Grandpa Goes to Town | |
---|---|
Directed by | Gus Meins |
Screenplay by | Jack Townley |
Produced by | Gus Meins |
Starring | James Gleason Lucile Gleason Russell Gleason Harry Davenport Lois Ranson Maxie Rosenbloom |
Cinematography | Reggie Lanning |
Edited by | Murray Seldeen |
Music by | William Lava Paul Sawtell |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Republic Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 66 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Grandpa Goes to Town is a 1940 American comedy film directed by Gus Meins and written by Jack Townley. The film stars James Gleason, Lucile Gleason, Russell Gleason, Harry Davenport, Lois Ranson and Maxie Rosenbloom. The film was released on April 14, 1940, by Republic Pictures. [1] [2] [3]
After selling their house, the Higgins family is convinced by a crafty real estate agent to invest the proceeds in a hotel at Coyote Wells, Nevada, sight unseen. Upon arriving at their new establishment, the Higginses find that what has been described as a thriving western community is actually a ghost town, inhabited by a gang of mobsters fleeing from the law. Things look bleak until two film actors, dressed as prospectors, appear in town and the Higginses mistake them for real gold miners and spread word of a gold strike. This announcement results in a rush of miners which transforms Coyote Wells into a boom town and the Higgins' hotel into a profitable enterprise. Their prosperity is short lived however, when the miners fail to discover gold and decide to lynch the family. Grandpa saves their hides by salting the abandoned mine with gold dust, but as he leaves the mine, he accidentally sets off a stick of dynamite. Hurrying back to Apache Wells, Grandpa rounds up the prospectors and takes them back to the mine where, much to everyone's amazement, Grandpa discovers that the explosion has uncovered a rich vein of gold. As the miners prepare to rush to the land office to file their claims, Mugsy, the head of the gangsters, pulls a gun and announces that he is holding everyone hostage until his men can file a claim on the mine. All seems lost until Grandpa mounts an old nag and gallops into town, where he convinces the movie extras, costumed as Indians, to stage a raid on the gangsters and free the miners. [4]
The Pike's Peak gold rush was the boom in gold prospecting and mining in the Pike's Peak Country of western Kansas Territory and southwestern Nebraska Territory of the United States that began in July 1858 and lasted until roughly the creation of the Colorado Territory on February 28, 1861. An estimated 100,000 gold seekers took part in one of the greatest gold rushes in North American history.
The City of Idaho Springs is the statutory city that is the most populous municipality in Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States. Idaho Springs is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 1,782. Idaho Springs is located in Clear Creek Canyon, in the mountains upstream from Golden, some 30 miles (50 km) west of Denver.
The Klondike Gold Rush was a migration by an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of Yukon, in north-western Canada, between 1896 and 1899. Gold was discovered there by local miners on August 16, 1896; when news reached Seattle and San Francisco the following year, it triggered a stampede of prospectors. Some became wealthy, but the majority went in vain. It has been immortalized in films, literature, and photographs.
Max Everitt Rosenbloom was an American professional boxer, actor, and television personality. Nicknamed "Slapsie Maxie", he was inducted into The Ring's Boxing Hall of Fame in 1972, the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1984, the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1985, and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1993. He was sometimes billed as Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom for film appearances.
The Black Hills gold rush took place in Dakota Territory in the United States. It began in 1874 following the Custer Expedition and reached a peak in 1876–77.
Harold George Bryant Davenport was an American film and stage actor who worked in show business from the age of six until his death. After a long and prolific Broadway career, he came to Hollywood in the 1930s, where he often played grandfathers, judges, doctors, and ministers. His roles include Dr. Meade in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Grandpa in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). Bette Davis once called Davenport "without a doubt [. . .] the greatest character actor of all time."
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Red Lights Ahead is a 1936 American comedy film directed by Roland D. Reed and starring Andy Clyde, Lucile Gleason and Roger Imhof. It was the last film released by the Poverty Row studio Chesterfield Pictures before it became part of Republic Pictures.
In the latter part of the nineteenth century, discoveries of gold at a number of locations in Western Australia caused large influxes of prospectors from overseas and interstate, and classic gold rushes. Significant finds included:
Between 1830 and 1850, Chilean silver mining grew at an unprecedented pace which transformed mining into one of the country's principal sources of wealth. The rush caused rapid demographic, infrastructural, and economic expansion in the semi-arid Norte Chico mountains where the silver deposits lay. A number of Chileans made large fortunes in the rush and made investments in other areas of the economy of Chile. By the 1850s, the rush was in decline and lucrative silver mining definitively ended in the 1870s. At the same time, mining activity in Chile reoriented to saltpetre operations.
Petticoat Politics is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Erle C. Kenton and starring Roscoe Karns, Ruth Donnelly and Spencer Charters. It was the ninth and final of Republic's Higgins Family series.
The Higgins Family is a 1938 American comedy film directed by Gus Meins and written by Paul Gerard Smith and Jack Townley. The film stars James Gleason, Lucile Gleason, Russell Gleason, Lynne Roberts, Harry Davenport and William Bakewell. The film was released on August 29, 1938, by Republic Pictures.
My Wife's Relatives is a 1939 American comedy film directed by Gus Meins and written by Jack Townley. The film stars James Gleason, Lucile Gleason, Russell Gleason, Harry Davenport, Lynne Roberts and Tommy Ryan. The film was released on May 20, 1939, by Republic Pictures.
Should Husbands Work? is a 1939 American comedy film directed by Gus Meins and written by Taylor Caven and Jack Townley. The film stars James Gleason, Lucile Gleason, Russell Gleason, Harry Davenport, Berton Churchill and Marie Wilson. The film was released on July 26, 1939, by Republic Pictures.
The Covered Trailer is a 1939 American comedy film directed by Gus Meins and written by Jack Townley. The film stars James Gleason, Lucile Gleason, Russell Gleason, Harry Davenport, Mary Beth Hughes and Tommy Ryan. The film was released on November 10, 1939, by Republic Pictures.
Money to Burn is a 1939 American comedy film directed by Gus Meins and written by Jack Townley. The film stars James Gleason, Lucile Gleason, Russell Gleason, Harry Davenport, Lois Ranson and Tommy Ryan. The film was released on December 31, 1939, by Republic Pictures.
Earl of Puddlestone is a 1940 American comedy film directed by Gus Meins and written by Ewart Adamson and Val Burton. The film stars James Gleason, Lucile Gleason, Russell Gleason, Harry Davenport, Lois Ranson and Tommy Ryan. The film was released on August 31, 1940, by Republic Pictures.
The Higgins Family films was Republic Pictures' response to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's popular Andy Hardy series, as well as 20th Century Fox's Jones Family series. Nine films were released between 1938 and 1941.
Lois Ranson was an American film actress from 1939 to 1943 who appeared in Western films and serials.