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Heidi (1937 film)
Encyclopedia
Heidi is a 1937
American dramatic film directed by Allan Dwan
. The screenplay by Julien Josephson
and Walter Ferris was based on the 1880 children's story of the same name
by Swiss author Johanna Spyri. The film is about an orphan named Heidi (Temple) who is taken from her grandfather (Hersholt) to live as a companion to Klara, a spoiled, crippled girl (Jones). The film was a success and Temple enjoyed her third year in a row as number one box office draw. The film is currently available on DVD featuring the original Black and White, and newly colorized version.
) is an eight year-old Swiss orphan who is taken from her mountain-dwelling grandfather (Jean Hersholt
) to live in the wealthy Sesemann household in Frankfurt
as a companion to Klara (Marcia Mae Jones
), a spoiled, disabled girl. Heidi is unhappy but makes the best of the situation, always longing for her grandfather. When Klara's body and spirits mend under Heidi's cheerful companionship, the housekeeper (who has tried to keep Klara dependent upon her) gets rid of Heidi by selling her to the gypsies. Heidi is rescued and reunited with her grandfather.
with cast and crew staying in the Lake Arrowhead Hotel or in private chalets. Temple lived in a trailer parked on a hillside and only left it at the very last moment to do her scenes – after her stand-in had finished with lights and sound. Temple had at least eight bodyguards who escorted her to and from the trailer and about the area when necessary.
Temple had strong theatrical instincts. She suggested the musical dream sequence ("In Our Little Wooden Shoes" by Lew Pollack
and Sidney D. Mitchell
) and its placement in the film (Edwards 107). She developed a very possessive attitude over the scene, correcting the other children when they became confused with the dance steps and arguing back and forth with them. Director Dwan had badges made reading 'Shirley Temple Police' and every child wore one after swearing allegiance and obedience to 'Chief' Temple. Everyone on the set was soon wearing badges with Temple strutting about giving orders to the crew such as "Take that set down and build me a castle." They went along with the game (Edwards 111).
Temple made only one other film in 1937, Wee Willie Winkie
. The child actress was growing older and her career flagging when Heidi was filmed, but she retained her position as number one at the box office for the third year in a row.
1937 in film
The year 1937 in film involved some significant events, including the Walt Disney production of the first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.- Events :*April 16 - Way Out West premieres in the US....
American dramatic film directed by Allan Dwan
Allan Dwan
Allan Dwan was a pioneering Canadian-born American motion picture director, producer and screenwriter.-Early life:...
. The screenplay by Julien Josephson
Julien Josephson
Julien Josephson was an American motion picture screenwriter. His career spanned between 1914 and 1943. He was a native of Roseburg, Oregon....
and Walter Ferris was based on the 1880 children's story of the same name
Heidi
Heidi is a Swiss work of fiction, published in two parts as Heidi's years of learning and travel and Heidi makes use of what she has learned.It is a novel about the events in the life of a young girl in her grandfather's care, in the Swiss Alps...
by Swiss author Johanna Spyri. The film is about an orphan named Heidi (Temple) who is taken from her grandfather (Hersholt) to live as a companion to Klara, a spoiled, crippled girl (Jones). The film was a success and Temple enjoyed her third year in a row as number one box office draw. The film is currently available on DVD featuring the original Black and White, and newly colorized version.
Plot
Heidi (Shirley TempleShirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
) is an eight year-old Swiss orphan who is taken from her mountain-dwelling grandfather (Jean Hersholt
Jean Hersholt
Jean Pierre Hersholt was a Danish-born actor who lived in the United States, where he was a leading film and radio talent, best known for his 17 years starring on radio in Dr. Christian and for playing Shirley Temple's grandfather in Heidi...
) to live in the wealthy Sesemann household in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
as a companion to Klara (Marcia Mae Jones
Marcia Mae Jones
Marcia Mae Jones was an American actress whose prolific career spanned 47 years.-Career:Jones made her film debut at the age of two in the 1926 film Mannequin...
), a spoiled, disabled girl. Heidi is unhappy but makes the best of the situation, always longing for her grandfather. When Klara's body and spirits mend under Heidi's cheerful companionship, the housekeeper (who has tried to keep Klara dependent upon her) gets rid of Heidi by selling her to the gypsies. Heidi is rescued and reunited with her grandfather.
Differences From the Book
Significant differences exist between the plot of the book and the plot of the movie. Essentially, the movie neglects or glosses over roughly the last third of the novel, the section during which Heidi returns to the mountain and Klara slowly recovers her health in the Alps. It barely touches on how miserable Heidi is in Frankfurt; in the book, Heidi becomes literally ill and wastes away from her desire to return home. Further, the movie does not include a character who is very important to the novel, Klara's grandmother. Also, the movie invents all the scenes involving Fräulein Rottenmeier's attempt to sell Heidi to the gypsies and the subsequent sled chase through Frankfurt's streets.Cast
- Shirley TempleShirley TempleShirley Temple Black , born Shirley Jane Temple, is an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, autobiographer, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia...
as Heidi, a young orphan living with her hermit-like grandfather in an Alpine hut. She is very happy and adventurous and she loves her grandfather very much. - Jean HersholtJean HersholtJean Pierre Hersholt was a Danish-born actor who lived in the United States, where he was a leading film and radio talent, best known for his 17 years starring on radio in Dr. Christian and for playing Shirley Temple's grandfather in Heidi...
as Adolph Kramer, Heidi's grandfather who is grumpy at first but learns to love Heidi as his granddaughter. - Marcia Mae JonesMarcia Mae JonesMarcia Mae Jones was an American actress whose prolific career spanned 47 years.-Career:Jones made her film debut at the age of two in the 1926 film Mannequin...
as Klara Sesemann, a spoiled and crippled rich girl, but very caring, polite, and excited towards Heidi. - Sidney BlackmerSidney BlackmerSidney Alderman Blackmer was an American actor.Blackmer was born and raised in Salisbury, North Carolina. He started off in an insurance and financial business but gave up on it. While working as a builder's laborer on a new building, he saw a Pearl White serial being filmed and immediately...
as Herr Sesemann, Klara's doting and busy father who wants nothing but happiness for his daughter. - Thomas BeckThomas Beck (actor)Thomas Beck was an American actor during the mid to late 1930s.Born in New York City, Beck entered college with the intention of becoming a doctor but abandoned that for engineering. His first professional work was in a stock company and he later played on Broadway. His work interested film...
as Pastor Schultz, the pastor of the village who talks to Adolph about Heidi's future. - Arthur TreacherArthur TreacherArthur Veary Treacher was an English actor born in Brighton, East Sussex, England.Treacher was a veteran of World War I. After the war, he established a stage career and in 1928, he went to America as part of a musical-comedy revue called Great Temptations...
as Andrews, a butler in the Sesemann household who is always nice to Heidi. - Mary NashMary Nash-Early life:Nash was born on August 15, 1884 in Troy, New York, to parents Philip Nash, who worked for B. F. Keith Vaudeville Circuit, and Ellen Frances MacNamara. She was educated at the Convent of St. Anne in Montreal and trained for acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts...
as Fräulein Rottenmeier, the châtelaineChatelaineChâtelaine has the following meanings:*Châtelaine, a woman who owns or controls a large house ....
of the Sesemann household who is very mean and strict on Klara's well-being. - Delmar WatsonDelmar WatsonDavid Delmar Watson was an American child actor and news photographer.-Biography:He was the son of actor, stuntman, and pioneer special effects artist Coy Watson Sr. They lived by Mack Sennett's studios in the old Edendale area of Los Angeles, California and Delmar attended Belmont High...
as Peter, the goat general of Adolph Kramer's and a good friend of Heidi's. - Mady ChristiansMady ChristiansMarguerita Maria "Mady" Christians was an Austrian actress who achieved a successful acting career in theatre and film, in the United States until she was blacklisted during the McCarthy period....
as Dete, Heidi's self-interested aunt who has taken care of her for 6 years. - Helen WestleyHelen WestleyHelen Westley was an American character actress.-Career:Born as Henrietta Remsen Meserole Manney, Helen Westley was a member of the original board of the Theatre Guild, and appeared in many of their productions, among them Peer Gynt, and some of their productions of plays by George Bernard...
as Blind Anna, Peter's grandmother.
Production
The Alpine scenes were filmed at Lake Arrowhead, CaliforniaLake Arrowhead, California
Lake Arrowhead is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in the San Bernardino Mountains of San Bernardino County, California, within the San Bernardino National Forest, adjacent to Lake Arrowhead Reservoir...
with cast and crew staying in the Lake Arrowhead Hotel or in private chalets. Temple lived in a trailer parked on a hillside and only left it at the very last moment to do her scenes – after her stand-in had finished with lights and sound. Temple had at least eight bodyguards who escorted her to and from the trailer and about the area when necessary.
Temple had strong theatrical instincts. She suggested the musical dream sequence ("In Our Little Wooden Shoes" by Lew Pollack
Lew Pollack
Lew Pollack was a song composer active during the 1920s and the 1930s.Pollack was born in New York. Among his best known songs are "Charmaine" and "Diane" with Ernö Rapée, "Miss Annabelle Lee", "Two Cigarettes in the Dark", "At the Codfish Ball" , and Go In and Out The Window, now a...
and Sidney D. Mitchell
Sidney D. Mitchell
Sidney D. Mitchell was a Hollywood film industry lyricist and composer. He is best known for his collaborations with Lew Pollack on movie scores at Twentieth Century Fox in the 1930s and 1940s...
) and its placement in the film (Edwards 107). She developed a very possessive attitude over the scene, correcting the other children when they became confused with the dance steps and arguing back and forth with them. Director Dwan had badges made reading 'Shirley Temple Police' and every child wore one after swearing allegiance and obedience to 'Chief' Temple. Everyone on the set was soon wearing badges with Temple strutting about giving orders to the crew such as "Take that set down and build me a castle." They went along with the game (Edwards 111).
Temple made only one other film in 1937, Wee Willie Winkie
Wee Willie Winkie
"Wee Willie Winkie" is a Scottish nursery rhyme, whose titular figure has become popular the world over as a personification of sleep. The poem, written by William Miller and titled "Willie Winkie", was first published in Whistle-binkie: Stories for the Fireside in 1841...
. The child actress was growing older and her career flagging when Heidi was filmed, but she retained her position as number one at the box office for the third year in a row.