The Key West citizen., 1952-12-29
HOLLYWOOD
NOTES
Bv BOB Thomas

HULL WOOO Oi - LII my OOOh3
the bravest kind of movie maker
is the one who attempts to film
somebody's real-life story.
What hazards the producer
faces! Everybody gets into the
act, including the family, friends
and business associates of the per-
son being portrayed. Some de-
mand payment for the use of their
names. Some threaten suit if their
names aren't used. Some want the
facts juggled so that life will seem
more pleasant than it really was.
Then the picture is finally COM
pleted. The producer is bombarded
by critics for making a watered-
down or corned-up version of the
persons life. And law suits for
defamation of character or inva-
sion of privacy start popping up
all over.
That's why / consider Henry
Blanke a brave man. He is now
producing ''The Grace Moore
Story" based on the life of the
late singing star.
"The legal clearances are in
deed a headache" he sighed.
Gwen if you use fictitious names
for certain characters, you have
| to be careful. If the character is
Enthusiastically someone in real life,
the person may have grounds for
suit.
"We also have to be careful
about source material Our pic
ture is primarily based on Miss
Moore's autobiography, You're
Only Young Twice. If we use any
other real material, we must be
careful that it appears in at least
two sources. If we take it from
one source, the person who wrote
it might be able to sue"
Blanke produced the distin-
guished biographies of Emile Zola,
Louis Pasteur and Benito Juarez
back in the '3Os. He remarked
that he even had troubles with
those 10Th century figures.
"There are always descendants
of people involved in those stories
and they can bring trouble" he
said. "There was relative of the
villain in the Zola story who
threatened suit. So we had to
change the characters name"
He added that certain liberties
have to be taken in real-life
stories because of dramatic needs.
For instance, the picture showed
Zola writing ''Nana" before the
Franco -Prussian War instead of
after. And Pasteur was pictured
as finding cure for childbed
fever, while another scientist was
actually responsible for it.
Blanke said that the Grace
Moore film viii stick as closely
to the singers life as possible. 1t
will be concerned mostly with her
early days.
s'The climax of the picture will
be her debut at the Metropolitan"
he explained. "You see, in real
life stories, the problem is getting
dramatic story. The drama in
Grace Moore's story was her strug-
gle to get to the Met. After that
came nothing but triumph-Holly-
wood, II trips to Europe, etc Too
much success doesn't make a dra-
matte picture"
He added that the story has also
been tailored to the talents of
Kathryn Grayson, who is playing
Miss Moore. "They are two diff
ferent kinds of people," he re-
marked. Miss Moore was more
the vivacious, peppy type"
The picture is being made at
Warmers, and that's a matter of
poetic justice. AL Jolson, who
scored his triumphs at Warmers,
had his biography made by Colum-
bia. Grace Moore, who made mil
lions for Columbia, is now being
immortalized by Warmers.
Capsule Review: The Star" is
a wonderful tour de force for Bette
Davis. She plays a fading film
star. but a less wacky one than
Gloria Swanson portrayed in Sun
set Boulevard" Miss Davis gives
it all she's got, and that's plenty.
Though not great, the story is an