Perguntas frequentes

Chicago Tribune, Monday, May 17, 1943, p. 13, c. 2 (w/photo):

SECRETLY WED

[Photo of Miss Walker]

New York, May 16 [Special]--Two years ago in Los Angeles, Cal., a young physician just out of school, and a movie actress got married. Then they quietly rented an apartment, moved in and kept their respective mouths tightly closed about the whole business.

Today, in New York, Cheryl Walker of the movies and the stage door canteen, and Dr. Jay Combs, now a junior grade lieutenant in the navy, told the world about it. Cheryl is 34 and Jay is 25. When the war is over he'll return for a final year of internship at Los Angeles General hospital. Both leave Tuesday for the west coast.

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Chicago Tribune, Friday, September 3, 1943, p. 18, c. 4:

British Film Censors Ask for Deletions in 'Stage Door Canteen'

London, Sept. 2 (AP)---The board of British film censors has requested cuts of what it termed certain objectionable scenes from the film "Stage Door Canteen," which is scheduled to pen next week in London. A spokesman declined to discuss the particular parts the censors asked be deleted, but it was understood one main objection was to Gracie Fields singing the "Lord's Prayer."

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Chicago Tribune, Thursday, April 15, 1943, p. 22, c. 4:

Looking at Hollywood

by Hedda Hopper

. . . . Some of Elsa Maxwell's quiz questions were too sophisticated for the Hays office, so they've been deleted from the "Stage Door Canteen" picture. . . .

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Chicago Tribune, Saturday, July 17, 1943, p. 13, c. 5:

LOOKING AT HOLLYWOOD

by Hedda Hopper

. . . . Mervyn Leroy would give a lot to have Lon McCallister of "Stage Door Canteen" under personal contract to him. So would I. The boy's a natural, and he'll soon be army-bound.

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Chicago Tribune, January 26, 1943:

LOOKING AT HOLLYWOOD

by

Hedda Hopper

Hollywood, Jan. 25----Katharine Cornell appeared in the picture "Stage Door Canteen" for nothing, after she had turned down fabulous offers from every producer in town. So again she's being deluged with picture offers, and I'll bet before the year's end rolls around, she will be doing another picture. At least, here's hoping . . . .

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Chicago Tribune, Wednesday, December 9, 1942, p. 29, c. 2:

LOOKING AT HOLLYWOOD

by Hedda Hopper

. . . . Gypsy Rose Lee will use a skit Ned Sparks wrote 20 years ago for "Stage Door Canteen." It's called "23 Skiddoo," but it's been brought up to date. That Sparks is a funny guy, whether on the screen, air, or just on paper. . . . Loretta Young is the latest name added to "Canteen" picture.

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The opening of the hit United Artists release, Stage Door Canteen, in Chicago happened on Thursday, July15, 1943 at the State Lake theatre. An ad reads: "A Million Dollars Worth of Talent In The Picture Millions Will Cheer!" The film ran in Chicago's Loop for 7 weeks.

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Chicago Tribune, Sunday, June 13, 1943, pt. 6, p. 10, c. 2:

Film Shows How Stage Door Canteen Is Operated

Great things have come of the canteen since Lee Shubert told Rachel Crothers and her associates, Jane Cowl and Selena Royle, that they could go ahead and use what used to be the Little Club in the basement of the 44th Street theater for a service men's rendezvous. That was in March 1942.

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Chicago Tribune, Thursday, March 18, 1943, p. 20, c. 4 (extract):

Theater Section of New York Is Just a Hamlet

by Cecil Smith (Chicago Tribune Press Service)

There are theaters scattered on other streets, of course, but the greatest concentration of them is on 44th and 45th streets. Here, too, particularly on 44th street, you can hear the beating pulse of the theater's business interests. The Shuberts, thru one of their innumerable corporations, own a building which stands midway in the block, across the street from the Shubert theater where Lee Shubert has his ivory tower on an upper floor, and just a stone's throw from the Stage Door Canteen, where theater people are doing such a magnificent job entertaining service men.

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Chicago Tribune, Tuesday, March 16, 1943:

Looking at Hollywood

by Hedda Hopper

. . . . Morton Downey got the biggest hand from ex-sister-in-law Connie Bennett during rehearsals for "Stage Door Canteen." I'm told the real stars of the "Stage Door Canteen" are Helen Hayes and Yehudi Menuhin. He stops the show.

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Chicago Tribune, Friday, February 12, 1943, p. 18, c. 1:

LOOKING AT HOLLYWOOD

by Hedda Hopper

. . . . This Cinderella made good: When "Stage Door Canteen" went east to film scenes with Helen Hayes, Katharine Cornell, and other top names, Margaret Early, an unknown from Birmingham, Ala., went along. She was snapped up back there by Al Woods for "The Key to Viv's Room," which will hit Broadway in April . . . .

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Chicago Tribune, Wednesday, November 25, 1942, p. 18, c. 2:

LOOKING AT HOLLYWOOD

by Hedda Hopper

. . . . The watchman at the RKO gate has had his dream come true. His grandson, Lon MacCallister, has the second lead in "Stage Door Canteen"--the role of "California." Lon's a 19 year old college boy, and his only experience in pictures has been as extra. Huntz Hall will do a role in that picture if Director Frank Borzage can get him to change that Brooklyn accent to a New Jersey one.

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Chicago Tribune, Saturday, September 5, 1942, p. 4, c. 2:

LOOKING AT HOLLYWOOD

by Hedda Hopper

On Welcoming Committee.

Tallulah Bankhead will appear with Helen Hayes and Katharine Cornell in "Stage Door Canteen." It will be Tallulah's first appearance on the screen in about 10 years. And since she made that vow, when England entered the war, that she wouldn't take a drink until they'd won it (and she's kept it), she looks terrific. . . .

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Chicago Tribune, Sunday, December 13, 1942, p. G6, c. 1:

This Town Called Hollywood

by Philip Scheuer

Lesser has the cooperation of the crafts and guilds, including Actors' Equity. A screen player will be compensated on the basis of one-sixth of a week's salary for each day (i.e., to Marlene, one-sixth of $10,000 or $1,666.66). First line stage stars, for whom thee is no screen actors guild standard, will be paid a flat grand apiece.

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Chicago Tribune, Sunday, December 13, 1942, p. G6, c. 1:

This Town Called Hollywood

by Philip Scheuer

A somewhat singular shooting schedule is being followed. The canteen interior (virtually the only big set) has been built here at Pathé. After six weeks the entire troupe will entrain for Manhattan, where a second duplicate canteen is in construction at Fox Movietone studio, for an additional month's work. Consequently the routine of the canteen itself will not be disturbed by an invading movie company.

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Chicago Tribune, December 10, 1943:

LOOKING AT HOLLYWOOD

by Hedda Hopper

Hurry, Hurry

I don't wonder Katharine Hepburn is anxious to get back on the screen in "Dragon Seed" and maybe "Week-End at the Waldorf." They sure did her dirt so far as photography went in "Stage Door Canteen," as they did all the other famous actresses. Oh, boy! Was that a tough deal for them! The reason was that they used the same photographer who shot the monkeys for Sol Lesser's Tarzan pictures. . . .

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Chicago Tribune, Thursday, October 14, 1943:

LOOKING AT HOLLYWOOD

by Hedda Hopper

East More Important

Wonder why Antoinette Perry, Rachel Crothers, Mrs. Brock Pemberton and Helen Menken, who originated the Theater Wing, would make a trek to Hollywood to receive a check from Sol Lesser for proceeds from the picture "Stage Door Canteen." That ceremony should be held in New York where they've got two canteens--The Stage Door and Merchant Marine. The profits to the wing from the picture will run at least two and a half million. Not bad for an idea put over by Lesser. . . .

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Chicago American, Sunday, July 18, 1943 (extract):

FILM Review

'Canteen'

by Rob Reel

Hurray for "Stage Door Canteen."

Here is a bundle of entertainment, the likes of which we never saw before. Producer Sol Lesser has done a magnificent job in this ambitious project, and it ought to make a mint of money for the canteen itself.

The players who are busy with the small plot are new comers to the screen--a wise bit of casting technique, considering the list of guest stars.

Cheryl Walker is Eileen, and she may take a deep bow for this her first screen appearance. Lon McCallister is the best of the newcomers in the roles of service men. And William Terry, Marjorie Riordan and Margaret Early are nothing to sniff at.

Film Too Long

On the nonconstructive side of this criticism, we must mention the length of the picture. It's too long. Some of the entertainers are allowed to contribute too lengthy roles. And when it spouts patriot tributes to our allies, it gets boring--although that is something we ought to accept without complaint.

Then, too, some of the illustrious guest stars are badly photographed, or perhaps their make-up is all wrong, which is a pity because quite a portion of the movie-going public will be seeing them for the firs time.

But all in all, "Stage Door Canteen" is marvelous entertainment--so don't miss it.

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Chicago Sun, Thursday, July 15, 1943, p. 15, c. 1 (extract):

Lots of 'Canteen' But It's All Good

by Carol Frink

Sixty-six stars and six bands add up to a lot of entertainment. In fact, the only trouble with "Stage Door Canteen," playing at the State Lake Theater, is that there's much, much too much of it. It goes on for two hours and 15 minutes and you'll have to be a glutton for amusement not to grow a little weary around the edges that last quarter of an hour.

Story of a Real Place.

The three-ply love story that darts in and out the picture is designed to tell the real purpose of the Stage Door Canteen. It shows how boys from the hinterlands, on brief leaves in New York, are given a taste of glamour and romance as well as free sandwiches and cake--a little something to remember and dream about when they're in the thick of battle.

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Chicago Tribune, Friday, July 16, 1943, p. 18, c. 3 (extract):

Talent Parade Rescues 'Stage Door Canteen"

by Cecil Smith

This is loads of talent, as you can readily see. The chief weakness of the whole variety show, apart from its very great length, lies in its lack of first rate original material. The best items in the catalog are those drawn from the performers' standard repertory. The music written for the picture is disgracefully mediocre, when you consider that even the superb projection of wonderful people like Miss Fields, Miss Merman, and Miss Waters cannot make it sound good. And the painful little love story woven in and out of the entertainment is trashily written and poorly acted by a cast of insufficiently trained newcomers.

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Chicago Daily Times, Sunday, July 18, 1943, p. 37, c. 1(extract):

'Stage door canteen' heart warming movie

by Doris Arden

These youngsters--boyish Lon McCallister, just out of high school, Bill Terry as the friendly serious "Dakota," Michael Harrison as husky, good-natured "Texas," and Cheryl Walker, Marjorie Riordan and Margaret Early as the girls who dance with them, talk with them, and, in one instance at least, fall in love with them--all walking right into your heart.

Because of them, and because the authors have been smart enough to center you interest on them, the film is heartwarming and appealing and genuine. It leaves you believing that the important thing about the Canteen is not its staff of famous people--but the boys who are their guests.

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Chicago Tribune, Saturday, April 24, 1943, p. 16, c. 2:

LOOKING AT HOLLYWOOD

by Hedda Hopper

This and That

Cheryl Walker of "Stage Door Canteen," has an uncle, Ralph Errolle, at the Met, and his daughter, Cheryl's cousin, sings at the Savoy Plaza . . . .

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