Articles For Christmas
By Stephen Schochet
“ Ah come on Roy, forget about a job. We'll
work for ourselves. This is better than a job, we can do this
thing. ”
The following three articles have good tie-ins for
publishers looking for Christmas Content:
A Miraculous Movie
By Stephen Schochet
It was originally called The Big Heart. Daryl Zanuck the shrewd head
of Twentieth Century Fox couldn't buy the image of Santa Claus in a
court room. But like so many ventures Miracle On 34th Street (1947)
came about because of passion, in this case that of Director George
Seaton who had gone to New York on his own and made arrangements with
the real Mr. Macy and Mr. Gimbel to film inside their department
stores. Impressed by Seaton's commitment Zanuck gave the show a green
light.
Who would play the little girl who didn't believe in Santa Claus?
Seaton agonized over it, until the assistant director remembered an
amazing child prodigy from Santa Rosa, California who could cry on
cue. Her name was Natasha Nikolaevna Gurdin renamed Natalie Wood
after director Sam Wood . The same Natalie Wood who would later go
out on a hotel room ledge and threaten to jump when her boyfriend
Elvis Presley ignored her to play poker with Memphis Mafia. The same
girl who would infuriate fellow cast members of West Side Story
(1961) with her tardiness, her refusal to learn simple dance steps
and her insistence on long lunch breaks to visit with her analyst.
But the seven-year-old Natalie had none of the typical child star
precocious behavior, she gained the respect of her co-stars on the
Miracle set with her professional demeanor, earning the nickname One-
Take-Natalie.
Like all filmed on location movies there were logistical problems.
The sequence where Santa was taken to Bellevue was done without
permission. The famous hospital would not cooperate with Hollywood
because they had been portrayed badly in earlier films, they were not
swayed by the sight of a sickly, freezing cold Santa Claus (Edmund
Gwenn) bundled up under blankets in a car, waiting to shoot his
scenes. The filmmakers were forced to shoot only the car approaching
the building's entrance and edit the rest later. Another difficulty
was getting permission to shoot the Macy's parade from the apartment
dwellers on 34th street which had to be done right the first time,
there could be no retakes. The film crew paid the ladies of the house
to place the cameras in their windows. Then their husbands came home,
complained about the inconvenience and demanded their own equal
share. Most difficult to film was the sickly but determined Edmund
Gwenn who would win an Oscar for playing Kris Kringle. He suffered
from a bladder control problem but couldn't stand the thought of
someone taking his place in the parade. The children who stood on the
sidewalk waving at Santa never saw the long tube under his cloak.
Overcoming his initial reluctance Daryl Zanuck who was famous for his
memos, made suggestions to improve the film's story. The mother
Doris, played by Maureen O'Hara was too cold, she would scare a man
like Fred (John Payne) off, she had to be made warmer to the audience
by explaining that she had been burned by an earlier relationship and
that's why she didn't want her daughter believing in Santa Claus.
Zanuck also felt that they shouldn't overdo the scenes where Macy's
employees recommend that their customers go shopping at Gimbels, just
some simple dialogue was enough to get the point across. But despite
the loud cheering by preview audiences when Santa Claus was declared
sane in the courtroom scene, Zanuck never had full confidence in the
film. He put it in theaters in July, the busiest time of year for
moviegoers, and told his marketing staff to hide from the public that
the film was about Christmas.
One reference in the Miracle script that's now dated was when Kris
Kringle's psychiatrist mentioned a man in Hollywood who passed
himself off as Russian Prince and owned a restaurant. It was a dig at
Mike Romanoff, a colorful fraud whose Rodeo Drive eatery was a fun
sanctuary for Hollywood's most notorious figures. One night FBI head
J. Edgar Hoover was dining at Romanoffs when he was approached by an
actual jewel thief named Swifty Morgan. "Like to buy these gold cuff
links?" Amused, Hoover offered $200. "Oh come on John the reward is
more than that!"
Stephen Schochet is the author and narrator of the audiobooks
Fascinating Walt Disney and Tales Of Hollywood. The Saint Louis Post
Dispatch says," these two elaborate productions are exceptionally
entertaining." Hear RealAudio samples of these great, unique gifts at
www.hollywoodstories.com.
Its A Wonderful Movie
By Stephen Schochet
Its A Wonderful Life (1946) began as a short story called "The
Greatest Gift". Writer Philip Van Doren Stern was unable to sell it
to a publisher, so he sent the tale out as a long Christmas card to
friends. His agent subsequently sold the fable to RKO pictures,
where it went through several transformations. In one version a
losing political candidate contemplated suicide, only to have an
angel convince him to stick around and do good works. Finally it
fell into the hands of Director Frank Capra who cried when he read
it, said it was the story he had been looking for all his life, and
purchased it to be the first project for his new production company,
Liberty Films.
To play the unassuming savings and loan clerk, Capra wanted Jimmy
Stewart who he had previously worked with in You Can't Take It With
You (1938) and Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939). But coming back
from World War II, the thirty-seven year old Stewart was no longer
the easy going man about town he had been in the thirties. The
former Academy Award winner for The Philadelphia Story (1940) had led
a thousand men in bombing missions in the European theater in hard to
maneuver B-24s. The loud engines damaged his hearing, in later years
people when people would greet him and he would fail to respond, some
would mistake his deafness for a cold personality. He was uncertain
after five years away from the screen if he still wanted to be in the
movies. Sometimes the profession seemed so humiliating. In 1943 when
Stewart had tried to stay in the best hotel in Madrid, he was turned
away because he was an actor. He went back to the air force base,
got his Lieutenant Colonel's uniform and then they let him in.
When he returned to Southern California in 1945 Stewart took things
easy. He refused to re-sign with his old studio MGM, despite tearful
requests to do so from the hammy Louis B. Mayer. He was content to
spend time flying kites and building model planes with Henry Fonda.
When Capra came to make his pitch Stewart looked bored, out of it,
causing the Director to lose confidence. "Well Jim, it's about a
savings and loan clerk who wants to commit suicide. There's an angel
named Clarence who shows him what life would have been like without
him. . . aw forget it, it's a stupid idea." Capra was turning to
leave when Stewart put his hand on his shoulder. "Frank, if you want
me, I'm your man." At least that's how the film's publicists told it.
Stewart was morose and insecure as filming began. Since he went off
to serve, Hollywood had found new leading men like Kirk Douglas and
Gregory Peck who were seven years younger than he was. Some scenes
called for the now graying actor to still be in high school. He felt
ridiculous and considered plastic surgery. But he was helped greatly
by his co-star Donna Reed who encouraged him throughout. In the
romantic scene where George (Stewart) and Mary (Reed) declared their
love for each other, Capra joked that Stewart was so nervous he
wrapped a phone chord around them so he wouldn't run away. James was
also helped by the film's villain Lionel Barrymore who was confined
to wheelchair because of crippling arthritis. "Son, I want you to
cheer up. Don't you know you make people happier being a movie star
than you ever did shooting at them in a plane."
In the 1930's Capra had toiled at Columbia Pictures which was ruled
by the autocratic Harry Cohn, long considered the meanest man in
Hollywood. The Mogul kept the entire studio electronically bugged,
displayed a huge portrait of Mussolini in his office, and used an
electrified chair to give unsuspecting victims sudden jolts. Capra
had sat in it once, received a shock and angrily smashed the chair to
bits. When filming began on It's A Wonderful Life, Capra was happy
to be free of Cohn, but nervous. Now his own money was part of the
investment. Known for making movie sets fun places to work, he was
at first crabby and irritable with his cast and crew. Filming a
snowy, Christmas movie in over one hundred degree heat in Encino did
not help morale. Many of the heavily dressed actors fainted. But
there were nice moments. One scene required Mary to throw a rock
through an old mansion window and make a wish. Capra had a marksman
ready off camera but to his delight Reed shattered the glass on her
own. She turned to him and said," Why so surprised? Don't you think
an Iowa farm girl would know how to play baseball?"
As the shoot progressed Capra regained his confidence. He disdained
special effects when Clarence Oddbody the angel (Henry Travers) did
his magic, preferring to tell the story through his actor's faces.
The Director started to believe he was making the greatest movie
ever. As his mood lightened the Company enjoyed picnics and singing
on the set which were hallmarks of Capra's earlier films.
Too dark, the Country wanted comedy like Dean Martin and Jerry
Lewis. Too dated, Wonderful Life came off like a depression film
rather than a post war movie. For whatever reason the three million
dollar production failed to make its money back. Capra chose to fold
his tent shortly after the movie's release calling Liberty Films,"
The quickest way to go broke a man ever devised." Stewart panicked.
The ex-war hero received a phone call from his agent. "Donna Reed
loved working with you. She wants to do it again." "No way. That
girl is jinxed." June Allyson became his leading lady of choice
playing his wife five times. Decades later he would praise the
performance of a bemused Donna Reed for making Wonderful Life
great. "My God," she told her friends. "He sure didn't say that
when it came out."
Years passed. From that point on Capra, unwilling to either risk his
own money or work for somebody else directed very few movies .
Stewart decided to portray a stronger image on screen. He refused to
play in war movies saying they were unrealistic, choosing instead
hard, gritty Westerns like The Man From Laramie (1954) which helped
to make him rich and surpass John Wayne as the nation's number one
box office star. Reed restored her career by winning an Academy
Award for playing a prostitute in From Here To Eternity (1953) and
then became one of television's most wholesome mothers. And It's A
Wonderful Life fell into the public domain in 1973 because no one
renewed it's copyright. The forgotten film was shown repeatedly on
almost every cable television station, finally got a huge viewership,
and became a perennial Christmas Classic.
Stephen Schochet is the author and narrator of the audiobooks
Fascinating Walt Disney and Tales Of Hollywood. The Saint Louis Post
Dispatch says," these two elaborate productions are exceptionally
entertaining." Hear realaudio samples of these great, unique gifts at
www.hollywoodstories.com.
Walt Disney Is Coming To Town
By Stephen Schochet
In 1923, twenty-one-year-old Walt Disney arrived in Los Angeles fresh
from the disappointment of his first cartoon studio going bankrupt in
Kansas City. He went to see his twenty-nine-year-old brother Roy in
the Veteran's Hospital were he was recovering from tuberculosis. Roy,
a former bank teller and navy man was concerned about his brother's
skinniness. "Hey kid, haven't you been eating? I'm supposed to be the
sick one. So now that you're in L.A. what are you are going to do
with yourself?" "I don't know. I've given up on animation. But I've
got to get into show business somehow. I'll think I'll try and become
a director."
Walt who had filmed some newsreel footage in Kansas City, printed a
business card stating he was a member of the press, which he used to
finagle his way onto studio lots. He had a meeting with a secretary
at Metro. "Yes, I had my own studio in Kansas City, I made cartoons
and live action films perhaps you heard of me?" "No I can't say that
I have. And we really have a lot of people coming here looking for
work and no jobs." Metro was in a state of chaos, Rudolph Valentino
was demanding more money and they had frozen his salary. Because of
the movie The Four Horseman Of The Apocalypse (1921) Valentino was
now an international star who was surviving by hunting rabbits in the
Santa Monica Mountains. Walt, who would later know great fame
combined with money trouble could have identified, but he had his own
problems.
Turned away at Metro Walt decided to go to Charlie Chaplin's studio
in Hollywood and ask the great star for work personally. Chaplin had
been Walt's hero, when Disney was thirteen he had won a two dollar
prize imitating the tramp on stage, not an easy trick. One time
Charlie Chaplin had entered a similar contest and lost.
Walt waited all day on the sidewalk for Chaplin to come out but he
never did. Disney didn't know that Chaplin buried himself in his
work, afraid to go home where his 16 year old pregnant wife Lita and
her mother were filling his mansion with unwanted relatives, turning
the Beverly Hills estate into the 1923 version of the Jerry Springer
show. Or that the liberal Chaplin was infuriating his United Artist
partner the conservative Mary Pickford by taking forever to finish
his films, sometimes emerging from his editing room with a long beard
looking like Robinson Crusoe. Walt had his own concerns.
Once again, Walt used his makeshift press pass to sneak into
Universal Studios. This was exciting filmmaking! Men dressed like
cowboys pretending to shoot at each other and falling over. And a
castle. It reminded him of Paris where he had driven an ambulance for
the Red Cross after World War I. Curious, he walked over to question
some workmen about the structure. It turned out they were building
the Court Of Miracles set for The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, starring
Lon Chaney. Walt who remained star struck all his life, began looking
around for the famous actor who was known for playing characters who
were deformed, sometimes armless and legless with incredible body
contortions. Back in the twenties there was a saying, "If you see
something unusual on the floor, don't step on it might be Lon
Chaney." Suddenly Walt felt a tap on his shoulder. Sitting on a horse
behind him was the famous Austrian director Eric Von Stroheim, known
as the man you love to hate. Completely bald with a monocle, riding
crop and thick boots, which early film directors working in the
Hollywood hills wore to protect from snakes, Von Stroheim made an
imposing figure. "What are you doing here". Walt confessed he snuck
in and asked if there was any work. But he was talking to a man who
used to twist the arms of his leading ladies when he wanted them to
cry in his films. "Get out now and never come back." Years later,
when he had his own studio, Walt went out of his way to give young
people a chance to show what they could do.
With no other prospects Walt decided to get back into animation but
this time he would get some help. One night in 1923 he returned to
the Veteran's Hospital where Roy was feeling better. Excitedly Walt
told his brother about his plans awakening other patients in the
ward," But I can't do it alone. I don't have your head for
numbers." "I don't know kid, cartoons that's risky. I was thinking
about getting a safe job at a bank, getting married. I mean I think
your talented but. . ." "Ah come on Roy, forget about a job. We'll
work for ourselves. This is better than a job, we can do this
thing." "I don't know. . ." "Ah please." Walt would not take no for
an answer. Roy finally agreed to the new venture when one of the
soldiers in a nearby bed sat up and said, "Roy will you go with him
already so we can get some sleep!"
Stephen Schochet is the author and narrator of the audiobooks
Fascinating Walt Disney and Tales Of Hollywood. The Saint Louis Post
Dispatch says," these two elaborate productions are exceptionally
entertaining." Hear realaudio samples of these great, unique gifts at
www.hollywoodstories.com.
