MGM Studio News (April 23, 1940)

STUDIO NEWS Beery Rides Again In Thrilling Screen Saga of Old West The pioneer days of Death Valley are relived in Metro - Coldwyn - Mayer’s “20 Mule Tea pa,” with Wallace Beery starred as Mule- skinner Bill Bragg, the best driver on a route which has become a landmark in the annals of the West. Teamed with Beery are Leo Carrillo, who scored with him in the sensational “Viva Vil- la,” and Marjorie Ram- Ruben beau. Carrillo is seen as Piute Pete, Beery’s Indian “swamper,” and Miss Rambeau as Josie Johnson. Filmed in the original locale, among the sand dunes, sun-baked canyons and salt pools of Death Valley, the picture tells of the fight to find a new “mother lode” of borax, and of the efforts of Josie to earn enough to give her daughter, Jean, an education. Jean is played by Anne Baxter, newcomer from the New York stage, who jilts the young company paymaster and tries to elope with a gam- bler, “Stag” Roper. Noah Beery, Jr., joins his uncle for the first time, playing the paymaster Mitch, while Douglas Fowley is seen as Stag. Richard Thorpe, of “Tarzan” series fame as well as director of other screen successes, directed. J. Walter Ruben, re- sponsible for the success of the previous Beery Western, “The Bad Man of Brim- stone” and numerous other hits, pro- duced. ♦ ♦ » Beery Does Roping, Indian Gets Burros In the hills surrounding Death Valley are nearly 1000 wild burros. After a chase over miles of desolate country, Wal- lace Beery and Leo Carrillo, between scenes on “20 Mule Team,” finally man- aged to rope two. But Shoshone Johnny, aged Indian, promptly claimed the burros, and Beery laughingly gave them to him. Beery Takes Bath In Epsom Salts to Undehydrate Self Thanks to film studio chemists, Wallace Beery was able to take a bath in Death Valley’s “bad water” without suffering any physical harm. The script of Metro-Coldwyn- Mayer’s ,f 20 Mule Team” required Beery to “dunk” himself in the pool, some thirty feet in diameter, which lies at the lowest point of Death Valley, 280 feet below sea level. As muleskinner Bill Bragg, driving one of the old borax wagons, he is in the habit of soaking himself in this pool to “undehydrate” him- self. Because in his previous picture, “The Man from Dakota,” Beery had to fall into a river-bottom hole, and suffered an ear infection from the dirty water, Director Richard Thorpe decided to take no chances on the Death Valley water. On a prelim- inary trip to the location with cam- eraman Clyde De Vinna, he brought back a bottle of the fluid. The water was found to be 85 per cent Epsom Salts solution. Wallace Beery sponsors a new romance. The young lovers are Anne Baxter, newcomer to films, and Wally’s nephew, Noah Beery, Jr., who appears with his uncle for the first time in Metro-Coldwyn-Mayer’s “20 Mule Team.” Miss Baxter is seen as Jean Johnson, daughter of saloonkeeper Josie Johnson, played by Marjorie Rambeau, and Noah, Jr., is Mitch, borax company paymaster. Beery # s Role As a Muleskinner Requires Thorough Training In Handling of Team During his thirty years in show business, Wallace Beery has learned a smattering of scores of trades for the roles he has played: sea captain, police sergeant, fireman, explorer, Pony Express rider, prizefighter, wrestler, air pilot, industrialist, circus trainer, saloon keeper and horse doctor, to list just a few. But never has he had to learn a trade as thoroughly as that of the muleskinner in that saga of the borax pioneers, “20 Mule Team.” “You can’t kid a mule about whether you know how to handle him,” remarked Beery. “And when you have twenty of them, you need to convince each one of them separately that you know your job. Otherwise those borax wagons are liable to end up in the cameraman’s lap.” Which explains why the star spent a week driving the animals assembled for the picture, before a camera turned. “A successful muleskinner in the old days had to be a practical veterinary, a blacksmith and a pretty good wheel- wright,” observed Beery. “Thank good- ness we had men in the film crew who could take care of those chores for me. If I’d been actually stuck there alone in Death Valley with those beasts, I don’t know how my reputation as a frontiers- man would have held out.” Tops As Versatile Actor, Is Rambeau Tribute to Beery When Marjorie Rambeau appeared in an important supporting role with Wallace Beery in the memorable “Min and Bill,” she had no idea that ten years later she would team with him in “20 Mule Team.” “But it seemed very natural to be back with him,” she said. “As a matter of fact, I feel much akin to Wally Beery, strange though that may sound. We both teamed in stock. Personally, I’d like to see him play some more straight dramatic parts instead of his typical comedy, for he’s a far more versatile actor than many give him credit for. In my opinion, Wally is tops in versatility, plus being a good old trouper, besides.” ♦ ♦ ♦ Beery Shoes Shod Like Mules' Hoofs Wallace Beery’s “character” shoes, which have carried him through many a role, were shod like mule’s hoofs in prep- aration for his role as muleskinner Bill Bragg in Ivfetro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “20 Mule Team.” Metal plates were fastened to the soles of each shoe, to protect Beery’s feet from the glass-like borax crystals which his twenty-mule wagons haul in the picture. The cutting edges on the borax have been known to slice leather to shreds in no time. Carrillo 'Swamper' As Pioneer's Wagon Wheels Roll Again The original high-wheeled wagons which hauled thousands of tons of borax out of Death Valley in the 1890’s, and which had been on ex- hibit outside the ra l.oad depot at Barstow since track was laid to the present borax plant at Trona, went back into service for “20 Mule Team.” Originally driven by ‘Borax Bill” Parkinson, most celebrated mule- skinner of his time, they were driven in the film by Wallace Beery. Beery, who practiced for weeks, crack- ing the blacksnake whip which he uses as he rides the nigh-wheel horse, had Leo Carrillo as his helper, or “swamper,” on the ride, Carrillo portraying the Indian. Piute Pete. ♦ ♦ ♦ Crew Finds Traces Of Ancient Village Remains of an Indian village believed to be at least 400 years old and probably of a much earlier date, were unearthed in the sand dunes of Death Valley when M-C-M’s “20 Mule Team” location company, headed by Wallace Beery, Leo Carrillo and Director Richard Thorpe, found dozens of stone arrowheads and fragments of unpainted pottery, along with fossils. These were turned over to Rangers of the National Park Service for preservation. Rambeau Carrillo Veteran Troupers Director's Biggest Asset, Thorpe Says When a director finds himself handed a cast headed by three of the best estab- lished veterans in the business, he can be excused for feeling particularly happy. That was the situa- tion which Richard Thorpe faced when he was assigned to “20 Mule Tea m.” He expected that the actors would be telling him what to do, instead of vice versa. Yet, Thorpe now says he’d gladly go Thorpe back and direct another picture with the three of them tomorrow, if he had the chance. “After a week or two with that trio, I felt ashamed of myself for having antici- pated any difficulties at all,” he con- fessed. “They took a load off my shoul- ders. Wally, Leo and Marjorie have all had about thirty years’ experience each on stage and screen, so there really isn’t much you can teach them about charac- terization or technique.” ♦ ♦ ♦ Famed Architect's Kin Making Debut Anne Baxter, young newcomer to Hol- lywood from the New York stage and a niece of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, plays her first film role as the romantic feminine lead in Metro-Cold- wyn-Mayer’s “20 Mule T earn,” with Wallace Beery, Marjorie Rambeau, Leo Carrillo and Noah Beery, Jr. Miss Baxter, who played the daughter, Blossom, in the road company of “Susan and Cod, and who has appeared recently with Eva Le Callienne and with Gladys Cooper and Philip Merivale, was signed to a contract by Twentieth Century-Fox but was loaned to M-G-M for her first screen appearance. She is a former stu- dent of Maria Ouspenskaya. ♦ ♦ ♦ Camera Reloaded Once Every Mile A camera followed a team of twenty mules four miles, reloading with film every mile, for the longest continuous “perambulator” or moving scene, in the history of the motion picture industry. This occurred at Death Valley, where Wallace Beery and Metro-Goldwyn-May- er’s “20 Mule Team” company worked on location, in the lowest spot below sea level in North America. The cameras were on cars with special wheels to negotiate the sands. Noah !n Father’s Steps For Uncle Wally’s Pic Noah Beery, Jr., while on location in Death Valley with his uncle, Wal- lace Beery, and M-C-M’s “20 Mule Team” troupe, was following in the footsteps of his father, who ap- peared in the first.film ever pro- duced in that locale, “Wanderer of the Wasteland,” in 1 924. Kathryn Williams, Billie Dove and Jack Holt were the other stars of the picture, which Irving Willat directed. Some six months later, Erich von Stroheim directed “Creed” in the valley, with Jean Hersholt and Gibson Cowland, jnh!