The Pride of the Yankees (1942)

The story of the life and career of the famed baseball player, Lou Gehrig.

Director:

Sam Wood

Writers:

Jo Swerling (screenplay), Herman J. Mankiewicz (screenplay),

Stars:

Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Babe Ruth

Won 1 Oscar. Another 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gary Cooper	...	Henry Louis 'Lou' Gehrig
Teresa Wright	...	Eleanor Twitchell
Babe Ruth	...	Babe Ruth
Walter Brennan	...	Sam Blake
Dan Duryea	...	Hank Hanneman
Elsa Janssen	...	Christina 'Mom' Gehrig
Ludwig Stössel	...	Henry 'Pop' Gehrig (as Ludwig Stossel)
Virginia Gilmore	...	Myra Tinsley
Bill Dickey	...	Bill Dickey
Ernie Adams	...	Miller Huggins
Pierre Watkin	...	Frank Twitchell
Harry Harvey	...	Joe McCarthy
Bob Meusel	...	Bob Meusel (as Robert W. Meusel)
Mark Koenig	...	Mark Koenig
Bill Stern	...	Bill Stern

Storyline

Biopic traces the life of Lou Gehrig, famous baseball player who played in 2130 consecutive games before falling at age 37 to ALS, a deadly nerve disease which now bears his name. Gehrig is followed from his childhood in New York until his famous 'Luckiest Man' speech at his farewell day in 1939.

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Plot Keywords:

baseball | speech | domineering mother | hat | train | 

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Taglines:

Intimate and thrilling drama of a hero of the headlines... the girl who had his love and shared his life, but dared not question his one secret!

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Family | Romance | Sport

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 March 1943 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Yankee-k dicsősége

Filming Locations:

Pelham Parkway, Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Samuel Goldwyn Company, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

It was long believed that since star Gary Cooper was right-handed and Lou Gehrig was left-handed, the close-up baseball scenes were shot with his uniform in reverse type. Cooper would hit the ball and run to third, and the prints would be reversed. But in an extensive bit of research, National Baseball Hall of Fame curator, Tom Shieber has shown that Cooper did indeed learn to bat left-handed and that in only one short sequence of the film was image reversal used in order to show Cooper throwing left-handed. Other scenes requiring Cooper to throw a ball were filmed using his stand-in, Babe Herman.

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Goofs

After the wedding in Gehrig's apartment, the crowd of workers and family waves goodbye to Lou and Eleanor. As the couple leaves, the worker sitting on a ladder painting the white wood beam raises his hand to wave goodbye. The man shoves his hand into the ceiling of the set, pushing the apparently solid ceiling inward, thus exposing the ceiling as nothing but fabric.

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Quotes

Hank Hanneman: That Gehrig's the chump of all time. Falling for a gag like that.
Sam Blake: Aw, he doesn't know about a gag.
Hank Hanneman: Yeah? What does he know about, Mr. Bones?
Sam Blake: Baseball.
Hank Hanneman: He knows... I'll tell ya somethin'. A guy like that is a detriment to any sport. He's a boob with a batting eye. He wakes up, brushes his teeth, hikes out to the ballpark, hits the ball, hikes back to the hotel room, reads the funny papers, gargles and goes to bed. That's personality, hm?
Sam Blake: The best.
Hank Hanneman: A real hero.
Sam Blake: Let me tell you about heroes, Hank....
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Homicide: Life on the Street: Gone for Goode (1993)

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Soundtracks

"Always"
(1925) (uncredited)
Written by Irving Berlin
Played by Ray Noble and His Orchestra and sung by Bettye Avery at the Moon Terrace Nightclub,
with Ray Noble on the piano
Played as dance music and danced by Gary Cooper and Teresa Wright and other couples
Whistled by Gary Cooper
Played as background music often and during the end credits

User Reviews

Baseball's Iron Horse

The only reason I don't give this film a perfect 10 is that I think Gary Cooper was a bit too old to be playing Lou Gehrig as a youth. Cooper was 41 when Pride of the Yankees was made. He was two years older than Lou Gehrig actually was.

While not terribly convincing as a college age Gehrig at Columbia University, the part of Gehrig grew into Cooper as Gehrig aged cinematically. And of course his recreation of Lou Gehrig's farewell to baseball got him an Oscar nomination.

Henry Louis Gehrig, child of German immigrants who grew up in the Yorkville section of Manhattan, was arguably the greatest first baseman baseball has ever known. He certainly has very few competitors for the honor. His famous record of 2130 consecutive games was bettered about a decade ago by Cal Ripken, but he still holds the major league record for lifetime grand-slam home runs, 23 and the American League RBI record for a single season, 184. He is one of a select group of ballplayers to have won the Triple Crown, he did that in 1934. His lifetime batting average of .340 is only topped by a handful.

He was as writer Frank Graham put it, baseball's "quiet hero." Until he was forced from baseball by the disease he gave his name to Gehrig played second fiddle to the flamboyant Babe Ruth and then to a graceful rookie named Joe DiMaggio.

The facts of Gehrig's life are somewhat jumbled in this film for dramatic coherency, but the essence of his character is brought out in the script by Paul Gallico. In fact Gallico wrote himself into the film as sportswriter Sam Blake as played by Walter Brennan.

Gary Cooper and Lou Gehrig and Teresa Wright as Eleanor Twitchell Gehrig both received Oscar nominations for their portrayals.

It should also not be forgotten that Lou Gehrig was a German American and I believe one of the reasons the film was made was that at that time we were fighting Germany. The German American Bund had its following and very much so in Lou Gehrig's Yorkville neighborhood. German Americans certainly had other and better role models than the Bund.

I remember as a lad going to Yankee old-timers games and there was always a moment of reverential silence when the Yankee widows, Claire Hodgson Ruth and Eleanor Twitchell Gehrig were always introduced. Both survived their husbands by many years.

In fact when Teresa Wright died this past year when the roll call of former Yankees who had passed on her name was read out among all the ballplayers. It was a fitting tribute to a great actress and a woman who didn't know a thing about baseball before she did this film, but became a devoted fan afterward. I guess that was her private tribute to Lou Gehrig.

There is still no cure for amytrophic lateral sclerosis or now known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. A lot of other noted persons have passed on from it, Jacob Javits, David Niven, Ezzard Charles, Dennis Day and former Vice President Henry A. Wallace. Still we can hope for a dedicated and inspired scientist to find a cure.

Until then we have this inspirational movie and Lou Gehrig's inspired and remembered life.