News Around Hollywood
- WB starlet Rosella Towne has announced her engagement to businessman James Lathrop. The wedding date is set for September 25 in Santa Barbara. [She signed with WB in 1937 at age 19. Her first starring role would come in 1939, where she took on the role of comic strip character Jane Arden – in ‘The Adventures of Jane Arden’].
- Mrs H Pearson Baldey counters Mrs Collier’s (the mother of Ann Miller) claim, stating that she is indeed licensed as an agent. [See August 20].
- Yip Harburg and Harold Arlen have completed a third tune for ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ entitled “The Merry Old Land of Oz.”
- MGM was mulling the revival of a property they have owned for ten years. “The Bugle Calls” is a French Foreign Legion story. They have a lot of money tied up in rewrites. [Actually the literary source was the history The Bugle Sounds by Major Zinovi Pechkoff. It had been acquired in 1929 as a vehicle for Lon Chaney. Wallace Beery was later touted for one version in 1932. It was finally made – or its title was used – for a romantic comedy featuring Beery and Marjorie Main in 1942, set against the background of a cavalry unit converting from horses to tanks].
- Walter Wanger has signed Dudley Nichols to work on the script for ’Stage Coach,’ a western based upon the Ernest Haycox story, Stage to Lordsburg.
Beginning Production on this date:
- ‘The Shining Hour’ at MGM. Margaret Sullavan gets the nod instead of Maureen O’Sullivan for a major part in the film. [The lead, Joan Crawford, insisted that Sullavan be hired to play the role of her suicidal sister-in-law against the wishes of studio head Louis B Mayer].
- Hal Roach begins shooting the next Topper film ‘Topper Takes a Trip,’ starring Roland Young, Billy Burke, and Constance Bennett with Norman McLeod at the helm.
- Paramount has ‘Say It in French’ ready to go today, starring Ray Milland and Olympe Bradna.
- 20th Century Fox to begin the next Jones Family installment – ‘Down on the Farm,’ formerly ‘Corn on the Cob,’ with Jed Prouty and Spring Byington.
- Tay Garnett starts ‘Trade Winds’ with Fredric March and Joan Bennett for Walter Wanger. It had been delayed due to Fredric March recovering from a cold which he caught while working on Roach’s ‘There Goes My Heart.’ [Joan Bennett would later marrry Wanger].
Per Ed Sullivan
- Walt Disney has made a deal for Ravel’s Bolero. [This has me wondering if Disney had it in mind for a segment on ‘Fantasia’].
- The columnist lists the latest performers being considered for the title role in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ – Robert Benchley – W C Fields – Hugh Herbert – Ed Wynn.
Per Sidney Skolsky
- Skolsky repeats the same item on Benchley for ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ adding that it was producer Mervyn LeRoy who had approached him for the part.
- At Columbia [see August 16], director Frank Capra has passed on the ‘Chopin’ project, which had Marlene Dietrich attached. Instead he will proceed with ‘Mr Deed Goes to Washington’ with Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur.
- When George Cukor finishes his directorial chores on Paramount’s ‘Zaza’ he will huddle with David O Selznick and Sidney Howard on ‘Gone With the Wind.’
OUTSIDE HOLLYWOOD
Newspaper headlines charge Shirley Temple and five others of communist sympathies. The revelation came out of hearings in the House Committee probing un-American activities led by Congressman Martin Dies of TX. A former Communist organizer James B Matthews, named Temple, Clark Gable, Robert Taylor, James Cagney as unwitting supporters for the well wishes they offered to Ce Soir, a French newspaper, wholly owned by the reds. Matthews concluded that only Mickey Mouse and Snow White have not become involved in any Communist front organizations. [Spokesmen from the studios replied to the charge with the defence that they were unaware of any connection beforehand. They receive so many requests for publicity purposes that they never check for political connections of any newspaper in question].