The Mystery of "One-Take Woody" Van Dyke

One of the things I enjoy most about classic cinema is its total artificiality. The majority--like, 90% or more--of the Hollywood films from the 1920s to 1950s were photographed within the boundaries of Hollywood and its neighboring suburbs. Just going to Lone Pine, California, to film 1939's Gunga Din (set in India) was a huge deal in its day. Watching these films gives me a real sense of the craftsmanship and creativity used to overcome obstacles that today would seem ridiculously mundane--a non-issue. With a filmography that stretches from the dawn of Hollywood's silent days as assistant director to luminaries like D.W. Griffith to just after the outbreak of World War II with his last film, Journey for Margaret, Woodbridge Strong (a.k.a., W.S.; a.k.a, Woody) Van Dyke II holds a unique place as one of the most overlooked, underappreciated directors you likely have never heard of in the pantheon of classic Hollywood filmmakers. Van Dyke also holds the distinction of going off on long location film shoots thirty or forty years before it became a common cinematic practice.

Woodbridge Strong Van Dyke II a.k.a.,
"One-Take Woody" Van Dyke

Van Dyke's movies ranged from semi-documentaries like Eskimo (1933), which had a film cast and crew shooting in the Arctic to the exotic, erotic White Shadows in the South Seas (1928), filmed on location in Tahiti; the African safari adventure epic, Trader Horn, filmed at least partly in Africa; pre-code classics, Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932) and Night Court; the early disaster epic, San Francisco (1936); Norma Shearer's comeback vehicle, the lavish Marie Antoinette (1938); and five Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy popular operettas, including Naughty Marietta and Rose Marie (1935 and 1936, respectively). If Van Dyke is remembered at all today, it's mostly for his screwball comedies, particularly the films he made with William Powell and Myrna Loy--The Thin Man (1934), its first three sequels, and I Love You Again (1940). Other screwball offerings by Van Dyke are Forsaking All Others (1934) and the woefully underrated It's a Wonderful World (1939) with Claudette Colbert and Jimmy Stewart. Woody even directed an episode in the Andy Hardy series. All of this is to say, that the guy could direct anything and was truly one of Golden Era's most productive directors, helming over sixty movies in less than twenty-five years.

Comedy team supreme William Powell and Myrna Loy as
Nick and Nora Charles in 1934's The Thin Man

Of course the best known of Van Dyke's films has to be The Thin Man and its sequels. Based on the book by ace mystery scribe Dashiell Hammett, the film is probably my favorite Van Dyke, and one I can watch anytime. It's even admired by friends of mine who don't particularly like classic movies. It contains nearly everything a good screwball comedy should: a classic leading man--William Powell playing the suave and hilarious Nick Charles--quick with the one liners and even quicker with a martini shaker--and a beautiful leading lady in Myrna Loy as Nick's wise-cracking wife, Nora, who tries to keep up with Nick drink for drink and can give out with the one liners as good as he can. The cast, the writing, the mise-en-scène create the perfect cocktail of sophisticated comedy. The Thin Man is also a mystery with a murder plot and numerous suspects. But what really matters is the interplay between the two leads (Powell and Loy make marriage look fun), both experts in light comedy. Filmed in a speedy eighteen days, it was one of the first in a long line of what became known as "screwball" comedies. Along with such classics as Howard Hawks' Twentieth Century, Frank Capra's Best Picture Oscar winner, It Happened One Night, The Thin Man helped define the genre that flourished during the Great Depression.

Cheers! Nick and Nora indulge one of their favorite vices in The Thin Man

Van Dyke himself was married in 1909 to Zina Ashford, about whom little is known (Wikipedia says she was an actress). Robert C. Cannom's book, Van Dyke and the Mythical City Hollywood, the only bio written on Van Dyke, states that they met when Van Dyke was working in a lumber camp in Ashford, Washington, a town named after Zina's father, but makes no mention of her acting career. They separated around 1919 but didn't divorce until 1935. Cannom's book doesn't say when the divorce took place, but in 1935 Woody married Ruth Mannix, the niece of MGM studio's general manager and fixer, Eddie Mannix. Ruth and Woody eventually had three children before his death in 1943. Very little beyond generalities is known of Van Dyke's private life. Reportedly he was a devout follower of Christian Science, best known in Hollywood as the faith of Jean Harlow and her mother, and was the rumored reason for Harlow's death in 1937.

So little has been written about Van Dyke that even his working methods are a bit of a mystery. Signed by MGM in 1926, Woody was well known for getting the best from his cast while shooting fast and loose. The eighteen days it took to complete The Thin Man wasn't an exception; rather, more than likely, it was the rule on a Van Dyke set. Believing "everything must be done casually," 1939's It's a Wonderful World must have set a world speed record with its twelve-day shoot. Don't think that Van Dyke's speed-of-sound filming technique sacrificed quality, either. It's a Wonderful World is one of the forgotten gems of screwball comedy. In addition to speed, Van Dyke had a way with performers. William Powell, Myrna Loy, Robert Montgomery, Joan Crawford, and others give some of their least affected performances in Van Dyke's films. Even Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy were charming when working with "One-Take Woody," the nickname he'd acquired due to his ability to bring in a movie on schedule and under budget. This talent also endeared him to his boss Louis B. Mayer, the head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios.

Van Dyke with star Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette

 

1938's Marie Antoinette, which starred Norma Shearer in her first movie after husband and MGM production chief Irving Thalberg's untimely death in 1936 at the age of 37, is a film unlike any other in Van Dyke's filmography. According to Gavin Lambert, original director Sidney Franklin wanted to film in color with a ninety-day schedule. Feeling this extravagant, producer Hunt Stromberg went to MGM studio boss Louis B. Mayer and requested a change of director. Mayer was worried that a methodical director like Franklin could drive up an already costly production, and suggested Van Dyke, well known not only for his speed but also his versatility. He was a last-minute replacement. Three days before shooting began Mayer informed Shearer that Van Dyke was the film's new director. The set was, at times, quite a tense atmosphere as differences arose between director and star. At one point, Norma demanded a second take; Van Dyke refused. Norma left the set. Uninterested in a stand-off, Van Dyke did too. He went home, poured a drink, and took his phone off the hook.

The next day, according to Lambert, "Norma listened without complaint to Van Dyke's instructions for the next shot. She nodded, walked proudly toward her mark--then caught her foot in the hoops of her crinoline, overbalanced, and fell flat on the floor of Versailles. A taut, embarrassed silence followed. It was broken by the Queen [Shearer], who kicked her legs in the air and laughed. Everyone joined in, and Van Dyke decided Norma was 'the sweetest damn woman in Hollywood.'" From that point forward, Norma thought Van Dyke was all right too, and they worked well together. Similarly, Van Dyke had his share of run-ins with Jeanette MacDonald on the films they made together. One way or other, though, they always made up and carried on. "We just seemed to think alike," she said.

Van Dyke, his wife Ruth, Jeanette MacDonald,
and Nelson Eddy during the making of Rose Marie

An odd thing about the success Van Dyke had with the Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy films is that he wasn't at all musical. But I guess that goes to show one doesn't have to be to make a good musical. While my taste in musicals leans more to the Judy Garland-Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers pairings in which dancing is just important as singing, the movies Woody made with MacDonald and Eddy are pretty entertaining. I find Ms. MacDonald quite fetching. Van Dyke also worked with MacDonald on what may be his best achievement--the 1936 blockbuster, San Francisco. Along with Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy in the first of that pair's three films together (see also Test Pilot and Boom Town), San Francisco is the grandad of disaster epics, with the earthquake of 1906 serving as the centerpiece of the movie. The movie is still impressive today and was MGM's biggest moneymaker ($2.2 million dollars in profit, or $26 million in 2019 dollars) until Gone With the Wind surpassed it.

Myrna Loy, Van Dyke, unidentified woman,
and William Powell on the set of 1936's After The Thin Man

Van Dyke's career continued into the 1940s. With the United States finally entering World War II in late 1941, Woody found himself in uniform, convincing MGM stars Clark Gable, James Stewart, and Robert Taylor to become active in the war effort as well. Van Dyke himself was too old to become actively involved in the war, but that's not what prevented him from seeing action as contemporaries John Ford, Frank Capra, and others did. In 1942 while undergoing his physical examination for active duty, Van Dyke discovered he not only had a weak heart--no doubt due to excessive smoking and drinking--but he also had cancer. Being a Christian Scientist, Van Dyke rejected most forms of medical treatment and care during this time. Despite this setback, Van Dyke remained as busy as ever at MGM, making four features in 1942. The last, Journey for Margaret, unleashed the incredible child star Margaret O'Brien on moviegoers and was one of Metro's biggest hits of the year.

On February 4, 1943, Van Dyke summoned to his house MGM boss Louis B. Mayer along with Howard Strickling, the studio's head of publicity. Mayer told Van Dyke that the studio had any number of films lined up for him when he felt well enough to return. Later, Van Dyke contacted some old friends from the silent days to come over for a round or two of drinks, one last hurrah. According to Robert Cannom's book, Van Dyke called his wife, Ruth, who was at their ranch home, and asked how the children were (they had three by this time, two boys and a girl), then called his mother to assure her he was doing fine. Then he died. This is the mystery. Neither Cannom's book explains how Van Dyke died; nor does Alicia Mayer, Louis B. Mayer's great grandniece, in her blog about Hollywood and it's history; nor do many other books about the stars Van Dyke worked with. Charles Higham, never one to shy from scandal, in his book on Louis B Mayer, Merchant of Dreams, says only that Van Dyke died due to his bad heart and liver. Edward Baron Turk's book about Jeanette MacDonald, Hollywood Diva, states Van Dyke died in his sleep. Only Sharon Rich in her book about MacDonald and Eddy, Sweethearts, says that Van Dyke killed himself with sleeping pills. Why the mystery? Reportedly the suicide angle wasn't mentioned to save the family further grief or scandal. If so, it has to be the one under reported death in Hollywood history. I imagine that folks figured his illness killed him.

W.S. Van Dyke II was one-of-a-kind, and movies and the Hollywood community sorely missed him after he was gone. He made some of the most entertaining movies I've seen, and I re-visit them all the time. Some of my favorites include The Thin Man, After The Thin Man, San Francisco, White Shadows in the South Seas, Forsaking All Others, Marie Antoinette and It's a Wonderful World.

     

Sources:
              Books:
               Claudette Colbert, the Pyramid Illustrated History of the Movies by William K. Everson
               Hollywood Diva by Edward Baron Turk
               Sweethearts by Sharon Rich
               Norma Shearer by Gavin Lambert
               Van Dyke and the Mythical City of Hollywood by Robert C. Cannom
               Merchant of Dreams by Charles Higham
               Mayer and Thalberg by Samuel Marx

               Films: Turner Classic Movies
     
               Internet: Wikipedia

               Photos: Google Images