''One More Spring'' is a 1935 American
comedy drama film
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
about three people, played by
Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor (born Laura Augusta Gainor; October 6, 1906 – September 14, 1984) was an American film, stage, and television actress.
Gaynor began her career as an extra in shorts and silent films. After signing with Fox Film Corporation (late ...
,
Warner Baxter
Warner Leroy Baxter (March 29, 1889 – May 7, 1951) was an American film actor from the 1910s to the 1940s. Baxter is known for his role as the Cisco Kid in the 1928 film ''In Old Arizona'', for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor at ...
, and
Walter Woolf King
Walter Woolf King (November 2, 1899 – October 24, 1984) was an American film, television and stage actor and singer.
Born in San Francisco, California in 1899, King started singing for a living at a young age and performed mostly in chur ...
, living together in a tool room at
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...
as an alternative to being homeless. The film was written by
Edwin J. Burke
Edwin J. Burke (August 30, 1889 – September 26, 1944) was an American screenwriter who was most known for writing some of Shirley Temple's earlier films.
He won an Academy Award at the 5th Academy Awards in the category of Best Adapted Scre ...
from the
Robert Nathan
Robert Gruntal Nathan (January 2, 1894 – May 25, 1985) was an American novelist and poet.
Biography
Nathan was born into a prominent New York Sephardic family. He was educated in the United States and Switzerland and attended Harvard Unive ...
novel of the same name and directed by
Henry King.
Plot
In New York City, Jaret Oktar's antiques shop fails. Actress Elizabeth Cheney attends the auction of his stock, just to pass the time and sit down, while concert violinist Morris Rosenberg shows up after it ends. All three are out of work and homeless. Otkar offers Rosenberg half of a bed Napoleon slept on (the only unsold item); they take it to the park on a pushcart and sleep on it outside under the stars. Meanwhile, Cheney sleeps on the subway.
While Otkar looks for a more permanent place for the bed, Rosenberg decides to practice. Cheney happens along and offers to pass the hat afterward. He is insulted at the thought of playing for pennies, but after she leaves, he swallows his pride. After a performance, street sweeper Mr. Sweeney expresses his desire to learn how to play a particular tune; seizing the opportunity, Otkar offers him lessons from Rosenberg for a place to put their bed. Sweeney has a tool room in a stable in the park.
After they settle in, Otkar goes looking for food. While trying to steal a cooked chicken from a fancy restaurant, he runs into Cheney, who has purloined some celery. Eventually, she persuades him to take her in. Rosenberg objects, but gives in.
The next day, Otkar has Rosenberg distract a zoo attendant with music so he can steal some of the meat intended for the lions. Afterward, Sweeney takes Rosenberg to the bank where his wife works and where they have their savings. Rosenberg envies Mr. Sheridan, the bank president, unaware that Sheridan has his own troubles: the bank is in danger of failing.
That night, Sheridan unsuccessfully begs an associate for help before the bank examiners check his books the next day. Sheridan's bank does indeed close, taking the Sweeneys' savings with it. The banker tries to drown himself, but the water is too shallow, and Otkar pulls him out of the mud. Otkar and Cheney persuade him to go back, face his depositors and try to salvage something.
The trio make it through the winter. When spring comes, Rosenberg has exciting news. He has gotten work with a symphony orchestra out of town. When he leaves, Otkar decides it would not be right for an unmarried man and woman to live together, so he decides to head south and leave the place and the bed to Cheney. Then Sheridan shows up. The government is going to bail out his bank, and the Sweeneys will not lose their savings. Furthermore, he wants to buy the bed. With the proceeds, Otkar finally has something to offer Cheney; he calls her "darling" for the first time and embraces her.
Cast
*
Janet Gaynor
Janet Gaynor (born Laura Augusta Gainor; October 6, 1906 – September 14, 1984) was an American film, stage, and television actress.
Gaynor began her career as an extra in shorts and silent films. After signing with Fox Film Corporation (late ...
as Elizabeth Cheney
*
Warner Baxter
Warner Leroy Baxter (March 29, 1889 – May 7, 1951) was an American film actor from the 1910s to the 1940s. Baxter is known for his role as the Cisco Kid in the 1928 film ''In Old Arizona'', for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor at ...
as Jaret Otkar
*
Walter Woolf King
Walter Woolf King (November 2, 1899 – October 24, 1984) was an American film, television and stage actor and singer.
Born in San Francisco, California in 1899, King started singing for a living at a young age and performed mostly in chur ...
as Morris Rosenberg (billed as Walter King)
*
Jane Darwell
Jane Darwell (born Patti Woodard; October 15, 1879 – August 13, 1967) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. With appearances in more than 100 major movies spanning half a century, Darwell is perhaps best remembered for her p ...
as Mrs.
ary ARY may stand for:
* Abdul Razzak Yaqoob, a Pakistani expatriate businessman
* Andre Romelle Young, real name of Dr. Dre
* Ary and the Secret of Seasons, an action adventure video game
* ARY Digital, a Pakistani television network
* ARY Digital Net ...
Sweeney
*
Roger Imhof
Frederick Roger Imhof (August 15, 1875 – April 15, 1958) was an American film actor, vaudeville, burlesque and circus performer, sketch writer, and songwriter.
Early years
Imhof was born in Rock Island, Illinois on April 15, 1875 to Nicholas ...
as Mr.
ichaelSweeney
*
Grant Mitchell as Mr. Sheridan
*
Rosemary Ames as Miss Weber
*
John Qualen
John Qualen (born Johan Mandt Kvalen, December 8, 1899 – September 12, 1987) was an American character actor of Norwegian heritage who specialized in Scandinavian roles.
Early years
Qualen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son ...
as Auctioneer
*
Dick Foran
John Nicholas "Dick" Foran (June 18, 1910 – August 10, 1979) was an American actor, known for his performances in Western musicals and for playing supporting roles in dramatic pictures.
Early years
Foran was born in Flemington, New Jer ...
as Park Policeman
*
Stepin Fetchit
Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry (May 30, 1902 – November 19, 1985), better known by the stage name Stepin Fetchit, was an American vaudevillian, comedian, and film actor of Jamaican and Bahamian descent, considered to be the first black a ...
as Zoo Attendant
*
Astrid Allwyn
Astrid Allwyn (born Astrid Christofferson; November 27, 1905 – March 31, 1978) was an American stage and film actress.
Early years
Allwyn was born in South Manchester, Connecticut, part of a family that included four sisters and a brot ...
as Girl at Auction
*
Lee Kohlmar
Lee Kohlmar (27 February 1873 – 14 May 1946) was a German film actor and director. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1916 and 1941. He also directed nine films between 1916 and 1921. He was born in Forth and died in Hollywood, Cali ...
as Flute Player
*
Charles Lane as Representative (uncredited)
*
William H. Strauss
William H. Strauss (June 13, 1885 – August 5, 1943) was an American film actor active in the 1920s and 1930s. A character actor he appeared in a variety of supporting roles.
By 1928, Strauss had acted on stage and screen for more than 30 ye ...
as Jewish Man (uncredited)
Reception
Andre Sennwald gave the movie a highly favorable review in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', describing it as "a wryly amusing and warmly sentimental screen comedy, skillfully adapted by Edwin Burke and expertly directed by Henry King."
[ While he praised the two stars, he wrote that "the most enkindling performances in "One More Spring," however, are provided by less eminent players", singling out King, Imhof, Darwell and Fetchit.][
]
Radio adaptation
''One More Spring'' was presented on '' Lux Summer Theatre'' June 29, 1953. Jeanne Crain
Jeanne Elizabeth Crain (May 25, 1925 – December 14, 2003) was an American actress. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her title role in '' Pinky'' (1949). She also starred in the films '' In the Meantime, Darling'' (194 ...
starred in the one-hour adaptation.[ ]
References
External links
*
*
{{Henry King
1935 comedy-drama films
American black-and-white films
American comedy-drama films
Films based on works by Robert Nathan
Films directed by Henry King
Films set in New York City
Fox Film films
1935 films
1930s English-language films
1930s American films