AFI Catalog of Feature Films
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It Happened in Hollywood
Alternate Title: Once a Hero
Director: Harry Lachman (Dir)
Release Date:   7 Sep 1937
Production Date:   31 Mar--5 May 1937
Duration (in mins):   60, 67 or 70
Duration (in reels):   7
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Cast:   Richard Dix (Tim Bart)  
    Fay Wray (Gloria Gay)  
    Victor Kilian (Slim)  
    Franklin Pangborn (Mr. Forsythe)  
    Charlie Arnt (Jed Reed)  
    Granville Bates (Sam Bennett)  
    William B. Davidson (Al Howard)  
    Arthur Loft (Pete)  
    Edgar Dearing (Stevens)  
    James Donlan (Shorty)  
    Billy Burrud (Billy)  
    Zeffie Tilbury (Miss Gordon)  
    Harold Goodwin (Buck)  
    Charles Brinley (Pappy)  
    Zeni Vatori (Joe Spogoli)  
    Wade Boteler (Patrolman)  
    Helen Brown (Nurse)  
    Mary Jane Temple (Nurse)  
    Robert Chisholm (Englishman)  
    Zita Moulton (Englishwoman)  
    Tom Chatterton (Bank manager)  
    Byron Foulger (Chet )  
    Sam McDaniel (Black porter)  
    Miki Morita (Japanese gardener)  
    Edward LeSaint (Doctor)  
    Arthur Wanzer (Addison)  
    D'Arcy Corrigan (Shakespearean actor)  
    Scotty Beckett (Boy)  
    Delmar Watson (Boy)  
    Bobby Watson (Boy)  
    Tommy Bupp (Boy)  
    Freddie Walburn (Boy)  
    Wally Albright (Boy)  
    Sammy McKim (Boy)  
    Richard Terry (Gangster)  
    George Chesebro (Gangster)  
    Eddie Laughton (Gangster)  
    Don Brodie (Sound man)  
    Eddie Fetherston (Assistant director)  
    Beatrice Curtis (Script girl)  
    Edward Hearn (Cop)  
    Lucille Lund (American girl)  
    Harry Strang (Joe Pratt)  
    John Tyrrell (Burt)  
    Cyril Ring (Cameraman)  
    Frank Ellis (Gorman)  
    George Billings (Tough boy)  
    Billy Wolfstone (Fat boy)  
    Charles Williams (Photographer)  
    Alex Palasthy (Russian)  
    Francis Sayles (Waiter)  
    C. L. Sherwood (Bum)  
    Bruce Sidney (Bank manager)  
    Philip Waldron (Clark Gable double)  
    Doc Dearborn (William Powell double)  
    Bob O'Keefe (James Cagney double)  
    Howard Bruce (Edward Arnold double)  
    Joan Beauchamp (Myrna Loy double)  
    Margaret Wormser (Loretta Young double)  
    John Bohn (John Barrymore double)  
    Arthur McLaglen (Victor McLaglen double)  
    James May (W. C. Fields double)  
    Eugene DeVerdi (Charles Chaplin double)  
    Charles Clark (Joe E. Brown double)  
    Frank Brown (Harold Lloyd double)  
    Virginia Rendell (Mae West double)  
    Carol Dietrich (Marlene Dietrich double)  
    Franky Farr (Eddie Cantor double)  
    Earl Haddon (Bing Crosby double)  
    Berna Mack (Claudette Colbert double)  
    Don Eddy (Dancing Fred Astaire double)  
    Lillian Tours (Dancing Ginger Rogers double)  
    Beatrice Coleman (Ginger Rogers double)  
    Betty Dietrich (Greta Garbo double)  

Summary: Western film star Tim Bart meets a young boy named Billy while making a personal appearance at a hospital for disabled children, and promises to invite him to his Hollywood ranch and introduce him to other celebrities after he gets well. Time passes, and the advent of sound motion pictures proves disasterous for Tim's career. Meanwhile, Gloria Gay, Tim's leading lady, becomes a great success and begins to feel bad for Tim. Destitute, Tim is forced to sell his trained pony, Toby, to a Japanese gardener and move away from Hollywood. Just as he is about to leave, however, Billy runs away from the hospital and asks Tim to make good on his promise. Seeing no harm in making the young boy's dreams come true, Tim, with the help of his former employees, spends one day recreating his life on the Hollywood ranch. He also throws a party for Billy, inviting Gloria and a number of actors who are doubles for famous movie stars. Billy is injured when he falls off Tim's horse, and desperately needs medical attention. Unable to afford a doctor, Tim asks Gloria for help but finds that she, too, has no money. Tim decides to hold up a bank, but just as he is about to do so, real gangsters appear and shoot a police officer. As the three robbers attempt to flee, Tim shoots them and is hailed a hero for his bravery. After being given parts by their former producer, Tim and Gloria are reunited and Tim adopts Billy. 

Production Company: Columbia Pictures Corp. of California, Ltd.  
Distribution Company: Columbia Pictures Corp. of California, Ltd.  
Director: Harry Lachman (Dir)
  Arthur Black (Asst dir)
Producer: William Perlberg (Exec prod)
  Myles Connolly (Assoc prod)
Writer: Ethel Hill (Scr)
  Harvey Fergusson (Scr)
  Samuel Fuller (Scr)
  Myles Connolly (Story)
Photography: Joseph Walker (Photog)
Art Direction: Stephen Goosson (Art dir)
Film Editor: Al Clark (Film ed)
  Otto Meyer (Film ed)
Costumes: Kalloch (Gowns)
Music: Morris Stoloff (Mus dir)
Sound: Lodge Cunningham (Sd eng)
Country: United States

Copyright Claimant Copyright Date Copyright Number
Columbia Pictures Corp. of California, Ltd. 16/8/1937 dd/mm/yyyy LP7345

PCA NO: 3217
Physical Properties: Sd:
  b&w:

 
Genre: Drama
Sub-Genre: Show business
 
Subjects (Major): Actors and actresses
  Children
  Motion pictures
  Unemployment
 
Subjects (Minor): Accidents
  Adoption
  Bank robberies
  Convalescence
  Cowboys
  Gangsters
  Gardeners
  Heroism
  Horses
  Hospitals
  Motion picture producers
  Parties
  Romance
  Runaways

Note: The working title of this film was Once a Hero . Although a Jul 1935 NYT news item noted that RKO producer Cliff Reid was preparing It Happened in Hollywood for production, his participation in the released film has not been determined. The file for the film in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library contains a letter, dated 8 Feb 1937, in which the PCA informed Columbia that it could not certify the picture "because of the objectionable nature of the important element of the two detailed bank hold-ups." The PCA also objected to "the unnecessary drinking" contained in the film, and the showing of children playing gangsters. 

Bibliographic Sources:   Date   Page
Daily Variety   26 Jun 37   p. 3.
Film Daily   6 Oct 37   p. 8.
Hollywood Reporter   29 Mar 37   p. 6.
Hollywood Reporter   7 Aug 37   p. 3.
Motion Picture Herald   17 Apr 37   p. 41.
Motion Picture Herald   10 Aug 37   p. 4.
New York Times   28-Jul-35   
New York Times   2 Oct 37   p. 18.
Variety   6 Oct 37   p. 12.

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The American Film Institute is grateful to Sir Paul Getty KBE and the Sir Paul Getty KBE Estate for their dedication to the art of the moving image and their support for the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and without whose support AFI would not have been able to achieve this historical landmark in this epic scholarly endeavor.
 
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