Warren-William.com

You might notice that sometimes I’ll get a little snippy over Warren William’s billing, especially when it comes to the more mainstream titles such as Lady for a Day (1933) or Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933). Lest we forget WW’s standing at the time, it’s top bill only, regardless of screen time he is the star.

 
Why’s that? Well, it’s in his contract. I thought I’d give you a little something special for Warren William’s 115th birthday this Wednesday, December 2, and so here it is. Clause 15 from his Warner Brothers contract signed and dated June 6, 1933:

Producer agrees that in all advertising, exploitation and publicity in connection with the pictures in which Artist shall appear and which may be within the control of Producer, Artist shall be accorded first featured male billing. In this connection, however, it is understood that Artist may be co-featured with any other member of the cast, provided, however, that the name of no other male Artist except that of the star, if any, will appear ahead of or in type larger in size than the name of the Artist. It is further agreed that if for any reason Producer shall desire to feature any other artists who may previously have been accorded star billing or been recognized as a star, then the name of such star so being billed as a featured player may precede the name of Artists, but in such even the name of Artist will appear in type in size at least sixty (60%) of the size of type used for such star being billed as a featured player. It is further agreed that in the advertising and publicity through the means of lithographing that the name of Artist will be displayed upon at least two types or sizes of such lithograph advertising. Nothing contained in this paragraph shall be construed so as to prevent so-called "teaser" and/or special advertising, publicity and/or exploitation relating to the story upon which said photoplay is based, the author, the director or similar matters, without mentioning Artists’s name, or so as to prevent so-called "trailer" or other advertising on the screen without mentioning Artist’s name, and no casual or inadvertent failure to comply with the provisions of this paragraph shall constitute a breach of this agreement.

As a further example of this clause in action I quote a February 12, 1934 inter-office communication from Max Arnow to R.J. Obringer regarding William’s loan to Paramount for the part of Caesar in Cleopatra:

The artist is to receive first male billing, his name to be equal in size to that of Claudette Colbert or any other female billing ahead although it is understood that the name of Warren William may be on the line underneath Miss Colbert’s name but to be of the same size as that of Miss Colbert’s and no other artists shall be billed on the same line with Warren William.

I had the idea of putting this post together after coming across an item on eBay from Warren William’s post-WB days, Who’s Who at Metro Goldwyn Mayer, published approximately 1939 according to the seller. The MGM issued title contains biographies of players under contract with them at the time with the bulk falling under the heading Featured Players but Warren William, who was there at the time, falling under the much more limited section titled Stars, which also includes the likes of Garbo, Gable, Powell and Loy, Norma Shearer, the Marx Brothers and other top MGM talent.

Warren William’s tenure at MGM apparently didn’t work out–he made four pictures for them in 1937-38, The Firefly (1937), Madame X (1937), Arsene Lupin Returns (1938), and The First Hundred Years (1938), none of them career highlights for sure–but this title, published by MGM itself, seems to indicate they thought they were really adding a valuable talent at the time. After his time at MGM Warren William would head to Columbia where he starred in the Lone Wolf series of pictures, popular but most definitely not A-pictures.

Arsene Lupin Returns (1938) is the sequel to Arsene Lupin (1932) which ironically starred John Barrymore of all people in the title role. Interesting here though is that Warren William’s Barrymoreness doesn’t get him cast in the lead, but as the private eye on the hunt for Lupin.

Warren William, Melvyn Douglas, and Virginia Bruce in Arsene Lupin Returns (1938)

Of course, this story is all very European and polite, so WW and Melvyn Douglas, lead in Arsene Lupin Returns, are more competitors than enemies here. Besides competing against one another to solve the crime story at the heart of Arsene Lupin Returns, the two compete for the affections of co-star Virginia Bruce, who’s engaged to the Douglas character that WW suspects of being Lupin.

Based upon characters created by Maurice Leblanc in his 1907 book Arsene Lupin, this is the second talkie treatment of the character following numerous silent efforts. Released 6 years after the original, MGM hatched the sequel as early as 1936 when according to Hollywood Reporter plans called for William Powell to play the Douglas role and Spencer Tracy to take what would eventually become William’s part. Myrna Loy was later added to the planned cast. Of course none of that happened, nor did Powell’s chosen successor, Robert Montgomery, show up in the final version of the film, and I imagine that by ‘36/’37 John Barrymore’s difficulties had taken him out of consideration.

I find it interesting that Warren William was not cast in the Lupin role himself, and wonder if a career spent being compared to Barrymore had anything to do with either MGM’s casting choice or if perhaps this was William’s own choice. That said, the WB hey day has past for Warren William by this point, and Melvyn Douglas was more of a lead for MGM during this period than WW was, so this just might be coincidence anyway. The parts play pretty even, but still, it’s worth imagining a flip flop in the roles while watching as well.

Besides Douglas, Bruce, and William, Arsene Lupin Returns features John Halliday as the Count de Grissac (the Bruce character’s Uncle), Monty Woolley as George Bouchet (her cousin), Nat Pendleton and E.E. Clive as two of Lupin’s old flunkies, and George Zucco as the Prefect of Police.

Not top of the line Warren William fare, nor does it match up the the earlier film starring the Barrymore brothers, but Arsene Lupin Returns is still entertaining for any classic film fan.

Arsene Lupin Returns (1938) airs on Turner Classic Movies at 3:30 am EST Wednesday, October 14 (technically Thursday the 15th), immediately after Arsene Lupin.

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Shoot guys, it’s been a month since I posted, I’m sorry! I guess TCM needs to air some more Warren William movies, though with Arsene Lupin Returns airing 3:30 am EST late Wednesday night and even better, The Match King airing at a similarly ungodly hour, 3 am late into the evening of Thursday, October 29, we’re having one of our better months.

Sure, one Lone Wolf marathon tops two movies, but at the same time the Arsene Lupin movies seem to air about once per year and I believe it’s been much longer than that for The Match King — Do not forget to record!

–Cliff

Warren William and Lili Damita in The Match King (1932)