This Gun for Hire

Lux presents Hollywood. The Lux Radio Theater brings you Joan Blondell, Alan Lad, and Laird Preger in this gun for hire. Ladies and gentlemen, your producer, Mr. Cecil B. DeMille. Greetings from Hollywood ladies and gentlemen.

I was looking the other way when Paramount released this gun for hire. I thought it was just another gangster picture. Then I heard people talking about it at lunch in the studio commissary. Letters began to come in from you, asking why we didn't broadcast it.

In self-defense I saw the picture and discovered that it is not just another gangster picture. It's a prime example of how to maintain suspense in a motion picture or any other kind of drama. I discovered too just why this gun for hire made a new star overnight.

His name is Alan Ladd. He's here tonight to co-star with John Blondell, and he brought another gifted member of the film cast with him, Laird Kriga. Alan Ladd has just finished a new picture at Paramount called Lucky Jordan, but he won't make another for some time to come.

We'll tell you why later. This gun for hire casts John Blondell as a hostage, a very lovely hostage, held prisoner by a gangster named Raven. That's the part Alan Led plays. As an adventure story, it's on the top rung of the ladder, and as a drama of character, it sprung a few surprises on Hollywood.

It takes all kinds of plays from comedy to drama to make a good theatre, but good plays all have one thing in common. They get as much applause from a housewife in Omaha as from a stenographer in New York.