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Eariler that summer, Alfred Hitchcock had shot the location scenes for Shadow of a Doubt in Santa Rosa. Less than a year later, Irving Pichel remembered their classic small-town look when he needed a similar location not too far from Los Angeles for Happy Land. Originally a stage actor, Pichel moved to Hollywood in the early 1930s, played a few character roles (the prosecutor in Sternberg's version of An American Tragedy, Fagin in a cut-rate production of Oliver Twist), and directed a few routine B movies. In 1940, a contract with 20th Century-Fox promoted him to A movies, and he became the house specialist in anti-Nazi and/or homefront World War II stories. After The Pied Piper and The Moon is Down, the next in line was Happy Land, from the best seller by MacKinlay Kantor (The Best Years of Our Lives). A "typical" American father, devastated when his son is killed in the Pacific, receives an unexpected visitor from the "Happy Land." It's Gramp, his own grandfather, a Civil War veteran, who persuades him to rise above the grief and take pride in the boy who sacrificed himself so nobly for his country.
Olga, a student at Santa Rosa High in 1943, came out of school one day, saw the Happy Land company (Don Ameche, Frances Dee, Ann Rutherford) at work a few blocks down the street. When she got home, she told Maria about it. But her mother gave no sign that she found the news exciting, or even particularly interesting. A few days later, Olga and school friend were walking along the main street of nearby Healdsburg. Further ahead, they saw trailers and trucks, a camera crew, a crowd of extras. Irving Pichel was rehearsing a Fourth of July parade scene for Happy Land, and when he called for more extras, Olga was among the passersby rounded up. She found herself sharing a trailer with Ann Rutherford, then shown her place in a crowd shot. A few takes later, while the camera crew prepared the next setup, Pichel waited in his director's chair.
As if one cue, Maria appeared with five-year-old Natasha in tow. Without telling Olga or Nick, she had made inquiries, learned that Pichel would be shooting the parade scene that day, and planned for her daughter to be "discovered", like her favorite actress, Lana Turner, whom atalent scout had supposedly swept to stardom from the counter of SChwab's drugstore. When she saw that Pichel was alone, Maria whispered something to her daughter and thrust her into the startled director's lap. Years later, Natalie Wood said her mother had said, "Make Mr. Pichel love you," or something lvery like it. Then she stuck her finger in her mouth and made a gagging sound. She also recalled "talking to him," although not what she said, and "singing a little song."
It could, of course, have been repellent -- the precocious, innocently corrupted moppet coached by a stage mother to be adorable. Hollywood history is full of them, too many with nothing to fall back on as adults except a manufactured childhood. But as her movies make clear, there was nothing manufactured or corrupted by Natalie Wood the child actress. And like the child in the movies, the child of the movies was no different offscreen. Against heavy odds, she managed to be almost unnaturally happy for much of the time, and especially on a movie set.
Although there was no camera to record it, Maria had pitched Natalie into her first screentest; and Pichel was so captivated that he createda breif moment for her in the parade scene. But it's not A Star is Born yet. She has only to drop her ice cream cone on the sidewalk, then start to cry out, and in the final version of Happy Land her reaction is cut. You glimpse Natasha for a few seconds as she drops her cone, while Olga gets more screen time in the passing parade. But something about the peformance (and the performance on his lap) made a strong impression on Pichel.
Five magazines of the 1940s and -50s contain various accounts of what happened next. Pichel immediately promised her a part in his next movie. He advised Maria against pursuing a movie career for her daughter, because child actors nearly always suffered the consequences of an unnatural childhood. He was so charmed by Natalie that he offered to adopt her. But like all fan-magazine "inside stories," they can be discounted as ghosted inventions of studio publicists.
Fortunately, Natalie once said that she remembered Pichel coming to the house on Humboldt Street to say goodbye for the Happy Land company returned to Los Angeles. Before leaving, he took Maria aside. She also remembered Maria's account of the conversation, "which was probably true." Natasha, he said, had talent; there might be a part for her in a film he hoped to make the following year, and he promised to get in touch when it was definitely scheduled for production.
Note: Everything in italics is taken from the biography, Natalie Wood: A Life.
PS: I will be adding to this entry later. :)
read Part 2
Eariler that summer, Alfred Hitchcock had shot the location scenes for Shadow of a Doubt in Santa Rosa. Less than a year later, Irving Pichel remembered their classic small-town look when he needed a similar location not too far from Los Angeles for Happy Land. Originally a stage actor, Pichel moved to Hollywood in the early 1930s, played a few character roles (the prosecutor in Sternberg's version of An American Tragedy, Fagin in a cut-rate production of Oliver Twist), and directed a few routine B movies. In 1940, a contract with 20th Century-Fox promoted him to A movies, and he became the house specialist in anti-Nazi and/or homefront World War II stories. After The Pied Piper and The Moon is Down, the next in line was Happy Land, from the best seller by MacKinlay Kantor (The Best Years of Our Lives). A "typical" American father, devastated when his son is killed in the Pacific, receives an unexpected visitor from the "Happy Land." It's Gramp, his own grandfather, a Civil War veteran, who persuades him to rise above the grief and take pride in the boy who sacrificed himself so nobly for his country.
Olga, a student at Santa Rosa High in 1943, came out of school one day, saw the Happy Land company (Don Ameche, Frances Dee, Ann Rutherford) at work a few blocks down the street. When she got home, she told Maria about it. But her mother gave no sign that she found the news exciting, or even particularly interesting. A few days later, Olga and school friend were walking along the main street of nearby Healdsburg. Further ahead, they saw trailers and trucks, a camera crew, a crowd of extras. Irving Pichel was rehearsing a Fourth of July parade scene for Happy Land, and when he called for more extras, Olga was among the passersby rounded up. She found herself sharing a trailer with Ann Rutherford, then shown her place in a crowd shot. A few takes later, while the camera crew prepared the next setup, Pichel waited in his director's chair.
As if one cue, Maria appeared with five-year-old Natasha in tow. Without telling Olga or Nick, she had made inquiries, learned that Pichel would be shooting the parade scene that day, and planned for her daughter to be "discovered", like her favorite actress, Lana Turner, whom atalent scout had supposedly swept to stardom from the counter of SChwab's drugstore. When she saw that Pichel was alone, Maria whispered something to her daughter and thrust her into the startled director's lap. Years later, Natalie Wood said her mother had said, "Make Mr. Pichel love you," or something lvery like it. Then she stuck her finger in her mouth and made a gagging sound. She also recalled "talking to him," although not what she said, and "singing a little song."
It could, of course, have been repellent -- the precocious, innocently corrupted moppet coached by a stage mother to be adorable. Hollywood history is full of them, too many with nothing to fall back on as adults except a manufactured childhood. But as her movies make clear, there was nothing manufactured or corrupted by Natalie Wood the child actress. And like the child in the movies, the child of the movies was no different offscreen. Against heavy odds, she managed to be almost unnaturally happy for much of the time, and especially on a movie set.
Although there was no camera to record it, Maria had pitched Natalie into her first screentest; and Pichel was so captivated that he createda breif moment for her in the parade scene. But it's not A Star is Born yet. She has only to drop her ice cream cone on the sidewalk, then start to cry out, and in the final version of Happy Land her reaction is cut. You glimpse Natasha for a few seconds as she drops her cone, while Olga gets more screen time in the passing parade. But something about the peformance (and the performance on his lap) made a strong impression on Pichel.
Five magazines of the 1940s and -50s contain various accounts of what happened next. Pichel immediately promised her a part in his next movie. He advised Maria against pursuing a movie career for her daughter, because child actors nearly always suffered the consequences of an unnatural childhood. He was so charmed by Natalie that he offered to adopt her. But like all fan-magazine "inside stories," they can be discounted as ghosted inventions of studio publicists.
Fortunately, Natalie once said that she remembered Pichel coming to the house on Humboldt Street to say goodbye for the Happy Land company returned to Los Angeles. Before leaving, he took Maria aside. She also remembered Maria's account of the conversation, "which was probably true." Natasha, he said, had talent; there might be a part for her in a film he hoped to make the following year, and he promised to get in touch when it was definitely scheduled for production.
Note: Everything in italics is taken from the biography, Natalie Wood: A Life.
PS: I will be adding to this entry later. :)