20th Century-Fox Dynamo (June 3, 1939)

16A NEW DYNAMO “Young Mr. Lincoln Special” Lowell Thomas and Marian Anderson Featured in Broadcast! coin.” It illustrates his pro- found humanity, his simplicity, his humility. It is a study of the origins of those qualities of all-embracing humanity that have made Abraham Lincoln the best loved figure of. American history, a man who lives in the American heart, and whose memory grows greater in the affections of the people. Mr. Lincoln, the comparative- ly unknown young Mr. Lincoln we are to see on the screen here tonight. He published that book some nine years ago. It was at the time I was just staring out as a teller of news on the radio. How did Lincoln so establish himself in the hearts of Ameri- cans? To answer that we must go to his youth—the “Young Mr. Lincoln.” And that is the keynote of this film, this, the latest Abraham Lincoln drama which is having its world pre- miere here in Springfield, Illi- nois, tonight. I’ll never forget the scene— and I believe you people of Springfield will agree when the film unrolls, in a few minutes —Ill never forget the scene in the picture in which Mr. Lincoln is confronted with the crisis of a human drama. He is stirred to the depths. As a young lawyer he must win the case to avert heart-breaking tragedy. He is brooding—how, what can he do? And he sits with his long legs cocked up on a desk and he is twanging away on a jews- harp. He is imagining, dream- ing, planning, and all the while he is just a youth of the fron- tier, making music on that con- traption so typical of the old American farm lands—the jews- harp. Or is it music? Some- how the twanging was like the tugging of heart strings—that in contrast to the superb mu- sical score that wreaths itself around the action of the drama. That’s one of the things mem- orable in the picture of “Young Mr. Lincoln” — music — musical drama. The composer is Alfred Newman, one of the most bril- liant of American musicians, who in Hollywood is setting new standards, creating new tradi- tions for the application of mu- sic to the play-acting art of the screen. As for young Mr. Lincoln himself, the first question is— does he look the part in this film we are to see tonight? No face is more distinctive or bet- ter known than the deeply lined and gravely melancholy counte- nance of the Great, Emancipa- tor. But, how did Lincoln look in his twenties? See the pic- ture and you will answer that he must have looked just as Henry Fonda looks. It’s a mas- terpiece of the art of makeup. The face is unmistakably Lin- coln—but young. And, in the spoken lines you seem to hear the grave simple utterance that later was to characterize the Gettysburg address — always with that accent of humor and that flashing of homely wit— that bewildering and utterly fascinating Lincoln contract; the Lincoln who could stir the better feelings and arouse the good humor of a drunken lynch mob—the Lincoln that Henry Fonda plays in this Twentieth Century-Fox picture. In this picture he saves the two sons of a pioneer mother— an illiterate and inarticulate woman of the primitive West. Who is she? Why, Alice Brady who does one of the greatest acting jobs of her life of great acting. As Abigail Clay, she is a woman of the prairie wilds, working and suffering. She can’t even write her own name. She has a few words to speak, and when the crisis comes with heart-rending suspense — she refuses to speak. Alice Brady is here, right now, and I’d like to tell her how superb she is in the picture—“The Young Mr. Lincoln.” Miss Brady, I hope you are not as inarticulate now as you are as Abigail Clay. ALICE BRADY Not quite, I hope. But as you have said. Lowell, the drama of Abigail Clay is that of an inarticulate woman who has few words to sneak. When the crisis comes there is one word she might speak, but don’t —she can’t. Right now. since I'm Alice Brady and not Abigail Clay, I’ll say that there are ever so many reasons why it’s both a pleasure and an honor for me to be in Springfield. In the first place it is a beautiful city. In the second place I feel that I have many friends here, be- cause everybody connected with the making of “Young Mr. Lin- coln” owes much to the gener- ous help we got from the peo- ple of Springfield. While preparing to play “Abi- gail Clay”—one of the best parts I’ve had. by the way—I came across a little story about Lincoln that interested me very much as an actress. Joseph Jef- ferson, in his memoirs, recalls the fact that his father and a friend built the first theatre in Springfield, sinking all their capital in the venture. A re- vival meeting was in progress just when the theatre was about to open and perhaps the revival- ists didn’t want any competi- tion. In any case they succeed- ed in getting an exorbitant license fee imposed on the thea- tre. a fee so high that Jefferson and his partner couldn’t meet it. The legislature was in session, Springfield was full of people, and the actors couldn’t open. A young lawyer in Springfield, a promising man for whom every- body prophesied a bright fu- ture, undertook to argue the actors’ case for them. He did so before the city council and managed it so well that the tax was taken off. An interesting man, that young lawyer; his name, you’ve guessed, was Abraham Lincoln. So you see why I have a special fondness for Lincoln and Springfield. But Abraham Lincoln is the person you came here to see. And I mustn’t keep you from that any longer. So thank you all again. And I hope you like the picture. LOWELL THOMAS Another member of the cast of the Lincoln picture is here— Miss Arleen Whelan. She plays the role of Hannah Clay, wife of one of the accused boys that Lincoln defends. Tell me, Ar- leen, did you get any thrills out of your work with Alice Brady and Henry Fonda in this pic- ture ? ARLEEN WHELAN Well, Mr. Thomas, it was all a thrill to me, but if I must choose I would pick Lincoln’s handling of the rioting mob at the jail. It showed his remark- able understanding of human nature. That scene sent chills up and down my back. After all the scenes we did in the Springfield background, it is a double thrill for me to be in Lincoln’s home town tonight. I had formed a mental impres- sion of what the city would be like and I want to say, right now, that I am not a bit disap- pointed. And I want to thank everybody. They have been wonderful to us. LOWELL THOMAS Eddie Collins—the funny lit- tleman you’ve seen and laughed at in so many pictures—has a characteristic role in “Young Mr. Lincoln.” Eddie, you know, was the person in real life whom Walt Disney copied for his character “Dopey,” in “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Dopey—I—I mean Eddie, you took quite a cuffing around from Lincoln in this pic- ture, didn’t you? EDDIE COLLINS Yes, Lowell, but I didn’t mind it a bit because the way 1 fig- ured the character of Efe, he was perfectly happy in being able to talk to a man like Lin- coln. Efe was a loafer, to be sure, but he was somewhat of a philosopher, too. (In character of Efe): “You know there’s something peculiarsome about Abe sometimes—mighty pecul- iarsome.” (Straight.) That’s the way Efe talked and thought about Abe Lincoln. But let’s get away from the picture for a moment so I can add my thanks to those of Miss Brady and Miss Whelan for the privi- lege of attending this wonder- ful premiere tonight. LOWELL THOMAS Eddie, you sure took Spring- field today. Like Grant took Richmond. We have heard from members of the cast, but there are two more Twentieth Cen- tury-Fox stars here. One of them is Miss Binnie Barnes and when I tell you that her blonde beauty has us all stunned—in fact, dizzy—I am putting it mildly. Mr. Lincoln, may I pre- sent—I mean, Ladies and Gen- tlemen, Miss Barnes. BINNIE BARNES You know, Mr. Thomas, out in Hollywoiod we think we’re pretty good when it comes to staging picture premieres, but I have learned something here in Springfield today. Everybody has been so wonderful and con- siderate that you get that homey feeling—a glow of hap- piness comes over you, and you just want to say hello to every- body you meet, as if you had known them all your life. I’ll never forget my stay in Spring- field as long as I live and I know we are all going to enjoy the picture. All I can say is, thanks for a grand time. LOWELL THOMAS And now, another friend of yours. You’ve seen him in many big roles and you’ll be seeing him in a lot more—the hand- some man who makes hearts flutter, Cesar Romero. CESAR ROMERO Thanks, Mr. Thomas, we have had a. fine time here in Spring- field today and it certainly has been a pleasure to have had a part in the world premiere of this great picture you are to see in a moment. I can only echo what already has been said, and I know every one would rather hear Marian An- derson sing than listen to me talk, so I’ll just say thanks again and cheerio to all. LOWELL THOMAS An author who was writing a biography of the great novel- ist, Thackeray, discovered that Thackeray delivered a lecture in St. Louis on a certain night when Lincoln was probably in St. Louis. So this biographer wrote Herndon, Lincoln’s law partner, and asked him whether Lincoln heard the Thackeray lecture that night. Herndon said he didn’t know whether Lincoln was in St. Louis that night or not. “But,” he added, “if Lincoln had been in St. Louis on a night when Thackeray was lecturing, and if there was a minstrel show in town, Lincoln would have gone to the min- strel show.” Lincoln wajs al- ways fond of the theatre. In fact, the week he was shot, he spent two hours reading Mac- beth aloud to his friends. If he were in Springfield tonight, he would be here. A newspaper man wanted to write a biography of Lincoln after he was nominated for the Presidency. Lincoln told him that no one could possibly write a biography of him, for there was nothing to tell. He had been brought up in poverty and had little education, and Lin- coln felt that was about all there was to say. How aston- ished he would be if he came back to life tonight and discov- ered that Hollywood had made a feature film around his life, just his life as a young man here at Springfield! Remember how Lincoln gave up his law practice for a while during the Lincoln-Douglas de- bates ? Some of the greatest crowds in history came to hear them. Special trains were run to accommodate the crowds. And when the debates were over, he was so short of cash that he had hard scratching to pay his grocery bill. So he thought he would make some money by giving lectures. If the largest crowds that had ever- assembled in the western world had come to hear him debate with Douglas, well, surely, crowds would also flock to hear him lecture. So he spent weeks preparing a lecture on Discov- eries and Inventions. He then rented a hall in Bloomington, Illinois, just a few miles north of here. He advertised the lec- ture, hired a young woman to sell tickets and hired a janitor to look after the hall. And how many people came to hear him ? Not one! And that was only two years before he became president. How astonished he would have been then if he could have lifted the curtain on the future a,nd could have fore- seen that millions and millions of people would one day pay to see a film about a man whom not even one person would come to hear lecture, this film “Young Mr\ Lincoln” which following tonight’s premiere will be shown all over the world. Marian Anderson will sing again—and then—on with the film so that the people of Springfield, Illinois, may meet “Young Mr. Lincoln.” MARIAN ANDERSON She will sing the following: (a) Schubert’s “Ave Maria.” (b) “My Soul’s Been An- chored in the Lord” (Arranged by Price). (c) “Heav’n, Heav’n,” a Ne- gro spiritual (Arranged by Bur- leigh). MBS ANNOUNCER And now, ladies and gentle- men, let me remind you that “Young Mr. Lincoln” with Hen- ry Fonda, Alice Brady, Mar- jorie Weaver, Arleen Whelan, and a cast of thirty, under the direction of John Ford, opens r* the Roxy Theatre in New York City next Friday, as well as in a number of other cities this week. It will be shown in your local theatre very soon there- after. Be sure to see this great picture. It will entertain you, thrill you and inspire you. This is Don Pontius, speaking for Twentieth Century-Fox, saying, good-night!