1940 - Theater, Film

Theater, Film

Theater: The Male Animal by James Thurber and Dover, Ohio-born playwright-actor (and film director) Elliott Nugent, now 40, 1/9 at New York's Cort Theater, with Nugent, Brooklyn-born actress Gene (originally Gene Eliza Taylor) Tierney, 19, 243 perfs.: My Dear Children by playwrights Catherine Turney, 33, and Jerry Horwin 1/31 at New York's Belasco Theater, with John Barrymore, 117 perfs.; The Fifth Column by Ernest Hemingway and Benjamin Glazer 3/26 at New York's Alvin Theater, with Lenore Ulric, Lee J. Cobb, Franchot Tone, staged by Lee Strasberg, 87 perfs.; Ladies in Retirement by London-born playwright-director Reginald Denham, 46, and Edward Percy 3/26 at Henry Miller's Theater, New York, with Florence Edney, Flora Robson, Estelle Winwood, 151 perfs.; There Shall Be No Night by Robert Sherwood 4/29 at New York's Alvin Theater, with Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Sydney Greenstreet, Richard Whorf, Montgomery Clift, 115 perfs.; Johnny Belinda by Chicago-born playwright Elmer Harris, 62, 9/18 at New York's Belasco Theater, with Helen Craig, Horace McNally, Clare Woodbury, 321 perfs.; George Washington Slept Here by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart 10/18 at New York's Lyceum Theater, with Ernest Truex, Jean Dixon, Mabel Taliaferro, Kendall Clark, 173 perfs.; Old Acquaintance by John Van Druten 12/23 at New York's Morosco Theater, with Jane Cowl, Kent Smith, Peggy Wood, scenic design by Richard Whorf, 170 perfs.; My Sister Eileen by New York-born playwright Joseph A. Fields, 45, and Jerome Chodorov 12/26 at New York's Biltmore Theater, with Shirley Booth, Jo Ann Sayers, Morris Carnovsky in a play based on Ruth McKinney's book, 865 perfs.; Flight to the West by Elmer Rice 12/30 at New York's Guild Theater (to Royale Theater 3/4/1941), with Betty Field, Karl Malden, Hugh Marlowe, 136 perfs.

Mrs. Patrick Campbell dies at Paris April 9 at age 75. She began her acting career in 1886 and continued until 2 years ago; playwright Walter Hasenclever commits suicide in a German internment camp at Les Milles, France, August 15 at age 50 (he fled Nazi Germany in 1933, made his way to southern France, and has been caught by the Germans).

Ice Capades is founded by Pittsburgh theater owner John H. Harris, 42, who organizes a spectacle that will tour the country for years with prominent skaters.

Films: John Cromwell's Abe Lincoln in Illinois with Raymond Massey, Gene Lockhart, Ruth Gordon; Edward Cline's The Bank Dick with W. C. Fields; Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent with Joel McCrea, Utah-born actress Laraine Day (Laraine Johnson), 19; John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath with Henry Fonda, Missouri-born actress Jane Darwell (originally Patti Woodward), 61; Howard Hawks's His Girl Friday with Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy; George Cukor's The Philadelphia Story with Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart (screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart); Robert Z. Leonard's Pride and Prejudice with Laurence Olivier, Greer Garson, Edna May Oliver, Maureen O'Sullivan; Michael Curtiz's The Sea Hawk with Errol Flynn; Ludwig Berger, Tim Whelan, and Michael Powell's The Thief of Baghdad with Sabu, Rex Ingram, June Duprez. Also: Preston Sturges's Christmas in July with Dick Powell, Ellen Drew, Raymond Walburn, William Demarest; Michael Powell's Contraband with Conrad Veidt, Valerie Hobson; William Dieterle's Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet with Edward G. Robinson, Ruth Gordon, Otto Kruger; Sam Wood's Kitty Foyle with Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan, Gladys Cooper; Lloyd Bacon's Knute Rockne, All American with Pat O'Brien, Tampico, Ill.-born actor Ronald (Wilson) Reagan, 29, who urges Notre Dame football players to "win one for the Gipper"; William Wyler's The Letter with Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall; John Ford's The Long Voyage Home with John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell; Rouben Mamoulian's The Mark of Zorro with Tyrone Power, Dallas-born actress Linda (originally Manetta Eloisa) Darnell, 19; Frank Borzage's The Mortal Storm with Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Robert Young, Frank Morgan; King Vidor's Northwest Passage with Spencer Tracy, Robert Young; Sam Wood's Our Town with Illinois-born actor William Holden (originally William Franklin Beedle Jr.), 22, Martha Scott, Frank Craven; Ernst Lubitsch's The Shop Around the Corner with Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Frank Morgan; Raoul Walsh's They Drive by Night with George Raft, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, London-born actress Ida Lupino, 22; William Keighley's Torrid Zone with James Cagney, Ann Sheridan, Pat O'Brien; Mervyn LeRoy's Waterloo Bridge with Vivien Leigh, Robert Taylor; William Wyler's The Westerner with Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan.

Silent film comedian Ben Turpin dies at Hollywood July 1 at age 70; cowboy actor Tom Mix is killed in a motorcar accident near Florence, Ariz., October 12 at age 60.

Radio: The Road to Happiness debuts 1/22 on CBS stations; Young Dr. Malone 4/29 on CBS stations. Truth or Consequences has begun 3/23 over four CBS stations; originated, produced, and directed by Ralph L. Edwards, 26, it is a spoof on giveaway quiz shows.