The Pride of The Yankees (1942)

The Pride of the Yankees 1942 lobby card set image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Director Sam Wood and RKO Radio Pictures delivered The Pride of the Yankees to movie theaters in 1942. Gary Cooper has the title role, with Teresa Wright, Walter Brennan, Dan Duryea and Babe Ruth in all-star support.

Paul Gallico’s Lou Gehrig: Pride of the Yankees

The Pride of the Yankees is based on the 1942 book Lou Gehrig: Pride of the Yankees by Paul Gallico (1897-1976). A graduate of Columbia University, Gallico had worked for the New York Daily News as a motion picture critic, sportswriter, editor and columnist. Known as a “hands-on” journalist, Gallico climbed into the ring with heavyweight boxer Jack Dempsey, caught Dizzy Dean’s fastball and hit the links with golfing legend Bobby Jones.

At the suggestion of Hollywood story editor Niven Busch, studio mogul Sam Goldwyn decided to make a biopic on the life of New York Yankee slugger Lou Gehrig using Gallico’s book as source material. Jo Swerling, Herman J. Mankiewicz, Casey Robinson, Vincent Lawrence and Gallico himself penned the screenplay. Sam Wood (Kings Row, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Stratton Story) directed, with Leigh Harline creating the original music score and Rudolph Mate serving as cinematographer.

Gary Cooper Stars as Lou Gehrig

Gary Cooper (Lou Gehrig) and Teresa Wright (Eleanor Twitchell Gehrig) head the cast. Other players include Walter Brennan (Sam Blake), Dan Duryea (Hank Hanneman), Babe Ruth (Himself), Elsa Janssen (Christina “Mom” Gehrig), Ludwig Stossel (Henry “Pop” Gehrig), Virginia Gilmore (Myra Tinsley), Ernie Adams (Miller Huggins), Harry Harvey (Joe McCarthy), Douglas Croft (Lou Gehrig as a Boy), Dane Clark (Fraternity Boy), Frank Faylen (Yankee Third Base Coach) and George McDonald (Wally Pipp).  

In addition to Babe Ruth, other Yankee ballplayers appearing in the film are Bill Dickey, Bob Meusel and Mark Koenig along with sportscaster Bill Stern.

The Pride of the Yankees Filmed in New York and California

The Pride of the Yankees was filmed from February to April 1942. Principal locations were Pelham Parkway in the Bronx, the University of Southern California (dubbing for Columbia University), Yankee Stadium and Wrigley Field in Los Angeles.  

Ex-minor league ballplayer Pat Flaherty and former New York Yankee Lefty O’Doul worked with Gary Cooper, turning him into a passable baseball presence on the silver screen. One major obstacle: the real Lou Gehrig was a fearsome left-handed batter while Cooper was neither a good batter or left-handed. This problem was overcome through reverse film editing as formulated by production designer William Cameron Menzies and expertly carried out by film editor Daniel Mandell.

The Pride of the Yankees: Luckiest Man Alive

The Pride of the Yankees opens with a snappy rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” followed by a Damon Runyon-written eulogy to Lou Gehrig. The action then shifts to a sandlot baseball game where a young Gehrig sends a ball crashing through Colletti’s store window.

Fast forward to Columbia University where Lou Gehrig is a star athlete. When his mother becomes ill, Lou decides to quit school and signs a contract with Jacob Rupert and the New York Yankees in order pay her medical bills. He reports to the team’s minor league affiliate in Hartford, eventually earning the call to the major leagues.

Lou rides the bench for a while, finally getting his chance at Chicago’s Comiskey Park. A nervous Lou stumbles to the plate, eliciting a call of “tanglefoot” from a young woman in the stands. Lou later meets the girl at a restaurant. Her name is Eleanor Twitchell, the daughter of a wealthy Chicago businessman and a diehard baseball fan.

Lou quickly blossoms into one of the game’s biggest stars. He and Eleanor later marry, and while playfully wrestling with his wife one day Lou notes that his shoulder is a little stiff. Now in a terrible batting slump, Lou asks that manager Joe McCarthy take him out of the lineup as he is having trouble controlling his hands.

Following a complete medical checkup at Scripps Clinic, a doctor informs Lou that his playing days are over. Later, before, 62,000 people at Yankee Stadium on Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day, a tearful Lou delivers his famous “luckiest man on the face of the earth” speech.

The Pride of the Yankees Opens in New York City

The Pride of the Yankees opened at New York City’s Astor Theatre on July 15, 1942.

“As a baseball picture…The Pride of the Yankees is not anything to raise the blood pressure. But as a simple, moving story with an ironic heart-tug at the end, it serves as a fitting memorial to the real Lou, who called himself the ‘luckiest man alive,’” reported Bosley Crowther of The New York Times (7/16/42).

The Pride of the Yankees Oscar Nominations, Notes, DVD

• Eleven Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor (Cooper), Best Actress (Wright), Best Film Editing (won), Best B/W Cinematography, Best Music, Best Original Story, Best Screenplay, Best Sound, Best Special Effects, Best B/W Art Direction-Interior Decoration.
• Lou Gehrig’s affliction – amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – is never actually mentioned in the film. The 37-year-old Gehrig died of this incurable disease which now bears his name on June 2, 1941.
• Fact check: Lou is seen pledging Sigma Alpha Psi. In reality, Lou was a member of Phi Delta Theta at Columbia University.
• Gary Cooper’s ”luckiest man” speech differs from the one actually given by Lou Gehrig.
• Funniest scene: Rookie Lou is urged to take a bite out of Babe Ruth’s new straw hat. The naive Gehrig complies, with a livid Babe turning around just in time to see Lou holding his tattered hat.
• Ray Noble and His Orchestra appear at the Moon Terrace nightclub in Chicago where Veloz and Yolanda perform a Latin dance. Bettye Avery then croons the Irving Berlin song “Always.”
• Eleanor Gehrig loaned the production the special baseball bracelet given by Gary Cooper to Teresa Wright. It now resides in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
• The Pride of the Yankees, starring Gary Cooper, Virginia Bruce and Edgar Buchanan, was broadcast as a 60-minute drama over Lux Radio Theatre on October 4, 1943.
• On DVD: The Pride of the Yankees Collector’s Edition (MGM, 2008).