Daily News from Los Angeles, California • 23

eJJ J.iei ill ymo A 4 ncot if i tf i-. 9 iSniYntifitel iM'SKfeltM, CALIFORNIA, UttUtj WiflPJ WEDNESDAY SEPTIM1K ll. IfU ZiJ it flj) a id -Mann a Eddie who practically has been sitting on the 4oors(g of Cagney brothers, finally appears to have convinced the producers "he Is the comedian who should pity Lawrence Lamb in "The Stray Lamb." The hero of the Thorne Smith fable ia a shy -'Wall Street worker whose fear of romantic Involvements puts him In the clutches of a fabulous ancestor, the Ruaset Man. This gentleman, who -will be played -by James Cagney, is an Irish magician whose whimsical nature causes him to change Bracken into animals. In turn he becomes a horse, a dog and a kangaroo.

There has been no announced starting, date for "The Stray Lamb, but now that Cagney end Bracken will form a co-starring duo, William Cagney can go ahead with more intensive preparations. Miriam Youngs enormously entertaining novel of vaudeville, "Mother Wore Tights, is being brought to the screen at 20th Century-FM, where casting of the technicolor musical la fn progress. Vanessa Brown and Coleeri Gray, two newcomers, have been added to the company, which now includes Betty Grable and Dan Dailey Jr. Lamarr Trotti, who will also produce, wrote the screenplay and Walter Lang has been assigned the director's chore. "Mother Wore Tights is a bright and amusing account of the life of vaudeville duo whose careers begin in tank towns.

Eventually they hit the big time and that mecca of all variety performers, the Palace. The couple's life is complicated by an irrepressible daughter whose world of show business is fir removed from the quiet, conservative boarding school in which she ia lodged. pie Comedies. One of! his best roles was in "Birth of the Sewing Machine' Girl, starring Mary Fickford. Studio notei For a good many years "Doc" Merman has been a colorful figure in production circles, functioning mainly as a production manager.

Lately he baa 'been associated with Fine, end Thom- as. He will soon step out of that organization to form fn indepen- dent unit in collaboration with William B. David. They win produce a acriea of pictures in color, Jules Levey has formed an star "Dixieland dance bend" tot hie jazz saga, "New The seven topnotchers who will merge their talents for the show ere Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory, Barney Bigard, Zutty Sfngleton, Bud Scott, Red Callender and Charlie BealL Sol Leaser, who made It a point to set a flair of newcomers In featured roles in his production, "No Trespassing, appears to have uncovered a couple of finds. To back up hie judgment he ia signing both to long term contracts.

The girls are Allene Roberta, who did the romantic lead the picture, end- Julie London, who enacted the second feminine Paramount has put "Ita Spring -Again. on' production A modern- comedy about a secretary who fails love with he boas, the show, being written by -Barry Trivera. J. Wolfaon will produce. Footitghf notes Jan Kiepura and Marta erth are due In town Sept star In that old ell-, in in is -P.

Egg- 24' -to wathorae of the operetta stage, "The Merry Widow." The couple played the Lehar musical three yean ago at the Shrine. The new booking will find them at the Philharmonic, with substantially the same cast seen previously. Isabel Randolph -and Jack Norton have been engaged for the comedy leads In "Roselle, coming Monday to the Greek theater. Joe -Sullivan, Gale Sherwood and Lee Dixon head the cast. HUMPHREY BOGART watches Lauren BacaR pile up a stack of blue chips in the Raymond Chandler mystery, 'The Big Sleep," starting nest Wednesday at Warners Hollywood, Downtown, WiHem.

Leo Sulky, Hollywood's oldest active actor, la celebrating hie 72nd birthday this week by playing hie 526th screen role fat I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now, the musical biography of Joe Howard which Lloyd Bacon ia directing at 20th Century. Sulky made hie first appearance on the stage In 1889 when he played with the 'Hanlon Bros, pantomime show. His screen career dates back to the Mack Sennett days when'll did duty as a heay In the apple 1 Francisco Opera Co. season in tho the role of "Boris Godounoff." rt I 'im tt vnrgnnna Wright Drama Editor With the signing of- Mont 'gomery Clift to a long term contract Howard Ilawka introduces to pictures the top ranking young actor of the American theater. This 26-year-old veteran of 10 Broadway plays will make his screen debut as Matthew Garth in "Red River," producer-director Hawks first film for his new independent company, Monterey Productions, Inc.

Cliff, who originated the role "of Sam, the soldier son of Cor- nelia Otis Skinnr and Dennis King in Lillian Heilman's "The Searching Wind, is on location 'now in Arizona. As the foster. son of John Wayne, a ruthless cattleman in "Bed River, Clift initiation to pictures is in a hard 1 riding, two fisted role, This deal with Hawks seems to be the result of mutual ad- miration. The who has rejected all previous screen offers, flew from Mew York to discuss thrf proposition at the request of his agent, Leland Hay-tjvard. After four- hours with.

'3fewks he was ready to sign the -V. tract. And on, his side, the i producer-director dispensed even 6'With the usual formality of a jvscrecn test Montgomery Clift's record in a-the theater goes back 13 years. vA boy then. of no pre-i-vious experience on the stage, -Jie auditioned for "Fly Away Home" and got -the.

juvenile's part in- that play with. Thomas Mitchell. That was the beginning of a career which has placed him with some of the top stars of the theater. Clift developed his technique in small roles, then made an early name for himself as the boy with Martha Scott in Our Town," though not in the original company. In "The Skin of Our Teeth, Thornton Wilders Pulitzer Prize fantasy with Tallulah Bankhead, he played young Antrobus, the son of Fredric Mirch'and FI or- ence Eldridge.

And in Robert i "There Shall Be No Night he played. Erik, the son tfit Alfred Lunt and Lynn for a year on Broadway and another year on the road. More recently Montgomery appeared on Broadway in "FOxhole in the Parlor- and fn Touched Me." His contract with Hawks per-, mitt his return to the theater, the dates dont con-assignments for Mon-Frey Productions. "Home of the Brave" Catching up on plays which opened here during my vacation I saw Home of the Brave last week. While there is little can add to David Hannas original words of praise for the Arthur Laurents drama and Lab production, I would be remiss if I didn't urge those who may have overlooked it to see -1 this play at the Las Palmas before, it closes Sunday night 1 can't recall ever being more absorbed or moved in the thea-ater, and if Laurents psychiatric investigation of young Jewish soldier's amnesia and paralysis is occasionally repe- titlous, his handling of the theme is so honest and stirring as to make you ignore such minor deficiencies.

The scenes of action in the Pacific, played in flashback as. the soldier is under treatment by narcosynthesis, have been staged by Phil Brown with great effectiveness, and his cast of veterans is perfect Leo Penn, in a part demand- a rapid pace changes, gives a arkably intelligent perform-e as the Jewish soldier. Other exceptionally good char-' acterizations are turned in by: Gene Reynolds, the former boy actor on the screen, as the sen- sitive Fitch whosfc death is the cause of his buddy's paralyzing 1 sense of guilt; Robert Karnes, 1 the sergeant who loses an arm and a wife; Kenneth Patterson, the anti-Semitic corporal; Harlan Warde. the decent ma-v jor, and Mark Williams, the 1 psychiatrist "State of the Union" You probably dont need any reminding to see this Pulitzer Prize comedy at the Biltmore. Howard Lindsey and Russel Crouse have written a funny and intelligent play about a man who has to choose between his social conscience and the compromises he would have to make as a candidate for President of the United States.

Up to the second in political references, "Slate of the Union is the play the country has needed, and this third company takes full advantage of its dramatic and comic possibilities. Conrad Nagel is ideally cast presidential tlmoer, and Irene tlrvey is delightful as the wife given to deflation of his occasionally stuffed shirt attitudes. Leona Maricle, as 'his mistress; Henry O'Neill, the Republican boas, and Patrick Mc-Vey, a newspaper man with a wide streak of decency, help out this good road Company. XAVIER CUGAT as seen by Xavier Cugat in "Holiday in Mexico," now playing at the Los Angeles, WiWiiref Belmont end Egyptian. it IFilni review By VIRGINIA WRIGHT Walt Disneys latest musical fantasy, "Make Mine Music" is neither so experimental nor so pretentious as "Fantasia, which probably will disappoint those who expect progressive inventiveness from him in the field of animation but at the same time it may give the film at the Orpheum, Vogue and El Rey a wider popularity than its predecessor.

While this is a pleasant collection of short subjects, there is nothing in "Make Mine Music to startle the imagination. Of its ten unrelated parts only one ia really ingenuously animated. Another has some delightful pencil work, and at least two are' expert blends of music and animation. Two others are good fun, another has the Andrews Sisters voices to recommend It, Slid the rest I could do Best of the collection is "After Youve Gone, with music by the Benny Goodman quartet. This is fine fantasy, pictorially Inventive with the clarinet ajid bass, the rippling plsno keys and the drums given expressive characters of their own imagi-' natively suggestive of the music.

Another excellent Goodman Short is "All the Cats Join In, a little jive number in which the action, keeping step with the hot music, occasionally gets ahead of the artists pencil. The cartoon version of Proko-' flevs and the Wolf, narrated by Sterling Holloway, la a nice, imaginative job a blend of typical Disney humor and good music. A highlight, too, Is the Whale, a kind of "silly symphony" with an opera sing-' ing whale at the Met. Nelson Eddy supplies all the voices for this, blending at one time his own tenor, bass and baritone. "Casey at the Bat," narrated by Jerry Colonna, and "The Martina and the Coys, sung by the Kings men, are amusing, but routine Disney subjects.

Not so amusing is Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet. This ia the one sung by the Andrews Sisters. Almost anything else out of their repertoire would have been a better subject. In "Two Silhouettes. danced by David Lichine and Riabouch-inska, and sung by Dinah Shore, the silhouette technique doesn't seem like progress, and certainly the Disney boys should forget about those cupids.

Poorest items In the collection are "Blue Bayou, sung by tfce Ken Darby chorus, and "Ballad in Blue nasally Intoned by Andy Russell. These, believe, are called "Visualizations. Whatever they are, they belong to the pretty-pretty school, and are completely uninspired. Make Mine Music is playg at the Orpheum' with Zaoe Greys "Wanderer of the Wasteland." At the Vogue and El Rey it Is single billed. r.

.1 ous MAIDIE NORMAN it concerned with the mystery of "The Bs the chiller opening tonight on the stage of the Musart Theater. it a gc ey i ew Hollywood Tceri Agcrs; By KAAREN SPRAGER Hollywood's Teen Agere are doing double duty this week at tha Million Dollar Theater, dancing. show Ray by a guitar plaintive Me- la a can do his orchestra, cardigan Monogram eiory ef la- Their latest picture, High School Hero, Vie being shown on the screen and they are making a personal appearance on the stage. Led by the singing stat of the pictures, Freddie Stewart, the group presents a well rounded show of dancing and comedy. Stewart unfurla hla tenor, in "You Can't Pull the Wool Over My Eyes," "Its Wonderful, and "To Each His Own.

The comedy chores are handled by Warren Mills and Frankie Darro and Jackia Moran. The latter two do a rather' in winning the Mg Other features of the are T-Bone Walker and Malone. piano and baas, playa the and ainga the bides In a manner. a return engagement. lone.

again proves that he very' talented dancer and some Intricate things with tape." Ai Lyons and bis resplendent In gerrlah jackets, provide the muaie. "High School Hero. a picture, tells tho the trials end tribulations ball game. Needless to eav. the home team comes through or dear old aim mater There arc also soeoeoi fi duction numbers ernelde opportunities for Slower I rtng, Miss Preisser to Sene end Jen Savitt end Freddie td thVr orchestras.

amusing current trend. The three of them also team up for actively burlesque of the Andrews Sisters singing "Beer Barrel Pblka." June Preisser also does a turn of singing and agile acrobatic skit lampooning the' psychological movie EZIO PINZA wiD open the San Shrine Auditorium Oct. 21 in.