The 290-page book 1939: The Making of Six Great Films from Hollywood’s Greatest Year by Charles F. Adams is a small gem. If you are a movie lover like me, this is the non-fiction literary jackpot of the year. The author took six iconic films of 1939 and went into details about how they got written, produced, cast, and made. The films are all extraordinary ones, and the allure of this tale is the number of fascinating facts and juicy personal stories that are revealed about all who made the six classics.
Adams has a fluid style that moves the narrative briskly along. And the selection and position of some marvelous photos of writers, directors, actors, actresses, and producers involved in the pictures is a treat, especially using an e-reader, which is how I read the book.
Without giving much away, here are a number of questions, organized by movie, that you will be able to answer after reading 1939:
Gone With the Wind
What was Margaret Mitchell’s real name?
Who was Margaret Mitchell’s personal choice to play Rhett Butler?
What famous actress, who wanted to play Scarlett O’Hara, was turned down for the part by producer David O. Selznick with this: “I can’t imagine Rhett Butler pursuing you for ten years.”?
What famous actress, chosen to play Scarlett, refused to get married to placate the movie censor’s office, and Selznick fired her on the spot?
On the first day of shooting, what was the obscene gift to him made by Carole Lombard that Clark Gable showed to the cast?
How much did Gone With the Wind cost to make in 1939 dollars?
What brash and funny thing did Carole Lombard say to Clark Gable when he lost out to Robert Donat for the Oscar after she said, “We shouldn’t be too disappointed—there’ll be other chances to win,” and Gable said that the Rhett Butler role was his best chance?
What actor in this film fought in World War II and was awarded the Air Medal and Distinguished Flying Cross?
What insightful remark about beautiful actresses did author Garson Kanin say about Vivien Leigh?
How did Margaret Mitchell die?
How many people have paid at the box office to see Gone With the Wind?
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
What did Rita Hayworth say to Harry Cohn, legendary mogul of Columbia Pictures, after she signed a long term deal with him, and he asked her for sex to seal the deal?
At the 1933 Academy Awards, what embarrassing moment did director Frank Capra have involving his good friend Will Rogers who was the master of ceremonies?
What did Harry Cohn say about Jean Arthur’s face?
What affliction challenged Jean Arthur her whole career?
What did Jim Preston, an expert on the Senate hired for the movie, see on the set made to look like the Senate chamber that made him want to trash all the filming that was done?
How did the Washington press react when they saw a preview of the finished film?
What did Joseph P. Kennedy, U.S. ambassador to England, say about the film’s potential effect on our allies in Europe after he saw a preview?
In 1942, what did a French village do regarding the movie and a Nazi directive?
How many Oscars did Frank Capra, the director of Mr. Smith…, win over his career?
What medals did Jimmy Stewart receive for his service during World War II? What rank did he attain?
What did President Harry Truman say about Jimmy Stewart?
Stagecoach
How many directing Oscars was John Ford, the director, awarded in his lifetime?
What actor did John Wayne tell his friend John Ford would be perfect for the main character in Stagecoach? What did John Ford say to Wayne about his acting just before he gave him the part?
During filming, what did John Ford say to John Wayne about how he walked?
How many Oscars was Stagecoach nominated for? How many did it win and for what?
What honors did President Richard Nixon confer upon John Ford in 1972?
John Wayne won an Oscar as best producer for what film?
Thomas Mitchell was the first actor to receive these three awards. What were they?
Orson Welles in preparation to direct Citizen Kane said he did this involving Stagecoach. What was it?
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
How many years did Mark Twain leave the writing of this classic, which already had 662 handwritten pages, and what did he say about it to his publisher?
What did Ernest Hemingway say about the novel?
At age 13, what sporting championship did Mickey Rooney win?
Who played the runaway slave Jim in the movie?
What MGM movie was director Richard Thorpe fired from when he was snatched up by producer Joe Mankiewicz to direct this picture, which became a huge MGM hit?
What percentage of MGM’s profits in 1939 was a direct result of Mickey Rooney films?
What did 17 year old Leslie Caron’s mother warn her about when she left Paris to make her first film in Hollywood?
The Hound of the Baskervilles
What were the original names given to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. James Watson by author Arthur Conan Doyle?
What American actor played Sherlock Holmes in a play he wrote in which he introduced the phrase, “Elementary, my dear Watson,” which had never appeared in any of the original stories?
What equipment was replaced at a cost of $20,000 on the set of the movie and why?
As of March 2014, how many movies have been made of Sherlock Holmes and how many different actors played the part?
Wizard of Oz
What principal actor in this movie had an official obituary that did not mention the picture?
What costume from the movie has been valued at $1.5 million?
Who had a “nervous breakdown” after the filming of the Wizard of Oz was completed?
What famous poet made script suggestions to the movie’s script but not much else?
Who recommended that the opening and closing scenes of the movie be shot in black and white and the scenes in Oz be shot in color?
What actress was originally touted to play Dorothy but was contracted to Twentieth Century Fox and made unavailable by Darryl F. Zanuck?
Who wrote the music and who wrote the lyrics for all the songs in the movie?
What two actors were originally on the short list to play the Wizard? Why did both of them turn it down?
What was the range of height of the Munchkins?
How many costumes were designed for the picture?
What karma-like experience occurred involving Frank Morgan, who played the Wizard, and author L. Frank Baum?
What director on the movie, only for a short while, changed the look of the entire picture by doing what with Judy Garland? How many directors worked on the movie and who ended up with the credit?
How many Academy Awards did the film garner, and what were they?
1939 is highly recommended for everyone. And it is a must for movie aficionados. The opening of the book in which Adams describes how he fell in love with movies as a kid is almost exactly how I did as well. The only difference is that I would buy Goobers at the concession stand instead of Black Crows.
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