Was there ever a boy more perfectly cast as David Copperfield, embodying the gentle character's longing for a place in the world as he traversed the underside of Victorian England and grew to manhood?
Starting tonight at 8PM EDT, TCM is revisiting the stardom of Freddie Bartholomew (1924-1992), who reigned for a time in the 1930s as a popular child star of his day, next to Shirley Temple. The earnest, sensitive boy with the refined accent, trained at the famed Italia Conti Stage School in London where stars such as Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence were readied for their careers, he eventually appeared in 24 films, sharing the spotlight in remarkably well crafted films opposite talents as different as Greta Garbo (in Camille) and Spencer Tracy (in Captains Courageous).
Raised by his aunt, Myllicent Bartholomew in Warminster in southern England, she was impressed by his recitation of a poem in public when he was quite young. After that, she took him around to various studios in Britain where the curly haired, blue-eyed boy soon began playing bit parts. Chosen by MGM to play David Copperfield (1935) when he was 10, he and his aunt moved to the United States together, where the angelic looking boy became a sensation in a series of exceptionally well made films--the best of which seemed to have roots in literature, though he eventually became so Americanized that he cut his curls (calling them "sissified") and lost his accent completely off-screen. His ability to wring empathy from audiences was remarkable--and extended to his fellow actors.
Off-camera, with Freddie Bartholomew and a guilt-ridden Basil Rathbone whose performance as Murdstone bothered Basil for years.
Today's birthday boy, Basil Rathbone wrote in his autobiography that he was chagrined to learn that he "was to play the cold, cruel Mr. Murdstone, and one morning at MGM I thrashed the living daylights out of poor little Freddie Bartholomew as David Copperfield. It was a most unpleasant experience, for I was directed by Mr. George Cukor" to think of nothing. Cukor, accusing the poker-faced Rathbone of "thinking" while going about his task, called for repeated takes. Every time Rathbone, who was very fond of the likable Bartholomew, had to wail the foam-encased backside of Freddie, he saw real tears rolling down the boys anguished face. Afterwards, it was Basil who felt like crying, each time he thought of his actions as this character and later, as he learned that Hollywood had typed him as a villain from then on.
Freddie Bartholomew with his aunt, signing autographs.
Bartholomew's success was hampered by a rash of lawsuits that ensued between his aunt and his parents, who wanted to regain custody of their famed son. Eventually all this rigamarole resulted in Bartholomew being adopted by his aunt legally, and his paying his parents living expenses as well as those of his aunt and himself. By 1951, after Air Force service as a maintenance crewman on B-17 bombers during WWII, all the lawsuits were settled, and Bartholomew was no longer a cute tyke and a hot property in Hollywood, but a grown man in need of a job, there was not a cent left for the young man to begin his adult life. A chance encounter enabled him to get a start working in television production in New York City area and eventually as an executive at Benton & Bowles advertising agency. Married three times, he had two children and several grandchildren--none of whom have become actors.
Looking back on his life as a star, he said the movie he most enjoyed making was Captains Courageous. The film took a year to make, with much of it shot off the coasts of Florida and Catalina Island in California. "For a kid," he said, "it was like one long outing. Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore, Mickey Rooney, Melvyn Douglas, and I -- we all grew very close toward one another in those 12 months. When the shooting was finished, we cried like a bunch of babies as we said our good-byes."
8:00 PM Freddie Bartholomew with Elizabeth Allan as his mother in David Copperfield.
David Copperfield (1935)
Charles Dickens' classic tale of an orphaned boy's fight for happiness and the colorful characters who help and hinder him.
Dir: George Cukor Cast: W. C. Fields, Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan.
BW-130 mins, TV-G, CC,
10:15 PM
TCM PREMIERE! Freddie plays Tyrone Power as a boy!
Lloyd's of London (1936)
A young man's love for a married woman leads him to help found an insurance company.
Dir: Henry King Cast: Freddie Bartholomew, Madeleine Carroll, Sir Guy Standing.
BW-118 mins, TV-G, CC,
12:15 AM
Captains Courageous (1937)
A spoiled rich boy is lost at sea and rescued by a fishing boat, where hard work and responsibility help him become a man.
Dir: Victor Fleming Cast: Freddie Bartholomew, Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore.
BW-117 mins, TV-G, CC,
2:30 AM
Listen, Darling (1938)
Two children try to find a new husband for their widowed mother.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin Cast: Judy Garland, Freddie Bartholomew, Mary Astor.
BW-75 mins, TV-G, CC,
4:00 AM
Lord Jeff (1938)
When a good boy goes bad, his family sends him to a naval military school.
Dir: Sam Wood Cast: Freddie Bartholomew, Mickey Rooney, Charles Coburn.
BW-85 mins, TV-G, CC
If you have a chance to see the three part documentary, MGM: When the Lion Roars (1992), recently issued on DVD, Freddie contributes his own memories, both bitter and sweet, to this backstage history of the studio.
Freddie Bartholomew in the Turner documentary, talking about his time at MGM.
