Jimmy Stewart by Michael Munn

Author:Michael Munn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2012-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

14

Undercover in Hollywood

Jim still had a career to resuscitate. Lew Wasserman of MCA took over as his agent, and a deal was done with RKO, 20th Century- Fox, United Artists, Warner Brothers and Universal to each make five James Stewart films.

The first picture in this deal was Magic Town for RKO, who had released It’s a Wonderful Life. RKO was not one of Hollywood’s biggest studios, although neither was it the smallest. Its strength lay in films with modest budgets and modest star names. Some stars who rose to greater things, like John Wayne and Robert Mitchum, had made their names in RKO films. But the studio was also known as a place for the bigger stars to step down to. For James Stewart to be making a second consecutive RKO film, when the first had failed, was not a sign of good things to come.

That second film, Magic Town, was filmed and released in 1947- in fact that and It’s a Wonderful Life were his only films of that year. Jim played a cynical, fast-talking public relations man. He discovers that the small, uncorrupted town of Grandview is such a pure representation of the heart of America that its own community- based opinions and forecasts have accurately reflected events in America for some fifty years. Seeing his chance to make quick money, he poses as an insurance agent, makes notes of the town’s opinions on a variety of topics, and sends his findings to a clearing house. His accuracy in predicting national trends earns him big money, but it also threatens the town’s innocence. And so he has a change of heart and helps Grandview to return to its former state.

It was in essence a Capra-style picture, which is not surprising as it was produced and written by Robert Riskin, who worked on the screenplays of It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and You Can’t Take It With You. But the film was a bigger disaster than It’s a Wonderful Life. Most people involved blamed the failure of the film on its director, William Wellman, who was at his best when dealing with action pictures. But fault also lay in Riskin’s attempt to create a Capra picture without Capra, and with the studio. RKO excelled at making film noir (often starring Robert Mitchum) and inexpensive action pictures (often starring Wayne); Magic Town was neither.

Jim got little joy from making the film. ‘There wasn’t much being offered to me after the war . . . and I kinda took whatever I was offered,’ he said. ‘Magic Town seemed like a good idea but it didn’t help . . . and part of the problem was me. I just wasn’t convincing . . . just like the film.

‘What was a pleasure, though, was getting to spend time with Robert Riskin and his wife Fay Wray . . . you remember her? The actress from King Kong. We all went to the premiere of Magic Town, and it was a disaster.

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