The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-05-27
New Movie
Is Termed
Fantas site
MY Man Godfrey Portrays
Strange Mental
Atmosphere.
BY RUTH MTAMMANY


HOLLYWOOD, May q - my
Man Godfrey" now in production
at Universal is going to be different,
according to Director La Cava.
The whole story is so fantastic,
the characters so off center that
!, myself, landed in a hospital after
we had been shooting three weeks"
Mr.. La Cava said. 1.-The doctors
looked me over and said, Mr.. La
Cava, there is nothing wrong with
you but you are sick man.
81 haven't gone Godfrey" have
~" I asked. They looked at each
other in bewilderment, held a con-
sultation and then said, Now Mr..
La Cava, don't think of anything
just rest and we think you will pull
through
THE next day I walked out of
the hospital and back to work with
my eight crazy people of the cast.
l suddenly realized that concentrate
ing on eight different kinds of in
sanity and keeping them all in
character until the finish of the
picture, had been too much for my
own equilibrium" he said.
Spirited Picture
THE story Of MY Man Godfrey"
Is one of those Elusive, spirited
yarns. In all my motion picture
experience, l have never directed
picture which 1 am enjoying more.
For years I have been interested
in psychiatry and in this story
Godfrey-Bill Powell-is the only
one not victim of pyschosis.
"A rich family, searching new
sensations and bored after expert
encing them, finds disheveled man
on the streets of New York-one
OF the army of unemployed. They
take him home and the scenes
which follow contain humiliation.
lust and even love- 1t isn't a great
story, but the problems of such an
eccentric family in society is a big
3 one," the director explained.
Scenes Revamped
I'VE changed the set dialogue as
we went along, to fit the PERSONAL
tiles Of my players. The remark
able way in which Carol Lombard.
Gail Patrick, Alice Brady and the
.. others have developed their own OBJ
sessions, has influenced much of the
dialogue and even revamping of
scenes.
My Man Godfrey is a pioneer
picture, of sort. We have gone
against screen tradition in the story
q we have twice as much dialogue
: as IN an ordinary picture-the act
ors, who usually are only mediums
of a directors viewpoint of situa-
. lions. have created their roles, much
as they do in the theater."
Indisposition of stars is a worry
to the producers. Dick Powell's
strained vocal cords and the subse-
quent inability to sing for several
months, has retarded production of
his pictures
Loretta Young suffers from a
fever blister on her lip-a source of
great annoyance to her and seri-
Gus problem to her director in "Ra-
mona" With large cast of prin-
e cipals and extras waiting to shoot"
scenes on location 140 miles from
Hollywood-a slight fever becomes
a mountainous obstacle. The light
ness OF makeup for color picture
offers no chance to disguise the old
fashioned cold sore"
Nine. Schum an n-Heink, the
grand old lady who likes work and
action better than anything in the
world, has been quite i'll.
f. Adolph Menjou went to the hos
pital for a critical operation when
there were but few scenes more
to be taken to complete picture
. Pat O'Brien was bitten by spider
on one side of his nose. Innocent as
the trouble might seem, it took
twice the time for scene set-up"
SO that the camera could catch the
one unimpaired side of his face.