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\VHEN picture-maker FRANK CAPRA pro duces and directs a new picture, it beconws an event of first magnitude in theatre-s through out the world. To his current effort, YOU CAN'T TAKE lT WITH YOU. and the fascinating d~>tail of a truly great motion picture, Columbia Pictur<·s Corporation respectfully dedicates this snuvenir. * * * HEN I saw the George S. Kaufman-Moss
Hart stage play, "You Can't Tal was convinced that here is one of the finest comedy- dramas of our time,...... a great idea told through comedy. Any story or play with a universal appeal, with a theme that reaches into the hearts and minds of humanity, mal These fundamental qualities are present in an unusual degree in "You Can't Tak:e It \!Vith You." That is why I believe the pi.cturization of this de li.ghtful story will have widespread appeal to every- one everywhere. The Play * * * When Playwright Moss Hart met Play represents more tha n capacity. The extra sum wright George S. Kaufman the inevitable was was made up by enthusiastic standees who bound to be a series of plays w hich ultimately roared over the play's laugh lines and con resulted in the happy penning of "You Can't tributed an extra $1,944 to Producer Sam H. Take It With You." From the fortunate day Harris's exchequer. On February 7, 1937. a when the Sam H. Harris office called in the second company opened in Chicago, played youthful Mr. Hart to meet the experienced 49 weeks to excellent business and then went Mr. Kaufman to fashion the satirical "Once on tour, winding up in Philadelphia with 67 In a Lifetime," first and best of Hollywood weeks of playing time to its credit. The Boston lampoons, the two scriveners have more than company accounted for 43 weeks on the Atlantic coast and the Southern company done their duty by the American theatre with regaled the Sunny South for 33 weeks. The such Broadway hits as "Merrily We Roll gross intal Page Three -~~·!1/~:f:~i ·· .. i The designs approved, work begins on the massive outdoor sets that turn the Colum bia studio into a crowded corn er of N. Y . A last minute" touch a t the ha irdresser's hands and Jean Arthur finds herself in readiness for h er worl< in th e film. Picture "Quiet on the set . . . Ready . . . Camera 1" Director Capra ·wa tch es Lionel B arry And another Frank Capra production gets under way. more add a typica l Barrymore touch to a scene in reh earsal. Sounds simple,_, but weeh of hard work. intense re search, conferences and still more conFerences are the back ground that go into the creation of a motion picture. When George S . Kaufman and Moss Hart penned "You Can 't Tal indulging in some of the fin est street dancing and hat to ssing ever attempt·ed by the ordinarily-vitriolic reviewers. The movie producers read the reviews; the scouts saw the play; the reports co nfirmed th e critics,_, and the boys started bidding for the screen rights. Columbia, however, topped And here we have the same scene turned them all-buying "You Cun't Take It With You" for a into a heart-throbbing moment while th e ca nwru record s it for posterity. decidedly sizuble sum. Page Four Conferen ces pla y a n important part in turning "You Can't Take It With You" into a motion picture. Here we have Director Frank Capra seated with Art Director Stephen Goosson, studying set d esigns, while Assistant Director Arthur Bla cl{ a nd A ssistant Art Director Lionel Banh stand by for rurther assistance. I s * * The play was handed to Frank Capra and plans for its production got under way. Robert Ris!dn. who has been Capra's writing man For any number of hit film s. fool< the play and sat down to fashioning a two-dimensional movie script out of a three-dimensional stage p roduction. Days went into weeks. and finally Riskin emerged from his writing hideaway, pale, wan, and shal{ing. to toss a completed script to !VIr. Capra. The director studied the script, noted a change h ere and there, and then b egan the a rduous worl< of findin g p layers who could best handle the roles to be assigned to them. Lionel Barrymore was a n a tura l for Grandpa V anderhof; Jean Arthur stood head and shoulders above Hollywood's stars as the logical Alice.....- and genius dictat·ed the se lection Page Five 'Rehearsals play an important part . in every Capra produc tion. Leading up to one of the climactic scenes in "You Can't T ah It With You," w e see Ann Miller a nd Mischa Auer offering their conception of a terp sichorean moment while Capra and the others in the cast show their approva l. of James Stewart, Mischa Auer, Edward Arnold. Spring Byington, Donald Meek Halliwell Hobbes and the others in the cast. Cam e w eel l3anb on tl engineers, C hief Camerama n Joseph Walker, the hairdresser, th e mah-up man a nd the many others who must b e listened to before the cameras start rolling. Through a ll this m adhouse strode Capra, suggesting this, doin g th a t, stra ightening out a problem h ere and cutting a Gord ian lm ot tl1 ere. Page Six H ere Capra and his crew are " taking" the scen e which w as rehearsed on th e adjoining page while below is th e scene, one of the most hilarious in the film , as it will look when you see " You Can't T ake lt With You." As the hurly-burly subsided, eviden ces of Capra's genius became more and more pronounced as " You Can't T al(e lt With You" began to assume form. H ere and there could be seen eager players, reading scripts, pacing bad( and forth as they gestured with theatrica l determination. Then cam e th e call for rehearsals; a patient, quiet Capra reading the script to his assembled cast; discussions about this scene and that; Barrymore injecting a Barrymoresque touch to a bit; a kaleidoscope of effort slowly ta ldng form. And then came the call for "Action, camera!" "You Can't Take It With You" was under w ayT Page Seven AcE WRITER RoBERT RISKIN turns his versatile pencil from the poetic fantasy of "Lost Horizon" to the gay antics of the irrepressible Vanderhof tribe in ''You Can't Take It With You." * * * Behind the D IALOGUE's DIRE CTION move d DovETAILING DETAIL is a long smoothly, thanks to watchrul Dia standing Capra assignment ror As loaue D irector C. C. Coleman. sistant Director Arthur S. Black Page Eighl CAMERAMAN JosEPH WALJ WoRDS sound lil SouND WITHOUT FuRY is the reason why film dom's able sound re corder, Garry Harris, is at worl< on the Capra Scenes production. MAKING STARS look like what thev aren't is Mal SETS TAI< E SHAPE as Art Director S tephen Goosson a nd associate Lionel Banb visualize the background For the film's fa st pace. M ILES OF F ILM must pass inspection From Film Editor Gene H av lick another veteran of many Capra produc tions. Petne Nine The LroNEL BARRYMORE as Grandpa Vanderhof. JEAN ARTHUr~ and JAMES STEWART, who portrny Alice Sycamore find Anthony Kirby, Jr. SAMUEL S. HrNDS as fir e worl METICULOUS casting plays an important part in every Capra production. The whole roster of Hollywood talent is combed and prospect endlessly balanced against prospect before the final selection is made. No picture has been more difficult to cast than "You Can't Tal J\llrsCHA AuER as dancing EowARD ARNOLD as Tycoon SPRING BYINGTON as p lay maestro Boris Kolenld·wv. Anthony Kirby, Sr. writing Penny Sycamore. ANN l\1rLLER as ballet DoNALD MEEK as the meel< HALLIWELL HoBBES as per dancing Essie Carmich ael. ish Mr. Poppins. petual guest Mr. De Pinna. H. B. WARNER as the beat EDDIE ANDERSON and Dus TAYLOI~ as xylophone en magnate. Ramsey. LILLIAN Y ARBO as ever-lov p laying Ed Carmich ael. in' Donald and Rheba. Page Eleven * * * Fame's Parado x The Story of Frank Capra F RANK CAPRA is fame's paradox. Capra's life, if you will, is a series of cycles, all leading to Mention his name to the average film fan nnd that the proverbial bigger and b etter things. enthusiast immediately will inform you that "Capra 's the Wise m en say tha t each creative genius puts a little of fellow who directed 'Lost Horizon,' 'Mr. Deeds Goes to his own life into his worlc If that is true, then you h ave Town'" a nd so on and on. But ask the movie fan to the explanation for the "poor boy m ahs good" angle in tell you more about Capra and h e'll say: "It H appened One Night," th e social-consciousness of "Er, er, er...-aw, what's the difference? Ain't h e the "Mr. Deeds Goes To Town," and the escapism into a b est direct-or in the movies?" And no one -.viii d ispute dream world of beauty and peace in "Lost Horizon." These that fact. film s exp la in the Fran], Capra who, outside of his work Fran!, Capra is Hollywood's best-known p roducer is an enigma to the world that genunects b efore his genius. director ...- and one who is least known to the vast audience For Capra h as tasted the bitterness of b eing forced to that admires his work. When a delighted phrase-mahr fight for the things he h as wanted out of life: Capra h as tagged Capra as the " cycle-maker," he little realized that reb elled against the regimentation that mahs robots of most the director, in putting cycles onto the screen, was fash of u s ...- and, with tLe eager naivete of the aspiring dreamer, ionin g in shadows what he had lived in person. Mr. he yearns for a world tha t lmows only peace a nd h a rmony. Page Twelve * * * Franl< Capra was barely six years old when Papa Sal straps beyond the sneers of the sophisticates to become "that vadore, gathering his brood of seven around him, journeyed new art medium." Frank. however, knew nothing of the art from sunny Palermo, in Italy's Sicily, to the sunnier (see of movie-mal Page Tl1irteen Gaicty ...... jollity...... honest American home life, with its sincerity and charm, is pictured here as Grandpa Vanderhof presides over this pleasant domestic scene. Preview Three oF the irrepressible Sycamore group It's he-man stuff that counts as James greet Jean Arthur on her return rrom Stewart tries caveman tactics on the de her day's work. cidedly-unwilling Jean. The judge (he's the one they're all lool< Tensed by the tragedy of defeat, H . B . ing a t) tells Mischa, Donald, Jea n , Ann Warner, d eposed rival. threatens Magnate a nd Spring what's what. Arnold in this strongly-dramatic scen e. Page Fourteen . Terpsichore rivals painting as an expres The boss's son m eets the lovely steno sion of life as it is lived by the uninhibit grapher .- and Dan Cupid Finds two ed and carefree Sycamores. more willing victims to his darts. Irate Society Matron Forbes resents l t' s love a t last - and a most poetic having Son Tony's name bandied by setting for a scene that sparkles with gossipy chatter columnists. the tenderness of romance. Glimpses Here's where the Park Avenue Dowager meets life in the raw .- in one of the city's more pop ular jails. Page Fi{leen Tycoon Edwa~d Arnold learns about life from philoso phical Lionel Barrymore as J ames Stewart listens ...... , and believes what he hears. Tony meets th e Syca mores ...... , and they pro ceed to make him reel very much at home. Preview James Stewart. as Tony. tells Father Edward Ar nold what's wrong with big business. And here is Tony telling Alice what's right with fove and marriage, in a scene Fraught with appeal. Big business resents be ing photographed as Mr. Kirby avoids the photog rapher's Rash . Page Sixleen Priso n life is Fa r too hec ti c for the very social Mrs. Anthony P. Kirby. Trust J ean Arthur to wheedle a smile out of Lione l Barry more as she tells him of her love for the boss's son. H ow ever. it's love th a t rules the world .....- or so th e pr~rcnts seem lo think -rony thinks it over as Alice proves her sl Anthony P. Kirby. Wall Street tycoon. discusses the fin e points of an importa nt business deal while son Tony listen s carefully to the sage a dvice. Prtgc Seventeen In VIVACIOUS Jean Arthur, "Mrs. Deeds," two THE BoY FRIEND, James Stewart. gets his gun blonde of "The Plainsman," sparkling girl just as he has been getting everyone charmer of "Easy Living," and "History Is else with the winning ways that made him Made At Night," who was rochted to a star in a few brief years. Jimmy studied stardom by Columbia, brings the tycoons to be an architect, acted in spare moments and the "happy-go-luckies" together in while loohng for a job, and never found a "You Can't Take It With You." Holly spare moment to become an architect since. wood talent scouts "found" her in a fash Charmingly unassuming, diffident, indiffer ion photographer's studio where she was ent, he has made feminine hearts turn modelling to pay her way through school. somersaults in "Rose Marie," "The Gorgeous l-ler rise was meteoric. Hussy," " Vivacious La~y . " SuPERCILIOUS Mischa Auer . is a real Rus MILD Donald Meek who mal ExECUTIVE Edward Arnold, who rules the GRANDPA Lionel Barrymore, ring-ma ster of world of business (in the picture, we mean) the VanderhoF m enag-erie of uninhibited as Anthony Kirby, Sr. owes his success to Americans. is d ean of Ameri ca's "royal stage his appetite. His love For food [l"av e him a family." As far h ad< as anyone can re tycoon's build before he was 2.0, helped m ember the Barrymores have b een Amer mai FLUTTERY Spring Byington, is a veteran TwiNKLE-TOED Ann Miller danced from thespic mother of every type, in addition to obscurity to movie fame in four pictures. being mistress of countless other roles in Up from "New Faces of 1937" to "Stage stock legitim ate, vaudeville, radio and Door" to "Radio City Revels" to "Having screen productions. She lool< her name from a Wonderful Time" and now she becomes her home town, Colorado Springs, and her fame's favorite of the year as Essie in fi rs t role in its famous summer stod< thea Franl< Capra's production. Ann owes h er tre, lllitch Gardens. She made h er screen career to h er mother's concern over her debut in ''Little Women" and played for health. Ma Miller thought dancing would Columbia in "Theodora Goes Wild" and put weight on Baby Ann. The dancing "Love Me Forever." proved a tonic for Ann's future. M~l\___ 1 Columbia Pictures Corporation had its beginning some thirteen years ago and is in the business of producing and distributing motion pictures. In that short span of years, the company has risen to a major position in a great industry. Within the last few years Columbia pictures, among others, included: "Submarine". "Dirigible", "Flight", "Lady For A Day", "It Happened One Night". "Broadway Bill". "One Night of Love", "Mr. Deeds Goes To Town", "Theodora Goes Wild", "Lost Horizon" and "The Awful Truth". The company maintains thirty-six branch offices in the United States and Canada, ten offices in the British Empire and distributing offices in France, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Belgium, Denmark. New Zealand. Aus tralia, Manila, Latin America and throughout the Orient. SIEBEL CO., N. Y. COPYRIGHTED BY COLUMBIA PICTURES CORP., NEW YORI<, N . Y., 1<:)38