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Introducing the newest Donald O'Connor Web
Site
Donald
O'Connor
in Context
Click above to read Peggy
Ryan's
"Elegy for Donald" |
Click above for a tribute to
Peggy Ryan |
|
The Donald O'Connor
Web Site Update
Last Update 9/2/06
Excerpt from The
Tucson Citizen
'Singing In the Rain' star's estate to
go on sale
TERRY TANG
The Associated Press
6/28/2006
PHOENIX - As he demonstrated
in the classic film "Singing In the
Rain," entertainer Donald O'Connor
could wipe the floor - and a few walls
- with his dance skills.
Starting Friday, fans can
walk O'Connor's floors and have a chance
to buy a pair of his tap shoes at a three-day
estate sale his family is holding at the
late actor's home in the Village of Oak
Creek, outside of Sedona.
Just don't refer to his
possessions as stuff.
"My husband didn't
own stuff," Gloria, O'Connor's widow,
said in a phone interview from the Village
of Oak Creek. "He had wonderful,
beautiful things."
Among O'Connor's possessions
up for sale are a $30,000 Rolls Royce,
a baby grand piano, more than 25 pairs
of tap shoes and the vest he wore in the
movie "Anything Goes."
Oil paintings and dolls
belonging to actress Joan Crawford, whose
house O'Connor purchased in the '60s,
are also up for grabs.
Full
Article
I received an
email from authors Scott and Jan
MacGillivray of Massachusetts, whose
biography of Gloria Jean has just
been published, entitled Gloria
Jean: A Little Bit of Heaven.
"We thought
you and your fellow Donald O'Connor
admirers might be especially interested
in knowing about this," they
wrote. "Because (as you might
imagine) Mr. O'Connor figures quite
prominently in the book. There are
numerous first-person recollections
by Gloria, as well as a number of
photographs, which we think Donald's
fans will enjoy."
The book is available
in both paperback and hardcover
editions:
Gloria Jean: A Little
Bit of Heaven (Hardcover)
Paperback
|
Anything Goes
The DVD Anything
Goes was released in September
2005. The story is nothing to dance
about in this 1956 film, but Donald
O'Connor gets a few opportunities
to shine, particularly in a duet
with Mitzi Gaynor to It's DeLovely.
It's well worth sitting through
the clunky plot.
|
| Child/Teen star
Gloria Jean sent me a very charming
note last year about her friendship
with Donald O'Connor — |
Gloria Jean, Donald
O'Connor and Peggy Ryan in What's
Cookin'
|
Dear Teresa,
From the moment I worked with Donald
O'Connor, I knew he had a special
kind of talent. We made six movies
together and each one was an adventure.
I always thought his dancing deserved
more praise than he received.
I admit I loved him. As we grew
older we would meet at Hollywood
parties, and I told him. He looked
at me and said, "Now you tell
me."
I'm very proud
to have been a part of Hollywood
in those years and especially working
with Donald O'Connor.
Gloria Jean
|
|
Gloria Jean
has a delightful website.
The site has a filmograhy, photo
gallery and articles. Also on the
site are CD, photos (like the one
above) and VHS movies for sale,
including five of the six she made
with Donald. As far as I know these
films are not available elsewhere.
You can order them from her here
for $24.95 per film plus shipping.
Gloria Jean-Donald
O'Connor Films
What's Cookin'
(1942)
When Johnny Comes Marching Home
(1942)
Get Hep to Love (1942)
It Comes Up Love (1942)
Mister Big (1943)
Follow the Boys (1944)
www.gloriajeanchildstar.com
|
|
I'd like to
thank the Academy...
For ending their
2004 Tribute Presentation with Donald
O'Connor. In a year when we lost
so many great performers, Donald
was given a place of honor. It's
not the Lifetime Achievement Award,
but it was nice all the same.
If you'd still
like to suggest that the academy
give Donald O'Connor the Lifetime
Achievement Award you may write,
phone, fax or email them at:
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences
Academy Foundation
8949 Wilshire Boulevard Beverly
Hills, CA 90211-1972
Phone: 310-247-3000
Fax: 310-859-9351 or 310-859-9619
E-mail: ampas@oscars.org
To make a similar
request of the American Film Institute
write to:
AFI
2021 N. Western Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90027-1657
323-856-7600
323-467-4578 Fax
The American Film Institute did
choose two of the songs which Donald
performed in Singin' in the Rain
for their
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs List
released June 1st. "Make 'Em
Laugh" and "Good Mornin'"
were voted 49th and 72nd respectively.
In July 2004
Donald O'Connor was also inducted
into the Tap Dance Hall of Fame
along with now deceased fellow tappers
Ann Miller and Gregory Hines.
|
|
Great news for
Donald O'Connor fans! Call Me
Madam (1953), never before released
in any format, is now available
on DVD. This was truly a lost treasure:
a wonderful musical, political satire
and gentle romance. One of Donald's
best film and one of the few screen
appearances of Ethel Merman. And
no, the romance isn't with Ethel.
It's with the lighter than air Vera-Ellen.
And even more great news! The first
four Francis the Talking Mule
films have been released on DVD.
That's Francis, Francis
Goes to the Races, Francis
Goes to West Point and my personal
favorite Francis Covers the Big
Town. All classics and all on
one DVD. You can order The Adventures
of Francis the Talking Mule Volume
I (Isn't that great? That means
they'll have a Volume II!) and/or
order Call Me Madam from Amazon.com.
Just click on the links below.
|
It never rains,
but it pour. Two more Donald O'Connor
films were released on DVD last
summer. The first was Donald's final
film Out to Sea (1997)
released June 1st and the second
was the frothy Bobby Darin/Sandra
Dee concoction That Funny Feeling
(1965) which came out on August
3rd, 2004. That's Entertainment
(1974) was released on DVD in October
2004 and Ragtime (1981)
was released on November
16th 2004. Donald has little more
than cameos in both films, but they're
well worth getting in any case.
|
| Recently
released and available now is the
soundtrack (sort of) for Donald's
1956 film Anything Goes with
Bing Crosby. Some cuts are actually
studio tracks. "You're the Top",
for instance, which Donald partly
sings in the film, is a studio version
featuring only Crosby and Mitzi Gaynor.
You can buy it from Amazon by clicking
on the album cover to the right. |
|
|
Sidney
Miller, Donald O'Connor's longtime
writing and comedy partner, died Jan.
10 2004 in Los Angeles after a two-year
bout with Parkinson's disease. He
was 87.
Miller
co-starred in eight Donald O'Connor
films and in the songwriter sketches
they performed on "Colgate Comedy
Hour" and the "The Donald
O'Connor Show."
Miller
appeared in more than 100 motion pictures
from the time he became a contract
actor at MGM, where he first appeared
in two Mickey Rooney movies, "Boys
Town" and "Men of Boys Town."
His
career as a television director included
such shows as "Get Smart,"
"Bewitched," "The Monkees,"
"That Girl," "The Addams
Family," "My Favorite Martian,"
"McHale's Navy," "Bachelor
Father" and "Celebrity Playhouse."
|
|
David
“Tom” Stern III, author of the
novel “Francis, the Talking Mule”
which inspired the Universal film series
starring Donald O'Connor, died Saturday
November 22nd 2003 in San Francisco. He
was 94.
On October
27th 2003 Donald received a posthumous award
for his outstanding contributions to dance
at “Gotta Dance! A Dance Tribute to
Hollywood,” presented by Career Transition
for Dancers at its ninth annual gala. The
award was announced by Arlene Dahl and sent
to his family. Also honored were Cyd Charisse
and Fayard Nicholas.
I'm
very saddened to report that Donald O'Connor
passed away Saturday September 27th, 2003.
![[cosmo site]](graphics/cosmopage.jpg)
Please check out this new
Donald O'Connor website featuring
Fan Fiction, a Discussion Board and
an Audio Interview.
|
|
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| "I'm an illusionist - a
trickster who quick-changes before
your eyes. I capture your attention
without giving you time to think
about it. I move fast, I keep changing
my hats. And the more pleased an
audience is, the more energy I get
from it and give back to the audience."
- Donald O'Connor 1992
*
Born in
a Trunk
"I was born in a trunk... Judy
Garland's using it now." - 1964
1
.Donald
David Dixon Ronald O'Connor was
born -in a hospital- in Chicago
on August 28th 1925. He was the
seventh child (three of whom died
in infancy) of John Edward "Chuck"
O'Connor and Effie Irene Crane O'Connor,
circus performers who had graduated
into vaudeville. "My mother and
father met while they were working
in the circus. My mother was a trapeze
performer," 2
said Donald. "When she and Dad got
married, she was only 15. Dad was
much older, about 28. They formed
their own act, which they called,
'The Nelson Comiques' for a while.
I think they switched to Nelson
because they owed a hotel bill.
|
| "My father started
out as a circus 'leaper'. He'd run
down a ramp, jump over an elephant
and land on a mat. 3
He was a singer, a dancer, an acrobat,
a trapeze artist, a clown, a comedian,
and also a strong man.
4 He did a little bit
of everything, because the more you
did the more you made,"
5 explained Donald.
"He was 5'5" and weighed 220 pounds.
He was very light on his feet, though:
he was known as the Njinsky of acrobats.
The height he could get was incredible.
6 |
The
O'Connor Family
|
"By the time I came along, my mother
and father had left the circus and
were in vaudeville. They called the
act The O'Connor Family - Royal Family
of Vaudeville," 7
recalled Donald. "There was singing,
dancing, comedy, acrobatics and barrel
jumping in the act. 8
My father was glad I was born. With
each kid the O'Connor family act made
more dough. As soon as we could walk,
we went to work, adding another $25
a week to the family income."
9
.......
At three days old Donald O'Connor
made his first stage appearance. "After
I was born, my mother played the piano
in the act before going back to the
heavy dancing and that kind of stuff,"
10 said Donald. "I was
next to mother on the piano bench,
because it was the safest place for
me."11
.......
At 13 months old Donald started earning
his $25 a week. "The first thing I
did was dance and do acrobatic tricks."
He explained: "There are little tricks
you can do. You can hold a kid up
in your hand, and he'll try to keep
his balance. You put music to that
and it looks like an act."
12 [Note: Please, don't
try this at home] "I started out doing
the Black Bottom. 13
My mother had to grab me before I
fell down," he said. "I didn't want
to stop." 14
.......
Shortly after Donald made his professional
debut, the O'Connor family was shaken
by tragedy. "My sister [Arlene] and
I were hit by an automobile when I
was 13 months old, and she was six.
She was killed." While still reeling
from the loss, the family suffered
another stunning blow. "My father
dropped dead on stage thirteen weeks
later," 15
[from a heart attack, at the age of
47]. The father he would never know
remained an influence in Donald's
life. "My father could do everything,
and so I grew up with this phantom
character, hearing all these stories
about all the things he could do,
and so I tried to emulate him."
16
.......
Despite his father's sudden death,
The O'Connor Family act carried on
"Eventually the act was built up again
to include my mother, my two brothers
[Jack and Billy] and my sister-in-law.
She was a hell of a dancer, real great.
She married my oldest brother, Jack.
They had a baby daughter, Patsy, and
she went in the act. So that brought
us back to six again."
17
.......
Vaudeville was home to young Donald.
"I was born into it. There was never
anything else. 18
When you're a kid who likes to show
off, be precocious, get applause and
laughter, what could be better?"
19 asked Donald. "I
grew up in vaudeville, and never really
missed other kids because I was never
around them. I was treated like a
little adult, a working person.
20 |
Donald...
with bangs |
"Everybody thought I
was going to be a midget," said Donald.
"I wore bangs and curls and was very
small. I'd come out onstage to 'Hail
Hail the Gang's all Here' in a suit
that made me look like a little old
man. I'd keep strutting right out
towards the audience till my brother
Billy caught me by the coat tails
and swung me back on stage. Then we'd
go into some acrobatics.
21 At the age of four
I was singing and closing the show
with 'Keep Your Sunny Side Up.' It
was my big number," 22
he remembered. "You learned to be
great real fast. You went out there
and caught the audience's attention
in the first 25 seconds or you ruined
it for the family. If you heard laughter
you knew it was working."
23 |
For Donald dancing was a part of
the act and a part of growing up.
"I don't remember who taught me my
first routine. I was just too young.
I never paid any attention, I guess,
because it was second nature for me
to pick up something and do the act.
I do remember though, getting together
with other dancers in drug stores
or on street corners and learning
new dancing routines.
24
.......
"It was a great time for me,
a time of wonderful memories. We traveled
the country and worked with all of
the big names of the period. George
Burns and Gracie Allen were just getting
started then. And I used to love working
with the Marx Brothers," recalled
Donald.
"After they entered motion
pictures they would go on the vaudeville
circuits and try out new material,
keeping the best stuff for their movies.
The Three Stooges did that, too.
25
"From backstage I watched
them all, the greats of the business:
Abbott and Costello, Olsen and Johnson,
Jimmy Durante, Jack Benny, Al Jolson,
Thurston, tops in their fields. I
loved magic. I loved magicians. I
just loved being a part of show business.
It was wonderful," Donald said. "We
did two shows a day and we worked
52 weeks a year on the old Fanchon
and Marco Circuit. We traveled everywhere
by train. I was such a happy kid.
All of this came naturally to me:
the singing, the dancing, everything."
26
Of course Donald prefers to
dwell on the more pleasant aspects
of his childhood, but there were hardships.
The hey-day of vaudeville had passed
and the depression was in full swing.
Donald remembered his family performing
in theaters where people slept because
they had nowhere else to go.
27 During the thirties,
The O'Connor's sometimes had to scramble
for engagements, which paid less,
and they struggled to make ends meet.
.......
No matter what the hardship, "the-show-must-go-on"
mentality prevailed for young Donald.
He remembered being accidentally injured
during one performance. His brother
Billy missed catching Donald by the
coattails as he leaned out over the
footlights. "He grabbed me by my left
ear and swung me back over before
I hit the orchestra pit," said Donald.
"My ear was bleeding. My white suit
was a mess, and I was crying like
mad. But I still kept singing 'Keep
Your Sunny Side Up'.
.......
In Chicago he slipped off a wall while
playing between shows. "I didn't tell
anybody, but went on and did my handstands
as usual," he recalled. "I got sicker
and sicker. Finally, after the fourth
show, my mother took me to a hospital
where they told me I'd been balancing
on a broken arm." 28
.......
Effie O'Connor had become intensely
protective of her remaining children,
particularly her youngest son, seeming
never to completely recover from the
shock of losing her daughter. "She
raised me as the daughter she no longer
had," Donald admitted, recalling how
his clothing was often more suited
for a girl than a boy.
29 "She was with us
almost every minute. I slept in the
same bed with her until I was eleven."
30
.......
Because of the accident that had killed
his sister, Donald was not allowed
to cross a street by himself until
he was thirteen. Once, in his excitement
at bringing a young Judy Garland (then
Frances Gumm) to the theater to meet
his mother, he forgot the rule. "She
slapped me across the face in front
of Judy because I had crossed the
street," he remembered. "It was completely
emasculating." 31
Judy Garland remembered the incident
as well and reportedly never forgave
Donald's mother for it.
32
.......
Donald was occasionally rebellious
and he recounted one particular episode
in 1955. At age 10, he'd grown tired
of being teased and called a sissy
by other children, so he went to a
barber and had his "bangs and curls"
cut off. "My mother looked at me and
cried," said Donald. "She kept saying,
'My baby has grown up... and ruined
the act!'" 33
.......
Despite the difficulties with a mother
he would later describe as "domineering,"
34 Donald declared that:
"Our family was very close. I didn't
miss what other kids had because I
really didn't know how they lived.
School? Between the ages of five and
12, I took correspondence courses
with my mother as my teacher."
35
.......
Future dance partner Peggy Ryan remembered
part of Donald's early education took
place at the Hollywood Professional
School: "As a matter of fact, that
was the first time I met Donald O'Connor,
in the fourth grade there. You see,
he was in the fourth grade forever.
Really and truly, because he was always
on the road. So he'd come back to
HPS and I would be in a higher grade,
but he'd still be in the fourth grade."
36
.......
"I had a lot of good teachers,"
Donald insists. "My mother, the chorus
girls, the magicians, the acrobats.
37 I finished up my
education in studio schools."
38
The Movie "Star"
"I
was pretty excited. About that time
I had a terrific crush on a girl named
Judy Garland. As a movie 'star' I
figured I'd impress her. I didn't.
She got in movies, too!" - 1955
1 |
Donald,
The Movie Star |
Donald made his film
debut at age 11. He began by doing
an uncredited "specialty routine"
with his brothers in the 1937 Warner
Brother's musical Melody for Two.
According to some accounts, his part
in the picture didn't even make the
final cut. In any case, it apparently
made very little impression on Donald,
who considers 1938's Sing You Sinners
as the film "that started my first
official career in pictures."
2
"The first
time I was discovered for movies was
in 1938, at the Ambassador Hotel in
downtown Los Angeles. We were doing
a benefit for the Motion Picture Relief
Fund," Donald remembered. |
| "We did our act and there was
a man who worked for Paramount Studios.
He saw me, got in touch with us,
and I went over and got the part
for Sing You Sinners."3
The film starred Bing Crosby who
reportedly asked while working with
young Donald, "Isn't there anything
he can't do?"
"Bing Crosby was wonderful to me,"
Donald recalled. "The one thing
he kept reminding me was that I
didn't have to yell. I was always
working to the balcony, and he told
me the microphone would pick everything
up, so I could calm my voice down.
He was a tremendous help, very encouraging,
always patting me on the back."
4 |
Donald adjusted quickly to the new
demands of motion pictures. "Not being
on stage or in front of a live audience
was very strange," he recalled. "I
did a lot of looking and listening,
and figured that the camera was the
audience, but it was still strange,
learning dialogue and all that. However,
I fit right into it. Even as a kid,
I realized it was just an extension
of what I was doing on stage."
5 |
Donald
with Bing Crosby |
During his first Hollywood career,
from 1938 to 1939, Donald made eleven
films, usually portraying an orphan
or a younger version of the film's
lead, most notably as a young Beau
in Beau Geste (1939). Despite
his years of vaudeville experience,
Donald didn't think his dancing skills
were adequate for film. "In the vaudeville
act I looked like a great dancer,"
he recalled. "But I only knew a couple
of steps, some triple wings and such.
I'd never learned the fundamentals.
I didn't know the basic steps. So,
when I went into movies when I was
thirteen, I was fumbling all over
the place because I had nothing to
fall back on. It took me forever to
learn the dance routines. I really
had to woodshed for years and years."
6
.......
As he approached adolescence he began
to perceive another disadvantage to
show business. "I saw how other boys
could stay home and play and I resented
having to go to a studio every day,"
he said. "I remember once, all us
kids started building a playhouse.
I couldn't stay and finish it because
I had to go to work. So the kids started
to tease me. 'Look at the big movie
actor,' they'd say. I didn't resent
what they said; I only resented having
to go away and leave them."
7
.......
Donald's burgeoning film career was
shelved when he was summoned back
to vaudeville in 1939. "Things got
pretty rough. My brother Billy died,"
8 [of Scarlet Fever
at the age of 26]. My family was getting
ready to tour Australia," remembered
Donald, "and everyone was depending
on me to be in the act, so my mother
never took me back to Hollywood.
9 I stayed with the
act until the early part of 1942."
10
Recently, Peggy Ryan recalled an encounter
with Donald in 1941: "I was at the
Mansfield Theatre, and he was doing
vaudeville with his family. He called
and said, 'I got an audition across
the way for a show called Best
Foot Forward. Let's do "Fellow
and a Girl" from Meet the People
[the show Peggy was in at the time].
We're a shoo-in.' Now even though
I was in a Broadway show, I'd never
done a real audition before-it was
all a first for me. We had to wait
in the back, and we were given a number.
When it was our turn, we walked onto
the stage. About halfway through,
they say, 'All right. Next!' We really
bombed. We went outside and we were
so despondent-now here I'm in a show,
he's doing well, and we couldn't even
get past the audition! We got even
though. A little later when we're
at Universal, doing our movies, they
tried to borrow us to do the leads
of Best Foot Forward, and we
said, 'No!'" 10
The Elvis
of His Day
"When I was at Universal, making
millions of dollars for the studio
-the Elvis Presley of my day- the
guards at the gate never knew who
I was." -1984 1
In 1942 Donald was re-discovered
by Hollywood "I was discovered a
second time by another talent scout
while working at the Stratford Theater
in Chicago. 2
He saw me and sent us the money
for me to go out and make a picture
called What's Cookin'?, with
Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan and the
Jivin' Jacks and Jills,"
3 remembered Donald.
"I had already passed the awkward
stage, which is death for a young
actor, and I guess they had forgotten
enough about me to re-hire me as
a fresh new personality."
4 |
The Jivin'
Jacks and Jills were Universal Studios
new teenage dance troupe. Peggy Ryan
remembered: "Six couples were chosen
for the best dancers in Hollywood
for that age group, twelve through
seventeen. I was seventeen then, Donald
was sixteen. And that was the next
time we met. We both got in the Jivin'
Jacks and Jills, and I was partnered
with him because we were the tallest
ones."
According to Peggy, for their first
film together the troupe was credited
en masse as "The Jivin' Jacks and
Jills" in 1942's What's Cookin'?,
but she and Donald quickly clicked
with audiences. |
It
Comes Up Love with Gloria Jean
|
"They used to preview the movies
in Bakersfield," said Peggy. "And
they'd sent out cards for the audience
to fill out, what they liked and so
on. For What's Cookin'? the
cards all asked, 'Who are the dark-haired
couple?' The next picture we got billing!"
Their roles and popularity increased
on their subsequent films together,
until "we were the Judy and Mickey
of Universal," said Peggy.
5
Donald's distress over what he saw
as his inadequate dancing ability
increased as he compared himself with
his fellow Jivin' Jacks and Jills.
"I was working with all these great
dancers and trying to learn these
things from Universal's choreographer
Louis DaPron. I couldn't learn them.
I looked lousy up there with all those
other kids. I was becoming a bigger
star all the time," Donald recalled.
"They got to a point they were shooting
so fast they didn't have time for
me to take all day and learn the dance
routines. So when I was a big star,
they sent me to Johnny Boyle to teach
me how to dance! I was with him for
two weeks, and he gave me a letter
to give to the studio. And in the
letter it said that I was unteachable.
I drove him crazy. And he drove me
crazy." 6
.......
Donald's dancing skills were not his
only cause for concern as a young
star in the then powerful studio system.
"I was making a lot of money for the
studio, but I wasn't getting any,
and was working all hours," said Donald.
"There were laws to protect minors
at that time, but they didn't seem
to apply to me. As long as I got my
three hours of school nobody cared
how long I worked. They tried to finish
all those pictures before I went into
the service. We worked three pictures
at one time: the one coming up, the
one we were doing, and we dubbed the
one we'd just finished. That's all
we did: work. It's amazing we had
as much fun as we did grinding them
out like that. 7
.......
"The studio had a complete staff
to handle my mail [30,000 to 40,000
fan letters a month]," Donald remembered
"and my family had to hire a private
concern to take care of the overflow.
I was never involved in answering
it because I was always working. I
never knew how important I was. If
I had, I would have asked for more
money!" 8
|
| 
Peggy, Donald, Jack Oakie in The
Merry Monahans
|
Peggy Ryan
recalled that they were thankful at
the time to be earning as much as
they did. "At the end I might have
been making three hundred and twenty-five
dollars a week, and he might have
been making six hundred. We would
get a bonus of five hundred dollars
a movie. We thought that was the world."
9
Donald actually never
saw much of the money he did earn. |
"I lived on an allowance
and whatever I could snitch from my
mother's pocketbook."
10 His mother was in
charge of all his finances and according
to Donald, "She knew nothing about
business."
At seventeen, he decided to take over.
"I ran over and got my checks before
Mother got them. Don't misunderstand,
I was never denied anything. I had
my tailor-made suits, patent leather
shoes, my spats. But I didn't take
hold of my money until I was seventeen."
11
Donald's second film career ended
when, having turned eighteen, he was
drafted into the Army. Throughout
the remainder of WWII, Universal continued
to release the very popular and profitable
Donald O'Connor/Peggy Ryan films they
had rushed into production. "Donald
went in the service-he was eighteen
and I was nineteen by then," remembered
Peggy. "Universal had fourteen movies
that were released over the next two
years. I was nineteen forever!"
12
Greetings, Donald!
Bing Crosby: Greetings, Donald!
Donald O'Connor: Funny thing, that's
exactly what the president said
to me. - Fed. 2nd 1944
1 |
| Once in
the army, Donald was assigned to Special
Services and he was given the befitting
task of entertaining his fellow soldiers.
During his stint he gave over 3,000
performances. "I used to entertain
troops. A lot of guys who were disabled
or badly wounded were coming in from
overseas and it was my job to bring
smiles to their faces," Donald remembered.
"They wanted to make me an officer,"
he said. "But how could I have entertained
those men if I wasn't one of them?
I refused the rank. But just before
I got out they promoted me all the
way up to Pfc." 2 |
Donald
in the Army |
The day before reporting
for duty on February 7th 1944, Donald
married actress and childhood sweetheart
17-year-old Gwen Carter. He doesn't
mention his first wife (they were
divorced in 1954) at all in recent
interviews, but he did discuss their
relationship in a 1949 article. "I
don't know what would have been the
story of our marriage if the army
hadn't stepped in and decided they
could use me," Donald mused. "I was
away for most of our early married
life-and I think now it was a good
thing. The army aged us, as far as
marriage was concerned, much faster
than we would have grown up under
ordinary circumstances.
"It's a wonder to me now, looking
back on everything, that I had enough
good solid sense to consider marriage,"
said the 23-year-old Donald. "And
it's even more surprising that Gwen
and I were as realistic about it as
we were. We knew tying the knot was
not a hit or miss proposition and
that we would want a family some day.
We even went so far as to discuss
the future. Oh, we were very profound
for a couple of young kids.
.......
"I know now I was being typically
young in my reaction to my marriage,"
he continued. "I had so many interests
and was doing so many things that,
at times, I wasn't able to express
fully and consistently the real affection
I felt for Gwen. I suppose my attitude
was typical of all young kids who
are bent on having a time. It's tougher
to grow-up in a marriage when you're
young than it is if you marry when
you're a little older."
19-year-old Donald and his young wife
quickly had the additional responsibility
of a new baby when their daughter,
Donna Gwen, was born in August of
1945. "It was darned hard for us to
realize at first that she was our
baby. We kept thinking that we were
just taking care of someone else's
child," said Donald in 1949. "Once
I realized that I was actually a father,
I began to look at things more solidly.
This was definitely a contributing
factor to my growing up. I knew I
had to build a future not only for
Gwen and me, but for Donna."
3 |
Gwen and Donald
O'Connor |
Donald
re-entered civilian life in 1946 and
films in 1947. "When I got out of
the army and had money to do with
as I pleased, I could think only of
making as much as possible. I went
out on personal appearance tours,
I did radio broadcasts, and I made
as many pictures as possible."
4
"The first
picture I made after I got out of
the service was with Deanna [Durbin],
Something in the Wind," Donald
recalled. |
| 25-year-old Deanna was the reigning
queen of the Universal lot and one
of the highest paid stars in Hollywood.
She had a reputation for being difficult
with her fellow performers. "You
hear a lot of stories about how
she was stuck up, temperamental,
hard to get along with. It wasn't
that at all," said Donald. "It got
to a point where she could no longer
perform. She could no longer work
if there were any strangers around.
It had nothing to do with temperament.
She was going through a traumatic
situation. Personally and professionally,
she couldn't cope with it. She got
to a point where she had to make
a decision: to keep on like that
or quit. She chose not to work any
more." 5
(Deanna Durbin retired in 1948.)
Donald still had his own problems
with Universal, some of them artistic
and some of them monetary. "The
only time I ever got any real money
out of the studio was when they
sent me to South Africa at twenty-one
to cement relationships between
the Schlesinger chain of theaters
and Universal. Schlesinger's thought
they might leave Universal and go
with J. Arthur Rank. I was the goodwill
ambassador; Schlesinger stayed with
Universal.
"When I got there a guy from the
studio said, 'We have some frozen
funds here if you want to call upon
them.'
"I said, 'How much do you have?'
"He said, 'At the moment, we have
about forty-five thousand pounds.'
"I said, 'Well, that's wonderful.
We'll start with that.'
So we started with that and we had
a ball. The pound was worth a lot
in South Africa at that time. I
even brought elephant tusks back.
If I could have got a live elephant
on the plane, I would have brought
that too." 6
At the time, the young star wasn't
complaining even though he believed
the studio, "often thought of us
as recalcitrant children."
7 His vaudeville work
ethic still prevailed. "My work
keeps me pretty busy. I have to
spend a lot of time before a picture
actually begins in rehearsals for
the involved dance routines, such
as I had in Curtain Call at Cactus
Creek. But I enjoy my work so
I don't mind the extra deals handed
me," Donald said in 1949.
8
He was cast in a few other minor
musicals (essentially all Universal
musicals were minor, compared to
the big budget extravaganzas of
the major studios), including Curtain
Call at Cactus Creek, Feudin'
Fussin' and a Fightin' and Yes,
Sir That's My Baby. But the
studio seemed to have had some difficulty
in finding a post war niche for
their now "grown-up" star. In 1949
Donald O'Connor had definite ideas
on the subject of his future career:
"Now I'm taking it far more seriously.
I've set up a pattern and I've been
forming plans as to where I want
to go in this business. In short,
I have a goal in mind for the first
time. I realize now the importance
of my job, and the demands it must
make of me if I'm going to get anywhere."
9
.......
He couldn't have planned for, or
even imagined, the turn his career
was about to take.
The "Mule and Me" Era
"The call I got from Bill Goetz
(the boss at Universal-International)
was the beginning of what I call
the "mule and me" era of my life
- with me working my brains out
to score and Francis stealing every
scene." - 1968 1
|
In 1949
Donald landed the role of Peter Stirling
in Francis the Talking Mule,
a project which led to a six-year
partnership in an extremely successful,
if not critically acclaimed, film
series. "I didn't know there was going
to be a series of Francis movies.
I thought there would only be one
movie, but they were so successful
that they made an absolute fortune
for the studio. I ended up making
one a year for six years."
2
Francis made Donald O'Connor an even
bigger star and Universal-International
millions. Despite their unanticipated
success and enduring |
Donald and Francis
|
popularity, Donald's
attitude toward the films and his
co-star has been a rather ambivalent
one over the years. "Lord, how I hated
making them!" 3
he exclaimed in 1968.
"I
used to think of it as a bring-down,"
he conceded. "I'd make a film like
There's No Business Like Show Business,
then have to go back and work with
a jackass." 4
Donald may have resented the fact
that Francis once cost him a leading
role in Irving Berlin's White Christmas
(1954), which would have re-teamed
him with his Call Me Madam
co-star Vera-Ellen. "Bob Alton had
already put a lot of the choreography
together for me but I got this strange
disease and the doctors couldn't diagnose
it and it turned out to be Q fever."
5
Q Fever is an illness transmitted
by ticks and usually spread by cattle.
"It was either Francis or one of his
stand-ins," he said glumly. "The studio
waited six months, but when I came
out of the hospital I was so weakened
by antibiotics I just had to tell
them to go ahead without me.
6 I was terribly disappointed.
And Danny Kaye [who replaced him in
the film] made twice the money I would
have gotten and he got a piece of
the picture. You can see the movements
used look like something I would have
done." 7
"Irving Berlin was devastated,"
8 he added. |
Publicity photo for
Francis Joins the Navy
|
As time passed Donald
gained more objectivity (or maybe
that's nostalgia) on the subject.
In 1995 he stated: "I liked the people
I worked with in the Francis
movies, but I didn't like the management.
9 It was wonderful at
first," he admitted. "But after three
pictures Francis started getting more
fan mail than I did and I said, 'This
can't happen.' 10
In between, I did Singin' in the
Rain or Call Me Madam,
but all people remember are the Francis
pictures. They made so much money,
so I guess I can't blame 'em for wanting
to crank them out. 11
I didn't make the seventh and final
movie, Francis in the Haunted House
(1956), because I didn't want to be
in any more Francis pictures," Donald
remembered. |
"I also didn't want
to be at Universal anymore. I volunteered
to do Francis in the Navy if
I could get out of my contract. So
I did that, and I was released from
Universal." 12
Donald's attitude towards the Francis
films has mellowed considerably. "Those
movies were ridiculous," he said in
1997. "But they were well put together
and a lot less crazy than some of
the stuff they're making today."
13 They were a lot of
fun, and gave me a chance to get away
from the song-and-dance thing." In
recent years he has even periodically
(and seriously) discussed reviving
Peter Stirling and Francis for a new
film.
.......
He also now fondly recalls his co-star.
"I had as good a relationship with
it as one could have with someone
who's | | | | | | |
