The dog, Lassie, that inspired books, movies, and television shows was first featured in a short story in the Saturday Evening Post in 1938. The story was by author Eric Knight who soon expanded the story to be a full-length novel, Lassie Come Home, published in1940.

Eric Knight grew up in England, and the story was set there. The plot concerned a family who is forced to sell their dog when they encounter hard times. The dog and family are separated, and the book tells the tale of the dog’s adventures as he journeys to find his young master.  When Lassie Come Home was published, it was an instant best-seller. MGM rapidly snapped up the film rights for $10,000, and made Lassie Come Home starring Roddy McDowall and Elizabeth Taylor.

Casting Lassie

When the casting call went out for a rough-coat collie, about 300 applicants submitted photos of their dogs. (To read more about the dog that got the part, “The Dog That Played Lassie.”) The director wanted a rough collie–also known as a long-haired collie–to play the part. (In Scotland, this breed of dog is raised for herding.)

Though Lassie was a female character, the dog selected was male as the dog—Pal– had the thick, beautiful coat the director was looking for. In addition to Pal’s silky coat, he had a distinctive white blaze on his face.

The dog belonged to animal breeder Rudd Weatherwax who was hired to board the dog and see that he was properly trained. After Pal was well-behaved, the family decided not to pick him up.

Having Weatherwax on board for the film was a definite asset. He and his family were soon among the top animal handlers for the entertainment industry.

Lassie Come Home was quite popular. Several sequels were made including Son of Lassie, a full-length movie starring Peter Lawford and June Lockhart (1945).

Lassie on Radio and Television

By 1947, Lassie had a radio program. The original radio show used Pal for the barking segments, but all other animal vocalizations were performed by humans.

Lassie made the transition to television in 1954. The show went through various iterations, but it remained popular until 1975. The part of Lassie was always played by an offspring of the original Pal. However, selecting the right pup with a matching blaze of white on his face remained a constant challenge.

Lassie is one of only three real dogs to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (The other two are Strongheart and Rin Tin Tin. Cartoon character Snoopy is also featured.)

In 2005, Lassie was named one of Variety magazine’s “Icons of the Century” for the impact she has made on young people around the world since 1938.

A Little-Known Story Behind Lassie

Less than ten years ago, British author Nigel Clarke was at work on a book about shipwrecks. He came upon a story about an incident that occurred in Dorset during World War I that involved a dog named Lassie. Clarke believes that Knight’s inspiration for the story was based on the real-life collie who saved the life of a British seaman.

On New Year’s Day in 1915, the Royal Navy battleship Formidable was torpedoed by a German submarine off Start Point, a promontory in South Devon. More than 500 men were lost.

In a storm that followed the accident, a life raft containing bodies blew along the coast to Lyme Regis. The raft was pulled ashore there. Clearly, the community wanted to help deal with the crisis. The local pub in town offered its cellar as a mortuary.

A Surprising Rescue

When the bodies were laid out on the stone floor, Lassie, a crossbred collie owned by the pub owner, found her way down amongst the bodies. She stopped near one of the victims and began to lick his face. She stayed by seaman John Cowan, nuzzling him and keeping him warm.

Finally, someone came down the stairs and noted that Cowan was trying to get up. He was taken to the hospital. He went on to make a full recovery.

A few weeks later, he returned to thank all who saved his life, particularly Lassie.

Inspiring Story

The sinking of the ship was a severe blow to Britain during these early years of the war. This story was inspirational and heart-warming. When the officers heard the story of Lassie and what she did to rescue Cowan, they told it again and again to any reporter who would listen.

Because the story was widely reported, Clarke feels that the odds are that Eric Knight read the story during the war years or came upon it later on. While Knight had moved from Yorkshire to the United States and served in the U.S. military, Clarke’s suspicion seems well-founded. In addition to both dogs being named Lassie, the story of her rescue of the sailor also bears a resemblance to the Lassie rescue stories.

What Happened to Knight?

After World War I, Eric Knight became a critic and a film writer. He moved from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, hoping to make his name in the movies. He met with many rejections, and eventually returned to Yorkshire to be a journalist, where he wrote his story about Lassie, eventually expanding it into a book.

Unfortunately, he never knew the level of success the book achieved. In January 1944 Knight was helping Frank Capra film a documentary about the war when he was killed in a plane crash. He was only 45. His death came shortly after MGM’s release of the film. It was too early for anyone to know that Lassie Come Home would become a classic.

Today movie theaters are most successful with blockbuster action films. One hundred years ago, movies were exciting and new. Developers built giant movie palaces for those who could afford to dress up and come.

Movie Palaces

Starting in 1914, developers began building the first theaters created specifically for showing films. By 1922, 4,000 new theaters were built in the United States. These ranged from small theaters in working class neighborhoods to much grander buildings that were reminiscent of the large vaudeville theaters. These early movie theaters held audiences ranging from four thousand to six thousand people. They came to be referred to as “palaces.” The description was fitting.

The lobbies were luxurious; they featured crystal chandeliers, marble mirrors, and plush seating. The men’s and ladies’ lounges were beautifully appointed; some of the women’s lounges had screens so the ladies could keep up with the film’s plot while fixing their hair or make-up. Many of the theaters had children’s playrooms with attendants so parents could go and enjoy the show.

Customers usually wore evening wear, and they came to the movie palace early as there were other things to do. While waiting for the movie to start, patrons could listen to music being played on a Wurlitzer organ, watch a ballet on another stage, or listen to a performance of a live orchestra. Some theaters had art galleries for people to stroll through until it was time for the show.

Architecture with an American Twist

The general architecture of these showplaces ranged widely. Sometimes they were built to look like a Mayan Temple or a European cathedral, but the interiors generally nodded to America. One theater in Los Angeles, the Metropolitan built by Sid Grauman, featured a sphinx in the lobby. The sphinx had the head of George Washington, and the inscription near the statue read: “You cannot speak to us, O George Washington, but you can speak to God. Ask Him to make us good American citizens…”

The Box Office Placement

One of the design features conceived for these palaces is still part of some theaters today. The box office was intentionally set out by the street, often existing as a separate structure. The intent was to welcome patrons into a plush lobby where there were no signs of commercialism. (At that time there were no concession stands in palace lobbies.)

Movie Palaces Required Many Employees

These theaters were also major employers for the day. It was not unusual for a single theater to employ more than a hundred people. Many had 30-40 orchestral musicians providing live music, several dozen ushers, and many people working backstage. Some had a nurse on staff to handle illnesses or fainting. A few had firemen in case of emergency. Animal handlers were necessary at theaters where the shows before the film featured live animal acts.

Ushers were extraordinarily important to the movie palaces. The theaters were large, and there were usually several shows each day, so ushers helped movie the audiences in and movie them out again. The Roxy, built in 1927 under the supervision of Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel (1882-1936), in New York City, hired a retired military officer to oversee the tuxedo-clad ushers. Their impeccable appearance was immortalized by Cole Porter’s 1932 song, “You’re the Top.” (“…You’re the pants on a Roxy usher….”) What’s more, a form of the name lives on. In the 1930s, Roxy Rothafel was hired to run Radio City Music Hall where the Roxyettes eventually became the Rockettes.

At grand theaters like the Roxy, the employees were well cared for. For the performers, there were dressing and rehearsal rooms as well as services such as dry cleaning and laundry. The staff could also take advantage of a cafeteria, gym, billiard room, nap room, library, infirmary, showers, and a barbershop and hairdresser.

A Showman Whose Theaters Live On

Showman Sid Grauman (1879-1950) built several of the most famous movie palaces of the 1920s. His first was the Million Dollar Theater on Broadway in Los Angeles, followed by the Egyptian on Hollywood Boulevard. The Egyptian was originally intended to be Spanish in look, but English archaeologist Howard Carter’s search for the tomb of King Tut was making news in the early 1920s. There was so much public interest in finding the tomb that Grauman decided to capitalize on it. He had the builder switch to Egyptian styling. To both men’s great good luck, Carter found Tut’s tomb two weeks after the Egyptian opened.

Grauman built other theaters in the area that still stand, including El Capitan and the Chinese Theatre. What was known as Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (now called TCL Chinese Theatre) became famous for a courtyard attraction that started in the late 1920s. Grauman thought of inviting famous film stars to sign their names in oversized cement blocks that Grauman used to fill the area outside the theater. Movie stars often left their footprints as well as anything else that signified who they were. Groucho Marx left his cigar print, Jimmy Durante was known for having a big nose, so he left a nose print. Skater Sonja Henie left prints of her skates, and of course, animal stars that couldn’t sign names left hoof- or pawprints.

The End of an Era

The Depression brought an end to the building of these grand movie palaces. Radio City Music Hall, completed in 1932, was the last to be constructed. Because of the economic stress the country faced, audience numbers declined precipitously. They dropped by one-third in just a couple of years (from 90 million per week in 1930 to 60 million).

Many theaters closed, and those managers who kept their theaters open developed “value-added” sales methods that would be familiar to marketers today: discounted prices, raffles, and product give-aways. Ladies’ nights and children’s matinees were used to maintain audiences. Some theater owners raffled off prizes regularly. To build regular attendance, many owners began giving away products each week. One of the more popular items was what we know as Depression-era glassware. Audience members who attended regularly could pay just a nickel for the “dish of the night.” Eventually they could amass a complete set of dishes.

While some of these theaters have undergone renovation to re-establish them for modern audiences. Others are still theaters, but contractors have come in to create four or six smaller theaters insead of just one grand one. In the townw where you can still see the old palaces, it’s well worth the effort to attend a tour. Today the Los Angeles Conservancy runs a program called Last Remaining Seats. Each year they arrange for vintage films to be screened in one of the classic theaters. They also run tours of the theaters.

Dorothy Dandridge (1922-1965) could sing and dance with the best of them. Though her marriage to Harold Nicholas was brief, she could more than hold her own on stage with the famed tap duo, The Nicholas Brothers.

Dandridge started performing as a child in local variety shows, and then eventually made a career for herself in films. Her portrayal of the lead role in Carmen Jones brought her positive acclaim, including the honor of being the first Black woman nominated for an Academy Award as best actress.

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Dorothy Dandridge: Childhood

Dorothy was born in Cleveland in 1922 to parents who separated shortly before Dorothy’s birth. Her mother, Ruby, was an entertainer who had appeared in nightclubs, radio, film and early television. (She was best known for her role on the radio show, “Amos ‘n’ Andy.”)

When Dorothy’s mother and father split, her mother took the two children, Vivian and Dorothy, to live with a woman who became Ruby’s partner, Geneva Williams. Ruby and Williams saw performance potential in the girls and started working with them on an act. Billing them as the “Wonder Children,” Ruby and Geneva soon put them to work in vaudeville.

A few years later, Ruby spotted another child, Etta Jones, in the girls’ dance classes. She felt Jones would complement the act. When Ruby and Geneva moved to Los Angeles in the early 1930s, they took with them Vivian and Dorothy and the other little girl. (This is not the Etta Jones who went on to be a jazz singer.)

The three children began performing as the Dandridge Sisters. In 1934 they won a radio contest over stiff competition (including “white” competition), and their bookings grew.  Eventually they toured Europe and performed at New York’s Cotton Club as well as the Apollo Theater. They also traveled to perform in the South where the girls were permitted to appear on stage but had difficulty finding a restaurant to serve them a meal or a lodging house where they could stay. (See The Green Book: A Travel Guide for African Americans.)

Dorothy Dandrige: On Her Own

In 1940, Dorothy wanted to go out on her own, and this broke up the group. She and sister Vivian began getting small non-credited roles in several films. In 1941 she appeared in the filmed musical, Sun Valley Serenade, and danced with Harold Nicholas of the famed tap duo, the Nicholas Brothers.

Here is their scene, Chattanooga Choo Choo with Dorothy Dandridge and the Nicholas Brothers:

The musical number is spectacular, but at that time, the Motion Picture Production Code reviewed all films. Those sent to southern states usually had scenes with Black actors edited out. Some theaters removed the entire tap number from the film because the performers were Black.

First Marriage

Harold Nicholas and Dorothy Dandridge married in 1942.  Dandridge cut back on performing, but rumors filtered back to her that Harold was cheating on her.

Dorothy was expecting their first child, but when she went into labor Harold had a golf game so he dropped her off at her sister’s instead of taking her to the hospital. With the delay, Dorothy did not have medical help. After Harolyn Suzanne Nicholas was born, it became clear that the baby suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen during the birth.

Dorothy cared for the baby at home for a time, until she realized institutional care was necessary. Dandridge placed her daughter in a private hospital that could guarantee round-the-clock care.

In 1951, she divorced Harold Nicholas and returned to performing in night clubs. She was a sensation at the Mocambo nightclub on the Sunset Strip when she opened with Desi Arnaz’s band. For the next several years, she was booked at all the best clubs in L.A., New York, London, and Rio de Janeiro.

Continued Career Success

In 1953, she was cast in her first starring dramatic film role, Bright Road, appearing opposite Harry Belafonte. She played the part of a teacher in the South helping a troubled boy. Belafonte was the principal.

After Bright Road, she auditioned for the role of Carmen Jones in a film of the same name. It was to be a remake of a stage musical adapted from the opera, Carmen. Otto Preminger was casting the film, and the story goes that when Dandridge first auditioned for the role, Preminger pronounced her wrong for the part. He wanted a more “earthy” character.

Dandridge did not take no for an answer, so she went home, chose clothing that seemed more down to earth, and re-did her hairstyle. Preminger loved it. She again played opposite Harry Belafonte. Though both had wonderful voices, the operatic nature of the film meant that all the songs were dubbed by professional opera singers.

For this role, Dorothy Dandridge was nominated by the Academy for Best Actress in 1955.

Many believed that Dandrige should have won, but the competition was stiff. Also nominated were Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Judy Garland, and Jane Wyman. Grace Kelly won for The Country Girl. However, the nomination catapulted Dandridge into a new public arena. She graced the covers of many magazines including Ebony and Look. She was the first Black woman to be featured on the cover of Life (11-1-1954).

Dandridge also began a four-year affair with Preminger which caused a lot of whispering. Interracial dating raised eyebrows, and affairs needed to be well hidden.

Challenges After Nomination

After Carmen Jones, Dandridge expected great roles to come her way, but film producers were not comfortable casting a Black woman opposite a white man. In addition, the films with Black stars generally did not do as well at the box office so fewer films were made.  

When the first big part came to her, that of Tuptim in The King and I, Dandridge was inclined to take it.  But Preminger insisted she turn it down, telling her she shouldn’t accept a role as a slave.

Rita Moreno took the part, however, and went on to stardom.

Finally in 1959, she was offered the part of Bess in Porgy and Bess, playing opposite Sidney Poitier. The film encountered many delays, which led to Preminger coming in to direct. He and Dorothy had broken off before this, and the work did not go well. Porgy and Bess was a bust.

New Try at Marriage

In 1959, she married Jack Denison, a restaurateur, who took over her life. He started managing her money and had her perform in his restaurant in an effort to save it. When that didn’t work, he drained her bank accounts. 

Dandridge finally divorced him in 1962, but by this time she was bankrupt. After years of her daughter being cared for in a private institution, there was no longer money to pay for it. Harolyn (1943-2003) had to be moved to a state institution.

After the divorce from Denison, she tried to revive her nightclub career, but she was drinking heavily. One morning she was to leave Los Angeles for a booking in New York. When she did not come down to the car, someone went up to check on her. She was found dead in her apartment from a likely barbiturate overdose. She was 42.

Dorothy Dandridge once said, “If I were white, I could have captured the world.”

Dandridge’s Legacy

By the 1990s, people were beginning to realize that Dorothy Dandridge deserved to be remembered for her pioneering work in entertainment.  In 1997, a biography of Dandridge was published, and that year the New York City Film Forum sponsored a two-week retrospective of her films.

Today she has a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, and her image is part of a sculpture by Catherine Hardwicke that is located at the corner of Hollywood and La Brea. The sculpture was built to honor multi-ethnic ladies in the cinema, and in includes Mae West, Dolores del Rio, Anna May Wong, and Dorothy Dandridge.

In 1999 Halle Berry won Golden Globe and Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Dandridge in HBO’s Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.

For the story of the first African American to win an Academy Award, read about Hattie McDaniel who won for her portrayal as Mammy in Gone with the Wind.

The concept for the first drive-in movie business originated with one man in the late 1920s. Richard M. Hollingshead, Jr. came up with the concept of watching movies from one’s car. He was looking for an alternative for his mother who was very uncomfortable in movie theaters. Hollingshead thought sitting in a car might be better for her and for others.

To view this story as a video, scroll down. The video has just been added.

Creating a Drive-In Theater

The best place to experiment with this possible plan was in his own driveway.  Taking a white bed sheet, he tacked it up between two trees in his backyard. He parked his car facing the sheet.  Next, he placed a projector on the hood of the car. He was delighted to see that once it became dark, it was relatively easy to watch a movie against the bed sheet.

Sound was the next issue he needed to address. If everyone was sitting in separate cars, how could music and dialog reach them?

For an answer, Hollingshead contacted the RCA Victor Company and described his concept for an outdoor theater. The fellow assured him that three good-sized speakers placed around a lot where cars were parked could provide adequate sound.  (When drive-in theaters first opened, they all relied on big speakers well placed around the drive-in lot.)

Making the Movie Visible to Many

To make money, Hollingshead’s needed his business  to accommodate many cars. He envisioned rows of cars with an elevated screen so cars parked further back would still be able to see the screen. That meant that for more comfortable viewing, the cars needed to tilt back ever so slightly. To accomplish that, he planned on short, low ramps to elevate the front of the car slightly.  That way passengers leaned back a bit to look up toward the raised screen.

Hollingshead received a patent for his plan on May 16, 1933. By this time, he had enlisted a couple of investors and found a 400-acre lot in Camden, New Jersey. The next step was ordering a custom-built 40 by 50-foot screen.

He named the company Park-In Theatres.

First Drive-In Movie

Hollingshead’s drive-in opened on June 6, 1933. He was there himself to get things started. He charged 25 cents per car and an additional 25 cents for each occupant. This was the Depression, so he capped the charge for any one car at a dollar.  If families could fit more than three people in the car, then they could save a bit of money.

Competitors were entering the market, and Hollingshead attempted to slow the pace by charging royalties to license his idea. Loews Drive-In Theatres were among those who made a deal with Park-In, but Hollingshead found it difficult to collect the royalties. When the case went to court, Hollingshead’s patent was eventually declared invalid.  At the time, there was no category for patenting this type of enterprise.

New Speaker System

By 1941, RCA introduced a new speaker system for use in outdoor theaters. The ground needed to be wired so that posts with two speakers could be installed between cars. Drivers would pull up into the parking places between the poles. The speakers could be removed from the pole and hung over the windows of the car. That way each family had a speaker and could control their own volume for the film.  These initial speakers were a bit tinny in sound, but the sound quality improved over time.

More Drive-Ins

By the late 1940s, more companies entered the drive-in movie business.  Following Hollingshead’s original model, tickets were sold on a per-customer basis.

Once on the property, an “usher” greeted cars with a flashlight signaling where each car should park.

Teens and some families loved to “game” the ticket system. As they drove through the ticket booth, the driver paid for himself and his companion. Once in and parked, several additional heads would often pop out from under a blanket in the backseat.

And of course, high school kids relished the privacy of the car while ostensibly watching a movie.

Concession sales were a big part of the business.  Drive-in movies usually offered double features. Theater owners provided an intermission of 10-15 minutes between features to give customers time to get to the concession stand and buy popcorn, soda, and candy.

Play Until Dark

Because the films could not begin until it was dark, theater owners installed playgrounds on the property. That way families could come early—visit the concession stand—and have an appealing way to amuse the children until dark.

With double features, parents always hoped for some bonus time. If they were lucky, the whole family enjoyed the first film, and then the kids would fall asleep for the second one.  (The idea of children sleeping during the second feature probably falls in the category of “best-laid-plans.”  I have a vivid memory of returning to the drive-in one morning with my mother; my brother had thrown one of his shoes out of the car window, and it was impossible to find it in the dark.)

Though a few drive-in movie theatres still exist, the era of drive-ins has passed. In most communities, land is too valuable for what is essentially a seasonal business that can only truly make money at night time.  Most theater owners have been perfectly willing to sell to a strip mall developer or a car company looking for a sales lot.

Here is a link to some drive-in theaters that still exist in the U.S.

To read about another type of movie experience, read about one of the movie palaces: Behind-the-Scenes at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

And here’s a story about a woman adventurer–the first woman to ever drive cross-country. Alice Huyler Ramsey.

Who Thought of the Drive-In Movie Theater? The Video

Both Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall loved dogs. She was

partial to cocker spaniels and had two of them–one named Droopy and another, Puddle.  Bogart owned several breeds during his lifetime including a Newfoundland terrier, a couple of Scottish terriers, and a Sealyham terrier (a breed that originated in Wales).

Met on Film Set

The couple met in 1944 while filming the Howard Hawks film, To Have and Have Not.  Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957), already a star from Casablanca, played the leading male, and Lauren Bacall (1924-2014) was a newcomer in the role of the ingénue.

Both Bacall’s mother and Howard Hawks were dead-set against the budding romance between the two stars. Hawks felt it interfered with their work. Bacall’s mother was opposed to her daughter dating a married man 25 years her senior—particularly one who was known to drink heavily.

Love Conquered All

But disapproval did not deter the couple. They were again paired to work together in Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep (1945). During this time, they decided to marry. Bogart got a divorce from his second wife, and the two were married on a friend’s farm in Ohio.

Since both Bogart and Bacall were “dog” people, it was only natural

when their friend presented them with a one-week old boxer puppy, born on the farm just days before their nuptials. From that time forward, the boxer breed became the household’s breed of choice.

They named the puppy Harvey after the invisible rabbit in Mary Chase’s 1944 play of the same name (later made into a motion picture).  Harvey proved to be a very smart dog. Lauren Bacall reported that since he wasn’t allowed on furniture, he was quite accommodating about the rule—he just put two paws on the couch at a time. If the couple had a fight, then the no-furniture rule went out the window and Harvey sat between them until they were ready to make up.

Bogart and Bacall and Their Boxers

Shortly, two more boxers came to live with them—George and Baby.  But Harvey was always the alpha dog. If you see just one boxer in photos with the movie stars, you can be sure it’s Harvey.

Throughout their 12 years together, Bogart and Bacall shared a happy if not perfect marriage. Part of their joy in being together was their love of dogs and the pleasure they took in raising their two children.

Harvey was part of the family through to the very end.  He died just 6 months after Bogart passed away in 1957.

Lionel Barrymore had a long and successful acting career. From the silent era through the early 1950s, he primarily played character roles in films. Barrymore also directed films and composed music. While he would have loved a career in the fine arts, he made do with hobbies that kept him involved in painting and the graphic arts.

Barrymore was injured in the mid-1930s. This ultimately caused a shift in his career as he became more comfortable with a wheelchair. For almost half of the one hundred films in which he acted, he delivers all his dialogue while sitting down, or he uses a wheelchair. Yet little was made of it by the press, and the audiences clearly didn’t mind.

As The New York Times wrote in his obituary: “It was a tribute to his popularity and ability that parts were written around him, and audiences never questioned the appearance of an actor in a wheelchair.”

Lionel Barrymore’s Early Life

Lionel Barrymore (1878-1954) was born in Philadelphia into the well-known acting family, the Barrymores. (The Barrymore name was retrieved from a deceased relative and established as the family’s stage name.) His parents were both actors—Maurice Blyth and Georgiana Drew. All three of their offspring went into acting. Lionel became a great character actor. Youngest brother, John (1882-1942), played many leading roles and was known for his great looks and famous profile.

Sister Ethel (1879-1959) preferred the stage, and in a career lasting six decades, she earned the title of “First Lady of the American Theater.”

Lionel worked in the theater as a teenager, but he did not intend to continue in the “family business.” As a young man, he moved to Paris and studied art for several years. When he saw that he was not going to earn a decent living with painting, he returned to the U.S. and went back to acting. An early introduction to D.W. Griffith garnered him parts in many silent films.

Barrymore also directed. His first film was His Secret in 1913. Throughout the next two decades, he continued to direct while also acting. In 1929, he won an Academy Award nomination for his directorial work on Madame X.

Two years later, he won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance in A Free Soul (1931). Over time his acting career was to predominate.

Barrymore’s Injuries

Lionel Barrymore suffered physically and emotionally in 1936. He broke his hip in an accident, and in December of that year, he lost his beloved wife, Irene Fenwick Barrymore (1887-1936), who was only 49.

The following year, he was filming the movie, Saratoga with Clark Gable and Jean Harlow; he tripped over a cable and broke his hip for the second time.  Repairs for this type of injury were rudimentary then.  Barrymore was plagued with arthritis since the late 1920s, so the second accident meant that he never really recovered. From that time on, it was very painful to walk. He used crutches occasionally but soon settled into the wheelchair full time.

By the date of the accidents, Barrymore had been part of the MGM family for many years. He worked for Louis B. Mayer even before 1924 when MGM was created. The two men had a long and good friendship.

Mayer knew Barrymore was a valuable property to the studio, so Mayer put out the word. Scripts for Barrymore should take into account that he wasn’t comfortable walking.

The studio was happy to keep him working.

Dr. Kildare Movies

In 1938, MGM acquired the rights to the character of Dr. Kildare, based on a book by Max Brand. Scriptwriters amended the story line to be about a young doctor making his way at a city hospital under the watchful eye of his mentor, Dr. Gillespie. Barrymore was cast in the role of Gillespie. Dr. Kildare was played by Lew Ayres.

These movies were highly successful, so additional scripts were prepared. In all of these movies, Barrymore uses his wheelchair but that is never the focus of the story.

In 1942, the war brought about unanticipated changes. Kildare actor Lew Ayres was drafted, but he refused to go. He was a conscientious objector and did not want to fight.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the pro-America war sentiment meant that the public turned against Ayres. He was removed from the films, and the Dr. Kildare films that followed focused on Dr. Leonard Gillespie. (Ayres did serve in the military but as a medic and a chaplain’s assistant. This permitted him to return to his career.)

Dust Up with the Roosevelts

Though Barrymore supported Franklin Roosevelt’s early campaigns for president, his sentiment changed in 1944. In 1944 he actively campaigned for the Republican candidate, Thomas Dewey. This did not sit well with the Roosevelt family.

Two years later when MGM was preparing a film about FDR, the press knew that Barrymore was likely to be cast to be Franklin Roosevelt. A phone call to MGM from Mrs. Roosevelt got Barrymore pulled from the film.

This was only a minor setback in Barrymore’s career. In 1946, Barrymore played the villainous Henry Potter in the Frank Capra classic, It’s a Wonderful Life. Potter was not written as a character in a wheelchair, but when Barrymore was cast in the role, he made it work very successfully.

Two years later he appeared as the hotel owner in Key Largo. That film starred Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Barrymore went on to make thirteen more films before the end of his life.

During his last two decades, he also played the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in annual broadcasts of A Christmas Carol and was well-remembered for that role.

Successes in Other Fields

In addition to his long list of acting credits and his 1929 nomination for best director, Barrymore succeeded in several other fields. He loved composing music, and several of his compositions were performed by professional orchestras. One of these was “In Memoriam,” written in 1942 on the occasion of his brother’s death. It was performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. A few of his compositions were also used in films.

Though painting never brought him professional success, Barrymore continued to work in graphic arts. Several of his prints were recognized by the Society of American Etchers.

Barrymore’s Contribution to Film Industry

It is unfortunate that the film industry has been so slow to follow the great example set by Lionel Barrymore and those who continued to hire him. We are now 75 years from the time when Barrymore demonstrated that an actor in a wheelchair could still bring an important story to audiences. Our progress since that time should be greater.

The story of the invention of the wheelchair is not what you would expect. Click here to read The Wheelchair: Who Thought of It?