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The History of American Cinema: 1942

July - December

10/7 -

RKO release a severely truncated 88-minute version of Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons which the director intended to be 131 minutes long.   The studio took advantage of Welles’ absence while he was in Rio de Janeiro making a documentary for their It’s All True series to drastically edit down the film.   Based on the novel by Booth Tarkington, the film stars Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt and Agnes Moorehead. [ADD]

11/7 -

Beaky Buzzard makes his debut in the Bugs Bunny cartoon, Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid. [ADD]

13/8 -

The premiere of Walt Disney’s Bambi is held. [ADD]

31/8 -

Darryl F. Zanuck resigns as production chief at 20^th Century-Fox to serve as a colonel in the motion picture section of the Signal Corps. [ADD]

16/10 -

Mighty Mouse makes his debut – in the form of Super Mouse, a spoof of Superman – in Terry Toons’ The Mouse of Tomorrow. [ADD]

22/10 -

Bette Davis stars in Irving Rapper’s Now Voyager for Warner Bros. While Davis transforms herself from a timid spinster into a glamorous and confident young woman, co-star Paul Henreid sparks a new trend by lighting two cigarettes simultaneously. [ADD]

30/10 -

Rene Clair’s I Married a Witch, starring Fredric March and Veronica Lake, is released. [ADD]

31/10 -

Charlie Chaplin starts work on his screenplay about the life of serial killer Henri Desire Landru.   The idea was suggested to him by Orson Welles, to whom he paid $5,000. [ADD]

16/11 -

An article in the New York Times reveals that David Selznick has loaned most of his contract players, such as Joan Fontaine, Dorothy McGuire, Gregory Peck and director Alfred Hitchcock, to 20^th Century-Fox. [ADD]

19/11 -

Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth combine to create a box-office winner in Columbia’s You Were Never Lovelier.   Directed by William A. Seiter, the film takes place in Latin America, and features veteran character actor Adolphe Menjou as Hayworth’s father. [ADD]

21/11 -

Tweety makes his debut in the Warner Bros. cartoon A Tale of Two Kitties – three years before his nemesis, Sylvester. [ADD]

26/11 -

The premiere takes place at the Hollywood Theater in New York of Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca.   The film will not go on general release until 23^rd January 1943, meaning it is not eligible for the 1942 Oscars. [ADD]

4/12 -

20^th Century-Fox’s swashbuckling Technicolor epic The Black Swan is released.   Directed by Henry King, the film stars Tyrone Power as a rover who joins Henry Morgan (Laird Cregar) on the high seas and becomes entangled with feisty Maureen O’Hara. [ADD]

6/12 -

Jacques Tourneur’s low budget horror film, Cat People, is released.   Produced by Val Lewton, it stars Simone Simon and Kent Smith. [ADD]

7/12 -

In the year since America entered the war, American studios have produced 150 free films for the armed forces training programmes. [ADD]

17/12 -

Ronald Colman loses his memory in Random Harvest, an MGM production directed by Mervyn Leroy and co-starring Greer Garson.   Adapted from the novel by James Hilton, this ultimate tearjerker proves a hit at the box office. [ADD]

23/12 -

Young starlet Joan Barry bursts into the home of Charles Chaplin and threatens to kill herself after he cancels her contract. [ADD]

– Floyd Odlum acquires a controlling interest in RKO. [ADD]

– 2,700 workers leave Hollywood for military service. [ADD]

– The Office of War Information (OWI) is established to co-ordinate the government’s information activities and liaise with press, radio and motion pictures. [ADD]

– The Hollywood Canteen opens, allowing servicemen to enjoy free refreshments in the company of their favourite movie stars as they listen to live music from top bands.   The millionth serviceman to enter receives kisses from Lana Turner, Marlene Dietrich and Deanna Durbin. [ADD]

– Paramount’s Famous Studios is established after it forecloses on the Fleischer’s studio.   Many of the Fleischer’s animation staff are kept on by the new studio. [ADD]

– The old Hal Roach studios become the home of the military’s film and animation studio in Hollywood. [ADD]

Top Ten US Box-Office Stars of 1942

      1.      Abbott & Costello

2.      Clark Gable

3.      Gary Cooper

4.      Mickey Rooney

5.      Bob Hope

6.      James Cagney

7.      Gene Autry

8.      Betty Grable

9.      Greer Garson

10.  Spencer Tracy

Source: Quigley Poll

Other Key American Films of 1942

The History of Cinema: 1942