STACK #135 Jan 2016

EXTRAS

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M GM Studio Chief Louis B. Mayer was having difficulty controlling his anger as he attempted to persuade Dore Schary, MGM'S Vice President in Charge of Production, not to film The Red Badge of Courage . Leaning across his huge cream-coloured desk, he glared at Schary and said, "Dore, I have been in this business for over a quarter of a century and believe me when I tell you, civil war movies do not make money. American moviegoers don't like to see Americans killing Americans, it’s as simple as that." Schary quietly replied, "But Louis, Gone with the Wind was a massive box office hit for MGM and that had a civil war story." "Yes, but it was never just a civil war film," Mayer retorted, "it had Clark Gable as its star, it had Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Havilland as the female

EXTRAS

Congressional Medal of Honour. Returning from battle-torn Europe in July 1945, he was featured on the cover of LIFE magazine, where actor James Cagney spotted the handsome baby-faced 22-year-old Texan soldier.

Louis B. Mayer sitting at his huge raised desk in his MGM office

leads; we made a romantic picture in glorious Technicolor, that's what the people came to see. "This proposed Huston picture has no female role," Mayer continued, "therefore no love interest. It has no discernible plot and worst of all, it has a cast of complete unknowns. Goddammit! Dore, trust me this picture will fail and fail badly." For his second contracted movie for MGM, director John Huston had written an adaptation of Stephen Crane's classic novel, which relates the story of a terrified boy

Following Murphy's army discharge, Cagney signed him as a contract player with his Cagney Productions in Hollywood. However, after several months of actor training and numerous disagreements, Cagney never cast Murphy in a movie and their association ended acrimoniously in 1947. What Cagney never realised was that Murphy was bedevilled with insomnia and deep depression; in fact, he was suffering the early symptoms of combat fatigue, known today as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He stayed on in Hollywood, appearing in bit parts in two movies, which eventually led to his first starring role in Bad Boy (1949). Universal Studios signed Murphy to a seven-year contract and immediately cast him as Billy the Kid for his first outing with them, and as Jesse James for the second. For most of his film career, Murphy would portray western characters on the big screen. John Huston had already negotiated with Universal to loan Murphy out to MGM for The Red

[This proposed Huston picture] has no discernible

plot... and a cast of complete unknowns

soldier's baptism of fire during a battle of the American Civil War. Although a fictional story, Crane had based it on the actual battle of Chancellorsville, fought during late April and early May 1863, and it read like an authentic account of a common soldier's war experiences. Huston had presented the screenplay to Dore Schary as a potential movie

masterpiece, and furthermore, had given it unique credence by suggesting a real-life WWII hero for the lead role. Audie Leon Murphy had risen to national fame as the most decorated combat soldier of WWII. Amongst his 33 medals and awards for conspicuous gallantry was the US nation's highest honour for bravery – the

Audie Murphy

JANUARY 2016

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