Young Mr. Lincoln

[Rob Wick]

I've always found it fascinating that in a year when Bob Hope said of the 1940 Oscars "What a wonderful thing, this benefit for David Selznick" that Gable was one of the few nominated from the film who didn't win. Who today has even heard of Robert Donat (although I did like Goodbye Mr. Chips very much)? I mean, even Hattie McDaniel went home with an Oscar. It seems illogical given that Gable was the nation's only serious choice to play Rhett Butler.

As an aside, two of the greatest moments in my otherwise lackluster newspaper career came when I saw Mickey Rooney and Donald O'Connor perform together and the next year when I got to interview Debbie Reynolds. Just listening to some of their stories about old Hollywood brought it alive. (Reynolds gushed that Glenn Ford was the best kisser she ever worked with).

Reynolds told about when they were filming How the West Was Won. The cast and crew stayed in Paducah when they were filming in deep southern Illinois near Cave-In-Rock. There was an island that flooded six months out of the year and it was getting ready to do so. They were filming a scene where Jimmy Stewart and Carroll Baker were embracing with Reynolds looking on. During the scene all of a sudden Baker let out a loud scream. A water moccasin had wrapped itself around a low-hanging tree limb. Reynolds quipped "Carroll ran, I ran, but Jimmy outran us both."

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Rob