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The Happy Years

  • 19501950
  • GG
  • 1h 50m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
732
YOUR RATING
Leon Ames, Dean Stockwell, Claudia Barrett, and Margalo Gillmore in The Happy Years (1950)
Based on a collection of stories with the focus on young John Humperdink "Dink" Stover, a student at the Lawrenceville Prepatory School, in 1896, whose family, in Eastcester, New York, have just about given up on his education because he is an incorrigible student. He gets into one situation after another and incurs the dislike of his classmates, who think he is cowardly but he changes their opinion when he challenges several of them to a fight. When he returns home for the summer, he meets Miss Dolly Travers and increases his 'hatred of women' because she does not accept his schoolboy pranks. Back at school, in the fall, he is more difficult than ever until his philosophy is changed by a teacher.
Play trailer2:21
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30 Photos
ComedyFamilyRomance
Based on a collection of stories with the focus on young John Humperdink "Dink" Stover, a student at the Lawrenceville Prepatory School, in 1896, whose family, in Eastcester, New York, have ... Read allBased on a collection of stories with the focus on young John Humperdink "Dink" Stover, a student at the Lawrenceville Prepatory School, in 1896, whose family, in Eastcester, New York, have just about given up on his education because he is an incorrigible student. He gets into o... Read allBased on a collection of stories with the focus on young John Humperdink "Dink" Stover, a student at the Lawrenceville Prepatory School, in 1896, whose family, in Eastcester, New York, have just about given up on his education because he is an incorrigible student. He gets into one situation after another and incurs the dislike of his classmates, who think he is cowar... Read all
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
732
YOUR RATING
    • William A. Wellman
    • Owen Johnson(stories "The Lawrenceville School Stories")
    • Harry Ruskin(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Dean Stockwell
    • Darryl Hickman
    • Scotty Beckett
    • William A. Wellman
    • Owen Johnson(stories "The Lawrenceville School Stories")
    • Harry Ruskin(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Dean Stockwell
    • Darryl Hickman
    • Scotty Beckett
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 25User reviews
    • 1Critic review
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:21
    Watch Trailer

    Photos30

    Dean Stockwell and Scotty Beckett in The Happy Years (1950)
    Scotty Beckett in The Happy Years (1950)
    The Happy Years (1950)
    Dean Stockwell, Scotty Beckett, Donn Gift, and Darryl Hickman in The Happy Years (1950)
    Dean Stockwell, Leo G. Carroll, Mason Alan Dinehart, David Bair, Scotty Beckett, Danny Mummert, Donn Gift, Darryl Hickman, Eddie LeRoy, and Jerry Mickelsen in The Happy Years (1950)
    Dean Stockwell and Scotty Beckett in The Happy Years (1950)
    Dean Stockwell and Scotty Beckett in The Happy Years (1950)
    Dean Stockwell and Darryl Hickman in The Happy Years (1950)
    Dean Stockwell and Leo G. Carroll in The Happy Years (1950)
    Dean Stockwell and Claudia Barrett in The Happy Years (1950)
    Dean Stockwell and Claudia Barrett in The Happy Years (1950)
    Dean Stockwell and Donn Gift in The Happy Years (1950)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Dean Stockwell
    Dean Stockwell
    • John Humperdink 'Dink' Stover
    Darryl Hickman
    Darryl Hickman
    • 'Tough' McCarty
    Scotty Beckett
    Scotty Beckett
    • 'Tennessee' Shad
    Leon Ames
    Leon Ames
    • Samuel H. Stover - Sr.
    Margalo Gillmore
    Margalo Gillmore
    • Maude Stover
    Leo G. Carroll
    Leo G. Carroll
    • The Old Roman
    Donn Gift
    Donn Gift
    • 'Big Man…
    Peter M. Thompson
    • Samuel 'Sambo' H. Stover Jr.
    • (as Peter Thompson)
    Jerry Mickelsen
    • 'Cheyenne' Baxter
    Mason Alan Dinehart
    Mason Alan Dinehart
    • Coffee Colored Angel
    • (as Alan Dinehart III)
    David Bair
    • White Mountain Canary
    Danny Mummert
    Danny Mummert
    • 'Butsey' White
    Eddie LeRoy
    Eddie LeRoy
    • 'Polar' Beckstein
    George Chandler
    George Chandler
    • Johnny
    Claudia Barrett
    Claudia Barrett
    • Miss Dolly Travers
    Jeralyn Alton
    • Clara 'Tootsie' Stover
    • (uncredited)
    Irving Bacon
    Irving Bacon
    • Mr. Conover
    • (uncredited)
    Henry Blair
    Henry Blair
    • Harvey Crocker
    • (uncredited)
      • William A. Wellman
      • Owen Johnson(stories "The Lawrenceville School Stories")
      • Harry Ruskin(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Filmed (at least in part) on location at the The Lawrenceville School, where the real story takes place. MGM dug up the paved paths around the school to make it look like it did during the time of the story. Most of the school looks the same still today with only a few building added over the last century.
    • Goofs
      Obvious stunt double for Dean Stockwell in the football tryout scene, and when he falls down the stairs near the end of the film.
    • Quotes

      The Old Roman: I have in the course of my experience as a teacher had to deal with imbeciles, had to deal with near idiots, but for sheer monumental asininity I have never met the equal of this aggregation.

    • Connections
      Edited into The Our Gang Story (1994)

    User reviews25

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    6/10
    John Humperdink Stover, the early years
    The Dink Stover stories like the Frank Merriwell ones were most popular back at the turn of the last century. This particular one concerns the young man even before he's at Yale as a rebellious youth going to Lawrenceville Prep back in 1896.

    Dean Stockwell who was at the height of his juvenile popularity in 1950 plays young Stover and in the fashion of those days was given the nickname 'Dink' as it was thought his full moniker was a bit high falutin'. He's a rebellious one and makes an enemy in upper classman Darryl Hickman who he fights once and swears to fight and win. As they said back in those days, the kid has Moxie.

    I'm surprised that these stories and the Dink Stover character was never given to Mickey Rooney a decade earlier when he was at MGM. It seemed a natural for the Mick in his salad days. Stockwell good actor that he was and the rest of the cast were not box office. The film lost money for MGM.

    Leo G. Carroll was the Latin teacher and head of Stockwell's house at the prep school recognizes leadership potential. But it takes a lot to get it out of him, especially with his feud with Hickman dominating all his thoughts.

    Sad this film didn't do better for MGM. It's a nice nostalgia filled film of those halcyon days before World War I.
    helpful•3
    0
    • bkoganbing
    • Mar 6, 2018

    Details

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    • Release date
      • July 7, 1950 (United States)
      • United States
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Lawrenceville School, Route 206, Lawrenceville, New Jersey, USA
    • Production company
      • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 50 minutes

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