“I hope the ASPCA can’t get me for being unkind to animal pictures when I warn other fans that it is unreal and slightly tedious. There is a great deal of scenic beauty in the Technicolor production and parts of the story are delightful and some of it touching. . . . Elizabeth Taylor, very beautiful and charmingly sincere, has the leading role as Bill’s devoted mistress.”
—New York Daily News (Wanda Hale)
Elizabeth and Lassie study their script on location at Lake Chelan, Washington.
Preproduction work on Courage of Lassie got underway in November 1944. This test shot shows Elizabeth on the set of the Merrick family barn.
notes
AFTER ELIZABETH’S GREAT TRIUMPH IN NATIONAL VELVET, her career took an unusual turn in that MGM did not immediately rush another film into theaters to capitalize on her success. She was Hollywood’s latest and greatest child star, but MGM could not decide what to do with this supposedly juvenile actress who was growing up by leaps and bounds. There was not an obvious place in movies for a girl of twelve or thirteen, whose face already possessed a mature beauty. She could not sing or dance, and musicals were the studio’s bread and butter.
As a result, an entire year and a half passed before Elizabeth’s newfound fan base got to see her again. Ultimately, MGM solved their Elizabethan dilemma, echoing National Velvet by giving her another costar from the animal kingdom. It was a dog this time, but no ordinary pup—this was Lassie once again. Now in his third film, Pal, under the stage name of Lassie, received above-the-title billing. Elizabeth was listed second and her former There’s One Born Every Minute costar, Carl Switzer, ranked considerably lower.
The film was originally called Hold High the Torch and later Blue Skies, before it was decided that any film starring Lassie needed to have his name in the title. Interestingly, in the movie they decided to call him Bill. Be it Pal, Lassie, or Bill though, Elizabeth adored the dog and they were inseparable throughout filming, which took them on location to picturesque Lake Chelan, Washington. A friend who watched her grow up under the firm hand of a studio and a mother anxious to make Elizabeth a star observed her passion for animals and said, “I often wondered about this, and then I realized that the animals were the only ones around her who couldn’t tell her where to go, what to do, what to say.”
Elizabeth’s great affinity for animals was already well known. Part of her time between films was spent writing and illustrating the book Nibbles and Me. In it, Elizabeth provided lively anecdotes about her prized pet chipmunk, which was a fixture on the set of many of her early films. Nibbles was even planned to make a guest appearance in the woodland scenes of Courage of Lassie, but the housebroken chipmunk just seemed out of place in nature and its scenes did not make the final cut.
Elizabeth’s own appearance in the Technicolor film was quite striking. Her entrance in a bare-midriff top and shorts, coupled with her rapidly maturing face and physique, made her appear older than she does throughout the rest of the film. While Lassie got far more screen time, Elizabeth made a memorable impression.
Elizabeth’s love of animals became famous at an early age, especially after she published Nibbles and Me, a story about her pet chipmunk.
Elizabeth’s saucy charm and striking looks shown through from the time she was in her early teens.
These shots show new MGM star Elizabeth about the time she made Courage of Lassie. Such photos attempted to show fans that she was just an ordinary girl between films—which she was. Playing with her animals, sewing, taking school lessons (with actress Shirley Johns), and creating art, were but a few of the activities that occupied her time between movies.
Life with Father
WARNER BROS.
CAST
William Powell Clarence Day, Sr.
Irene Dunne Vinnie Day
Elizabeth Taylor Mary Skinner
Edmund Gwenn Reverend Dr. Lloyd
Zasu Pitts Cora Cartwright
Jimmy Lydon Clarence Day, Jr.
Emma Dunn Margaret
Moroni Olsen Dr. Humphries
Elisabeth Risdon Mrs. Whitehead
Derek Scott Harlan Day
CREDITS
Robert Buckner (producer); Michael Curtiz (director); Donald Ogden Stewart (screenplay), based on memoir by Clarence Day and play by Howard Lindsay; Russel Crouse; Peverell Marley, William V. Skall (photography); Leo F. Forbstein (musical director); Max Steiner (music); Robert Haas (art director); James Hopkins (set decorations); C. A. Riggs (sound); Robert Vreeland (assistant director); George Amy (editor); Milo Anderson (costumes); Perc Westmore (makeup)
RELEASE DATE: September 13, 1947
RUN TIME: 118 minutes, color
Her bangs from the film suddenly disappeared, but the unique look of Elizabeth’s eyebrows in Life with Father make photos of the period unique among her early career shots.
SUMMARY: In nineteenth-century New York, the Day household is run with an iron fist and a heart of gold by financier Clarence Day. The real power behind the scenes though is Vinnie, a loving wife whose major ambition is to see Clarence baptized so that he may be saved and rejoin the God-fearing members of the family in the hereafter. The story follows the ever-charming everyday happenings of Clarence, Vinnie, and their four children: including an errant money-making venture selling patent medicine and burgeoning puppy love between eldest son Clarence, Jr., and visiting neighbor Mary Skinner.
notes
THE RUSSEL CROUSE/HOWARD LINDSAY PLAY LIFE WITH FATHER, based on the memoirs of Clarence Day, was a show business legend that had an astonishing run of eight years and 3,224 performances. Up until Fiddler on the Roof in 1972, it was the longest-running nonmusical play ever put on the Broadway stage. Transferring its success to the big screen was a natural next step in the life of the story, which first came to the attention of the pubic as a humorous and touching series of articles based on the experiences of Clarence Day and his family in 1880s New York.
After paying half a million dollars for the screen rights, Warner Bros. put the film into production on April 11, 1946. The play was so revered that the studio gave Russel Crouse, Howard Lindsay, and Day’s widow, Vinnie, approval over all phases of production. Former silent-screen star Mary Pickford was rumored to be making a comeback in the film, but director Michael Curtiz instead gave the role of Vinnie to Irene Dunne, whom Mrs. Day so approved of that she lent Dunne some of her clothes, in turn lending unique authenticity to the proceedings. The venerable William Powell starred as Clarence Day, a role in which the actor earned his third Academy Award nomination as Best Actor.
Third-billed Elizabeth Taylor was cast as Mary Skinner, a part that had been portrayed on stage by Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt star Teresa Wright. Jimmy Lydon was her tentative love interest. Lydon was smitten with her offscreen as well. He later said Elizabeth was a pleasure to work with but that it was also rather difficult to play opposite her because “You just didn’t believe anybody could be that beautiful.”
Out-of-towner Mary Skinner enjoys luncheon with the Days. William Powell played the patriarch of the family and gave one of the best performances of his career. Playwright Howard Lindsay had originated the part on Broadway.
Jimmy Lydon finds his first crush in dreamy young Elizabeth.
Opposite Jimmy Lydon, Elizabeth played an amorous adolescent, but in this scene she cannot compete with the power Lydon thinks his hand-me-down pants have. He simply is in no mood for romance when wearing his father’s trousers.
REVIEWS
“A round-robin of praise is immediately in order for all those, and they were many indeed, who assisted in filming Life with Father. All that the fabulous play had to offer in the way of charm, comedy, humor and gentle pathos is beautifully realized in the handsomely Technicolored picture. [William Powell’s Father] is not merely a performance; it is character delineation of a high order and he so utterly dominates the picture that even when he is not on hand his presence is still felt. . . . Elizabeth Taylor is very appealing as
Mary Skinner.”
—The New York Times (Thomas M. Pryor)
“The elaborate, nostalgically detailed Technicolored comedy which is now amiably chuckling at itself upon the screen at Warner’s theater, is every bit as well-bred as its stage progenitor. Its humor is still in the best of taste, its risibilities subtle and unraucous, its comedy dry, witty, and pleasant.”
—Cue
Warner Bros. publicity shot of Elizabeth
A test shot for Life with Father
Elizabeth appeared in the film through a loan out arranged with MGM. Once she was on Warner Bros. territory, Perc Westmore, of the famed Hollywood makeup dynasty, saw fit to experiment with Elizabeth’s appearance. Fans can recognize any photo of her taken at the time or in connection with Life with Father because of the unique way in which her eyebrows are thinned out and shaped. The moment she returned to her home lot, the plucking halted as the MGM makeup crew waited for her eyebrows to grow back into the fuller form that better suited her face.
The play Life with Father closed at the Alvin Theatre on July 12, 1947. Just a month later, the film adaptation of the Broadway staple had its New York premiere. Its homespun warmth and humor was reminiscent of hits of the era such as Meet Me in St. Louis. Life with Father proved to be a success in any shape from a series of articles, to a play, and on to film*. The movie brought in more than $5 million at the box office.
*The only format that did not seem to work for the Father franchise was television. A short-lived series ran from 1953–55.
Cynthia
METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER
CAST
Elizabeth Taylor Cynthia Bishop
George Murphy Larry Bishop
S. Z. Sakall Professor Rosenkrantz
Mary Astor Louise Bishop
Gene Lockhart Dr. Fred I. Jannings
Spring Byington Carrie Jannings
Jimmy Lydon Ricky Latham
Scotty Beckett Will Parker
Carol Brannon Fredonia Jannings
Anna Q. Nilsson Miss Brady
CREDITS
Edwin H. Knopf (producer); Robert Z. Leonard (director); Harold Buchman, Charles Kaufman, Buster Keaton (screenplay), based on play by Viña Delmar; Charles Schoenbaum (photography); Johnny Green (musical director); Bronislau Kaper (music); Cedric Gibbons, Edward Carfagno (art directors); Edwin B. Willis, Paul Chamberlain (set decorations); Douglas Shearer (sound); Irvine Warburton (editor); Irene (costumes); Jack Dawn (makeup)
RELEASE DATE: August 29, 1947
RUN TIME: 98 minutes, black and white
SUMMARY: Cynthia Bishop is a beautiful bird in a gilded cage, under the constant vigil of her parents, Larry and Louise, who worry after their daughter’s delicate health to the point of stifling her everyday teen-aged existence. The Bishop marriage is also in need of doctoring. Through Cynthia’s maturing individuality, baby steps open up a whole new world for her. Cynthia discovers a passion for singing under the tutelage of kindly Professor Rosenkrantz; handsome young Ricky Latham provides love interest; the upcoming school prom promises to be an unforgettable night; and her personal development brings renewed strength to her parents’ marriage.
Re-creating the first kiss with Lydon, for the benefit of the still photographer.
Ready for her first onscreen kiss, with James Lydon
Puppy love with Lydon
Elizabeth began to land her first magazine covers in this period, including a very early Italian front page.
notes
CYNTHIA WAS THE FIRST REAL SHOWCASE FOR ELIZABETH Taylor as a burgeoning leading lady. No one seemed to mind that it was based on an unsuccessful play by Viña Delmar titled The Rich, Full Life, which had run on Broadway for only twenty-seven performances, starring Virginia Weidler. Once a child star at MGM most famous for playing Katharine Hepburn’s little sister in The Philadelphia Story, Weidler retired from show business shortly after the play closed.
Since the show had been a flop there was no need for the film to carry on either its name or its plagued history, so the title changed and Elizabeth was cast in the lead role. The release of Life with Father was held back to coincide with the stage edition’s closing on Broadway. As a result, Cynthia opened in movie houses first, but it actually went into production six weeks after the completion of Life with Father, on October 8, 1946. Elizabeth was given the chance to stretch her wings as never before playing Cynthia, a sickly but spirited fifteen-year-old. She was to perform a song (dubbed) and experience her first onscreen kiss. The fortunate man on the receiving end was James Lydon, a particularly good choice to put Elizabeth at ease for her first kiss as she had just gotten to know him during the making of Life with Father at Warner Bros. So much attention surrounded this cinematic smooch, the first of many to come, that for a time MGM considered changing the film’s title to First Kiss.
Given all the attention to her growing up before the eyes of the public, Elizabeth was anxious to make herself appear older. Her figure had already taken on a womanly form, but she learned early on to emphasize her shape with good posture, and to give her face maturity by becoming an expert at makeup tricks taught to her by studio professionals. Lydon later attested she was still a kid at heart who brought animals to the studio everyday. On the set of Cynthia her favorite was a pet squirrel that director Robert Z. Leonard banished from the set because it made too much noise during filming. The squirrel was just a minor distraction from business as usual. Cynthia came in on time and under budget, and Elizabeth won praise from critics for putting her best foot forward in her first solo starring role.
REVIEWS
“Do you like candy—gooey candy—such as these nickel (or six-cent) nut-fruit bars? If so, you probably will like Cynthia, . . . Played by Elizabeth Taylor in a dewy-eyed, fluttery style, little Cynthia will chew her way softly, like a moth, into susceptible hearts. And Jimmy Lydon, playing her boyfriend, will completely knock the props from under all those sentimental people who have got their ideas of teen-age boys from Alcott books.”
—The New York Times (Bosley Crowther)
“Able acting and a few moments of emotional intensity do not keep Cynthia from being a fragmentary screen drama. . . . Miss Taylor does a brilliant job in the title role. In vivid contrast to Hollywood’s general conception of the bobby-soxer, she plays an unwilling invalid with grave charm. The scenes in which she has her first taste of the rich full life are interpreted with subtle authority.”
—New York Herald Tribune (Howard Barnes)
As Cynthia Bishop
At the premiere of Cynthia, with George Murphy, who played her father
Candid of Elizabeth while vacatining in England
Elizabeth’s pet squirrel was a troublemaker on the set and was eventually banned by director Robert Z. Leonard.
Primping her own hair
A jaunt to jolly old England with her mother in 1946.
Barbequing with her father, Francis Taylor
With fellow MGM kids Jane Powell, Margaret O’Brien, and Claude Jarman, Jr.
A Date with Judy
METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER
CAST
Wallace Beery Melvin R. Foster
Jane Powell Judy Foster
Elizabeth Taylor Carol Pringle
Carmen Miranda Rosita Cochellas
Xavier Cugat himself
Robert Stack Stephen Andrews
Scotty Beckett Ogden Pringle
Selena Royle Dora Foster
Leon Ames Lucien T. Pringle
Clinton Sundberg Jameson
CREDITS
Joe Pasternak (producer); Richard Thorpe (director); Dorothy Kingsley, Dorothy Cooper (screenplay), based on character created by Aleen Leslie; Robert Surtees (photography); Georgie Stoll (musical director); Stanley Donen (dance director); Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse (art directors); Edwin B. Willis, Richard A. Pefferle (set decorations); Hugh Boswell (production manager); Douglas Shearer (sound); Harold F. Kress (editor); Helen Rose (costumes); Sydney Guilaroff (hairstylist); Jack Dawn (makeu
p)
RELEASE DATE: July 29, 1948
RUN TIME: 113 minutes, color
SUMMARY: Judy Foster and Carol Pringle are best friends with one too many things in common: Each has a crush on the same handsome, older man: Stephen Andrews, who has an eye for Carol. The circumstances are further complicated by the fact of Oogie Pringle, Carol’s brother and Judy’s boyfriend. This complicated foursome is not the only romantic web in need of untangling. Judy’s father, Melvin, is hoping to surprise wife Dora by taking rumba lessons from the exotic Rosita Cochellas, but the amount of time Melvin spends with Rosita only leads everyone to believe that they are having an affair. By fade-out, all romantically crossed wires are happily sorted out to a happy conclusion.
As Carol Pringle
REVIEWS
“The outlandishly colorful world which youngsters create for themselves has often made good motion-picture material, but in this case the goings-on have neither much humor nor much adolescent dignity. . . . The big surprise in A Date with Judy is Elizabeth Taylor as the petulant, dark-eyed banker’s daughter. The erstwhile child star of National Velvet and other films has been touched by Metro’s magic wand and turned into a real, 14-carat, 100-proof siren with a whole new career opening in front of her.”
—New York Herald Tribune (Otis L. Guernsey, Jr.)
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