Fields would probably make better Micawber

Published in 1850, Charles Dickens' David Copperfield is an autobiographical novel which was also the author's personal favourite. The story follows the life of David from childhood into young adulthood, during which he encounters hardship, abuse, poverty but also love and happiness as he meets an array of vivid characters. It was a big wish of producer David O. Selznick to adapt David Copperfield for the screen, a novel he had cherished since childhood. Selnick's Russian father had learned English by reading the novel and had next read it to his sons. Initially, MGM boss Louis B. Mayer saw nothing in Selznick's idea to turn the book into a film but Selznick —at the time under contract to MGM— eventually convinced Mayer to okay the project. Subsequently, Selznick hired Hugh Walpole to adapt the story from Dickens' novel and Howard Estabrook and Lenore J. Coffee to write the screenplay. George Cukor was hired to direct.

It took a bit of effort to cast some of the film's pivotal roles. Selznick and Cukor extensively searched in the USA, Canada and the UK for a child actor to play young David. While Mayer had wanted MGM child actor Jackie Cooper, Selznick was adamant about casting a British youngster in order to stay true to the novel. In 1934 on a scouting trip to London, Selznick and Cukor eventually found young Freddie Bartholomew and gave him the part.

The casting of Mr. Micawber was a different story. While W.C. Fields, who eventually played Micawber, had been under consideration from the start, it was Charles Laughton who was Selznick and Cukor's first choice. Laughton had just won the Best Actor Oscar for The Private Lives of Henry VIII (1933) and would be the most important and bankable name in the large cast. Amid much publicity, Laughton was given the role but after just two days of shooting he wanted to be released from it. Having lost his confidence and convinced he was all wrong for the part, Laughton was eventually dismissed. Cukor said Laughton just didn't know how to play Micawber, lacking the geniality that was required. (According to cameraman Hal Kern, in the rushes Laughton "looked as if he was going to molest the child".) 

Selznick now set out to hire Fields and borrowed him from Paramount. Although Fields wasn't right physically —with his head shaven Laughton had "looked Micawber to the life", said Cukor— he was quite eager to play the role, despite his dislike of working with children. Fields was a Dickens fan and David Copperfield is the only film where he followed the script and refrained from ad-libbing. Although his contract stipulated he should speak with a British accent, the actor wouldn't drop his American accent and in his defense later said: "My father was an Englishman and I inherited this accent from him! Are you trying to go against nature?!"

_______

Laughton in 1933

Regarding the casting of the Micawber role David Selznick wrote several memos, two of which are seen below. The first one was sent to Louis B. Mayer in May 1934 and the second one several months later (in September) to MGM executive Robert Rubin. As stated above, it is generally believed that Laughton himself wanted to be released from the film, a viewpoint that was also shared by Laughton biographer Simon Callow. Selznick's memo to Rubin, however, suggests that other factors led to Laughton's dismissal, having to do with costs as well as "certain difficulties" the actor experienced with MGM. (What those "difficulties" with MGM were, I don't know. As for the costs, Selznick was afraid that they would be "impossible" if he had to wait for Laughton to finish the Paramount film Ruggles of Red Gap (1935); during rehearsals Laughton had fallen ill with a rectal abscess and spent a number of weeks hospitalised, causing the picture to be delayed.)

 

MAY 17 1934 

LONDON

TO: L.B. MAYER

...MUST KNOW WHAT CHANCE CHARLES LAUGHTON FOR ROLE OF MICAWBER. FEEL MORE THAN EVER VITAL IMPORTANCE OF BENDING EVERY EFFORT TO SECURE HIM, BUT MUST KNOW WITHIN FEW DAYS SO CAN DECIDE WHETHER TO SIGN ANOTHER MICAWBER. IF LAUGHTON UNAVAILABLE FOR MICAWBER, MIGHT LIKE W.C. FIELDS. CAN WE GET HIM? TO AVOID NECESSITY OF TRYING PARAMOUNT, THINK WE SHOULD GET WORD TO FIELDS DIRECT, WHO WOULD PROBABLY GIVE EYE TOOTH TO PLAY MICAWBER ... CORDIALLY

DAVID

SEPTEMBER 27, 1934

J. ROBERT RUBIN

1540 BROADWAY

NEW YORK, N.Y.

CONFIDENTIALLY, ENTIRELY POSSIBLE WE WILL NOT, IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING WE WENT THROUGH, BE ABLE USE CHARLES LAUGHTON IN "COPPERFIELD" BECAUSE HIS ILLNESS HAS DELAYED HIS PARAMOUNT PICTURE AND IF WE WAITED UNTIL HE FINISHED THAT, COST WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE. ALSO WE ARE HAVING CERTAIN DIFFICULTIES WITH HIM. WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IMMEDIATELY IS WHETHER IF IT COMES TO ISSUE, HOW MUCH DIFFERENCE COMMERCIALLY WOULD THERE BE HAVING W.C. FIELDS INSTEAD OF LAUGHTON? IT OF COURSE NOT CERTAIN WHETHER WE CAN OBTAIN FIELDS, BUT AM RAISING QUESTION IN HOPE WE COULD. FIELDS WOULD PROBABLY MAKE BETTER MICAWBER, BUT WE'VE ALWAYS FELT WE REQUIERED THE ONE IMPORTANT NAME IN CAST IN LAUGHTON. WOULD YOU CHECK THIS IMMEDIATELY WITH FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC SALES DEPARTMENTS AND ADVISE ME. REGARDS

DAVID SELZNICK 

 

Source:  Memo from David O. Selznick (1972); selected and edited by Rudy Behlmer. 

1934 - Selznick & Co on their return from England after a "David Copperfield" work visit. Left to right: Peter Trent (who was considered for the role of the adult David but eventually lost the part to Frank Lawton), screenwriter Howard Estabrook, Irene Mayer Selznick and David O. Selznick, Hugh Walpole (who adapted the story from Dicken's novel and also played the vicar in the film), George Cukor and Fritz Lang (who had just been signed by Selznick to a MGM contract).  

Freddie Bartholomew as young David and WC Fields as Mr. Micawber in a publicity still for David Copperfield. Upon its release in January 1935, the film was a big success with both critics and audiences. It was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Academy Award for Best Picture (losing to Mutiny on the Bounty).

Never not dare to hang yourself

Bette Davis said that the best professional advice she had ever received came from Charles Laughton. Laughton, an actor Bette greatly admired but with whom she had never worked (to her enormous regret), visited her one day on the set of The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939). It was the first time the two had ever met. That day Laughton would give Bette a piece of advice which she treasured for the rest of her career. 

On 9 April 1972, at the request of a journalist, Bette described in a letter Laughton's visit to the set and the advice he gave her. As can be seen from the hotel stationery she used, Bette was writing from Rome where she was probably filming Lo Scopone Scientifico (1973).

Source: RR Auction

Transcript:

April 9, 1972

Dear Mr. Letters (?),

I hope the enclosed will be a satisfactory answer to your request.

I'm sorry it has taken so long to answer you. I came to work here very suddenly and some of my mail has just reached me.

Thank you for including me in your book. If you do.

Most sincerely,

Bette Davis

Will you send me a copy to o.k.

Will be here another month

During the filming of "Elizabeth and Essex" Charles Laughton visited the set one day. The best advice professionally came from him that day. As he played my professional father, Henry the Eighth, I said "Hello papa." I told him I had my "nerve" playing his daughter at sixty years old. I was at the time thirty, myself. He replied "Never [not] dare to hang yourself." In other words attempt parts that you feel are beyond your capability. That is the only way for an actor to improve his work.

Bette Davis

Bette Davis as Queen Elizabeth I in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) and Charles Laughton as her "father" King Henry VIII in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933).

Robert Mitchum's favourite role

I think it's quite interesting to know which role actors regard as their personal favourite. In an earlier post, James Stewart talked about his favourite role and why he liked it best (here). This post deals with Robert Mitchum's favourite role.  

The role Mitchum has always cited as his favourite and as his best performance is the role of the murderous preacher Harry Powell in Charles Laughton's only directorial effort The Night of the Hunter (1955). In a note to a fan (as seen below) Mitchum said there were more reasons than he could enumerate for liking this job better than others. While I don't know Mitchum's reasons, one of them must have been Charles Laughton. Mitchum was in awe of Laughton and has said on more than one occasion that Laughton was the best director he ever worked with. Laughton, in turn, also admired Mitchum and considered him one of the best actors in the world. The two worked very well together, even though Mitchum's heavy drinking during the last week of shooting led to problems on the set (at times Laughton couldn't get him in front of the camera). 

The Night of the Hunter is the only collaboration between Mitchum and Laughton. Disillusioned by the film's commercial and critical failure, Laughton never directed again.

Charles Laughton once said about Robert Mitchum in Esquire Magazine: "All this tough talk is a blind, you know. He's a literate, gracious, kind man, with wonderful manners, and he speaks beautifully - when he wants to. He's a tender man and a very great gentleman. You know, he's really terribly shy." 

Source: ebay

Transcript:

Danny—

My favorite among the jobs I have had is The Night of the Hunter for more reasons than I can enumerate. What do you think?
Robert Mitchum

I do not believe in the integrity of the damn things!

The only time Charles Laughton and Billy Wilder worked together was on Wilder's Witness for the Prosecution (1958), based on Agatha Christie's short story and play. For their great efforts both Laughton and Wilder received Oscar nominations but neither won. (Incidentally, none of the nominees -six in total- was awarded the Oscar.) On 28 March 1958, Laughton wrote a letter to Wilder, saying that he was glad he didn't win the Oscar ("I do not believe in the integrity of the damn things"). Laughton's view on receiving the statuette had obviously changed, as he had won and accepted the Best Actor award for The Private Life of Henry VIII 24 years earlier. The play Laughton mentions in the penultimate paragraph is presumably Jane Arden's The Party, which opened on 28 May 1958 in London; in the play Elsa Lanchester (Laughton's wife whose role in Witness had earned her an Oscar nomination) co-starred with her husband.

Billy Wilder, producer Arthur Hornblow Jr., Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich on the set of "Witness for the prosecution".

Source: rr auction/ image reproduced with owner's permission.

Transcript:

7, Dorset House, 

Gloucester Place,

London, N.W.1.

28th March, 1958.

My dearly beloved Billy,

I hope you know me well enough to see that I am telling the truth when I tell you that I am very glad I was not awarded the Oscar. Every time I thought of it, I got into a frightful state of mind. I do not believe in the integrity of the damn things when I think that Garbo never had one, Chaplin never had one, and Hitchcock's never had one. Have you had one, my dear fellow? I don't remember.

It would have made a nasty mark on me not to turn down something which I so heartily look down on, and I had been advised by Loyd Wright that I must not. 

I was terribly shocked when I heard that you were not even nominated for your script and directing of "Witness", as I am not one of those fools, and I know the score of what's what. I sometimes think that in some ways it is bad for you that you are not an actor, and that you do not see ordinary people's faces light up when they come and tell you that they have seen a film like that. It is the only thing that really makes our so difficult game worth the candle.

Bless you, my dear Billy, and "Witness", and the time we had after on holiday; it was one of the most innocent and best times of my life. I do hope that it is going to turn up in the cards that we work together again soon. I have lost all relish for jockeying for position, or making any compromise in working with people whom I do not admire and like.

The script of the play is now completed. Taft Schreiber has a copy. I cannot get another one to send to you. The management is close-fisted about money, which is probably a good thing in the theatre. All I have is a script for me and a script for Elsa. I have dropped Taft a note to give you the script I sent him. I shall be dithering until I know your opinion.

Love to Audrey. Elsa arrived yesterday, thank God- I was very lonely. Elsa has just shouted from the next room that she sends her love.

Affectionately,

Charles (signed)

1957, Hotel Sacher in Vienna, Austria: (from left to right) Tyrone Power, Billy Wilder and Charles Laughton.