Our Town - From Stage to Screen

After winning much acclaim and the Pulitzer Prize, Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" was sold to the movies, to be made into a major motion picture in 1940. The unlikely purchaser of the rights was producer Sol Lesser, whose place in the industry up to that point was primarily as an exhibitor and president of a movie theater chain. Lesser had produced only a handful of pictures at that point, mostly low-budget Westerns, Tarzan pictures and serials [such as Dick Tracy films].

Today, when a play's film rights are sold, the playwright rarely retains any real rights to the creation of the eventual film, and screenwriters are brought in to 'adapt' the script. But Lesser had great respect for Wilder, and some believe this was Lesser's chance to be seen as a producer of more serious fare. He was responsible for assembling one of the most distinguished ensemble casts of esteemed character actors for principal roles [including Fay Bainter, Beulah Bondi, Thomas Mitchell and Guy Kibbee], and brought in the young William Holden to play George. Holden's career was just taking off, following the success of "Golden Boy," opposite Barbara Stanwyck. Lesser agreed to keep the original stage Emily, Martha Scott, in her film debut.

Lesser tapped veteran director Sam Wood, who had been an assistant director to C.B.DeMille in the silent film era. Wood's career was already established with dozens of diverse credits, such as "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" and two Marx Brothers films. Wilder collaborated with screenwriter Harry Chandlee on the final script, with additional input from Frank Craven, who portrayed the Stage Manager in both the original stage and film versions.

Scott, and the film, received Academy Award nominations, but the Oscars went to Ginger Rodgers ["Kitty Foyle"] and Alfred Hitchcock's "Rebecca."

Below are excerpts from the remarkable correspondence between producer and writer, demonstrating how much access Wilder had to the final version. In the end, however, Hollywood won out on one of the most important elements of the story - Emily's death. In the original film, Emily does not die, but instead falls into a deep coma, where the Act Three scenes are played out, but then she wakes up ! Happy ending !

Theatre Arts 1940

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photo from the movie

Living and Dying in 'Our Town' is a production of Character Studies

© 2007 Character Studies Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved. Published May 16, 2007