Cast:
Ray Milland, Jean Peters, Paul Douglas [ More ]Director:
Lloyd BaconWriter:
Valentine DaviesProducer:
William PerlbergCinematographer:
Joe MacDonaldEditor:
Bruce PierceProduction Designers:
Lyle Wheeler, J. Russell SpencerProduction Company:
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.Shirley Wheeler Smith, the chief financial officer at the University of Michigan, originally wrote the short story used in this film for presentation at University Club festivities several years before it was published in the Summer 1946 issue of Michigan Alumnus. According to documents in the Twentieth Century-Fox Records of the Legal Department at the UCLA Arts--Special Collection Library, screenwriter Valentine Davies acquired all rights to the story in Mar 1947. Davies agreed to pay Smith fifty percent of all monies received, excluding his fee for writing a screenplay. In Apr 1948, Twentiethc Century-Fox bought a treatment Davies had developed from the story for $40,000. Davies was subsequently hired to write a screenplay, which then became the sole property of the studio. Davies retained publication rights to the treatment, however, and, incorporating material from the screenplay, produced a novel whose publication coincided with the film's release. Onscreen credits state that Davies wrote the screenplay "Based on a story by Shirley W. Smith and Valentine Davies."
A month before shooting was scheduled to start, (Ray Milland having been borrowed from Paramount), the studio encountered major problems with representatives of professional baseball. Despite the studio's numerous pleas, Commissioner Albert B. "Happy" Chandler, would not grant permission to use actual team names in the film as it was "the story of a cheat, winning a pennant and a World's Championship Series." The studio offered to include a foreword on the film that read: "The adventures of Mr. Vernon K. Simpson, the central character of this story, are purely imaginary. Because they violate both the rules of the game and the law of nature, the things he does are impossible ...
Shirley Wheeler Smith, the chief financial officer at the University of Michigan, originally wrote the short story used in this film for presentation at University Club festivities several years before it was published in the Summer 1946 issue of Michigan Alumnus. According to documents in the Twentieth Century-Fox Records of the Legal Department at the UCLA Arts--Special Collection Library, screenwriter Valentine Davies acquired all rights to the story in Mar 1947. Davies agreed to pay Smith fifty percent of all monies received, excluding his fee for writing a screenplay. In Apr 1948, Twentiethc Century-Fox bought a treatment Davies had developed from the story for $40,000. Davies was subsequently hired to write a screenplay, which then became the sole property of the studio. Davies retained publication rights to the treatment, however, and, incorporating material from the screenplay, produced a novel whose publication coincided with the film's release. Onscreen credits state that Davies wrote the screenplay "Based on a story by Shirley W. Smith and Valentine Davies."
A month before shooting was scheduled to start, (Ray Milland having been borrowed from Paramount), the studio encountered major problems with representatives of professional baseball. Despite the studio's numerous pleas, Commissioner Albert B. "Happy" Chandler, would not grant permission to use actual team names in the film as it was "the story of a cheat, winning a pennant and a World's Championship Series." The studio offered to include a foreword on the film that read: "The adventures of Mr. Vernon K. Simpson, the central character of this story, are purely imaginary. Because they violate both the rules of the game and the law of nature, the things he does are impossible and quite fantastic--like so many other things that happen every Spring." Chandler would not budge, and plans to feature professional players and famed announcer Red Barber were dropped as were names of specific teams and ballparks. However, Wrigley Field in Los Angeles was rented for the game sequences at $525 per day and the University of Southern California received a donation of $250 per day for use of its Bovard Field. A street sequence was shot in Santa Monica, CA, and other exteriors were filmed at USC.
The final HR production chart, on 21 Jan 1949, lists Dorothy Spencer as film editor, although Bruce Pierce is credited onscreen in that capacity. The extent of Spencer's contribution to the final film is not known. Actors Al Eben, Grandon Rhodes and Robert Patten are listed in the Var review and studio cast lists but their appearance in the released film is doubtful. It Happens Every Spring received an Academy Award nomination for Best Motion Picture Story. A radio adaptation of Davies' script, starring Ray Milland, William Bendix and Coleen Townsend, was broadcast on Lux Radio Theatre on 3 Oct 1949. Another version was broadcast on Screen Directors' Playhouse on 14 Apr 1950.
Vernon Simpson is a young university chemistry professor working on his doctorate degree and is in love with the university president's daughter, Deborah Greenleaf. Vernon's department head, Prof. Forsythe, tells Greenleaf that upon completion of Simpson's degree, he intends to nominate him as director of a new research laboratory. Unknown to Forsythe, however, Vernon has a major flaw: every spring he becomes absentminded due to his intense interest in baseball. Debbie's father has made it clear to Vernon that, given his current financial situation, he should not be considering marriage to Debbie. However, Vernon tells Debbie that the situation may change very soon as a result of the experiment he is working on. Vernon has been developing a chemical compound to keep insects and other living matter away from wood, and has a major company interested in marketing it. His experimental setup is destroyed, however, after a baseball crashes through his lab window and lands in his chemical "soup" in the sink. When Vernon discovers that chemically coated ball is repelled by wooden objects, he realizes the enormous impact his find could have on the game of baseball. To verify his findings, Vernon arranges to have two student baseball players, Schmidt and Isbell, help him in exchange for additional tutoring. When Vernon throws a baseball that has been rubbed with a cloth soaked in the compound, it repeatedly jumps away from the swung bat and into the catcher's mitt. Although he cannot reconstitute the compound, Vernon immediately asks Prof. Greenleaf for an emergency leave of absence to demonstrate his findings, the details of which he does not reveal to Greenleaf. Vernon takes a train to St. Louis, ...
Vernon Simpson is a young university chemistry professor working on his doctorate degree and is in love with the university president's daughter, Deborah Greenleaf. Vernon's department head, Prof. Forsythe, tells Greenleaf that upon completion of Simpson's degree, he intends to nominate him as director of a new research laboratory. Unknown to Forsythe, however, Vernon has a major flaw: every spring he becomes absentminded due to his intense interest in baseball. Debbie's father has made it clear to Vernon that, given his current financial situation, he should not be considering marriage to Debbie. However, Vernon tells Debbie that the situation may change very soon as a result of the experiment he is working on. Vernon has been developing a chemical compound to keep insects and other living matter away from wood, and has a major company interested in marketing it. His experimental setup is destroyed, however, after a baseball crashes through his lab window and lands in his chemical "soup" in the sink. When Vernon discovers that chemically coated ball is repelled by wooden objects, he realizes the enormous impact his find could have on the game of baseball. To verify his findings, Vernon arranges to have two student baseball players, Schmidt and Isbell, help him in exchange for additional tutoring. When Vernon throws a baseball that has been rubbed with a cloth soaked in the compound, it repeatedly jumps away from the swung bat and into the catcher's mitt. Although he cannot reconstitute the compound, Vernon immediately asks Prof. Greenleaf for an emergency leave of absence to demonstrate his findings, the details of which he does not reveal to Greenleaf. Vernon takes a train to St. Louis, heads for the baseball stadium and sees manager Jimmy Dolan. Although Vernon bills himself as the pitcher Dolan is in great need of, Dolan tries to have him thrown out. Club owner Stone, however, arranges for him to demonstrate his prowess, fully expecting him to be humiliated. Working with Monk Lanigan as his catcher, Vernon strikes out the team's top batters, and Stone realizes they have found a new star. After Vernon, who is playing under the name King Kelly, wins the first game he plays in against Chicago, he negotiates a lucrative contract with Dolan and Stone. Dolan assigns Monk to room with Vernon and keep an eye on him, as Dolan thinks Vernon is a "screwball." When Monk notices the bottle containing the chemical compound among Vernon's belongings, Vernon tells him that it is a prescription hair tonic. Vernon then reads a newspaper item reporting that he is missing and that a search has been initiated. After Vernon sends Debbie a diamond ring along with a vague letter asking her to have the police call off the search, Debbie's father thinks Vernon is probably mixed up with racketeers. Later, Debbie's mother spots Vernon at a railroad station in the company of a bunch of tough looking players and assumes they are gangsters. Vernon wins games in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Brooklyn and New York but has to insist that the press take no photographs of him. Meanwhile, Debbie reads a newspaper account about a gang robbing an exclusive jewelry store and removes her ring. When Vernon makes a payment on the ring, he bumps into Debbie, who accuses him of being a gangster. He confesses that he is now a baseball player but Debbie refuses to believe him. Vernon and his compound win every game for the team. One afternoon, Debbie attends a game and, through binoculars, recognizes Vernon. During the game, Monk, Vernon's regular catcher, injures a finger and has to have wooden splints applied to it, causing the ball not only to avoid the bat but Monk's hand as well. The team eventually wins the pennant and is scheduled to play against New York in the World Series, starting in St. Louis. Debbie tells her mother that Vernon is the new baseball sensation, and her father soon finds out the truth as well. Just before Vernon is to pitch the opening game, Dolan to whom Monk has loaned Vernon's bottle of "hair tonic," he returns it to Vernon and accidentally drops it. The bottle breaks, leaving Vernon with no compound to rub on the ball. With Debbie and her parents watching in the stands, Vernon struggles through the game and manages to win by catching a hit with his pitching hand. X-rays reveal that the hand is broken and that he will not be able to play any more. Monk sees Vernon off at the station then phones Debbie. A big crowd, led by Debbie, welcomes Vernon home. Dr. Greenleaf tells him that Stone has given the university money for a new research laboratory and that he will be appointed director.
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