The Best Years of Our Lives and the Cincinnati Story
2006; Routledge; Volume: 26; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/01439680600691743
ISSN1465-3451
Autores Tópico(s)American Political and Social Dynamics
ResumoClick to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Notes 1 The film received seven Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Music), as well as two special Oscars, bringing the grand total to nine. During 1946–1947, the film earned close to $11 million, which (adjusted for inflation) placed it 25th on the list of all-time box office hits prior to 1980. See David E. Pirie (ed.) Anatomy of the Movies (New York, 1981), p. 205. 2 Before donating his papers to the Library of Congress, Kantor dictated detailed notes, later transcribed by his secretary, to describe and annotate most of the accompanying materials. See Nan Thompson Ernst, MacKinlay Kantor: a register of his papers in the Library of Congress (Washington, DC, 1998), p. 6. 3 Untitled envelope with accompanying annotations, Box 104, MacKinlay Kantor Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC (hereafter Kantor Papers). In 1944 George Harkavey was training new recruits at Sebring Field in Florida, but had met Kantor in Europe while serving as a bombardier with the Army Air Force. Kantor's novel, Glory to Me, was dedicated to Harkavey, who may have been the model for Fred Derry, also a bombardier. 4 Tim Kantor, My Father's Voice: MacKinlay Kantor long remembered (New York, 1988), p. 31. 5 Ibid., pp. 33–34. 6 MacKinlay Kantor, Glory for Me (New York, 1945), p. 22. 7 Ibid., p. 24. Charlene Conklin, Fascinating Facts, in The Golden Dome: the story of the birth of Iowa's statehouse (Des Moines, 1970), p. 15. 8 MacKinlay Kantor, Glory for Me, p. 24. 9 U.S. Bureau of the Census, Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940 population (Washington, 1943), v. 2, part 2, p. 996. 10 Polk's Des Moines City Directory 1944 (Omaha, 1944), pp. 1067–1068. 11 Federal Writers’ Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of Iowa, Iowa: a guide to the Hawkeye state (New York, 1938), pp. 236–237. 12 Kantor, Glory for Me, p. 66; Polk's Des Moines City Directory 1944, p. 1074. 13 So far as can be determined, Glory for Me was not reviewed in the Des Moines Register, the city's major newspaper. 14 The Best Years of Our Lives: how a film is made (no publication information, no pagination), Box 70, Kantor Papers. 15 Martin A. Jackson, ‘The uncertain peace: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946),’ in John E. O’Connor and Martin A. Jackson (eds) American History/American Film: interpreting the Hollywood image (New York, 1979), pp. 148, 154. 16 ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’, New York Times Magazine, November 17, 1946, p. 26. 17 How ‘Best Years of Our Lives’ was made: talent and teamwork carried out Goldwyn's idea.’ Look, 11 (January 21, 1947), p. 90. 18 “Best Years” in Cincinnati, Christian Science Monitor, February 11, 1947, p. 4. 19 Telephone interviews with Joanne Fulton Schaefer, Butte Valley, CA, November 11, 2005 and February 19, 2006. 20 The film's credits list John Fulton as special effects director and Paul Mantz as aerial photographer. See American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: feature films, 1941–1950 (Berkeley, CA, 1999), p. 188. Mantz had served as Earhart's technical adviser and until 1940 had resided on the same street in Toluca Lake, California, where Earhart (and later Fulton) had lived. 21 Inter-Office Communications from A.D. ‘Gus’ Schroeder to A.R. Evans, January 10, 1946 and April 3, 1946, file 177, The Best Years of Our Lives, Production Correspondence and Memoranda, Box 25, Samuel Goldwyn Papers, Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA [hereafter Goldwyn Papers]. 22 Letters from Paul Mantz to A.D. ‘Gus’ Schroeder, January 8 and January 17, 1946, file 177, The Best Years of Our Lives, Production Correspondence and Memoranda, Box 25, Goldwyn Papers. 23 Inter-Office Communication from R. E. Pagel to A. R. Evans, March 19, 1946, file 177, The Best Years of Our Lives, Production Correspondence and Memoranda, Box 25, Goldwyn Papers. 24 Mike Machat, Tall Mantz, Airpower, 35 (September 2005), p. 20. 25 Gerald A. Schiller, Hollywood's daredevil pilot, Aviation History, 13 (July 2003), p. 50. 26 Invoice, April 19, 1946, file 177, The Best Years of Our Lives, Production Correspondence and Memoranda, Box 25, Goldwyn Papers. 27 My thanks to David Culbert for bringing this to my attention. 28 Philip D. Beidler, ‘Remembering The Best Years of Our Lives’, Virginia Quarterly Review, 72 (1996), p. 596. 29 Sixteenth Census of the United States, v. 2, part 5, p. 705; and part 1, p. 632. 30 American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures, p. 189. 31 E. B. Radcliffe, ‘Best Years of Our Lives’ At Capitol Rates Classification In Select Company, Cincinnati Enquirer, March 12, 1947, p. 11. 32 E. B. Radcliffe, Vet's Accent Incurable, Cincinnati Enquirer, March 27, 1947, p. 28; ‘Best Years of Their Lives’—$100 Prize Contest, Cincinnati Times-Star, March 7, 1947, p. 29. 33 Nate Wise to Blanche Livingston, March 19, 1947, file 187, The Best Years of Our Lives, Publicity, Box 25, Goldwyn Papers. Wise was the publicity agent for RKO Radio Pictures in Cincinnati; Livingston worked for the RKO Publicity Department in New York. 34 The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Geography (Boston, 1997), p. 91. 35 A. Scott Berg, Goldwyn: a biography (New York, 1989), p. 5 36 Inter-Office Communication from Lynn Farnol to William Hebert, November 13, 1946, file 186, The Best Years of Our Lives, Publicity, Box 25, Goldwyn Papers. Farnol was director of advertising and publicity, for Goldwyn's New York office; Hebert was director of director of advertising and publicity for Goldwyn's Hollywood office. 37 Francis Davis, Storming the Home Front, Atlantic Monthly, 291 (March 2003), p. 127. 38 Berg, p. 395. Telephone interview with A. Scott Berg, Los Angeles, CA, January 13, 2006. 39 Kenneth MacKinnon, Hollywood's Small Towns: an introduction to the American small-town movie (Metuchen, NJ, 1984), p. 70. The Best Years of Our Lives is similarly included in Emanuel Levy, Small-Town America in Film: the decline and fall of community (New York, 1991).
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