Wednesday, October 5, 2011

MORE CROTON MEMORIES: HAROLD RUSSELL, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, VISITS CROTON--PART ONE

Welcome to Everything Croton, a collection of all things Croton--our history, our homes, our issues, our businesses, our schools--in short, EVERYTHING CROTON.

It never ceases to amaze us what we find in the archives of THE CROTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY.  

HAROLD RUSSELL VISITS CROTON, PART ONE - For those who don’t know about this remarkable man, Harold Russell won Academy Award recognition for playing the handless WWII veteran Homer Parrish in the 1946 film The Best Years of Our Lives. Russell was himself disabled. He lost both hands in a TNT explosion during his Army training. As in the movie, Russell's hands were replaced by metal hooks. It's said that after producer Samuel Goldwyn saw Russell in an Army film about soldiers with handicaps, he and director William Wyler cast Russell in The Best Years of Our Lives, a 1946 drama about war veterans returning home, starring among others, Dana Andrews, Myrna Loy, Virginia Mayo, Theresa Wright and Fredric March. The film was a mega hit, justifiably so--the music, acting, and direction is wonderful--and if you have not seen it, you should put it on your “must see” list. Mr. Russell continued to work tirelessly for veterans until his death in 2002. 

FAST FORWARD TO THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY ARCHIVES where we learned that on December 20, 1948, Harold Russell visited Croton and spoke at the high school! It must have been something to see—and hear—and we’ll be following up. In the meantime, click the link for the newspaper article: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22283683@N07/6214625961/in/photostream 

You can see the trailer for the film here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3EsNKlB7os

Stay tuned for more Croton Memories.

3 comments:

  1. I saw this film for the first a few years ago with my grandmother. She cried. I did the same. I seldom miss it now whenever it plays on Turner Classic Movie Channel.

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  2. One of THE GREATEST films of all time.

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  3. Wow, anyone still around who remembers this? It must have been something.

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