. Very important also in giving a natural appearance to a drink, is the use of the proper glass. Players, too, must sip their drinks as if they were the real things. OL Auto Collisions Come Naturally, Especially If You Can’t Drive The script of “Old Acquaintance,” now at the Strand Theatre, called for Miriam Hopkins to be in a dither of annoyances. She was to jump into her car and demonstrate said dither by grinding her gears excitedly and by backing up into a parked truck with sufficient violence to produce results. The results were neatly achieved by Miss Hopkins; a crateful of doves broke open and the birds joyfully took to the heavens. Several cans of milk and assorted pieces of luggage went flying into the gutter. A proud pair of fenders were turned into accordions. Miss Hopkins herself was draped across the steering wheel. Director Vincent Sherman jumped to his feet. “Perfect!” he said. “And on the first take!” He congratulated Miss Hopkins on her expert handling of the car. Miss Hopkins stepped out and leaned heavily against the door. “T never drove a car before,” she said. “It was a cinch to run into something!” They Had to Prefer Blondes The gentlemen had to _ prefer blondes during the filming of Warner Bros.’ “Old Acquaintance,” due to open Friday at the Strand Theatre. They could do no less and remain gentlemen— or in the picture —what with Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins being the stars and Dolores Moran the ingenue. Miss Davis is Mat 106—15c blonde. Miss John Loder Hopkins is blonder. Miss Moran, 17, is the blondest of the three. John Loder and Gig Young are the gentlemen who do the preferring. Loder prefers Miss Hopkins first, then Miss Davis. Young begins by preferring Miss Davis, finishes by preferring Miss Moran. That’s in the picture. In real life, Loder is married to Hedy Lamarr. Who is not a blonde. Young is married. To a brunette. Of course, with the gentlemen surrounded by blondes, it was bound to happen. A chatty feminine visitor (she had blue eyes and yellow hair) asked them if gentlemen really preferred blondes. The gentlemen came through handsomely. They said “at that moment” they preferred blondes. Star Had to Wear Own Rings in Film If anyone wants to bet you that Miriam Hopkins has the smallest hands and fingers in Hollywood, just save your money. She has. The wardrobe department sent Miss Hopkins a number of rings to wear during the filming of “Old Acquaintance,” which opens Friday at the Strand Theatre with Bette Davis co-starred. They were toc large. They flopped about her dainty fingers like life preservers. They were sent back. Another batch came through. Still too big. Wardrobe said it had nothing smaller. Then the rings were sent to a jeweler with Miss Hopkins’ finger measurements noted. InstrucMat 108—15c tions were to Miriam Hopkins cut the rings down to size. The next morning the jeweler phoned the studio. “There must be a mistake,” he said. “No one could have fingers that small. What is the correct size, please?” Miss Hopkins herself solved the problem. She wears her own rings in the picture. Vineent Sherman Has Theme Song When Vincent Sherman was an out-of-work actor in New York some years ago, his landlady tried to cheer him up with the only song she knew—the very tragic Brahms Waltz in A flat. Vince never quite forgot that tune. Every picture he’s directed since he’s been at Warner’s— “Underground,” “The Hard Way,” and now his latest, “Old Acquaintance’—have had snatches of the Brahms Waltz. “Old Acquaintance,” starring Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins, is currently playing at the Strand Theatre. Still OA 21* ; Mat 203—30c John Loder and Bette Davis appear in this scene from Warner Bros.’ “Old Acquaintance,” which starts its engagement Friday at the Strand Theatre. 7