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The Fairvale Church Also Appears in Inherit the Wind(1960)

posted 4 years ago by ecarle (14979)
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I've had reason to watch "Inherit the Wind"(1960) this past week on streaming. It was made in 1960...the same year as Psycho, of course, and its star Spencer Tracy got one of the Best Actor Oscar slots that Anthony Perkins failed to get that year(even as Perkins told the press "I think I'll get nominated." Oops.)

Irony: both "Psycho" and "Inherit the Wind" were filmed on the Universal backlot and soundstages, but neither film was RELEASED by Universal in 1960. Paramount released Psycho; I think that Inherit the Wind was released by United Artists(which had no studio and ALWAYS rented out space to make movies like The Apartment and Some LIke It Hot.)

Anyway, the opening shot of "Inherit the Wind" of Inherit the Wind is a high angle, long shot sweeping right to left as some men down below walk across a small town to a schoolhouse.

The "town" is clearly on the Universal backlot, and as the shot moves you see some familiar buildings and streets. I think there is a lot of "Back to the Future"here, for instance.

But more relevant to 1960, the sweeping camera eventually reaches -- from that high angle and in the distance -- a church.

And I am 98% sure that the church, and the street in front of it -- is "The Fairvale Church" that figures in Hitchcock's Psycho(though not Van Sant's -- Van Sant CUT the church scene.)

This creates one of those interesting "juxtapositions of time, space, and fantasy" -- at least to my mind.

Here on screen is a church. And in the same year(1960), the church appeared in two major films: Psycho and Inherit the Wind. And even though it is "just a front," just a "backlot set," that church lives on as part of the worlds of "Psycho"(very famously) and "Inherit the Wind"(less so.) Fairvale is in Northern California near Redding; Inherit the Wind is set in a Tennesee town in the 20s.

That's about all I have to say about this except, this: when the "Fairvale Church" came into view down below on the streets of Tennessee...I almost expected to see Sam and Lila standing out front, greeting the sheriff..

[–] swanstep (2715) 4 years ago

Interesting. I think that this will be enough for me to finally track down a copy of Inherit The Wind (which, checking now, gets a very respectable 8.1 rating on IMDb), hence fill that gap in my knowledge of Psycho's year at the movies. Director Stanley Kramer isn't a fave of mine (or anyone's really) but I guess his stuff is always very solid technically and performance- and script-wise.

[–] Doghouse (447) 4 years ago

How's by you? A little historical backfill, if I may.
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"I think that Inherit the Wind was released by United Artists(which had no studio and ALWAYS rented out space to make movies like The Apartment and Some LIke It Hot.)"
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There had once actually been a United Artists Studio in both name and real estate, but by the time Wilder shot interiors there for Some Like It Hot and The Apartment, it had become the Samuel Goldwyn Studio. Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, along with producer Joe Schenck, originally purchased the Santa Monica Blvd property in 1919, the year they formed the United Artists company along with Charles Chaplin (who had built his own studio on LaBrea two years earlier and used UA only as a releasing arm) and D.W. Griffith (whose best days were already behind him).

By 1928, when the Pickford-Fairbanks Studio was renamed United Artists Studio, indy Sam Goldwyn had become the lot's major tenant. In '35, Schenck deeded his share of the property to Goldwyn and when Fairbanks died in '39, Pickford inherited his share. So began a years-long power struggle between the two. Although Pickford was no longer active in the business, she maintained offices there at the east end of the lot, and Goldwyn would regularly either implore or browbeat her into selling out to him, once even concern-trolling her about the proximity of oil storage tanks adjacent to her offices facing Formosa Ave. (They're notably visible in a scene in Goldwyn's The Best Years Of Our Lives.)

By 1955, their battle had gone to court, which ordered the facility auctioned. Goldwyn outbid Pickford, and he finally had his prize. And then produced only one more film: 1959's Porgy and Bess. But it remained the Samuel Goldwyn Studio after both his retirement and death, until Warners' bought it in 1980, renaming it Warner Hollywood Studios. In '99, Warner Bros sold it and it's been known simply as The Lot since then. But for 27 years, it was the United Artists Studio.

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

Interesting. I think that this will be enough for me to finally track down a copy of Inherit The Wind (which, checking now, gets a very respectable 8.1 rating on IMDb), hence fill that gap in my knowledge of Psycho's year at the movies.

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I think that's why Inherit the Wind is important to the Hitchcock buff -- just another "piece of the puzzle" of a movie year. Tracy got one of the five Best Actor slots and Perkins did not. Matters. (More on that some other time.)

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Director Stanley Kramer isn't a fave of mine (or anyone's really)

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It was pretty weird for that guy. Here he was, as the SOLE filmmaker to direct Spencer Tracy in four of Tracy's final five films(in other words, the favorite director of The Greatest American Movie actor), here he was managing to attract MANY other stars around Tracy for Judgment at Nuremburg, and March and Gene Kelly with Tracy in Inherit the Wind, and TEN THOUSAND comedians(heh) to Tracy for Mad World, and four big stars including Peck, Gardner, Astaire and...PERKINS to On the Beach, and the final duet of Tracy and Hepburn(accompanied by Top Star Poitier) in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner...but....Kramer always got beat about the head by the critics. "Good liberal intentions" seemed to doom him to even further in the eyes of even more liberal critics.

You can see the problem with Inherit the Wind. Its from a play so everybody has long speeches to make, and sometimes they are good, and sometimes they are just LONG. But its the tone of the thing -- well, you haven't seen it yet, swanstep, but its one of those movies that seems to be saying one thing but closes "safely" saying another.

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[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

but I guess Kramer's stuff is always very solid technically and performance- and script-wise.

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Yes. I've been watching "off and on"(returning to it) Kramer's late breaking "Oklahoma Crude" of 1973. Two big stars: George C. Scott (kinda like Spencer Tracy here) and Faye Dunaway (kinda like Kate Hepburn here.) The plot is "just OK" but every Panavision image is polished and clean and well lit and impressive. "Inherit the Wind" is more Universal backlot, but "solid"(I watched, right after, a 1988 TV version with Jason Robards and Kirk Douglas in for Tracy and March, and suddenly the 1960 version looked expensive and plush.)

Here's something: until my mind is brought about to change, I much prefer the white-haired wrinkled old Spencer Tracy of the 60's to the dark-haired rather chunky Tracy of the 40's. His hair is white as early as "Bad Day at Black Rock" and it was there, I think, that Tracy found his "final great persona": an old-looking man with a much younger man's vigor and spark. Kramer chose Tracy for three "social themes":

Religion versus science (Inherit the Wind)
Nazi responsibility for the Holocaust and other horrors(Judgment at Nuremburg)
Interracial marriage(Guess Who's Coming to Dinner)

...but also famously used Tracy for "something a little less serious" that became this Boomer's favorite comedy of all time(before Animal House came along.) Rather as with North by Northwest, Its a Mad Mad World is a childhood memory of a movie that's like the best dream you could ever wake up from...an epic entertainment.

I dunno. Weird place in film history for Stanley Kramer. He made "movies that mattered" except to the critics(by and large)...they didn't.

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

How's by you?

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Very well, doghouse! You are most welcome here with your "educational tutorial"

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A little historical backfill, if I may.

You may, you may!
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"I think that Inherit the Wind was released by United Artists(which had no studio and ALWAYS rented out space to make movies like The Apartment and Some LIke It Hot.)"

==

I have a rule here that I broke "Don't ever say ALWAYS or NEVER." I did it here because frankly, I had read that about Some Like It Hot and The Apartment, and I KNOW that Inherit the Wind was filmed on the Universal lot.

But...so much more to the story...

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- - -
There had once actually been a United Artists Studio in both name and real estate, but by the time Wilder shot interiors there for Some Like It Hot and The Apartment, it had become the Samuel Goldwyn Studio.

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Right off the bat, something I didn't realize. I KNEW that SLIH and The Apartment were filmed at the Samuel Goldwyn Studio -- but I had no idea that it had BEEN "The United Artists Studio." Was any of Inherit the Wind filmed at the Goldwyn studio, I wonder?

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Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, along with producer Joe Schenck, originally purchased the Santa Monica Blvd property in 1919, the year they formed the United Artists company along with Charles Chaplin (who had built his own studio on LaBrea two years earlier and used UA only as a releasing arm)

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And the Chaplin studio became the home of "A and M" records(owned by Herb Alpert, home of his Tijuana Brass and the Baja Marima guys and -- THE CARPENTERS.) Now surrounded by urban density in Hollywood.

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and D.W. Griffith (whose best days were already behind him).

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Kind of "a name," I guess. The Father of Movies or some such.

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[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

By 1928, when the Pickford-Fairbanks Studio was renamed United Artists Studio, indy Sam Goldwyn had become the lot's major tenant. In '35, Schenck deeded his share of the property to Goldwyn and when Fairbanks died in '39, Pickford inherited his share. So began a years-long power struggle between the two. Although Pickford was no longer active in the business, she maintained offices there at the east end of the lot, and Goldwyn would regularly either implore or browbeat her into selling out to him,
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Hmm...I'll keep reading but I'm wondering Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer -- the MGM lot -- when did Goldwyn end up personally over there?

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once even concern-trolling her about the proximity of oil storage tanks adjacent to her offices facing Formosa Ave. (They're notably visible in a scene in Goldwyn's The Best Years Of Our Lives.)

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Ha. Were not the Goldwyn studios used for the films of that triad of directors -- Capra, Stevens, Wyler -- who formed that producers group?

And hey: Formosa Ave. I saw the Goldwyn studios when I had a DRINK at The Formosa across the street because I'd seen it in LA Confidential(my fave film of the 90's.)

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[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

By 1955, their battle had gone to court, which ordered the facility auctioned. Goldwyn outbid Pickford, and he finally had his prize. And then produced only one more film: 1959's Porgy and Bess. But it remained the Samuel Goldwyn Studio after both his retirement and death, until Warners' bought it in 1980,

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And thus the "home of Billy Wilder" I would expect, for a lot of movies(I'll guess SLIH through The Fortune Cookie) before he moved on to make movies for Universal(The Front Page) and MGM(the atrocious Buddy Buddy.) Did he not make the (poignant) Sherlock Holmes in England? Pinewood, maybe?

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renaming it Warner Hollywood Studios. In '99, Warner Bros sold it and it's been known simply as The Lot since then.

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And what films at "The Lot"? Movies? TV series?

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But for 27 years, it was the United Artists Studio.

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I may have a book on this somewhere, but I kind of wonder when "United Artists" REALLY got going as the producer of Best Picture level product. The Apartment....In the Heat of the Night...Midnight Cowboy come to mind as LATER UA Best Pictures...Cuckoo's Nest? Rocky? (I'm only guessing now.)

But what about BEFORE the 60's and 70's? Anything?

And of course, UA was the home of Bond(forever, even with MGM ownership) and The Pink Panther....

[–] Doghouse (447) 4 years ago

"Was any of Inherit the Wind filmed at the Goldwyn studio, I wonder?"
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That's something I've never been able to determine. Such an arrangement wouldn't be at all unusual, though.
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"I'll keep reading but I'm wondering Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer -- the MGM lot -- when did Goldwyn end up personally over there?"
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He never did. He was out of the Goldwyn company, I believe, a year before MGM was formed. Sam Goldfish and partners Edgar and Archibald Selwyn started their company in the 'teens when they purchased Thomas Ince's Culver City lot, coming up with the name by combining one syllable from each of theirs (the only alternative possibility was an obvious no-go: "Selfish"). Goldfish liked the sound of Goldwyn so much that he legally changed his name, and the Selwyns sued to stop him, claiming trademark infringement. The judge ruled, in essence, that you couldn't trademark a syllable.

Anyway, Goldwyn never got along with partners, and the Selwyns forced him out of the company before selling to Marcus Lowe, who in turn merged the Goldwyn and Metro Companies with Mayer.
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"Were not the Goldwyn studios used for the films of that triad of directors -- Capra, Stevens, Wyler -- who formed that producers group?" "And what films at "The Lot"? Movies? TV series?"
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Dunno. Hafta look into both.
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"I kind of wonder when "United Artists" REALLY got going as the producer of Best Picture level product."
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Although they owned production facilities, to the best of my knowledge, they were never really a production entity; only a releasing one and rental lot, distributing many Best Picture nominees going back to the early '30s, but produced by indies like Goldwyn, Roach, Zanuck (before his 20th Century company acquired Fox), Kramer and the Mirisch Company (producer of both Some Like It Hot and The Apartment). Same with the Bond films (EON Productions). I think the Pink Panthers were also Mirisch.

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

"Was any of Inherit the Wind filmed at the Goldwyn studio, I wonder?"
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That's something I've never been able to determine. Such an arrangement wouldn't be at all unusual, though.
- - -

Hmm. Possibly it was...because I saw it recently and I didn't detect the "Universal sound effects" of honking horns or doors closing that are shared by both Psycho and The Birds(of course, Inherit the Wind was a period piece...I suppose a 1960 horn wouldn't fit.) Suggests it was made at another studio except for the Universal backlot stuff.

But wait...Burt Reynolds in his autobio said he was filming the TV series "Riverboat" on the Universal lot and would watch Spencer Tracy act in Inherit the Wind...actually got to talk to him. Maybe it WAS filmed there.

On the other hand -- on topic -- in that same Burt autobio, Burt claims to have run and hidden "in the Bates Motel" from Audie Murphy chasing him(gun in hand, over some slight.) Also in 1960.

Can we believe Burt's tales?

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"

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

"I'll keep reading but I'm wondering Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer -- the MGM lot -- when did Goldwyn end up personally over there?"
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He never did. He was out of the Goldwyn company, I believe, a year before MGM was formed.

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Wowza. I never read that.

Welcome anytime, Doghouse!

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Sam Goldfish and partners Edgar and Archibald Selwyn started their company in the 'teens when they purchased Thomas Ince's Culver City lot, coming up with the name by combining one syllable from each of theirs (the only alternative possibility was an obvious no-go: "Selfish").

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Selfish. Ha. Well...truth in advertising?

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Goldfish liked the sound of Goldwyn so much that he legally changed his name, and the Selwyns sued to stop him, claiming trademark infringement. The judge ruled, in essence, that you couldn't trademark a syllable.

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Ha. Makes sense. But damn, we never got "Metro-Goldfish-Mayer."

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Anyway, Goldwyn never got along with partners, and the Selwyns forced him out of the company before selling to Marcus Lowe, who in turn merged the Goldwyn and Metro Companies with Mayer.

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I think I recognize the name Lowe...or was it Loew?

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

"Were not the Goldwyn studios used for the films of that triad of directors -- Capra, Stevens, Wyler -- who formed that producers group?" "And what films at "The Lot"? Movies? TV series?"
- - -
Dunno. Hafta look into both.

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Well, I've got some books, too. Did not Goldwyn produce The Best Years of Our Lives and was that not done by Wyler as parts of his "directors' group"? Or maybe...not.
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"I kind of wonder when "United Artists" REALLY got going as the producer of Best Picture level product."
- - -
Although they owned production facilities, to the best of my knowledge, they were never really a production entity; only a releasing one and rental lot, distributing many Best Picture nominees going back to the early '30s, but produced by indies like Goldwyn, Roach, Zanuck (before his 20th Century company acquired Fox), Kramer and the Mirisch Company (producer of both Some Like It Hot and The Apartment). Same with the Bond films (EON Productions). I think the Pink Panthers were also Mirisch.

--

Again, here...confusion about how "official" a studio UA was. I THINK UA took credit for The Apartment as a Best Picture; In the Heat of the Night(also Mirsch), too.

I have an auto bio by one of the Mirsch's. I'll look this up.

I read something interesting in that book: one reason that Billy Wilder got to make so many more movies even as they started flopping(everything from Kiss Me Stupid to Buddy Buddy)....is that the Mirsch Brothers had a NEED for Billy to keep getting work so THEY could get paid to make Wilder films. Personally, I like some of those late Wilders(Sherlock Holmes and Avanti in particular.) But it seemed to be a "loss leader" deal for the Mirsches until they just couldn't find work for Billy anymore.

[–] Doghouse (447) 4 years ago

"I saw it recently and I didn't detect the "Universal sound effects" of honking horns or doors closing that are shared by both Psycho and The Birds(of course, Inherit the Wind was a period piece...I suppose a 1960 horn wouldn't fit.) Suggests it was made at another studio except for the Universal backlot stuff."
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My guess would be that, in spite of any shooting at Universal (exterior or interior), the post-production was done elsewhere; hence, the absence of those distinctive Uni sound library effects (which were still being employed well into the '70s).
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"Burt Reynolds in his autobio said he was filming the TV series "Riverboat" on the Universal lot and would watch Spencer Tracy act in Inherit the Wind"
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Plausible enough. It could have been while Tracy was shooting exteriors there (his arrival on the bus and walk through town with Kelly to the hotel).
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"But damn, we never got "Metro-Goldfish-Mayer.""
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It's always been odd to me that Mayer retained the Goldwyn roaring lion logo, duplicating it down to the last detail with only the name changed. Those two hated each other from way back. Maybe Louis did it just to gall Sam.
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"I think I recognize the name Lowe...or was it Loew?"
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Ya got me! Indeed it was.
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"Again, here...confusion about how "official" a studio UA was. I THINK UA took credit for The Apartment as a Best Picture; In the Heat of the Night(also Mirsch), too."
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This is where it gets murky, isn't it? Wilder himself, as the titular producer of The Apartment, accepted the Oscar. Frank Capra complained in his autobio of never quite being able to make sense of a new film world in which it was no longer just a studio boss, a director and actors, withdrawing from a picture he was to do with John Wayne when realizing he was no longer dealing with people, but corporations.

It's even more confusing now. I was recently watching a 2019 film that displayed no fewer than eight corporate logos before the credits.

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

"Burt Reynolds in his autobio said he was filming the TV series "Riverboat" on the Universal lot and would watch Spencer Tracy act in Inherit the Wind"
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Plausible enough. It could have been while Tracy was shooting exteriors there (his arrival on the bus and walk through town with Kelly to the hotel).
- - -

Yes, plausible enough. Reynolds writes of being a young TV actor(sidekick division, to Darren McGavin on Riverboat) who watched Tracy in a certain awe, finally getting up the nerve to ask to talk to Tracy, who nodded and allowed a "walk and talk."

Reynolds asked Tracy, "Mr. Tracy, I wonder why you are so confident to eat food in your movies with such abandon. Most of us have to eat slowly and carefully so the food on the plate stays roughly the same, so the editor can make the shots match."

Tracy replied, "That's somebody else's job."

I also enjoyed Reynolds talking about how, when he played Darren McGavin's sidekick on Riverboat, McGavin would only allow one close-up per scene to Reynolds. "OK, that's enough," McGavin would bark after the director took one close-up of Reynolds. Burt never forgot that....

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That Burt Reynolds autobio was memorable for its stories(who knows which were true, and which were embellished) and for his heart-on-his-sleeve anger about "not being taken seriously" even when he became a star. Tony Curtis wrote a rather gossipy one, too. In both cases, both Reynolds and Curtis come off as rather angry, insecure men -- they are good books accordingly a REAL look at movie stardom.

And keep in mind that Alfred Hitchcock himself loved Burt Reynolds movies like The Longest Yard and Smokey and the Bandit -- saw Reynolds as a "new Cary Grant" and tried to get him for Adamson in Family Plot.

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

"But damn, we never got "Metro-Goldfish-Mayer.""
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It's always been odd to me that Mayer retained the Goldwyn roaring lion logo, duplicating it down to the last detail with only the name changed. Those two hated each other from way back. Maybe Louis did it just to gall Sam.

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Maybe. Back before things got "corporate" in Hollywood, these were essentially, what , maybe 7 studios run by very arrogant men( and they were all men back then.) Feuds were probably common.

I recall reading that the Universal boss -- back in the 30's at least -- wasn't considered "good enough" by the other studio heads. His operation was too cheapjack. They wouldn't return his calls.

Universal never quite got full respect for decades and decades...but look at all the blockbusters and classics that eventually came out of there. The Sting, Jaws, ET....
And earlier still: Spartacus, Charade. Why I'll even include The Birds. And Psycho was made at Universal(for Paramount) and is owned by Universal now.
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"I think I recognize the name Lowe...or was it Loew?"
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Ya got me! Indeed it was.

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Well you(and many others) have got me more than a few times. I figured it was just a letter switch.

I recall reading that Hitchcock named the villain Vandamm in his only MGM film(NXNW)...after a Loew's executive!

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

"Again, here...confusion about how "official" a studio UA was. I THINK UA took credit for The Apartment as a Best Picture; In the Heat of the Night(also Mirsch), too."
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This is where it gets murky, isn't it? Wilder himself, as the titular producer of The Apartment, accepted the Oscar.

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Well, I think producers are meant to pick up Best Picture awards -- which is why nowadays you'll have 20 people on stage with "Producer" credit.

Its the "studio" aspect of this that is confusing to me.

Back in the 90's, I took a tour of the Warner Brothers lot. They have a kind of "mini-tour" which isn't as big as the Universal tour, but which certainly took me to some neat places(I went on the Friends set; the main apartments are right next to the coffee shop.) Anyway, while you wait for the tram you are placed in a big room with some photographs on the wall: Warner Brothers Best Picture winners. I seem to recall photographs for Unforgiven and Driving Miss Daisy. I'm trying to recall other Warners best pictures. My Fair Lady comes to mind.

Anyway, UA aint got no place to hang those Best Picture photos.

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[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

Frank Capra complained in his autobio of never quite being able to make sense of a new film world in which it was no longer just a studio boss, a director and actors, withdrawing from a picture he was to do with John Wayne when realizing he was no longer dealing with people, but corporations.

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That was "Circus World," (1964.) Poor ol' Frank. Whereas Hitchcock was "protected" by Lew Wasserman at Universal right up to retirement and death, Capra found himself "parting ways" with the producers of the political film "The Best Man" and the Wayne picture. Hitchcock with his sex and violence found a at to keep going into the 60's; Capra's final film "Pocketful of Miracles" is a remake of a 30's Capra film that looked in 1961(the year after Psycho) like it was STILL 1930(I find "Pocketful" a fascinating specimen, a 30's movie in Technicolor and Panavision -- a true period piece.)

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It's even more confusing now. I was recently watching a 2019 film that displayed no fewer than eight corporate logos before the credits.

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I"ve gone through that, in the theater(remember those?) The audience starts to laugh as one corporate logo yields to another and another and another. Basically, we're looking at the various companies that gave the filmmakers money; though some may have owned the material.

[–] Doghouse (447) 4 years ago

"Well, I think producers are meant to pick up Best Picture awards -- which is why nowadays you'll have 20 people on stage with "Producer" credit."
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Quite so. It's easy to imagine, then, that a 1960/61 business landscape resembling today's might have billed all three Mirisch brothers as "Executive Producers" who'd have been up there on the stage with Wilder.

Those mass acceptance moments always made me uncomfortable. The first guy would hog the mic thanking everyone from the wife and kids to their first-grade teacher, while the others fidgeted like children with full bladders, waiting for their own precious seconds to articulate their abbreviated gratitude. And inevitably, one would get cut off by the orchestra in the middle of his.
- - -
"Its the "studio" aspect of this that is confusing to me."
"Anyway, UA aint got no place to hang those Best Picture photos."
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Yeah, and neither has MGM since the mid-'80s. Yet, they're still thought of as one, no? Clearly, it confuses me too. I suppose it could be said that, since the collapse of what was called "the studio system," the concept has become as fluid as that of producer: Streisand's hairdresser/boyfriend Jon Peters in the '70s comes to mind; and Doris Day's husband/agent/personal mis-manager Martin Melcher in the '50s-'60s.

It's enough to make one cynical. What with a half-dozen or more production companies and those 20 producers on any given project, I'll bet lawyers and accountants are makin' out like bandits.