Evening star., 1944-02-13
HOLLYWOOD

The sure-fire comic is the one
who pokes fun at himself makes
himself the butt of nearly every gag.
That in large measure accounts
for the popularity of Bob Hope,
Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Red Skel-
ton and other top funny men of
screen and radio.
And so the movies are rapidly
cutting themselves into the same
groove. They're poking themselves
In the ribs on the screen-and fill
ing their pokes at the box Office.
The Hays Office, million dollar
movies. Hollywood playboys and al
most every other tabled movietown
idiosyncrasy are no longer sacred
to gag writer's.
In The Gangs All Here" Alice
Faye and James Ellison go for a
stroll in the moonlight and Ellison
asks his lady fair to sing a song.
She agrees, but when an orchestra
suddenly begins blasting an accom-
paniment, Ellison asks, where's all
the music coming from?' Answers
Alice: Haven't you got imagina-
tion?" A gentle poke at fans who
protest the screens habit of drag
ging In background music at the
most obscure points in a picture.
A Brother Twitted.
In the forthcoming -Four Jills in
q Jeep," Comedian Phil Silvers
steps up to Jimmy Dorsey. the Or
chestra leader, and needles him with
the comment: Your brother Tom
my warned me about you!" AS a
matter of fact, the "Jills" script Is
replete with such takeoffs.
Brightest gag in an otherwise dull
picture, Lady of Burlesque." star
ring Barbara Stanwyck, had cute
blond fitting in and out of various
scenes. for no apparent reason.
Finally one of the characters asks:
"Who is that girl seem to be see
Ing her every place I 60" Replies
Billie Burke: "Oh, never mind; she's
Just friend of the director of this
picture and he's trying to get her
into every scene he can" A takeoff
on the traditional supposition that
you've gotta know somebody to get
places in movietown.
The Hays Office and its censorship
code were always banned to the
gagsters until the Marx brothers cut
loose. Building up to suggestive
climax for one of his scenes,
Groucho turned straight to the
audience and said: I'VE can't 60
any further with this-the Hays
ofice, you know" Since then. all
comics have made it an open season
on the custodians of movie morals.
Unexpected Query.
1t probably all started when Betty
Bronson starred in Peter Pam"
which is longer ago than most folks
want to remember. Those who con-
fess to having seen that silent epic
may recall the moment Betty
stopped in the middle of scene
and, with benefit Of subtitle, asked
the audience, do you believe in
fairies?"
Instances of the screen kidding
itself really became fine art when
Paramount inaugurated the, Road
series. with Bob Hope, Bing Crosby
and Dorothy Lamour. In addition
to going out of character at the
slightest provocation, the comics
managed to work each others names
into the script. This was evidenced
In Road to Morocco" when, while
singing the song of the same title,
one of the lines went: Ten will
get you one that we don't see
Dorothy Lamour."
There's one chummy bit in La
mours current Rainbow Island"
which depicts Eddie Bracken and
Gil Lamb crawling through island
undergrowth In an Intellectual effort
to escape the attention of buxom
native girls. They peer into a
clearing only to discover another
girl whose back is turned to them.
"Jiggers!" yells Bracken. another
native" Whereupon the girl turns
around saying, What did you ex-
pect? Dorothy Lamour?" And 1t is
Lamour.
kIso IN '"The Road tn Morncco"l