Down to Earth

Proving that history does, indeed, repeat itself, Down to Earth (1932) is a film that may resonate with audiences nearly 80 years after it was made. Starring the humorist-turned-actor Will Rogers in the role of rags-to-riches Oklahoman mechanic Pike Peters, the film was a sequel to Rogers' first talking film They Had to See Paris (1929), in which the Peters family strikes it rich and heads for 'the City of Lights.' Three years after the market crash that heralded The Great Depression, the Peters family returns to the United States and gets a dose of economic reality. Homer Croy, whose 1926 novel had been the basis for They Had to See Paris, had been paid $1000 a week by the Fox Film Corporation (in the days before they merged with other entities to become 20th Century-Fox) to get started on a sequel as early as 1930. The film would be directed by David Butler, written by Edwin J. Burke and Croy. Irene Rich was cast as Rogers' wife for the seventh and final time. The pair had worked together in both the silent and sound eras. 1932 was also the year that the film studios began to feel the economic reality of the Great Depression as ticket sales plummeted due to the popularity of radio, which was free after the initial purchase, and the censor boards demands that sex and violence be cleaned up; changes that led to the Production Code being adopted in 1934. Something else which may seem familiar to modern audiences was the public souring on extravagant stars. Like the "celebrities" of the early 2000s with their $1000 handbags, the economic boom of the 1920s created larger-than-life movie stars with expensive homes, clothes and cars. By the early 1930s people out of work and losing their homes began to turn against what they saw as obscenely rich and wasteful behavior by celebrities. This shift in public opinion was reflected at the box-office and it was the more "down to Earth" performers like the homely and elderly Marie Dressler who saw their popularity soar. In 1934, the year before his death in an Alaskan plane crash, Will Rogers was the nation's top box-office attraction. Rogers' relaxed and unpretentious personality was no act. In February 1932, UCLA professor and historian Will Durant was to lecture at an auditorium in Santa Monica, California and Rogers invited Durant to have dinner at his ranch before the talk. As Rogers' children were away, and his wife recovering from an appendectomy, the dinner was a small one. The guests were just Rogers, Durant, Charlie Chaplin and Chaplin's girlfriend (later wife) Paulette Goddard. Durant later recalled in a letter to his wife Ariel, "Will Rogers sent a nifty Cadillac Roadster for me and after a 50 minute ride I found myself in his immense ranch - an expanse of farmland, grazing pasture, polo field, golf links, bridle paths, barns, garages and a rustic home. He was in his stables when I arrived and greeted me, out of overalls, boots, leather jacket, bronze wrinkled face, and tousled gray hair, with the broadest wholesomest grin in the world. He looks like a cowboy, but has the nerves and mental activity of an artist." During dinner, Rogers began to talk about his newest project at Fox, Down to Earth. Chaplin, never one to miss an opportunity to brainstorm, leapt to his feet and began to give Rogers ideas on how to play certain scenes, and to invent bits of comedic "business" for Rogers to use. Durant was fascinated by how Chaplin was able to make Down to Earth come alive before his eyes. Unfortunately, Chaplin did not appear in Down to Earth and it was not a success at the box-office. Rogers was happy to appear in the film because it gave his friend Croy a good salary, but he wasn't happy with the script. For the rest of his career, he would stick to what he called "tested material" - scripts based on previously successful sources. Mordaunt Hall in his review for The New York Times, also noted the script's weakness. "Down to Earth was written by Homer Croy, who was also responsible for They Had to See Paris, and the dialogue was contributed by Edwin Burke, who did his share toward making Bad Girl [1931] amusing. In this present picture, however, Mr. Burke's lines lack the keenness of Mr. Rogers's other productions, but on the whole the picture succeeds in being a mildly merry hot-weather entertainment....Mr. Rogers fortifies his part by his drawl and his amusing demeanor. Matty Kemp is quite good as Ross and Irene Rich is attractive in the exaggerated role of Mrs. Pike Peters. Brandon Hurst is effective as the butler and Mary Carlisle is acceptable as a reckless girl of wealth." Director: David Butler Screenplay: Edwin J. Burke, Homer Croy Cinematography: Ernest Palmer Cast: Will Rogers (Pike Peters), Dorothy Jordan (Julia Pearson), Irene Rich (Idy Peters), Mary Carlisle (Jackie Harper), Harvey Clark (Cameron), Brandon Hurst (Jeffrey, the Butler), Matty Kemp (Ross Peters), Henry Kolker (Randolph), Theodore Lodi (Grand Duke Michael), Louise Mackintosh (Mrs. Phillips), Clarence Wilson (Ed Eggers). BW-71m. by Lorraine LoBianco SOURCES: Balio, Tino Grand Design: Hollywood as a Modern Business Enterprise 1930-1939 Hall, Mordaunt "Down to Earth: A Comedy of Butlers and Bankrupts", New York Times 2 Sep 32 Rogers, Will and Gragert, Steven K. The Papers of Will Rogers: The Final Years, August 1928 - August 1935 Yagoda, Ben Will Rogers: A Biography