Hollywood (1942)

Bob were driving a horse and buggy on the back lot at the studio. It was a shot that looked simpler than it really was and it was done again and again. Everyone was getting a bit fed up with the situation, including the horse, when Ronald let the reins drop in disgust. "You know, a funny thing happened down at the end of the street on that last take, Sam," he told the director. "The horse turned around and looked me right in the eye and said: 'Errol Flynn does this in one take!' " But everything else was a minor calamity compared to the prolonged search to find an actress to play the tragic Cassie. Cassie was a strange girl and, as Director Wood described her, "She must look 17 years old and have 40 years' experience." That limited the field considerably, but what narrowed it down even more was one of Hollywood's most ridiculous prejudices. Because Cassie gets bumped off by her pa early in the picture, seven young actresses considered ideal by Wood for the part turned it down because it wasn't large enough! One well-known young actress read the script then rejected the role indignantly. "Why, there are only 188 lines. You know I never play a role that has less than 500 lines!" This brought Bette Davis angrily into the melee. "I never heard of a sincere actress turning down a part because it was too small. Cassie is a character who will be remembered even if she only said 'Boo.' I've pleaded for the role myself, but the studio won't give me permission to do it." Ida Lupino then was offered the role, but after she read the script she too refused it. "I wanted it until I learned that Cassie goes mad. I'm afraid to play any more neurotics. If I play any more fugitives from an insane asylum I'm afraid the Oldest and youngest members of the starstudded cast of Warners' Kings Roto are Maria Ouspenskaya and Scotty Beckett public will never get used to me playing normal females." Laraine Day, who would have played the role for nothing, could not get a release from M-G-M because they wanted to keep her a nice girl, and Cassandra had a streak too wild for their sweet Laraine. Jane Bryan flew to Hollywood to test for the part and declared it was the only thing for which she'd come out of retirement. But her husband wanted her home. In all, thirty-eight actresses were tested! Cassie had become such a stormy petrel that after months of searching, no actress could be found who would be both acceptable for the part and willing to play it. Or whose studio would give her the final okay! So, although Cassie is an integral part of the picture's plot, Kings Row was shot around her. It was only in the final two weeks — when the picture was practically completed, mind you — that Cassie was found, to everyone's immense relief. After an all-night session during which Jack Warner and Sam Wood studied the tests of the five remaining actresses in the race, Betty Field was chosen. Betty was elated. "I don't care if I get 'done in' early or if I have to paint my face black and wear a green wig, as long as it's a colorful 'acting' part." And that's what Cassie is. f When Louise (NancyColeman) threatens to expose the maniacal operations of her father (Charles Coburn), he strikes her and locks her in her room ^-^tiL Months were spent in searching for the girl to play Cassie — a gem of a role that finally went to Betty Field. Bobert Cummings is Parris, brilliant medical student JANUARY, 1942