City Of Little Men

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 23, 28 January 1939, Page 7 (Supplement)

City Of Little Men

ByEdward Lawrence

r'o HUNDRED children have wrapped themselves around the heart of a motion picture company. They are the residents of Boys' Town. Homeless, they have been provided with a home. Friendless, they have found friends. Physically, mentally and spiritually, their need* are being cared for. Still, there is a void. It is the emptiness that only fatherless and motherless youngsters can know. Father E. D. Flanagan, who has seen a dream grow into reality in his "City of Little Men," has given hi* boys love and understanding. It is beyond his power to find families for all. But, if he hnd asked for a miracle, no manifestations of a higher force could have fulfilled his wish than a major studio's decision to make a film entitled "Boys' Town." It meant sending Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Director Norman Taurog, and a crew of 100 to Omaha, Nebraska, a few miles from Boys' Town. This was to liav« been a routine location, necessary to obtain authentic backgrounds and th» stuff of which drama is made. Back on the set, after three weeks at Boys' Town, Director Taurog said: "All °f us who made the trip felt that it was an opportunity to bring some small happiness into the lives of the boys. We did not realise the effect they would have on our own lives. To know them, to tiilk with them, made ns appreciate the inadequacy of material things. True our gifts brought expression* of gratitude so simple and sincere, that they touched svery emotion. But/these boys haws «rtr on* ftares and dasire. It is to belong to< someone, to laws-cm person to whom {they eaa girts

the full measure of their devotion, and who, in turn, belongs to them, hach of these boys asks for nothing more." Taurog illustrated with a story. "There is a kindly gentleman,'' he said, "who supplies the boys with films and develops them at his own expense. But cameras at Boys' Town are scarce. "A camera was purchased for a boy who had none, perhaps the finest camera he had ever seen. He handled it as though it were a rare jewel. He had a tear in his eye. Then he handed it back. "'Don't you want it?' he wa3 asked. '"Yes,' he replied, 'but instead of the camera would you please write me just one letter a month. I would rather have a letter than the camera."' The boy has his camera. He will also receive his letter each month. "There was a drama in every boy at Boys' Town," Taurog on. "There is not a man on this set who did not have a similar experience, and who will never forget some boy because of it, just as he will remain a treasured memory to the boy. It was an experience that made all of us humble. It is the spirit with which we hope to endow the picture." An electrician, who has a youngster t*» whom ha is writing, described the company's departure. "I guess we were all hit hard," he said. "We kept looking back at Boys' Town until it was chauffeur was telling n» «h#nt fallow* la his-csc.

"'What are the tears for?' asked OIK!. " 'Look at yourself.' said the other. "Know who they were. "One was Spencer Tracy. The other was Norman Taurog."

he will not be returning to the screen for some little while, William Powell has just signed a new long-term contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. His first picture will be "The Thin Man Returns."