1944 - Theater, Film

Theater, Film

Theater: Ramshackle Inn by George Batson 1/5 at New York's Royale Theater, with ZaZu Pitts, Joseph Downing, Cora Witherspoon, 216 perfs.; Wallflower by Mary Orr and Reginald Denham 1/26 at New York's Cort Theater, with Sunnie O'Dea, Mary Rolfe, 192 perfs.; Decision by New York-born playwright Edward Chodorov, 39, 2/2 at New York's Belasco Theater, with Georgia Burke is a melodrama about fascism in America and U.S. race relations, 160 perfs.; Antigone by Jean Anouilh 2/4 at the Théâtre de l'Atelier in occupied Paris; Jacobowsky and the Colonel by S. N. Behrman (who has adapted a play by Franz Werfel) 3/14 at New York's Martin Beck Theater, with Louis Calhern, J. Edward Bromberg, French actress Annabella (originally Suzanne Charpentier), now 39, 417 perfs.; Only the Heart by Texas-born playwright Horton Foote, 28, 4/4 at New York's Bijou Theater, with Mildred Dunnock, June Walker, 47 perfs.; The Searching Wind by Lillian Hellman 4/12 at New York's Fulton Theater, with Cornelia Otis Skinner, now 42, Dudley Digges, Montgomery Clift, Dennis King, 318 perfs.; No Exit (Huis Clos) by Jean-Paul Sartre 5/27 at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in occupied Paris; Anna Lucasta by Chicago-born playwright Philip Yordan, 30, 8/30 at New York's Mansfield Theater, with Hilda Simons, Canada Lee, John Tate (Ruby Dee, now 16, will join the cast in 1946), 957 perfs.; Soldier's Wife by Rose Franken 10/4 at New York's John Golden Theater, with Budapest-born actress Lili Darvas, 38, Martha Scott, Glenn Anders, Myron McCormick, 253 perfs.; I Remember Mama by John Van Druten (who has adapted Kathryn Forbes's book Mama's Bank Account) 10/19 at New York's Music Box Theater, with Mady Christians, Frances Heflin, Joan Tetzel, Marlon Brando, Oscar Homolka, 714 perfs.; Snafu by Louis Solomon and Harold Buchman 10/25 at New York's Hudson Theater (to Biltmore 1/1/1945), with Enid Markey, 158 perfs.; Harvey by former Denver newspaperwoman Mary Coyle Chase, 37, 11/1 at New York's 48th Street Theater, with Frank Fay, 1,775 perfs.; The Late George Apley by John P. Marquand and George S. Kaufman 11/21 at New York's Lyceum Theater, with Leo G. Carroll, Janet Beecher, 384 perfs.; Dear Ruth by Norman Krasna 12/13 at New York's Henry Miller Theater, with El Monte, Calif.-born actress Virginia Gilmore, 25, Lenore Lonergan, 683 perfs.; Love in Idleness by Terence Rattigan 12/20 at London's Lyric Theatre, with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, 213 perfs. (it will move to Broadway in January under the title O Mistress Mine and run for 451 perfs., giving the Lunts their biggest success).

Playwright Walter Hackett dies at his native New York January 20 at age 67; Jean Giraudoux in occupied Paris January 31 at age 61 (he has served as minister of information for the Vichy government); actor Richard Bennett dies at Los Angeles October 22 at age 72.

Fire engulfs the big tent of the Ringling Bros.-Barnum & Bailey Circus circus at Hartford, Conn., July 6. Reputed to be the largest tent in the world, it has been treated to make it fire-resistant but not fireproof. No circus animal is hurt, but about 140 people are burned to death, many of them charred beyond recognition, 193 are hospitalized, and the death toll soon reaches 159. Clown Emmett Kelly ("Wearie Willie"), now 45, helps carry water to douse the flame, and the "Greatest Show on Earth" does not reopen until August 2, at Akron, Ohio.

Radio: Columbia Presents Corwin 3/7 on CBS with Boston-born writer-announcer Norman Corwin, 33; Rosemary 10/2 on NBC is another soap opera created by Elaine Carrington (to 1955, mostly on CBS).

Foreign journalists confer the first Golden Globe Awards early in the year at Hollywood's 20th Century Fox studios, honoring what they consider the best films and performances of 1943 to begin a yearly event that they will continue next year with a dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel, giving away pedestal-mounted golden images of a globe encircled with a strip of motion-picture film to directors as well as actors.

Films: Marcel Carné's Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du Paradis) with Jean-Louis Barrault, Arletty (Léonie Barhiat), 46; Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity with Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray; Preston Sturges's Hail the Conquering Hero with New York-born actor Eddie Bracken, 24, Snoquaimie, Mass.-born actress Ella Raines (originally Ella Wallace Raubes), 23, William Demarest; Otto Preminger's Laura with Clifton Webb, Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews; Preston Sturges's The Miracle of Morgan's Creek with Eddie Bracken, Betty Hutton, William Demarest; Clarence Brown's National Velvet with Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Taylor. Also: Frank Capra's Arsenic and Old Lace with Cary Grant, Iowa-born actress Priscilla Lane (originally Mullican), 27, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, Jack Carson, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre; Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat with Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, Pittsburgh-born actor John Hodiak, 30; John Cromwell's Since You Went Away with Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten; Robert Siodmak's The Suspect with Charles Laughton, Ella Raines; David Lean's This Happy Breed with Robert Newton, Celia Johnson, John Mills; Leslie Fenton's Tomorrow the World with Fredric March, Betty Field, Skippy Homeier, Agnes Moorehead; Alf Sjoberg's Torment with Swedish actress Mai Zetterling, 19, Stig Jarrel; Carol Reed's The Way Ahead with David Niven, Stanley Holloway, 52, Peter Ustinov, Trevor Howard, 27, script by Eric Ambler and Ustinov; Henry King's Wilson with Ontario-born actor Alexander Knox, 37, Savannah-born actor Charles Coburn, 66, Geraldine Fitzgerald; Fritz Lang's The Woman in the Window with Joan Bennett, Edward G. Robinson.

Actor William Collier dies of pneumonia at Beverly Hills January 13 at age 79; producer Myron Selznick of portal thrombosis at Santa Monica March 23 at age 45; cameraman Billy Bitzer at Hollywood April 29 at age 70; comedian Harry Langdon of a heart attack at Hollywood December 22 at age 60.