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Show STAGESCREEMMDIO By VIRGINIA VALE Released by Western Newspaper Union.) SOME years ago when Joseph Jo-seph P. Kennedy, until recently re-cently our ambassador to the Court of St. James's, was associated as-sociated in the financial management man-agement of Paramount, he was rather skeptical about the valuation that Hollywood places upon its stars. In fact, he remarked that practically anybody able to "make faces" was a potential movie actor. Now Paramount is screening "One Night in Lisbon," with Fred Mac-Murray Mac-Murray and Madeleine Carroll co-starred. co-starred. It's a story of the current European war, with the opening sequences se-quences laid in beleaguered London. Lon-don. There is a role that fits Mr. Kennedy perfectly. Producer-director Edward H. Griffith offered the r-. ' V v JOSEPH P. KENNEDY role to our friend Kennedy, who dared to accept this chance to try his own ability to make faces. Incidentally, Madeleine Carroll tried her best to get out of making "One Night in Lisbon." Her 19-year-old sister was killed not long ago, you'll remember, during a bombing raid in London. Just being home from the hospital hos-pital is a vacation that Mrs. Eddie Bracken is still on. She and her husband hus-band started off in their car for a vacation trip East, as soon as he finished his work in "Reaching for thevSun." They were hardly well on their way when they were in a spectacular automobile accident, in which she was seriously injured. There's no telling where this custom cus-tom of playing oneself on the screen will end. Jack Benny and Fred Allen take a whirl at it in "Love Thy Neighbor"; Oscar Levant, of radio's "Information Please," was obviously Oscar himself in "Rhythm on the River"; Deems Taylor, music mu-sic commentator of the air, steps right out as Deems Taylor in "The Hardboiled Canary," with Susanna Foster, and also in "Fantasia." And of course band leaders play themselves; them-selves; two of the newest baton-waving performances are those of Artie Shaw In "Second Chorus" and Orrin Tucker in "Las Vegas Nights." Members of the cast of that same "Las Vegas Nights" were slightly slap-happy after a memorable day's shooting in which practically everybody ev-erybody slapped somebody else. Virginia Dale slapped Francetta Mallory, who slapped right back; after that it continued, spreading to other actors, until Assistant Director Direc-tor Eddie Salvan had counted 97 blows. Then he stopped counting and sent for a studio nurse and some aspirin. Jane Withers was borrowed by Twentieth Century-Fox from Columbia Colum-bia to play opposite Jackie Cooper In "Her First Beau," a role for which both Edith Fellows and Bo-nita Bo-nita Granville had been mentioned. She'll report for it in February, when she's finished "A Very Young Lady," also for Fox. Anna Neagle, the English screen actress, is going to give us still another an-other of those musical comedies of yester-year. She's done "Irene" and "No, No Nanette" so far, and now we hear that the next one will be "Sunny." There doesn't seem to be any very good reason for these endeavors; en-deavors; neither "Irene" nor "No, No Nanette" was very good the latter has just been released, and in spite of an excellent cast it's not Grade A entertainment. And for some reason the music which made the musical a standout is now merely mere-ly -incidental. onns d t:ns C Vnivcrsal's in the market for renlly ancient aiitnmohilex, such as Pope Toledo To-ledo and If inlons they're needed for the Vandcrhilt Cup race scene in the re-make 0 "Back Srert." C Claudelte Colbert has sifmed for uco years more u ilh Paramount, makinc one picture a year. Her next one leill be "Skylark," based on a successful stage play. Dorothy Thompson, writer and commentator, com-mentator, has been sicned for another thirteen uveks over MBS. HThe Marx Brothers uill be turned ioosc in a department store in "Step Thit ray." |