Yesterdays Wheepies and Laff Lines

The Deborah Kerr Fellowship League -
A Foundation for the Performing Arts
( Those Neon Lights and Film Journals )
Est. in the East New York section of Brooklyn, N.Y.
circa1956
Yesterdays Weepies and Laff Lines - " An Affair to Remember " with " Prudence and the Pill "

" Please Believe Me " M-G-M 87min.

DIRECTION: Smart. --- PHOTOGRAPHY: Good.

Sprightly romantic comedy with only the lightest undertones of seriousness is told with a few clever touches here. Everybody concerned with the Nathaniel Curtis story seems to be enjoying the proceedings. At times, too, they seem to prominently have their tongues in their cheeks. The bulge is noticeable. There is a certain quality of insouciance to be noted frequently.
Generally, though, "Please Believe Me" has more than a few highflown moments which the audience will respond to with the proper spirit. The gags come easy, when they do. Deborah Kerr displays an ease with lighter fare. Robert Walker is properly earnest and conniving. Peter Lawford has a lot of money and amusingly makes like he does know what he wants - girls. Mark Stevens gets the girl - Deborah. It is James Whitmore who glibly deposits the gag situation in their proper niches. He's good and he's versatile. Keep an eye on him.
In British eyes Texas is a dazzling place. When Miss Kerr receives word she has inherited a ranch left to her by a man she befriended during the war, she promptly leaves London to collect. Aboard ship she is soon pursued by 1. Lawford, who likes girls, all girls. 2. Robert Walker who thinks she's loaded with dough and he needs it, he being in hock to Whitmore and J. Carrol nash, a gambler. 3. Stevens, attorney to Lawford, who tries to keep him clear of skirt entanglement.
Before the ship reaches New York the collection is running at a good pace. But after arrival things shape up and there is considerable comic embarrassment, much action in a hotel, still more pursuit, misunderstanding and finally it comes out there is no Texas ranch. Just a big badlands. There is some final scene juggling concerning a prayer rug. All the boys are still after Deborah, however, but Stevens is her choice.
Norman Taurog keeps the story moving gayly.

CAST:
Deborah Kerr
Robert Walker
Mark Stevens
James Whitmore
Peter Lawford
J.Carrol Naish
Spring Byington
Carol Savage
Drue Malory
George Cleveland
Ian Wolfe
Bridget Carr
Henri Letondal
Gaby Andre
Leon Belasco

CREDITS: Producer, Val Lewton; Director, Norman Taurog; Original story and screenplay, Nathaniel Curtis; Photograph, Robert Planck; Art, Cedric Gibbons, Daniel B. Cathcart; Editor, Ferris Webster; Music, Hans Salter; Sound, Douglas Shearer; Sets, Edwin B. Willis, Keogh Gleason.

" Dream Wife " M-G-M 101min.

DIRECTION: Smart. -- PHOTOGRAPHY: First Rate.

Tailored for mature tastes. Delivers expertly fashioned frivolity. Betta St. John talented and lovery newcomer will hand'em laugh after laugh.
"Dream Wife" trips its gay way along the romantic comedy trail to deliver expertly fashioned frivolity that reaches a point of development wherein carefully planned male rejection of the career woman for a simple girl - like an Eastern princess of striking beauty who has an understanding of woman's place in the scheme of things - backfires.
This and the other story ingredients supplied Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr and Betta St. John, as the amorous principals, have a genuine freshness, and displayed with a suavity that charms and given excellent production details and astute attention to trivals that nonetheless complement the plot, should hand the audience laugh after laugh.
Taking his role in stride and applying his usual fine sense of comedy timing to bright lines, Cary Grant sets off an uproarious stream of events when

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Addle an Addict and Baffle a Buff
HOLLYWOOD BABBLE ON
( stars gossip about other *S*T*A*R*S* )
Tragic Dame Elizabeth Taylor's Lonely Life
( Decline of a Screen Goddess . . . )
As Elizabeth Taylor approaches her 72nd birthday, friends fear the once-legendary beauty is in a sad decline. The former screen queen is plagued by frail health and has lost much of her sparkle since surgery for a benign brain tumor, reveal friends, who say she's " in the twilight of her days, often lonely and suffering chronic pain. "
Now, Elizabeth is confronted by the possibility her longtime friend Michael Jackson is going to prison for allegedly molesting a child. And friends say she is deeply troubled by a lawsuit alleging she had to pay her gay butler, ____________________, for sex.
The court papers also allege Elizabeth, who turns 72 February 27th, 2004 has become an overweight, crippled, mentally confused insomniac who's sexually addicted and sustained by painkillers, according to an article in London's Daily Mail. The suit was filed by an ex-employee, landscaper ____________________, who says Elizabeth owed him 200,000.
Elizabeth says these claims are untrue and has launched legal challenges to the claims in court. Meanwhile, the gardener reportedly says in the court papers that __________ told him he had to take Viagra to keep up with Elizabeth's sexual demands. The butler is quoted in the lawsuit as disrespectfully describing sex with Elizabeth as ' jumping the old trampoline.' __________ , a 10-year employee, also revealed she's relied on Michael 'Jacko' and others for company.
" Elizabeth has created a pathetic private world where she relies on gay hangers-on for company and her pets for love, " says a source close to her. " She dismisses the claims of a former staff member that she hired a French butler as a sex slave, but there's no doubt she's lonely and I think declining.
" Because of chronic back and hip pain, Elizabeth sometimes has trouble getting around while at home - something that's hidden from outsiders. " Worse, since brain surgery for a benign tumor, she sometimes has to wipe dribble from her mouth because of a tendency to drool and is embarrassed by it. " There could be no more tragic decline for a once-great actress. "
The source says that Elizabeth's best friends are now Jackson and several others. " Elizabeth is shattered by the possibility of Michael going to prison for child molestation, " says the source, " She's going on blind faith that he's innocent and has supported him publicly. "
Elizabeth's representative, Sally Morrison, tells GLOBE, " She is very concerned about what is happening to Michael Jackson. It's very serious. As far as the lawsuit is concerned, she is really not focused on it. It's something her lawyers are dealing with.
" As far as her being lonely, she has friends and does go out. Yes, she does suffer from back problems. It's chronic and it will never go away. " A second insider says it takes a team of hairdressers, makeup artists, a dresser and a masseuse to help Elizabeth get ready to face the public. " Elizabeth doesn't get up until midday most days, hiding instead in a bedroom with the drapes drawn, " says the second source. " Servants are warned not to open them until she's put her face on. she hates being seen without make-up. "
by TONY BRENNA for GLOBE

The Deborah Kerr Fellowship League - A Foundation for the Performing Arts( Those Neon Lights and Film Journals )Est. in the East New York section of Brooklyn, N.Y.circa1956Yesterdays Weepies and Laff Lines - " An Affair to Remember " with " Prudence and the Pill "

The Deborah Kerr Fellowship League -
A Foundation for the Performing Arts
( Those Neon Lights and Film Journals )
Est. in the East New York section of Brooklyn, N.Y.
circa1956
Yesterdays Weepies and Laff Lines - " An Affair to Remember " with " Prudence and the Pill "