Margaret O'Brien

[mrsl]

.
From Dick Cavett and Kate Hepburn at 4:00 this a.m., except for the hour and a half at physical therapy, I have been setting in front of the TV watching TCM. I've gone through Journey for Margaret, Lost Angel, Bad Bascomb, and Three Wise Fools, with two others taped while I was away. Journey for Margaret has always been a favorite with me, and one in which Robert Young fit perfectly, the bath scenes always bring a chuckle to me, and a tear in my eye at the end with the blackout of New York. I had seen Three Wise Fools before but did not realize it until I saw the fairies, but it, too, was a cutey, and Margaret had a great grasp of the Irish brogue. I was finally sated by 2:00 p.m. and have taped the last few which I plan to see later tonight, while Underground is on.

Curly Shirley will always be my favorite child actor, but Margaret does hold that second spot quite tightly. I just feel sorry for the poor kid always having to cry sooner or later in every movie. I'm sorry they didn't have more dialog banter between the three gentlemen of Three Wise Fools because Lewis Stone, Lionel B., and Edward Arnold could probably have made a few unforgettable movie moments if they had been given a free rein. I also wonder how
Wallace Beery treated Margaret during the filming of Bad Bascomb. We know he was supposedly completely mean and nasty to Jackie Cooper during Champ, so I'm curious how he treated the little girl.

James Craig is so dreamy, I wonder why he didn't hold that leading man position longer than he did.

Did anyone else watch any of these little gems today?
.

.

[Ollie]

The entire LOST ANGEL cast could have been brought back, time after time, as far as I'm concerned. I'd have loved to have seen a family series, or a husband-wife detective theme, using James Craig and Marsha Hunt. Even better to have matched all three in some kind of Thin-Man's-Nancy-Drew theme. Ah well... now we get SPY KIDS and SKY HIGH instead. Not bad, but no LOST ANGEL.

I wonder what alternative titles were considered for JOURNEY because, singling out Margaret instead of including the little boy - who was the major motivation in the tale - seems like a poor choice. And I know "Journey For Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" wasn't considered for, oh, at least 3 decades.

[mrsl]

.
That never occurred to me before, but of course Ollie, you're correct. Something generic like Looking for a Home would definitely been better, but I think the whole thing was simply a push for Margaret O'Brien, to the point that the little boy didn't matter at all. That's far from taking anything away from Margaret though, she was too little to have anything to do with screen presence or any other motivations.
.

[Ollie]

MrsL, I've wondered what incredible pressures the studio faced to prop up Margaret O'Brien, as if she was the '40s 'rescuer' in the same role as Shirley Temple in the '30s. That pressure was probably why some other title wasn't bestowed on this Journey For Margaret film. I also wonder how Billy Severn's (born 1938) future in films was affected by the Little Boy vs. Little Girl pressures within studios, and how studios were altering their treatment of kids (I'm thinking of Mickey Rooney, born 1920, and how he was used.

Still, O'Brien is a great contributor in this film. I enjoy watching these lesser-known 'war films' because they at least show what studios did - or could do - for the war effort. I also like Unpublished Story (1942) because it takes another small slice of civilians-under-the-bombs view, this time showing the role of reporters and "not reporting" every tidbit they stumble across.

While the completely dramatic Unpublished was done a year later, I invariably compare it to Bogart's comedic All Through The Night, for some reason - probably because they both seem to answer my question, "What will studios do for the war effort?" Same with Edward G's Confessions Of A Nazi Spy, although both this and All Thru were released into an isolationist USA.

After seeing Journey and 1948's The Search, I was given an interesting book-end view of the studios' portrayal of civilians under the bombs.

[patful]

Hi guys. Oh goody, I get to use my otherwise useless Margaret O'Brien knowledge! "Journey for Margaret" was the title of William L. White's popular book (and Readers' Digest story) about the adoption of his daughter Margaret. Living here in Podunk, I've never been able to read the actual book, but I read somewhere that "Peter" was left behind. MGM had to lighten it up a bit by changing the ending. And O'Brien's name at the time was still Angela Maxine, and was changed after filming.

[mrsl]

.
Hi Patful:

Long time - no hear from. How sad to learn that a favorite movie was based on an unhappy, but true story. I can easily see how the studio had to make sure the little boy traveled also, but knowing the end, I wonder why they didn't leave him out of the story entirely, knowing the mindset of the movie going audience of the day. Shirley Temple will always be my favorite child star, but Margaret O'Brien was a sweetie in her own way. They were two entirely different kids, with different personalities also. The funny thing is that Shirley, tiny as she was, always held a 'stiff upper lip' for as long as she could, where Margaret's charm came from her ability to cry on a dime.
.

[moira finnie]

Welcome patful! Anyone with a love for Margaret O'B. and a font of info about her life and works should fit right in! Do you think that Journey for Margaret began a trend in children's clothing in the 1940s? In a kajillion pictures of little girls in that period they all seem to wear some form of this little peaked hat

From Journey for Margaret: Margaret (or should I say Angela Maxine?) with her hoodie and favorite toy, the bomb casing.

Did you get to see Big City when it was shown on TCM recently? I loved it.

[patful]

Hi, Anne and Moira!

I'm not sure if she started it, but she wore the same basic head covering in several of her movies. I think they called it a pixie. Did I see "Big City"? Are you kidding? The wonderful Lynn even had two backups on DVR in case I missed it. I did love it, well worth the long wait. I just wish they'd have let her do her own singing, especially the "Ok'l Baby Dok'l" routine. The dubbed voice really didn't fit at all.

Anne, I'm not sure I could sit through "Journey" every time it airs if Peter were left behind, it's heart-rending enough as it is. One of these days I'll break down and buy a copy of the book on eBay just to satisfy my curiosity. And an interesting point about Shirley Temple not crying nearly as much. Maybe they had her trying to appear strong through the depths of the Depression, or maybe the directors just focused on each girl's strengths.

And thanks again for your piece on "The Unfinished Dance", Moira!

[klondike]

Margaret O'Brien shares a birthday with Martin Luther King, Jr, Joan of Arc and a certain cranky Scotch Yankee called Klondike.

[patful]

Hey, the only SSO birthday I'll remember!

[moira finnie]

Well, time did not permit any postings on Margaret O'Brien's SUTS day earlier this month, though I am saving The Secret Garden on the DVR for some rainy day soon. After writing a piece on the actress awhile ago, I have been hanging onto these images of Margaret O'Brien. A comment made by an appreciative member about one of Mongo's exceptional choices in his Candids thread has prompted me to share these pictures.

Margaret in her MGM dressing room in '43: Checking her stock market holdings? Or just seeing what's new in the funny papers?

Each of these is from 1943, around the time that the six year old was giving interviews to the New York Times, overseeing the first Margaret O'Brien clothes design for stores in time for Christmas and getting ready to make The Canterville Ghost (1943) and needed to do some costume fittings, as seen below. I don't know if the dog was O'Brien's, but I sure hope so.






She'd already knocked off her seventh movie, Lost Angel (1943) and as a result, had a major crush on James Craig...In 1998, O'Brien told film historian Allan Ellenberger that "On Lost Angel, I had a big crush on James Craig. I was always following him around. I thought he was so handsome. And then I’d get jealous when he had scenes with Marsha Hunt, because I thought she was taking away my boyfriend. But Marsha was very nice and very understanding. She knew I had a crush on James Craig. And then I worked with Bobby Blake on the film. I also had a little secret crush on him, except he had to be mean to me in the scenes. But it was fun because I got to push him down during a fight."

I think that the photos tell the story of the intensity of that crush. I don't think that Craig was mean to her between scenes. Looks as though Margaret may have visited Craig on the set of Kismet, released in '44.

[moira finnie]

I just found this four-part interview with Margaret O'Brien from 1996, touching on her beginnings as a Gerber baby (she and Humphrey Bogart?), Lillian Burns' role in her career, her movies, adolescence, and relatively normal adulthood. Enjoy!

[youtube][/youtube]
[youtube][/youtube]
[youtube][/youtube]
[youtube][/youtube]

[CineMaven]

Both Marsha Hunt and Margaret O'Brien were at TCM's film festival in April. I wonder if any TCM staffers thought to hook up these two ladies during the festivities???

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Kingrat, I think that is a very insightful suggestion. Hope someone is reading these threads for ideas!

Thanks for the great link to the Margaret O'Brien interview, Moira.