Just Around the Corner

Although Bette Davis and Dick Powell never made a feature film together they are husband and wife in this short subject which is an almost quarter of an hour commercial for the latest products from General Electric. Reason enough to see this short subject.

There's an opening in Powell's office about to happen and boss Warren William sees Powell showing pictures and bragging about how his summer place on a lake is really modernizing. Powell invites William and his wife Ruth Donnelly for a weekend and they spend it bragging on the modern marvels GE is bringing to their home. Even the lake is illuminated with GE floodlights, the better for night fishing.

Curiously enough the actor most identified with GE had not yet been signed by Warner Brothers. Ronald Reagan was 3 years away from his studio contract. If he and the brothers Warner only knew.

I first saw "Just Around the Corner" in 1960 when I was a film producer for the Film Production Section of GE in Schenectady. The movie was kept in a safe and not many people had an opportunity to see it. After leaving GE I learned that the only print GE had was thrown away because it had damaged sprocket holes. I've searched for the complete version ever since.

A misleading statement I've see recently suggests General Electric produced the movie and Warner Bros. distributed it. However, I have learned from senior management people at GE that the movie was made as a payback by Warner Bros. to GE who had provided train transportation for a Warner Bros. group from the West Coast to the East Coast. I never learned anything more about the event, but I know that General Electric was a major producer of electric trains(see "king of the Rails" (1915).