The Great McGinty
Encyclopedia
The Great McGinty is a 1940 political satire
comedy
film written and directed by Preston Sturges
, starring Brian Donlevy
and Akim Tamiroff
and featuring William Demarest
and Muriel Angelus
. It was Sturges's first film as a director; he sold the story to Paramount Pictures
for just $10 on condition he direct the film. Sturges went on to win the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay.
In the U.K.
the film was retitled Down Went McGinty.
) is a bartender in a banana republic
who recounts his rise and fall to the bar's dancing girl and an exiled American down on his luck. McGinty's career begins when he was a tramp who, cajoled into voting under a false name in order to get $2, he impresses a local political boss (Akim Tamiroff
) by voting thirty-seven times in a rigged mayoral election. McGinty becomes one of the boss's enforcers, then his political protégé, makes a marriage of convenience, wins the mayor's job as a "reform" candidate, then goes on to the governor's mansion before a change of heart compels him to take public service seriously after he and his wife finally fall in love.
His past catches up with him though: he is imprisoned in the next cell to his former mentor. The two men escape and go into exile together, but are still given to violent disagreements.
Cast notes:
in mind. According to film historian Kevin Brownlow
, Sturges was inspired by the career of William Sulzer
, who was impeached and removed from office as governor of New York.
After trying to sell the story to Universal
in 1935, and the Saturday Evening Post in 1938 under the title Biography of a Bum, Sturges finally sold it to Paramount
on August 19, 1939 for $10 on the condition that he be allowed to direct it. Sturges at that time was the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood, so it's not surprising that Paramount agreed, but they also covered themselves by giving Sturges a modest budget of $350,000, a three-week shooting schedule, and inexpensive stars to work with.
Production on the film was delayed to allow Akim Tamiroff to do The Way of All Flesh
, but it began on December 15, 1939. Sturges contracted pneumonia
during filming, and required a nurse to attend to him on the set. Production stopped on January 25, 1940 with one day's shooting left to do, which was accomplished on April 15, after the first cut of the film had already been made.
The Great McGinty premiered in New York City
on 15 August 1940, and was generally released on 23 August. It was released on video in the U.S. on April 7, 1988, and re-released on June 30, 1993.
on the CBS radio network, the August 27, 1945 episode of The Screen Guild Theater
and in the April 20, 1946 episode of Academy Award Theater
. It was also adapted to the October 12, 1947 episode of the Ford Theatre
and a May 11, 1952 Screen Guild Theater starring Broderick Crawford
. Donlevy also appeared in a television adaptation on Lux Video Theeatre, broadcast on 28 April 1955
, with Thomas Gomez
and Jesse White
. The director was Earl Eby
and Preston Sturges' screenplay was adapted by S.H. Barnett.
Paramount considered a remake of the film starring Bing Crosby in 1950, and in 1954 with Bob Hope, but decided against both.
Political satire
Political satire is a significant part of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where such arguments are expressly...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
film written and directed by Preston Sturges
Preston Sturges
Preston Sturges , originally Edmund Preston Biden, was a celebrated playwright, screenwriter and film director born in Chicago, Illinois...
, starring Brian Donlevy
Brian Donlevy
Brian Donlevy was an Irish-born American film actor, noted for playing tough guys from the 1930s to the 1960s. He usually appeared in supporting roles. Among his best known films are Beau Geste and The Great McGinty...
and Akim Tamiroff
Akim Tamiroff
Akim Mikhailovich Tamiroff was an Armenian actor. He won the first Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.Tamiroff was born in Tiflis, Russian Empire , of Armenian ethnicity. He trained at the Moscow Art Theatre drama school. He arrived in the U.S. in 1923 on a tour with a troupe of actors...
and featuring William Demarest
William Demarest
Carl William Demarest was an American character actor. He frequently played crusty but good-hearted roles.-Early life and career:...
and Muriel Angelus
Muriel Angelus
Muriel Angelus was a British-born stage, musical theatre and film actress.Born Muriel Angelus Findlay London, England to Scottish parentage, she developed a sweet-voiced soprano at an early age...
. It was Sturges's first film as a director; he sold the story to Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
for just $10 on condition he direct the film. Sturges went on to win the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay.
In the U.K.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
the film was retitled Down Went McGinty.
Plot
Dan McGinty (Brian DonlevyBrian Donlevy
Brian Donlevy was an Irish-born American film actor, noted for playing tough guys from the 1930s to the 1960s. He usually appeared in supporting roles. Among his best known films are Beau Geste and The Great McGinty...
) is a bartender in a banana republic
Banana republic
In political science, the pejorative term Banana Republic denotes a politically unstable country dependent upon limited primary productions , which is ruled by a plutocracy, a small, self-elected, wealthy group who exploit the country by means of a politico-economic oligarchy...
who recounts his rise and fall to the bar's dancing girl and an exiled American down on his luck. McGinty's career begins when he was a tramp who, cajoled into voting under a false name in order to get $2, he impresses a local political boss (Akim Tamiroff
Akim Tamiroff
Akim Mikhailovich Tamiroff was an Armenian actor. He won the first Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.Tamiroff was born in Tiflis, Russian Empire , of Armenian ethnicity. He trained at the Moscow Art Theatre drama school. He arrived in the U.S. in 1923 on a tour with a troupe of actors...
) by voting thirty-seven times in a rigged mayoral election. McGinty becomes one of the boss's enforcers, then his political protégé, makes a marriage of convenience, wins the mayor's job as a "reform" candidate, then goes on to the governor's mansion before a change of heart compels him to take public service seriously after he and his wife finally fall in love.
His past catches up with him though: he is imprisoned in the next cell to his former mentor. The two men escape and go into exile together, but are still given to violent disagreements.
Cast
- Brian DonlevyBrian DonlevyBrian Donlevy was an Irish-born American film actor, noted for playing tough guys from the 1930s to the 1960s. He usually appeared in supporting roles. Among his best known films are Beau Geste and The Great McGinty...
as Daniel McGinty - Muriel AngelusMuriel AngelusMuriel Angelus was a British-born stage, musical theatre and film actress.Born Muriel Angelus Findlay London, England to Scottish parentage, she developed a sweet-voiced soprano at an early age...
as Catherine McGinty - Akim TamiroffAkim TamiroffAkim Mikhailovich Tamiroff was an Armenian actor. He won the first Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.Tamiroff was born in Tiflis, Russian Empire , of Armenian ethnicity. He trained at the Moscow Art Theatre drama school. He arrived in the U.S. in 1923 on a tour with a troupe of actors...
as The Boss - Allyn JoslynAllyn JoslynAllyn Joslyn was an American stage, film and television actor.-Biography:Allyn Joslyn was born in Milford, Pennsylvania, the son of a mining engineer...
as George - William DemarestWilliam DemarestCarl William Demarest was an American character actor. He frequently played crusty but good-hearted roles.-Early life and career:...
as The Politician - Louis Jean Heydt as Tommy Thompson
- Harry RosenthalHarry RosenthalHarry Rosenthal was an orchestra leader, composer, pianist and actor.- Biography :Rosenthal was born in Belfast in 1893, and by the 1920s he was in London where he had a thriving musical career as a composer, bandleader and pianist, including composing five operettas which met with great success...
as Louie - Arthur HoytArthur HoytArthur Hoyt was an American film character actor who appeared in more than 275 films in his 34 year film career, about a third of them silent films. He was a brother of Harry O...
as Mayor Wilfred T. Tillinghast - Libby Taylor as Bessy
- Thurston HallThurston HallThurston Hall was an American film actor. He appeared in 250 films between 1915 and 1957 and is probably best remembered for his portrayal, during the later stages of his career, of often pompous or blustering authority figures.Hall's best-known television role was as Mr. Schuyler, the boss of...
as Mr. Maxwell - Steffi DunaSteffi DunaSteffi Duna was a Hungarian-born film actress popular in American and British films during the 1930s.-Hungarian Dancer:...
as The Dancing Girl
Cast notes:
- Both Donlevy and Tamiroff reprised their roles in Sturges' 1944 comedy The Miracle of Morgan's CreekThe Miracle of Morgan's CreekThe Miracle of Morgan's Creek is a 1944 screwball comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges, starring Eddie Bracken and Betty Hutton, and featuring Diana Lynn, William Demarest and Porter Hall...
. - This was the first film directed by Preston SturgesPreston SturgesPreston Sturges , originally Edmund Preston Biden, was a celebrated playwright, screenwriter and film director born in Chicago, Illinois...
, and in it he used many of the actors who became part of his unofficial "stock company", a troupe of character actors within the studio system. Appearing in McGinty are: George AndersonGeorge Anderson (actor)George Anderson was an American stage and film actor who appeared in 74 films and 25 Broadway productions in his 34 year career.-Career:...
, Jimmy ConlinJimmy ConlinJimmy Conlin was an American character actor who appeared in almost 150 films in his 32 year career.-Career:...
, William Demarest, Byron Foulger, Harry Hayden, Esther HowardEsther HowardEsther Howard was a film character actress who played a wide range of supporting roles, from man-hungry spinsters to amoral criminals, appearing in over 100 movies in her 23-year film career.-Career:...
, Arthur Hoyt, George MelfordGeorge MelfordGeorge H. Melford was an American stage and film actor, director, producer, and screenwriter.-Career:...
, Charles R. MooreCharles R. MooreCharles R. Moore was an African-American actor who appeared in over 100 films in his acting career, and was sometimes credited as Charles Moore or Charlie Moore Moore played small parts such as servants, bootblacks, elevator operators, menial laborers, and, especially, railroad porters and Red Caps...
, Frank MoranFrank MoranCharles Francis "Frank" Moran was an American boxer and film actor who fought twice for the Heavyweight Championship of the World, and appeared in over 135 movies in a 25 year film career.-Sports career:...
, Emory ParnellEmory ParnellEmory Parnell was an American vaudevillian and actor who appeared in over 250 films in his 36 year career...
, Victor PotelVictor PotelVictor Potel was an American film character actor who began in the silent era and appeared in over 430 films in his 38 year career.-Career:...
, Dewey Robinson, Harry Rosenthal and Robert Warwick. - This was the third film written by Preston Sturges that William Demarest appeared in, after Diamond JimDiamond JimDiamond Jim is a 1935 biographical film based on the published biography Diamond Jim Brady by Parker Morell. It follows the life of legendary entrepreneur James Buchanan Brady, including his romance with entertainer Lillian Russell, and stars Edward Arnold, Jean Arthur, Cesar Romero and Binnie...
(1935) and Easy Living (1937), and he would go on to do seven others (see note). - Jo Ann SayersJo Ann SayersJo Ann Sayers is an American actress who was active in Broadway and in Hollywood films. Her film career spanned the 1930s through the 1950s.-Biography:...
was originally scheduled to play Catherine McGinty, and was borrowed from MGM, but she was not found to be satisfactory and was replaced. - Tamiroff's malapropMalapropismA malapropism is an act of misusing or the habitual misuse of similar sounding words, especially with humorous results. An example is Yogi Berra's statement: "Texas has a lot of electrical votes," rather than "electoral votes".-Etymology:...
-laced performance inspired the cartoon character Boris BadenovBoris BadenovBoris Badenov is a fictional character in the 1960s animated cartoons Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show, collectively referred to as Rocky and Bullwinkle for short. He is voiced by Paul Frees....
, the male half of the villainous husband-and-wife team Boris and Natasha on The Rocky and Bullwinkle ShowThe Rocky and Bullwinkle ShowThe Rocky & Bullwinkle Show is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959 to June 28, 1964 on the ABC and NBC television networks...
.
Production
The Great McGinty had numerous working titles: "The Story of a Man", "The Vagrant", "The Mantle of Dignity", "The Biography of a Bum", and "Down Went McGinty", (which was used for the film's release in the U.K). Sturges had written the original story, "The Story of a Man", in 1933 with Spencer TracySpencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...
in mind. According to film historian Kevin Brownlow
Kevin Brownlow
Kevin Brownlow is a filmmaker, film historian, television documentary-maker, author, and Academy Award recipient. Brownlow is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era. Brownlow became interested in silent film at the age of eleven. This interest grew into a career spent...
, Sturges was inspired by the career of William Sulzer
William Sulzer
William Sulzer was an American lawyer and politician, nicknamed Plain Bill Sulzer. He was the 39th Governor of New York and a long-serving congressman from the same state. He was the first and so far only New York Governor to be impeached...
, who was impeached and removed from office as governor of New York.
After trying to sell the story to Universal
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
in 1935, and the Saturday Evening Post in 1938 under the title Biography of a Bum, Sturges finally sold it to Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
on August 19, 1939 for $10 on the condition that he be allowed to direct it. Sturges at that time was the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood, so it's not surprising that Paramount agreed, but they also covered themselves by giving Sturges a modest budget of $350,000, a three-week shooting schedule, and inexpensive stars to work with.
Production on the film was delayed to allow Akim Tamiroff to do The Way of All Flesh
The Way of All Flesh (film)
The Way of All Flesh is a drama film directed by Victor Fleming, written by Lajos Biró, Jules Furthman and Julian Johnson from a story by Perley Poore Sheehan. The film is unrelated to Samuel Butler's novel The Way of All Flesh, and is now considered a lost film.-Cast:*Emil Jannings - August...
, but it began on December 15, 1939. Sturges contracted pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
during filming, and required a nurse to attend to him on the set. Production stopped on January 25, 1940 with one day's shooting left to do, which was accomplished on April 15, after the first cut of the film had already been made.
The Great McGinty premiered in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on 15 August 1940, and was generally released on 23 August. It was released on video in the U.S. on April 7, 1988, and re-released on June 30, 1993.
Adaptations
Brian Donlevy appeared in a Philip Morris Playhouse radio adaptation in 19421942 in radio
The year 1942 saw a number of significant happenings in radio broadcasting history.-Events:*1 January: All radio broadcasting in the Netherlands comes under full control of the country's Nazi occupiers. Publication of the only authorized programme guide, De Luistergids, begins.*9 January: Blue...
on the CBS radio network, the August 27, 1945 episode of The Screen Guild Theater
The Screen Guild Theater
The Screen Guild Theater was a popular radio anthology series during the Golden Age of Radio, broadcast from 1939 until 1952, with leading Hollywood actors performing in adaptations of popular motion pictures such as Going My Way and The Postman Always Rings Twice.The show had a long run, lasting...
and in the April 20, 1946 episode of Academy Award Theater
Academy Award Theater
Academy Award was a CBS radio anthology series which presented 30-minute adaptations of plays, novels or films.Rather than adaptations of Oscar-winning films, as the title implied, the series offered "Hollywood's finest, the great picture plays, the great actors and actresses, techniques and...
. It was also adapted to the October 12, 1947 episode of the Ford Theatre
Ford Theatre
Ford Theatre was a radio and television anthology series broadcast in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. At various times the television series appeared on all three major television networks, while the radio version was broadcast on two separate networks and on two separate coasts...
and a May 11, 1952 Screen Guild Theater starring Broderick Crawford
Broderick Crawford
Broderick Crawford was an Academy Award-winning American stage, film, radio and TV actor, often cast in tough-guy roles and best known for his starring role in the television series "Highway Patrol."-Early life:...
. Donlevy also appeared in a television adaptation on Lux Video Theeatre, broadcast on 28 April 1955
1955 in television
The year 1955 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1955.-Events:*March 5 – Elvis Presley appears on television for the first time...
, with Thomas Gomez
Thomas Gomez
Thomas Gomez was an American actor.Born Sabino Tomas Gomez in New York City, Gomez began his acting career in theater during the 1920s and was a student of the actor Walter Hampden...
and Jesse White
Jesse White
Jesse White may refer to:*Jesse White , film and television actor*Jesse White , Illinois politician*Jesse J. White, member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives*Jesco White, the West Virginia "Dancing Outlaw"...
. The director was Earl Eby
Earl Eby
Earl William Eby was an American athlete who competed mainly in the 800 metres.He competed for the United States in the 1920 Summer Olympics held in Antwerp, Belgium in the 800 metres where he won the silver medal.He was born in Aurora, Illinois and died in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.-References:*...
and Preston Sturges' screenplay was adapted by S.H. Barnett.
Paramount considered a remake of the film starring Bing Crosby in 1950, and in 1954 with Bob Hope, but decided against both.