Unca Cheeks the Toy Wonder's Silver Age Comics Web Site!

... or: "How Samuel Goldwyn Saved the Comics Industry During the WWII Years."
(an alternate history)

[ PART TWO ]

The nations of the world stagger and lurch their respective ways closer, ever closer, towards apocalyptic war.
Meanwhile: so, too, do America's movie studios.

Both amongst themselves...

... AND (seemingly) the United States government.

1941:

Feeling that (in this particular instance) virtually any leading man this side of (say) Clark Gable would end up being overshadowed by both the film's expensive super-speed FX and its costumed villain of record -- the darkly charismatic Paul Muni, enjoying himself hugely in the somewhat florid role of the maniacal Fiddler -- Goldwyn assumes (correctly, probably) that no "A"-list actor would willing throw himself upon that particular thespianic hand grenade, thank you.

The film ends up a considerable box office succcess, true -- with little stinted in the way of production values, it was (and remains) visually stunning -- but ends up garnering only a modest profit for the studio, overall.

Not that either M-G-M or Goldwyn are terribly concerned over that, ultimately.

Neither one expected to swat a cinematic homer, each and every crack of the moviemaking bat...

... and: they've plenty more spandexed offerings moving their respective ways through the post-production pipeline, at this point.

March 4: Upstart Timely/Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS, featuring the red-white-and-blue debut of said series' title character: the patriotic, shield-slinging Captain America.

(***) 20th Century Fox -- eager to cut itself in on the moviegoing audience's increasing wartime mania for loud, splashy costumed adventure flicks; and finding itself increasingly frustrated by the close, buddy-buddy relationship relationship between Goldwyn and National -- quickly moves in and spends what is (at the time) a record-setting amount of monies for the sole rights to option and develop a feature- length film starring the character.

March 22: Patriotic actor James Stewart (much to the horror of employer M-G-M) voluntarily enlists for duty in the Armed Forces.

(Stewart -- who was initially classified as "tooo skinny for military service," the previous November -- appealed that earlier decision; and was then re-classified 1-A.)

(***) Plans for a second entry in the SANDMAN film franchise are placed on hold, indefinitely.

(***) March 23: In careful orchestration with a massive (and expensive) months-long publicity campaign, beforehand: M-G-M's lavish, feature-

length production of HAWKMAN finally hits the nation's theatres.

For the role of noted archaeologist (and reincarnated Egyptian prince) Carter Hall, Samuel Goldwyn secures -- after nearly a full year's worth of behind-the-scenes courting and wrangling -- the prestige-making services of a young, lithe and athletic British actor by the name of Laurence Olivier. [See still reproduction, below]

(In "real" life, the young Olivier was -- at that time -- riding the wave of his not-inconsiderable success, re: his starring roles in such costume dramas as WUTHERING HEIGHTS and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE; although -- even then -- he'd willingly take on the occasionaal "genre" flick, as in the instance of [say] Alfred Hitchcock's REBECCA.)

Shot on location in the United Kingdom; the United States; and Egypt, the production -- scripted by no less a screenwriting personage than the fabled Dalton Trumbo, himself -- raises the "bar" of the cinematic high hurdle for films of this sort several notches higher than has any of its predecessors. (It will, in fact, become the very first "costumed adventurer" film to end up nominated in several categories for the much- coveted Academy Award, the following year.)

At a final production cost nearly $900,000 -- during a period in which the average cost of a feature film is approximately one-third of that -- Goldwyn's HAWKMAN is a nerve-wracking gamble, perhaps...

... but (ultimately) a hugely profitable one.

March 28: Meanwhile, in the "real" world: Republic Pictures releases the first installment of its latest serial: THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, starring Tom Tyler. [See poster reproduction, below]

April 4: National Periodical Publications releases ALL-AMERICAN COMICS #25, featuring the debut of the latest one of National's costumed characters: the blind adventurer known as Doctor Mid-Nite.

(***) Quickly optioned by Goldwyn.

(***) May 16: Samuel Goldwyn's JOHNNY THUNDER is released, nationwide.

Eager to further cement his hard-won (and justly celebrated) reputation as a "star-maker," Goldwyn taped the energetic and appealing (if little-known) John Dall to bring the film's brash (and somewhat ridiculous) title character to life. [See still reproduction, below]

(In "real" life, the tart-tongued and quirkily charismatic Dall was best known was best known for his appearances in smart, stylish noir-type thrillers such as GUN CRAZY; and -- later -- memorable "bit" parts in ensemble productions like SPARTACUS.)

Not even an M-G-M-level budget, sadly, can prove itself equal to the daunting task of faithfully replicating the crazed visuals and full-bore lunacy of Johnny Thunder's snide sidekick -- the magical, sentient "Thunder Bolt" -- but a young (and heavily made-up) Ray Bolger acquits himself smartly and honorably in said "second banana" role; aided and abetted by a script which has undergone considerable "doctoring" at the hands of noted Marx Brothers scenarists George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind.

Tough, formidable competition at the box office, however (CITIZEN KANE; THE MALTESE FALCON; SUSPICION; etcetera), keeps the resulting film from truly "taking off," overall; and the end results -- while by no means tragic ones (the movie makes back its costs) -- are disappointing ones, for the studio. (Particularly in the comparative light of the fiscal phenomenon that was the earlier HAWKMAN.)

However: the M-G-M/National/Goldwyn juggernaut has yet another offering, scant weeks away from nationwide release...

... a far less expensive one (providentially enough); starring a young actor on whom the talent-savvy Goldwyn is very keen, indeed.

May 28: Fed up with dehumanized working conditions, cartoonists and animators strike, en masse, at the Walt Disney Studios.

(***) June 30: Samuel Goldwyn's THE HOURMAN debuts in theatres.

From the moment he'd first laid eyes on the young, powerfully-built actor in the latter's initial screen offering (GOLDEN BOY), two years earlier: Goldwyn has hungered to cast the subtle and intelligent William Holden in one of his costumed adventure dramas. [See still reproduction, below]

Said production -- dark; moody; and unleavened by any hhumor which wasn't either cynical or despairing -- is also Goldwyn's first, cautious foray into the brave new cinematic world of film noir; a filmmaking approach starkly at odds with the producer's decided preference, overall, for brighter, more resolutely optimistic movies.

The resulting film achieves substantial box office success, overall; much of it directly attributable, ultimately, to the bravura performance of the (then-)criminally under-utilized Holden.

(In "real" life, William Holden -- one of the finest screen actors of his generation -- went on, from his modest cinematic bbeginnings, to distinguish himself, years later, in such classic films as THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI and SUNSET BOULEVARD.)

July 2: In a full-page ad appearing in (where else?) THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, Walt Disney thunders that "Communists, subversives and fellow travelers" are behind the current animators' strike at his studio.

July 5: Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox initiate a joint lawsuit against M-G-M and National Periodical Publications; claiming that the working relationship between the two is a "monopolistic" one.

Said lawsuit -- in and of itself -- is little more tthan a nuisance suit, ultimately. (It's not as if there aren't other comics companies out there to throw great wads of money at, after all; even if none of those remaining may credibly boast of characters anywhere near as well-known or successful as those within the National stable.)

However: it does succeed in thoroughly hacking off both of the companies served...

... and: Sam Goldwyn isn't all that goddamned amused, either.

July 29: Unnerved by the rumored prospect of Senatorial investigation into their private lives and/or political affiliations, the Cartoonists Guild calls an end to the Disney studio strike.

(***) August 1: Warner Brothers releases its little-heralded feature length film, THE SPIRIT, nationwide.

Starring a so-amazing-and-terrific-you-had-to-believe-he-was-born-to- play-the-role John Garfield as the durable (and perpetually bemused) Denny Colt -- with a script which has much benefited from its having been "polished" by both Dorothy Parker AND Robert Benchley (both of these fervant admirers of Will Eisner's widely-syndicated newspaper strip) -- Warner's THE SPIRIT is the most commercially successful "costumed adventurer" flick since M-G-M's HAWKMAN, half a year earlier. (Virtually an eternity, by Hollywood standards.) [See still reproduction, below]

The film also benefits from the much-lauded presence of two of its distaff performers, as well.

The first of these -- the smart, sexy (and yet vulnerable) Ellen Dolan; the Spirit's alternately adoring and aggravated girlfriend -- is marvelously played by the equally smart, sexy (and yet vulnerable) Barbara Stanwyck; whose fast-paced bantering with the (sometimes) romantically oblivious Spirit proves a genuine crowd-pleaser. [See still reproduction, below]

All but stealing the production, entire, out from under both of these experienced troupers, however, is a breathtakingly sultry up-and-

coming screen siren by the name of Veronica Lake, in the vamp-y, scene-swiping role of the level-headedly amoral and self-centered P'Gell. [See still reproduction, below]

A glum Samuel Goldwyn spends a not-inconsiderable amount of time mentally kicking himself, perusing THE SPIRIT's box-office totals in each and every week's issue of VARIETY.

For the increasingly harried producer, however -- who is now juggling the day-to-day overseeing of up to half-a-dozen important films, in varying stages of completion; ramrodded by half-a-dozen different directors, at any given moment -- good news is just around the corner.

(***) August 8: Samuel Goldwyn's THE SPECTRE is released, nationwide.

For this costly and ambitious production, Goldwyn employs the services of one of the most prodigiously talented directors of his generation: the flamboyant and eccentric James Whale [THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN].

The intensely loyal Whale, in turn, lobbies hard for (and wins) the right to cast his first (and only) choice for the role of National's implacable "Ghostly Guardian": the legendary Boris Karloff.

The resulting script for said film -- extensively re-worked, on the set (and on the sly) by Whale, himself -- takes some liberties with the printed National Periodicals source material. (The gaunt and greying Karloff, for instance, is a bit long in the tooth to be playing murdered beat cop Jim Corrigan; the role is promptly amended to that of "murdered police inspector, Jim Corrigan.")

However: once the necessary "origin story"-underpinnings are hastily squared away; and the remorseless, grim-visaged Spectre first makes his ghastly presence known and felt, within the film...

... the end-results are nothing short of spect(re)acular.

Another solid box office success, then, for the (seemingly) all-but-

unstoppable M-G-M/National/Goldwyn troika.

(***) October 21: Samuel Goldwyn's DOCTOR FATE is released, nationwide.

The production has been plagued by any number of mishaps and miscues, right from Day One. Headstrong and mercurial actor Leslie Howard -- the studio's choice for the role, for name "marquee" value; and one a harried Goldwyn feels ill-prepared to contest, whilst spinning as many plates as is, at this juncture -- obviously feels himself a bit "above" the material, as conceived and scripted. (His previous screen triumphs, at this juncture, included leading roles in such pivotal and influential films as THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL; THE PETRIFIED FOREST; and -- of course -- GONE WITH THE WIND.) [See still reproduction, below]

Howard's apparent condescension towards the material, however, is not entirely unwarranted. The script for DOCTOR FATE -- the first one in Goldwyn's "costumed adventurer" series not personally overseen by the increasingly frazzled producer, himself -- is a (comparatively) weak, pro forma affair; relying more on a series of (admittedly) clever and spectacular visuals -- Fate's entering and leaving his Salem tower headquarters by "ghosting" through the walls of same; Fate's (and the audience's) first encounter with the glowing, talismanic golden helm, during the opening "Egyptian excavation" sequence; etcetera -- than any great strength in storytelling or dramatic structure, per se.

Too: DOCTOR FATE is the first one of Goldwyn's costumed epics to run appreciably over its carefully pre-arranged shooting budget; again, a result of the normally savvy producer's increasingly divided attentions.

The lovely (if under-utilized) actress Merle Oberon -- Howard's leading lady, in fact, from the aforementioned PIMPERNEL -- makes for a fetching enough Inza, however; and Vincent Price's oily turn as the wicked sorceror Wotan is an entertaining one, in its own right.

The film opens to disappointing reviews, however; and lackluster business.

It is the first one of the M-G-M/Nationa;/Goldwyn pictures not to turn a profit.

December 7: Neighborhood movie business is down by as much as fifty percent, nationwide, as people stay home in order to hear the grisly, unfolding radio details, re: the devastating Japanese sneak attack upon Pearl Harbor.

(***) December 10: A moviegoing audience newly outraged (and primed for war, and retribution) by the monstrous machinations of Hitler, Hirohito and Mussolini -- or perhaps simply eager for a little vicarious "payback" -- flocks to the opening of Goldwyn's GGREEN LANTERN.

Still smarting from the Austrian anti-semite's complete and unequivocal banning of all M-G-M films (including, obviously, his own) from German theatres, a year earlier: the Polish-born Goldwyn has long since approved a shooting script for the project which -- playing upon the increasingly topicality of the horrors taking place across the ocean, in Europe -- pits the ring-wielding paladin against Nazi "fifth columnists" and saboteurs; as well as an appropriately gruesome and terrifying Solomon Grundy. (Boris Karloff, having a high old time reprising -- somewhat -- his earlier Universal Films role as the Frankenstein Monster.)

Whereas the selection of the little-known (at the time) Paul Henreid for the role of Alan Scott might have seemed a somewhat dicey maneuver, upon initial scrutiny; the straight-laced (and -- it must be granted -- poker-faced) leading man best known and remembered today as CASABLANCA's "Victor Laszlo" harbors -- unlike, say, Leslie Howard -- no particular illusions concerning his own status as "a SEERious ACTor," and is just damned happy to be working, really.

With the stunningly gorgeous Greer Garson rounding things out nicely as the impish, love-smitten villainess, the Harlequin: the timely (if somewhat clutered) GREEN LANTERN turns a substantial profit, soothing the jittery nerves of various M-G-M and National Periodicals executives.

As well as those of a suddenly revitalized Samuel Goldwyn; who has read (and re-read) a copy of the recently released ALL-STAR COMICS #3...

... and whom -- even now -- is wondering if maybe... just maybe...

(***) December 17: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces its nominees for the upcoming Academy Awards (scheduled to take place on the evening of February 26, 1942; Bob Hope, Master of Ceremonies).

The nominees for Best Picture of 1941: Orson Welles' CITIZEN KANE; Darryl F. Zanuck's HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY; popular Bette Davis vehicle THE LITTLE FOXES; the noirish THE MALTESE FALCON...

... and HAWKMAN.

Additionally: Laurence Olivier gets the nod as a Best Actor nominee (as does John Garfield, for Warner Brothers' THE SPIRIT); and Dalton Trumbo's HAWKMAN script is listed as a potential Best Screenplay winner.

Samuel Goldwyn's "maybe" is transformed -- right then and there; in his own mind, at any rate -- into a definitely.

We'll wrap things up on Page Three of THE M-G-M/JSA FILES: "How the Comics and Film Industries Saved One Another During the WWII Years (an alternate history)."

Let's relive those golden, glorious memories of The Greatest Wartime Movie Epics Never Made, shall we...?

The M-G-M/JSA Files (PAGE ONE)
The M-G-M/JSA Files (PAGE THREE)

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