Evening star., 1941-09-22

afternoon in autumn, it makes no
difference. Hollywood will put his
career in a can and deliver it to the
movie house nearest your home for
whatever inspiration, entertainment,
and /or profit it may possess.
Essentially it is a fine idea and
should be beyond irreverent exam
ination Whatever happens in the
case of the Harmons of Michigan or
the Conns of Pittsburgh Is unim-
portant as compared with what hap
pens in the case of a Sergt. York, or,
in the theater, Father Day of Life
With Father" The latter two rep
resent the splendidly realized enter
tainment possibilities of current, or
almost current. biography. The list
could be expanded all the way to the
Alexander Woollcott acting version
of THE Man Who Came to Dinner"
x X X
Latest best seller to make the
contemporary cinema biography list
is 'One Foot in Heaven" That
would be Hartzell Spence's rollick-
ing tale of his fathers trials and
triumphS as practical parson."
AS a piece of sturdy Americana, the
humorously told story of an ener-
getic, resourceful, simple, philosophic
minister and his family, Warner
Bros. have high faith in it's future.
That future, incidentally, begins with
a yrrnpld of tho o,,ln TI,no
ter on the night of october 2.
In the making of One Foot in
Heaven" as in all other contempo-
rary biographical pieces, Hollywood
has discovered a difficulty never
encountered in the old-faShioned
type of life story. In the latter,
screen writer's were permitted to
let their fancies roam. Dead men
not only tell no tales, they are in
no position to object or sue should
the tales told of them be at vari-
ance with the facts. That was good
for dramatic license whatever its
effect upon historical truth.
The new type of material requires
closer hueing to the line of fact.
That it does not mean over-ideal-
ization of a character, however. was
demonstrated in the film, 'Sergt.
York" 1t was never disavowed in
the script of that picture that the
hero was doughty tippler in his
youth and that it took him a long
time to make a definite bargain
with Pastor Pyle. The sergeant
himself insisted it should be so.
X X x
That the robuStiousness of "One
Foot in Heaven" might not be so
casually handled as to give offense
to churchmen, the producing studio
turned to the church itself for tech
nical advice in making the picture.
Washington's Bishop James E. Free
man was head of a committee of
churchmen named by Dr. Daniel A.
Polling, editor of the Christian Her
AID, which selected the technical
adviser for the film. The eventual
! choice was DR.. Norman Vincent
Peals, pastor of Marble Collegiate
Church, who remained In Hollywood
| throughout the whole production Pc
riod
AS for the Spence family, its ad-
vice on the factuality of the script
was offered by Mrs. William H.
Spence, mother of the books author,
apd widow of its hero.
Contemporary biography creates
jobs like that.
* X X
Not a world, but a gala Washing
ton premiere will be observed
Wednesday night at Keith's, when
The Little Foxes" in picture form,
with Bette Davis, comes to town.
1t comes to that house, which is
very happy to have it, as what house
wouldn't, by virtue of the deal
whereby Samuel Goldwyn products
hereafter will be exhibited by r.
K-O
One of the script writer's on the
movie version was Lillian Hellman
who, as author of the original, wrote
perhaps the structurally finest play
of the last 10 years.
That seems very wise OF Mr..
cnl5uy,,