SVENGALI (1931)
SVENGALI (1931)
   
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SVENGALI WINDOW CARD
 
In September of 1930 Barrymore began a three month cruise on his yacht with his wife (Delores) and five month old baby.  While vacationing he suffered a severe gastric hemorrhage.  On the return Warners contacted him with the suggestion that TRILBY be adapted to the screen.  He cabled in reply ;-
 
Impress the writer with the fact that the male character must be funny and get lots of laughs, particularly in the first part of the story.  Although a sinister figure, he is a wise, dirty, glutinous Polish Jew, with no conscience and a supreme contempt for all those nice, clean, straight-thinking English Christians.  He has an enormous sense of humor.  The funnier he is, in the proper way, the better the picture will be, and the greater contrast to all the sinister part, hypnotism, etc., in the last part of the picture......The female lead must have exactly the right quality.  Otherwise the entire play goes for nothing.  The man's is the better acting part, but if the girl is not perfectly right everthing he does is bound to be unbelievable and little ridiculous.
 
Arriving back in Long Beach in December, he spent a full month in bed with headaches.  SVENGALI was shot in the first months of 1931.





 
 
True to Barrymore's intent, the early scenes are played for laughs.  While listening to a pupil vocalise, he grimaces as his eyes bulge and roll.  A long sequence not in the novel or play is added.  While trying to scrounge money from a friend who is taking a bath, Svengali plays "God save the Queen" so that the friend must stand and risk exposing himself.  Svengali is stripped by his two friends and thrown in the bathtub, supposedly an hysterically funny fate for a dirty Jew.  They hide his clothes and leave. So Svengali puts on one of their best suits and finds the money that they hid from him in the pocket. 











HUGE BLACK CAT IS BARRYMORE'S MASCOT IN WEIRD "SVENGALI"

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Leo, a trained black cat, provides atmosphere for SVENGALI.  It was Leo's taste for sardines, as well as a budding affection for Barrymore, which kept the animal within the camera angle during the filming of scenes.  In keeping with the sinister character he plays and the evil intent he pursues, Barrymore chose the symbolic black cat to lick his shoes and to purr an accompaniment to his weird music.  After formal introductions, in which Barrymore warned the cat about the dangers of life as a motion picture actor, no one was allowed to feed Leo except the star. 

 

BARRYMORE MEETS CELEBS ON LOT

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Distinguished visitors are most frequently found on JOHN BARRYMORE'S set while the star is making pictures.  During the making of SVENGALI Mr. Barrymore was visited by Admiral Byrd, Albert Einstein, the Duke of Southerland  and Gilbert K. Chesterton and Heywood Broun.





SVENGALI LOBBY CARD AND GLASS SLIDE
 
The hypnotic domination of a beautiful young woman by a "dirty, glutinous Jew" appealed greatly to Barrymore, a welcome change from his upbeat heroic image.  Though the extreme anti-semitism of the play was muted, it still allowed him to revel in evil.  With his penchant for disguise, the make-up must have pleased him no end.  The "great profile" wears a scraggly beard, false nose, and long filthy hair.  Costumed to the hilt, he is all in black for the opening sequence: boots, long cape and top hat.  At one point he wears the same paisley shawl that he used in BEAU BRUMMEL.  In addition the bizarre sets done in extreme forced perspective by ANTON GROT and the romantic source music (SVENGALI is a music teacher) add greatly to the menacing effect.





ABOVE SVENGALI SPANISH POSTER







BARRYMORE ADDS TO "SVENGALI" HEIGHT

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Although JOHN BARRYMORE is a man of average height, he was not tall enough to play the role of SVENGALI.  Consequently a clever pair of shoes was designed for him to use in this picture, shoes which gave him 4 inches extra height and made him more than 6 feet one inch tall when standing.