Editing In Old Chicago

{{short description|1938 film by Henry King, Robert D. Webb}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film 
| name           = In Old Chicago
| image          = Poster - In Old Chicago 05.jpg
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Henry King (director)|Henry King]]
| producer       = [[Darryl F. Zanuck]]<br>[[Kenneth Macgowan]]
| writer         = '''Story:'''<br />[[Niven Busch]]
| screenplay     = [[Sonya Levien]]<br />[[Lamar Trotti]]
| starring       = [[Tyrone Power]]<br>[[Alice Faye]]<br>[[Don Ameche]]<br>[[Alice Brady]]
| music          = [[Sidney Clare]]<br> [[Lew Pollack]]
| cinematography = [[J. Peverell Marley]]
| editing        = [[Barbara McLean]]
| distributor    = [[20th Century Fox]]
| released       ={{Film date|1938|01|06}}
| runtime = {{plainlist|
* 96 minutes {{small|(US theatrical cut)}}
* 111 minutes {{small|(Roadshow version)}}}}
|gross = $1.964 million (U.S. and Canada rentals)<ref>{{cite magazine|date=October 15, 1990|title=All Time Film Rental Champs|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|issn=0042-2738|page=M-166|first=Lawrence|last=Cohn}}</ref>
|budget=over $1 million<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Top Films and Stars|url=https://archive.org/details/variety133-1939-01/page/n9/mode/1up?q=%E2%80%9CCosting%E2%80%9D|magazine=Variety|accessdate=18 March 2023|page=10|date=4 January 1939}}</ref>
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| studio         = Darryl F. Zanuck Productions
}}

'''''In Old Chicago''''' is a 1938 American [[disaster]] [[Musical film|musical]] [[drama film]] directed by [[Henry King (director)|Henry King]].  The screenplay by [[Sonya Levien]] and [[Lamar Trotti]] was based on the [[Niven Busch]] story, "We the O'Learys".  The film is a fictionalized account about the [[Great Chicago Fire]] of 1871 and stars [[Alice Brady]] as [[Catherine O'Leary|Mrs. O'Leary]], the owner of the cow which started the fire, and [[Tyrone Power]] and [[Don Ameche]] as her sons.  It also stars [[Alice Faye]] and [[Andy Devine]]. At the time of its release, it was one of the most expensive movies ever made.

==Plot==
The O'Leary family are traveling to Chicago to start a new life when Patrick O'Leary tries to race a steam train in his wagon. He is killed when his wagon hits a bump and his horses break loose, dragging him. His wife Molly and their three boys are left to survive on their own. In town she agrees to prove her skills as a laundress when a woman's dress is accidentally spattered with mud. She quickly proves herself and builds a laundry business in an area known as "[[West Town, Chicago#Smith Park|the Patch]]". Her sons are educated. One, Jack, becomes a reforming lawyer, but another, Dion, is involved in gambling. While washing a sheet, Mrs. O'Leary discovers a drawing, apparently created by Gil Warren, a devious local businessman. Her sons realize that it reveals that he has a plan to run a tramline along a street that he and his cronies intend to buy up cheaply.

Dion becomes enamored with a feisty saloon-bar singer, Belle, who works for Warren. After a stormy courtship they become lovers. Meanwhile, Bob, the youngest O'Leary son, who helps his mother, is in love with Gretchen, an innocent German girl. They meet in the barn watched by the O'Leary's cow Daisy and plan to marry. Mrs. O'Leary approves of the match, but expresses disdain for the loose-living Belle.

Dion and Belle bribe the local politicians to set up a saloon on the street where the tramline will pass. Dion makes a deal to support Warren's political career and carve up business in the town. However, Dion's dishonest practices lead to conflict with his brother Jack when one of Dion's cronies is arrested for multiple voting. Dion later decides to support his brother rather than Warren in the election, convinced he can cut out Warren altogether and reign-in Jack's reformist zeal. He is increasingly attracted by the daughter of the corrupt local senator, leading to conflicts with Belle. Bob and Gretchen marry and have a baby.

At a Warren election rally a fight breaks out, arranged by Dion. All Warren's election workers are arrested. Jack is elected mayor. He soon announces a campaign against corruption, targeting his brother's fiefdom in the Patch, which he intends to demolish. Belle and Dion separate when Jack asks her to support him. When he realizes Belle might testify against him, Dion asks her to marry him, making her testimony inadmissible. As mayor, Jack marries the couple, but knocks Dion out in a fist fight as soon he realizes he has been deceived.

Mrs. O'Leary is told about the fight while helping Daisy's calf to suckle. In her distress, she leaves a lamp in the barn, and Daisy knocks it over. A fire breaks out. Soon the whole of the Patch is on fire. Dion, Warren and their cronies are convinced that Jack has set the fire. Warren's men look for Jack, seeking revenge. Advised by [[Philip Sheridan]], Jack plans to create a firebreak by dynamiting buildings to stop the fire reaching the gasworks, but Warren's gang try to stop him. When Dion learns from Bob how the fire really started, he rushes to Jack's aid. In the struggle, Jack and Dion fight off the gang and set off the [[dynamite]], but Jack is shot by one of Warren's thugs and then killed by a falling building. Warren attempts to flee but is trampled to death by stampeding cattle from the stockyards.

Dion and Bob help to save Gretchen and the baby, while Belle rescues Mrs O'Leary. They all manage to escape to the river. Belle and Dion are reconciled, and Mrs. O'Leary predicts that the city will be rebuilt and flourish after her son's sacrifice for its future.

==Cast==
* [[Tyrone Power]] as Dion O'Leary
* [[Alice Faye]] as Belle Fawcett
* [[Don Ameche]] as Jack O'Leary
* [[Alice Brady]] as Mrs. [[Catherine O'Leary|Molly O'Leary]]
* [[Phyllis Brooks]] as Ann Colby
* [[Andy Devine]] as Pickle Bixby
* [[Brian Donlevy]] as Gil Warren
* [[Tom Brown (actor)|Tom Brown]] as Bob O'Leary
* [[Berton Churchill]] as Senator Colby
* [[Sidney Blackmer]] as [[Phillip Sheridan|General Phil Sheridan]]
* J. Anthony Hughes [[:de:J. Anthony Hughes|(de)]] as  Patrick O'Leary
* [[Paul Hurst (actor)|Paul Hurst]] as 'Mitch' Mitchell
* [[June Storey]] as Gretchen O'Leary
* [[Gene Reynolds]] as Young Dion
* [[Eddie Collins (actor)|Eddie Collins]] as Drunk 
* [[Billy Watson (actor)|Billy Watson]] as Young Jack
* [[Spencer Charters]] as Commissioner W.J. Beavers 
* [[Rondo Hatton]] as Rondo 
* [[Charles Lane (actor, born 1905)|Charles Lane]] as Booking Agent
* [[Francis Ford (actor)|Francis Ford]] as Driver 
* [[Gustav von Seyffertitz]] as Dutch
* [[Russell Hicks]] as Politician
* [[Scotty Mattraw]] as Beef King
* [[Larry Steers]] as Belle's Admirer (uncredited) 
* [[Harry Tenbrook]] as Hub Patron (uncredited)

==Production==
During pre-production, [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]] had announced that [[Jean Harlow]], who was under contract to that studio, would be loaned to [[20th Century Fox]] to star in the role Belle Fawcett. However, due to Harlow's untimely death, the part went to [[Alice Faye]]. Faye's popularity skyrocketed as a result of the picture, and she was reunited with Power and Ameche that same year for ''[[Alexander's Ragtime Band (film)|Alexander's Ragtime Band]]'', which proved to be even more successful.<ref name=Parish232>{{citation
|last1=Parish
|first1=James Robert
|last2=Mank
|first2=Gregory W.
|last3=Stanke
|first3=Don E.
|title=The Hollywood Beauties
|year=1978
|publisher=Arlington House Publishers
|location=New Rochelle, New York
|isbn=0-87000-412-3
|page=[https://archive.org/details/hollywoodbeautie00pari/page/232 232]
|url-access=registration
|url=https://archive.org/details/hollywoodbeautie00pari/page/232
}}</ref>

Some sources claim that MGM offered to loan both Harlow and [[Clark Gable]] to Fox for ''In Old Chicago'' if they reciprocated by loaning [[Shirley Temple]] to MGM for their upcoming production of ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]''. However, this is merely a rumor, as Harlow died in June 1937, several months before MGM had even purchased the rights to ''Oz''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fricke|first=John|last2=Scarfone|first2=Jay|last3=Stillman|first3=William|author-link1=John Fricke|title=The Wizard of Oz: The Official 50th Anniversary Pictorial History|url=https://archive.org/details/wizardofozoffici0000fric|url-access=registration|publisher=[[Warner Books|Grand Central Publishing]]|location=New York, NY|date=1989|page=[https://archive.org/details/wizardofozoffici0000fric/page/20 20]|isbn=978-0446514460}}</ref> The railroad scenes were filmed on the [[Sierra Railroad]] in [[Tuolumne County, California]].<ref>{{cite book | last =Jensen | first =Larry | authorlink = | title =Hollywood's Railroads: Sierra Railroad | publisher =Cochetopa Press | series = | volume = Two| edition = | date =2018 | location =Sequim, Washington | pages =15 | language = | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=c-RNswEACAAJ&q=Hollywood%27s+Railroads | doi = | id = | isbn =9780692064726 | mr = | zbl = | jfm = }}</ref>

==Awards==
The film was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Picture]]. Alice Brady won the Oscar for [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Actress in a Supporting Role]]. She was the first person to win the Supporting Oscar after being nominated in the prior year. The film was also nominated in the categories of [[Academy Award for Best Original Score|Music (Scoring)]], [[Academy Award for Best Sound|Sound Recording]] ([[E. H. Hansen]]), and [[Academy Award for Best Story|Writing (Original Story)]], and won for [[Academy Award for Best Assistant Director|Assistant Director]] ([[Robert D. Webb]]).<ref name="Oscars1938">{{Cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1938 |title=The 10th Academy Awards (1938) Nominees and Winners |access-date=2011-08-10|work=oscars.org}}</ref>

==Historical accuracy==
Despite crediting the [[Chicago History Museum|Chicago Historical Society]] for assistance with historical research, much of the film is fictionalized. The area known as "the Patch" did exist as a predominantly Irish neighbourhood, and was associated with crime, as portrayed in the film.<ref>Herbert Asbury, ''The gangs of Chicago: an informal history of the Chicago underworld'', Random House, 2003, p.xvii.</ref> In the years before the film was made it had been supplanted by [[the Levee]], an area renowned for its corrupt politicians, known as the [[Gray Wolves (Chicago)|Gray Wolves]], whose deeds resemble those of the characters in the film.<ref>[[William Targ|Targ, William]], ''Indecent pleasures: the life and colorful times of William Targ'', Macmillan, 1975, p.17.</ref>

The portrayal of the O'Leary family is largely fictitious down to the names of the characters. Mrs. O'Leary's name was Catherine, not Molly. The O'Learys had two children, one son and one daughter. In the movie there are three sons. Her only son was named [[James Patrick O'Leary]]. The daughter was named Anna. Their father Patrick O'Leary did not die in 1854 as a result of an accident involving his horses. He died in 1894.<ref name="graveyard">{{cite web| publisher=Graveyards of Chicago| title=Patrick and Catherine O'Leary| url=http://graveyards.com/IL/Cook/mtolivet/oleary.html| access-date=2011-09-23}}</ref> Mrs. O'Leary did not run her own "French Laundry" out of their house.

The Mayor of Chicago in 1871 was [[Roswell B. Mason]], not an O'Leary son. However, Mason was elected on a reform ticket like the fictional Jack and took similar measures to deal with the fire. Mrs. O'Leary's son James Patrick did achieve success as a gambler and saloon owner comparable to that of Dion in the film.

==Trivia==
[[Scotty Mattraw]] and [[Eddie Collins (actor)|Eddie Collins]] both worked as voice actors in [[Walt Disney]]'s first animated feature ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]'' the previous year, with Mattraw voicing Bashful and Collins voicing Dopey.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/movies/Snow-White-and-the-Seven-Dwarfs/|title = Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs}}</ref>

==Home media==
The film was released and restored to its full length on DVD in 2005.

==See also==
* [[List of firefighting films]]

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
* {{AFI film|984|In Old Chicago}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|in_old_chicago|In Old Chicago}}
* {{IMDb title|0029047|In Old Chicago}}
* {{TCMDb title|id= 53021}}

{{Henry King}}
{{Darryl F. Zanuck}}

[[Category:1938 films]]
[[Category:1938 drama films]]
[[Category:1930s disaster films]]
[[Category:1930s historical drama films]]
[[Category:20th Century Fox films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American disaster films]]
[[Category:American historical drama films]]
[[Category:Films about firefighting]]
[[Category:Films directed by Henry King]]
[[Category:Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award–winning performance]]
[[Category:Films produced by Darryl F. Zanuck]]
[[Category:Films set in 1871]]
[[Category:Films set in the 1860s]]
[[Category:Films set in the 1870s]]
[[Category:Films set in Chicago]]
[[Category:Films shot in Chicago]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Sonya Levien]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Lamar Trotti]]
[[Category:1930s English-language films]]
[[Category:1930s American films]]
[[Category:English-language historical drama films]]