Playing Around (Warner Bros.) (1930)

| Every ad and story on this page can be used for advertising the Vitaphone version with slight additions to copy America’s Girl Friend _ Is Back Again! In ® A FIRST NATIONAL & VITAPHONE PICTURE Cut No. 9 * Cut, 65c. Mat, lic. Here she is as Captain Kidd to steal your heart away. See and hear the whole wonderful show— the Pirate’s Den and Pirate Girls in tricky ensembles . . . night clubs, gangster hangouts, fights. Hear Alice sing “You’re 4 Lowdown on the Lowdown,” “You Learn About Love Every Day.” She’s better and peppier than ever before. Directed by MERVYN LEROY CHESTER MORRIS TAKES TO GRIME ONCE AGAIN Has Strong Role in New Alice White Picture, “Playing Around.” (Advance News—Vitaphone) Chester Morris, in a role resembling that which he portrayed in “Alibi,” the part that brought. him screen fame, will bé seen in “Playing Around,’ the new First National and Vitaphone picture comDING aes cs wads G08 ore to the Theatre. He will appear as leading man for the popular peppy star, Alice White. Morris will enact a gangsterabout-town whose gentlemanly appearance captivates the imagination of a little stenographer, played by Miss White. This capable young actor was. one of the first of the Broadway players to quickly reach popularity on the talking screen. He was born in New York City and is the son of Etta Hawkins and William Morris, both stage players. His first big role was in George M. Cohan’s comedy “The Home Towners.” A few plays later he began his career of stage crime, starting in the title role of “Yellow.” He then appeared eoeeeeereeeres My Captain Kidd,” “The § and aes MORRIS Based on “‘Playing Around,” by Frances Nordstrom. Adapted ‘from Vina Delmar’s ‘Sheba.’’ ee “Playing Around” Is Adapted From Daring Romance (Current Reader—Silent) “Playing Around,” the First National picture starring Alice White and featuring Chester Morris, now at the Theater, is from the pen of Vina Delmar, one of the best known and. most popular of the younger American authors. Miss Delmar wrote “Bad Girl,” a best-selling novel of 1928, and “Kept,” the daring story which appeared serially. She has also written dozens of short stories and several novels. “Playing Around” is adapted from “Sheba,” one of her most sensational stories. It relates the adventures of a little stenographer whose desire for luxury and parties causes her to lose her heart to a gangster—a crook. This latter role is played by Chester Morris. eee eee ees eeeeee in “Whispering Friends,” ‘Crime” and “Fast Life.” The last-named play was made into a picture by First National, and Morris repeated his Broadway triumph. “Playing Around,” from Vina Delmar’s story, “Sheba,” presents Alice White in a very human and dramatic role. The story is packed with action relieved by the glamorous and-lavish musical sequences in the Pirate’s Den Night Club. Miss White sings two numbers. . .| point of view, you give it contrast ALICE WHITE IS CALLED THE SHEBA OF OUR DREAMS The Author and Director of “Playing Around” Unite in Conferring Title. (Advance Reader—Silent) Now Alice White has become the “Sheba” girl of the screen. No less an authority than Vina Delmar, au thor of “Bad Girl,’ “Kept” and “Sheba,” has conferred that title upon her. The First National picture, ‘“Playing Around,” which is to head the bill at the Theatre , is a spicy and dramatic, tuneful and high-kicking version of Miss Delmar’s story ‘‘Sheba.” And the director of the picture, Mervyn LeRoy, joins with the famed writer in thinking that Alice is the ideal “Sheba,” not only of this story but of her type in life. “The ‘Sheba’ girl says ‘Give me liberty: or I'll take it!’—and she usually has to take it,’ LeRoy observes. “She cares nothing for the conventions of her sex, for she is to the old code of morals what the futurist is to the old schools of painting. “T think ‘that the term ‘Sheba’ will take on a new meaning in popular slang when Miss White’s picture plays the theatres of the country,” he added. “Alice and Miss Delmar together will make it stand for something definite as regards girls, sex-conventions and morals, as Clara Bow and Elinor Glyn made ‘It? stand for something general. Alice is the ‘Sheba’ of our dreams!” Chester Morris, William Bakewell, Lionel Belmore, Marion (“Peanuts”) Byron and Maurice Black are important members of the cast. YOUTH IS SECRET OF FILM SUCCESS, DECLARES LE ROY “Playing Around” Director Has Recipe Appealing to All Ages. (Advance Reader—Vitaphone) “The world demands a youthful point of view in all entertainment, even when the basis of that entertainment is a story dealing with older people.” That is what Mervyn LeRoy, the “youngest motion picture director,” maintains is the secret of his consistent film success, and the underlying principle of all successful entertainment. “Realism through youthful eyes!” is another LeRoy aphorism. Many of the director’s most successful films have been with Alice White, star of First National’s “Playing Around,” coming......... to the Theatre, another LeRoy picture. He has also directed Colleen Moore, Mary Astor and other peppy stars in pictures. in which youth’s views of life were stressed. “What age regards as comedy is tragedy to youth, and age’s tragedy is youth’s comedy,’ LeRoy explains. ‘‘You will see from this that by giving age a type of entertainment that contains the youthful which is restful and refreshing; and that is what the average older person seeks in entertainment. “Youth on the other hand loves to see itself portrayed; it likes its views endorsed because it takes them so seriously. Thus the youthful point of view in entertainment is most effective for-all ages.” Chester Morris, William Bakewell and a strong supporting cast appear with Miss: White in the decidedly youthful “Playing Around.” Biography of ALICE WHITE Cut No. 10 Cut 25c Mat se Alice White She was born in Paterson, N. J., and was christened Alva White. Educated at a private school in Roanoke, Va., she’ went to California with her grandparents while still in her early teens, and began her movie connection as a script girl, Her first screen test was a disappointment—not to the movie peo ple, but to Alice herself, and she waited for quite a while before signing up with First National. But at last the studio executives persuaded her to inscribe her name on the dotted line, and her first role was with Milton Sills in “The Sea Tiger.” Immediately the public be gan-to show a great interest in this peppy, sparkling youngster; and when she played one of the most prominent parts in “Helen of Troy,” with Maria Corda, she suddenly awoke, like Lord Byron, to find herself famous. Since then, in such productions as “Show Girl,” “Broadway Babies,” and “The Girl from Woolworth’s,” Alice has cinched her hold on stardom; and in “Playing Around” the critics declare that she has excelled herself and won new laurels for cleverness and versatility. Biography of CHESTER MORRIS Cut No. 19 Cut 25c Mat ic Chester Morris He comes of theatrical stock, both parents having been well known vaudeville artists. From early childhood he breathed the atmosphere of the theatre, learning its technique and traditions as a matter of course. Born in New York City twenty-seven years ago, he was educated first by private tutors, then at the Mount Vernon High School and at the New York School of Fine Arts. Stage success came to him in early manhood. Among his outstanding roles were those which he played for George M. Cohan in “The Home Towners,” in “Whispering Friends,’ and in the original stage production of “Fast Life.” Yielding to the call of the screen, Morris achieved an instantaneous triumph in “Alibi.” This was followed by even greater success when “Fast Life’ was transferred to the screen by First National and Morris played again the part which had won such plaudits on the Broadway boards. And now, with Alice White in “Playing Around,” he has a role which is said to be even more effective than those which have already carried him in so short a time to the summit of fame in filmdom. Biography of WILLIAM BAKEWELL William Bakewell fs a Hollywood boy. He attended Harvard Military Academy, and his first contact with the studios came when he got a job as an extra in “Old Ironsides” during the summer vacation. After graduation he renewed his practical interest in the production centers, and after three months of extra parts here and there he was given a small bit in “The Last Edition.” This was followed by a series of small roles, then a fairly good one with Norma Shearer in “The Waning Sex” and another in “Harold Teen,’ supporting Arthur Lake. His big opportunity came, however, when he was given a very prominent part in support of Douglas Fairbanks in “The Iron Mask.” Since then he has been seen in “On With the Show,” and now his role opposite Alice White in First National’s sparkling comedy-drama, “Playing Around,” has placed him very close indeed to the top of the Hollywood ladder. Biography of MARION (“PEANUTS”) BYRON A graduate of the Broadway musical comedy stage, this charming little person played with Fannie Brice in “The Music Box Revue” and also in ‘‘Tiptoes,” then went to Hollywood and made a name for herself in short comedy pictures before she was chosen as Buster Keaton’s leading lady in “Steamboat Bill.’ Next she portrayed a baby vamp with Milton Sills and Dorothy Mackaill in “His Captive Woman,” and a chorus girl with Alice White in “Broadway Babies;” and now she is with Miss White again in the sparkling First National comedy-drama, Around.” Large Cast The cast of “Playing Around,” First National and Vitaphone picture now at the Theatre, eee eesceses includes Miss White and Chester Morris in the two leading roles, and William Bakewell, Richard Carlyle, Marion Byron, Maurice Black, Lionel Belmore and Shep Camp. Broadway Singing Baby is and back again Dancing in another better — wonderful than ever show before ALICE WHITE Cut No. 4. Cut, 35c. Mat, 10c. and CHESTER MORRIS Based on “Playing Around” by Frances Nordstrom. Adapted from Vina Delmar’s story “Sheba.” Directed by Mervyn Leroy. A FIRST NATIONAL & VITAPHONE PICTURE Page Five “Playing — 4