Evening star., 1941-12-15

players to go ahead with their work.
upon here, Ratoff becomes COM
pletely inarticulate.
Manipulating tender scene be-
tween Pat O'Brien and Janet Blair
in Columbia's Trinidad he be-
came disgusted with the way his CO.
stars were kissing. Waving O'Brien
aside he took Miss Blair in his
arms, muttered the dialogue and
gave convincing demonstration of
the way he expected Pat to handle
the assignment.
There, now," he exclaimed to Pat,
"dot's de way a girl should rilly
be kissed.
He settled back in his chair and
called for a take. The camera
turned, Pat took Janet in his arms
and kissed her thoroughly.
Ratoff bounced up, threw his hat
on the floor
"Dun't do eet de way I do eet," he
screamed. do eet de way 1 mean
eet!"
Eating scenes are neuseating to
most players because they mean re-
peated stoking of rebellious stom-
achs over repeated takes. And usu-
ally the prop food is cold and stale.
Nevertheless, good actor must con-
vince the audience he is enjoying
his victuals.
Thus prefaced, we'll tell you about
Robert Young and his cold chicken.
In M-G-Ms Joe Smith, Ameri-
can" Young portrays an average
defense worker at home with his
family. One scene shows them eat
ing dinner around large table.
The sequence is a long one, taking
the whole day to film. Each time
a shot is made a platter Of chicken
must be piled high again. AS the
day progresses the sight of fried
chicken becomes increasingly repul-
sive.
Young keeps insisting he can't
nibble another mouthful. Along
about in the afternoon he sits
down to his place, surveys the fresh
ly stacked platter and remarks:
Look, even the flies have left it
now"
On any Eleanor Powell picture
rehearsals are given more time than
actual shooting of her intricate
dance routines. We find the star
and the 25 beauties who will sup
port her in an ensemble for "I'll
Take Vanilla" working out their
"Hawonga" number. This seems to
be combination of tap, conga and
hula all rolled into one speedy spe-
cialty.
For a climax Miss Powell dances
across the room at top speed, races
toward a table and, without losing |
a beat, jumps and sits on it. And
that's where the rub came in. Each
time she tried she slid right off the
othera end of the table.
Brake specialists held a lengthy
conference. Green felt was tackled
across the tables surface. Miss
Powell still slipped.
More huddling-and then resin |
rubbed on the table. No dice. Miss
Powell skids like a used tire on an
icy pavement.
Now she joins the conference.
Look" she says. I'm the one who
needs the resin"
The experts oblige. Miss Powell |
bends overland is resined!
m, y, u, rx,l,s s,.1
the room, tosses herself on the ta-
ble-and comes to dead stop. Per-
feet braking.
A radical kissing departure is
noted in Preston Sturges' new pic
ture. "The Palm Beach Story"
Claudette Colbert and Joel Nc
Crea, wife and husband, come home
from a. party quarreling. They're
going to split up. But Claudette,
to retire, can't reach the
Upper in the back of her gown. She
asks her husband to oblige. 80
McCrea yanks her over near a
light and begins searching for the
mesh. He sits on the davenport
and pulls her down on his lap. He
kisses her back, only to be told that
his kisses no longer have the slight
est meaning.
Suddenly McCrea spins Claudette
about on his lap, hops her back in
his arms and plants a torrid kiss
on her lips.
All this was the result of an hours
When the kiss was fin
- u u y Z . y r.