Tom Ewell (1909-1994)

The sardonic everyman.

�Marilyn didn�t think she was any good. She suffered from a tremendous inferiority complex. It was very difficult for her to show up on a set. More difficult for her than for anyone I�ve ever worked with. She wanted so desperately to be good that she found it hard to do even the smallest scene. She used to vomit before she went before the camera.� (1979 interview with Charles Higham)

The lecherous everyman in The Seven Year Itch (1955).

�Jayne Mansfield was quite different. She was devoted entirely to her own publicity. We appeared together in The Girl Can�t Help It for the director Frank Tashlin, who had a marvelous cartoonist�s eye. The studio was trying to create another Marilyn.� (1979 interview with Charles Higham)

Working his mojo on Jayne Mansfield in The Girl Can�t Help It (1956).

�I�ll never forget the first day Jayne and I met, which was also the first day of shooting. Jayne was wearing a dress which was too tight to walk in. Mickey Hargitay, who was married to her, had to carry her on to the set over his head like a suitcase. She was stiff as a board! He deposited her on the sound stage, and she stood up like a shop dummy. I�ll never forget it. She�d be looking over my shoulder in the middle of a scene. I assumed she was looking at Mickey. There was love in her eyes. Well, I snuck a glance around, and she was gazing into a full-length mirror! I couldn�t believe it.� (1979 interview with Charles Higham)

Enjoying The Great American Pastime (1956) with Anne Francis.

[On his character in The Seven Year Itch] �Well, I�m going to be completely honest with you. Billy [Wilder] and I didn�t see eye to eye on the film. I had worked in the [Broadway] show for about three years, and so I felt I knew what George [Axelrod] wanted ... for the play. He [Wilder] wanted the part broader than it was in New York. And I felt what George had done was capture something very real.... Elliot [Nugent] was a co-producer of the play, and his son-in-law was the director of the play. And he agreed with me that this man was very innocent.... Maybe he had a twitch or two, but he had never strayed from the fold, and had never really had the itch to such an extent.... So the whole thing had a certain real quality to it. And I just felt that, knowing George, and how he was, that any kind of coarsening of the part, any kind of actual leer ... and Billy wanted the leer in the film. And I fought him.� (undated interview)

With Jean Hagen, as an adulterous husband in Adam�s Rib (1949).

[When asked by Dorothy Kilgallen if he was tall, dark and handsome during a 1955 taping of What�s My Line] �Alas, no.�

Giving hope to lovable schnooks everywhere.

[Responding to Kilgallen�s facetious claim that 20th Century Fox was giving him Tyrone Power�s dressing room] �I�m glad to hear that, Miss Dorothy. As a matter of fact I always read your column, so I�ll be expecting to see that tomorrow.�

My favorite Tom Ewell films: Adam's Rib (1949), The Seven Year Itch (1955), The Lieutenant Wore Skirts (1956), The Great American Pastime (1956), The Girl Can't Help It (1956)

Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (1970) - Film Locations

Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (1970) is one of those movies I just had to see because of the all-star cast but when I finally did see the film I knew why, despite all the names in the film, nobody ever talks about it. Brian Keith, Tony Curtis, Ernest Borgnine, Suzanne Pleshette, Tom Ewell, and Don Ameche headline this parody of the U.S. military, but nothing any one  of these stars does can save this film from feeling long and boring. Made at the height of the Vietnam war, you get the feeling that this movie was supposed to be one of those "message" films but really, the whole movie seems so ridiculous that any intended message gets buried in the clownish story. 

The story is set in a small Southern town that is home to an Army base. The town locals dislike the presence of the military in their community and tension builds between the locals and the military. Col. Flanders (Ameche) hires Officer Nace (Keith) to help improve community relations, but Ernest Borgnine, a sheriff with a chip on his shoulder isn't ready to work with the military on improving relations. Tony Curtis, a loud-mouth, scheming, trouble making Sergeant only makes matters worse and eventually ends up in jail. When his friend Nace comes to break him out using a borrowed tank, the zealous Tom Ewell leads a milita to go to war against the Army.

As much as I disliked the film, I did enjoy noticing that the small town where most of the action takes place, including the final confrontation between the locals and the military, was filmed on the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank, specifically on Midwest Street. This area of the lot has most recently appeared in the television show Hart of Dixie filling in for another Southern community and also on the big screen in The Muppets. In The Muppets, Midwest Street is "Smalltown," the town where Jason Segel and Amy Adams live.

Below are comparisons of Midwest Street as it appeared in Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? (1970) and how Midwest Street appears today.

Ernest Borgnine & Suzanne Pleshette in a drug store set.

Looking out from the drug store entrance.

Pleshette leaves the drug store.

Another view looking from the drug store.

Borgnine near the center of Warner Bros. Midwest Street.

Warner Bros. Midwest Street. The same 

chapel stands in the background.

Borgnine walking towards the middle of Midwest Street.

Looking at the center of Midwest Street as it presently appears.

Borgnine stands in front of the drug store.

The drug store facade as it appears today.

Borgnine, Tony Curtis, Brian Keith on Midwest Street.

Looking down Midwest Street.

Curtis drives a bus into Midwest Street to pick up new recruits.

The building on the left is the "Star" theatre building.

Borgnine looks at the military in disgust.

The facades behind Borgnine as they appear today.

The drug store is seen top center.

The same facades today, stripped down.

This next view is pretty cool because the western style facades no longer exist. You can see in the contemporary photo the green hills in the background but the western facades have been demolished and replaced.

The western style facades above no longer exist.

All that is the same are the green hills in the distant background.

Bradford Dillman stands on a jeep parked on Midwest Street.

The facade of the Star theatre as it appears today.

Borgnine in front of the police station.

The police station facade as it appears today.

The next view is another showing more of the western style facades (on the right side) that no longer exist. On the left you will notice the backside of the white chapel building is still there.

The army and the town police go at it on Midwest Street.

Entering Midwest Street from the back.

The backside of the white chapel.

The backdoor to the chapel building has been stripped away.

The tank pulls into Midwest Street. The front side

of the chapel would be a little further to the left.

The same view in front of the chapel is it appears today.

Looking down from the police station.

The police station facade is where the green trim is. This

view has changed quite a bit.

Over ten years prior to Tony Curtis arriving on Midwest Street in a bus to pick up military recruits another film, a very funny military themed comedy from the 1950s, used the same location on the Warner Bros. backlot as the spot to pick up new recruits. Any guesses as to what movie this may be? Come back next week and I'll have a post on the now and then comparisons from this 1950s film. 

Update: January 7, 2012

To see the answer of which 1950s film used Midwest Street as the location to pick up military recruits click here.