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Billy and Merne's Excellent Expedition: The "Lost" Screenplay of "Lewis and Clark"

2006; Oregon Historical Society; Volume: 107; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/ohq.2006.0088

2329-3780

James J. Kopp,

Botany, Ecology, and Taxonomy Studies

JAMES J. KOPP Billy and Merne's Excellent Expedition The "Lost" Screenplay of "Lewis and Clark" AS THE BICENTENNIAL OF theLewis andClarkExpeditionnearsthe end of its trail, it is fitting to look back and examine how Americans have viewed these explorers at other points in time and how those views were themselves reflective of their times. Certainly the centennial observation of the Expedition received much attention in 1904-1906, and ithas been explored inmany ways a hundred years later in 2004-2006, including a national exhibition that has appeared at theOregon Historical Society. The sesquicentennial observation, the 150th anniversary, of theCorps ofDiscovery has received less attention, although ittook place in a period ofUnited States history thatwas, in many respects, primed for the adventures of exploration and discovery. The pre-Sputnik world was increasingly becoming affixed to the television set,where young Baby Boomers watched the original Mickey Mouse Club and the adventures of theHardy Boys and Davy Crockett. The peak of themovie industrymay have passed, but the increasing numbers of outdoor drive-ins across theUnited States drew Americans by the carload to see the exploits of Roy Rogers, the Lone Ranger, and countless cowboy and Indian westerns. The frontier adventure on both small and large screens was reaching itspeak in themid-1950s. When themovie Davy Crockett: King of theWild Frontier was released in 1955, itfilled the hearts and minds of many coonskin cap-wearing fans (including this author). At the height of the sesquicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, America was ripe for the cinematic tall tale. The adventures of theLewis and Clark Expedition have been dramatized endlessly in reenactments, plays, and pageants; but the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of the Corps of Discovery surprisingly have made it to the big screen in only a few instances. In fact, except for so-called documentary OHQ vol.107, no. 1 ? 2006 Oregon Historical Society films, such as the 2002 imax production, Lewis & Clark: Great JourneyWest, the only major full-length production focusing on the Lewis and Clark Ex pedition isThe Far Horizons in 1955.1This Paramount Vista Vision feature film starred Donna Reed as Sacajawea, the focal point of themovie, with Fred MacMurray as Meriwether Lewis and Charlton Heston asWilliam Clark.2 Directed by Rudolph Mat?, themovie ? based on a novel by Delia Gould Emmons, Sacajawea of the Shoshones (1943) ? was released at the height of the sesquicentennial of the expedition and featured photography shot along the trail.3 The Far Horizons was not the only planned major studio production of the Lewis and Clark story. Several years earlier, inMay 1947, rko, a major Hollywood studio, announced "plans for 1948 production of a picture dealing with the trans-continental expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark which opened theOregon territory in 1805" The studio "has engaged Ernest Pascal towrite the scenario and has named Stephen Ames to produce the film inTechnicolor under the title 'Lewis and Clark?'4 rko's This lobbycard, one ofa setofeightproduced for the movie The FarHorizons, features knife-wieldingFredMacMurray asMeriwether Lewis. The scene isa fictional confrontation with Indians. FRED CHARLTON DONNA BARBARA MacMURRAY HESTON REED HALE Kopp, The "Lost" Screenplay of "Lewis and Clark" 65 fiscal condition, however, was rapidly approaching a crisis. In January 1948, it was reported thatHoward Hughes wanted to purchase the studio, and by May ofthat year he was amajority owner of the company. Under Hughes's reign as head of rko, the studio saw a dramatic decrease inproduction. Few films were completed, new stories were not sought, and a large portion of the studio's "stock" was sold. In the summer of 1948, "rko offered for sale on the open market fiftystory properties valued at $1.5million."5 Whether "Lewis and Clark" was one of those properties isunclear. Itwas not untilMarch 1954 that the screenplay surfaced again when rko assigned the rights to "Lewis and Clark" to Joseph Bernhard, a consultant on management relations for the Stanley Warner Corporation.6 On April 18,1954, under the headline, "Warners toMake Cinerama Drama," theNew York Times reported: Hollywood opposition toCinerama was broken todaywith the announcement that Warner Brotherswould filmthe storyof theLewis and Clark expedition as thefirst dramatic picture to utilize the giant, three-panel screen...