the films of 1939: The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

the films of 1939: The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn by ric gustafson


Samuel Clemens loved to write in his gazebo at his Quarry Farms in Upper New York. He had a circular writing table, a straight backed wicker chair and two small chairs for visitors. He was working on two stories but also worked on a story that was already four hundred pages. He also thought of a new writing name for himself, Mark Twain.
Clemens was born in Hannibal Missouri in 1835. Hannibal was a steamboat port on the Mississippi River and the people, language and beauty of the river influenced his writing. Two people he grew up with would become the basis of two of his most well known characters. Tom Blankenship was a friend that he spent a lot of time with and Anna Hawkins was a pretty blue eyed girl that was his first love.
Clemens briefly served in the Civil War and then worked at the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. Under Mark Twain, Clemens wrote a story called ' The Celebrated Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County'. In 1876 under the name of Mark Twain, Clemens wrote a story called ' The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer'. In the story, a character named Tom and a friend Huckleberry Finn have experiences and adventures. The character of Becky Thatcher was formed because of Clemens's first love Laura Hawkins. Clemens eventually changed the story's title to ' The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn'. The story was published in December of 1884.
In 1933, MGM paid Paramount Studios $30,000 for the movie rights to the novel. Mickey McGuire was born as Joe Yule Jr. His father was a comedian and his mother was a chorus dancer. He starred in twenty one silent films and forty talkies before he got his first minor role in a Universal picture. Shortly after, he legally changed his name to Mickey Rooney. In 1932 at the age of twelve, he got his first starring role in a film called ' My Pal The King' starring Tom Mix. In 1937, Rooney began making pictures where he played a character named Andy Hardy. With Rooney as Huckleberry Finn,  Rex Ingram was selected to play the runaway slave named Jim.  Richard Thorpe was selected to be the director and the story was worked on to get it to an hour and a half film.
Filming started in November of 1938 and would continue until January of 1939. When the film opened, it was an immediate hit with critics and the audience. That year, Rooney was named the biggest box office attraction in films and at MGM.


research help: ' 1939, the making of six great films from Hollywood's greatest year' by Charles F Adams'.


Peace and God's blessings. Love Ric