Both were comedies and merely programme fodder, but a bigger budget was ordered when the studio filmed a long-running Broadway play about romantic shenanigans at a college for army cadets, Brother Rat. Warners saw the publicity advantage of having all three under contract and Priscilla, the prettiest of them, was immediately teamed with Wayne Morris in Love, Honor and Behave (1938) and Men Are Such Fools. Waring and his Orchestra co-starred with Powell in Varsity Show, made earlier in 1937, with the two Lanes more or less playing themselves. Rosemary and Priscilla Lane had been vocalists with Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians, famous for "The Sweetest Music This Side of Heaven". Playing the lookalike who replaces her - and takes over the romantic lead with Dick Powell - was Rosemary Lane, who had arrived at the studio more directly but also via vaudeville. In 1937 Warner Bros put her under contract and gave her a star role as a temperamental movie queen, in one of its principal productions, Hollywood Hotel. Lola began it all at the age of 12 by playing the piano to accompany the flickers she and her older sister Leota went into vaudeville and by 1928 Lola was playing in movies. There were in fact five Lane sisters in show business, the daughters of a dentist called Mullican. Lane does not make all of the record books today, but if you catch the superb matching of Cagney and Bogart in The Roaring Twenties (1939) you will find Cagney and Lane above the title and Bogart below it. But before Fontaine emerged as a star, the Lanes - Rosemary, Lola and Priscilla - were the best-known sister act in movies, and Priscilla, the youngest of them, was briefly Warner Bros' biggest female star after Bette Davis and de Havilland. There were the Talmadges in the Silent era, Constance, Norma and Natalie, but the most famous movie sisters have to be Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland. Priscilla Mullican (Priscilla Lane), actress, singer: born Indianola, Iowa 12 June 1917 twice married died Andover, Massachusetts 4 April 1995. Selznick, Ida Lupino, Jane Wyman, Joan Fontaine, Madeleine Carroll, New York City, New York, Priscilla Lane, Robert Altman, Robert Cummings, Saboteur (1942), The 39 Steps (1935), Universal Studios, Warner Brothers keywords: Alfred Hitchcock, Bette Davis, Cary Grant, Claude Rains, David O.newspaper: The Independent (10/Apr/1995). Marc Edward Heuck discusses Fun on the Weekend on the New Beverly blog. A good cast of clowns and comic actors rounds out the cast.” – TV Guide “Bracken has some wonderful moments in getting out of implausible situations and the direction is nicely paced. Co-starring Tom Conway and Allen Jenkins. Along the way, they fall in love with each other, an unplanned-for development. Before their scheme loses steam, they find themselves being toasted, wined-and-dined by high society and giving outlandish parties where caviar is king. They proceed to gatecrash various millionaire’s mansions, supposedly in the market for their own manor. Here, Stone follows penniless Peterson Porterhouse III (Eddie Bracken of Preston Sturges’ Hail! The Conquering Hero!) and nearly destitute Nancy (Priscilla Lane of Hitchcock’s The Saboteur) as they run into each other on a Florida beach and decide to take the top 1% by storm to get into the big money. Stone started out directing comedies and musicals (e.g., the landmark African-American Stormy Weather). Not Available on DVD! Ultra-Rare! As we mentioned last month, indie suspense/action auteur Andrew L.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |