twhiteson
Period pieces set in the 1890's or at the turn of the century were a popular genre in the 1940's. They were often sweet, nostalgic tales that both reminded elderly audience members of their youths and appealed to younger ones with a rose-tinted view of supposedly simpler and more gracious times. Vincente Minnelli's "Meet Me in St. Louis" (1944) and Raoul Walsh's "The Strawberry Blonde" (1941) are the best known of these films, but there were many others including this one.William Wellman's "The Happy Years" is an episodic film based on the works of early 20th century novelist Owen Johnson. Between 1909-1922, Johnson wrote a number of novellas about the humorist adventures of students at both New Jersey's preparatory Lawrenceville School and Yale University which were Johnson's own alma maters."The Happy Years" is about "John Humperdink 'Dink' Stover" (Dean Stockwell), a young New Jersey teenage terror, and his first experiences as a Lawrenceville student in 1896. We are first introduced to Dink through the eyes of his exasperated parents (Leon Ames and Margolo Gillmore). They are at wits end at how to deal with this incorrigible troublemaker. The solutions: let him be sent to a reformatory or pack him off to his Dad's and older brother's prep alma mater: Lawrenceville School. So, he goes to Lawrenceville.Why Lawrenceville is treated as a "last resort" is not exactly explained. It has a beautiful, bucolic campus and an all-male student body of well-heeled toffs. It looks more like a reward than a punishment. Anyway, as a new boy, he is immediately nicknamed "Dink" and subjugated to the ritual hazing that all new kids receive from older classmates among whom are the dapper "Tennessee Shad" (Scotty Beckett) and big-man-on-campus, "Tough McCarty" (Darryl Hickman). Dink doesn't take the hazing in good nature which violates an unspoken code of student conduct. His refusal to be a "good sport" about it leads to him being a pariah. With his lousy attitude, it appears Dink won't be long for Lawrenceville. Tough guy director William Wellman often specialized in male-bonding films which is probably why he got this film despite it being a frothy nostalgia piece. The film's emphasis is on a boy proving himself to other boys by taking and accepting his "lumps." There are several fights and a violent football game. The few female characters are mostly just marks for various boyish pranks. It's "boys will be boys.""The Happy Years" starts strong, but then bogs down as it bounces from one lengthy episodic scene after the next. By the time it reached that football game I was about to check-out. It just doesn't feel coherent which is probably a result of its screenplay being cobbled together from chapters of Johnson's various books. Plus, the sight of little Dean Stockwell fighting much larger boys and winning was eye-roll inducing. (The scenes of 14 yr old Stockwell tangling with strapping 19 yr old Hickman are particularly silly.)"The Happy Years" was a dud at the box-office. It appears post-war 1950 film audiences were no longer interested in nostalgia pieces about "the good ole days." Dean Stockwell was near the end of his days as a child star. As were both Darryl Hickman and Scotty Beckett. "The Happy Years" being a box-office bomb appears to have convinced Hollywood that they were no longer viable stars and moved on. Stockwell smartly would step away from Hollywood for a few years before returning to have a very long career as a character actor in both film and TV. Hickman would work fairly steadily as a TV and voice actor. However, Scotty Beckett became one of the more notorious former child actors whose career and life spun completely out-of-control leading to an early demise.
jacobs-greenwood
Directed by William A. Wellman, and based on Owen Johnson's "Lawrenceville School" stories, this "coming of age" comedy drama stars 14 year old Dean Stockwell as an incorrigible young lad who eventually learns to fit in at a prep school, after having been thrown out of at least two others. A rivalry with a "tough" older boy, a friendship with a nerdy underage one, and gentle guidance provided by an Instructor who becomes his dormitory "house master" all lead to his maturation. Though not exceptional, this pre-"turn of the century" period piece does provide adequate entertainment and positive messages, after its slow start.Set in 1896 somewhere near New Jersey, unkempt John Humperdink Stover (Stockwell) was thrown out of his older brother's prep school for blowing up the chemistry lab, he wanted to prove that one could make dynamite without using gunpowder. While home, he paints the neighbor's horse green to help it hide from mosquitoes. His father Samuel Stover Sr. (Leon Ames) & mother Maude (Margalo Gillmore) are at their wits end, wishing their youngest was more like his model older brother Samuel Jr. (Peter M. Thompson) or proper sister 'Tootsie' (Jeralyn Alton, uncredited). They decide to give him one more chance, before reform school, by sending him to the Lawrenceville School, where 'Sambo' (what John calls his older brother), now at Yale, spent some time.On the horse & buggy ride from the train station to the school, Stover takes the reigns from the driver that wasn't going fast enough to suit him, upsetting an older passenger (Leo G. Carroll) also along for the ride. Upon arrival at the school, he is dropped off in front of the Green house, the off-campus dormitory for what looks like the roughest of the students. After introducing himself to the head boy, 'Tough' McCarty (Darryl Hickman), Stover is made to bow & introduce himself to the other boys seated on the front steps. Each has a unique nickname: 'Cheyenne' Baxter (Jerry Mickelsen), Coffee Colored Angel (Alan Dinehart III), White Mountain Canary (Dave Bair), and so forth. Stover is given the nickname 'Dink'.Venturing into town, while skipping classes his first day (a right of passage), Dink meets Tennessee Shad (Scotty Beckett), who fills him in on some of the folklore before scamming the greenhorn into purchasing a decorative toiletry set. Back at Green house, Dink's roommate Butsey White (Danny Mummert) mocks him for being taken. Later, as the ninth member of the house, Dink is made to play baseball, a sport he clearly doesn't play. Robert Wagner is uncredited as the opposing catcher, but is unrecognizable through the face mask. After helping his team lose the game, Dink is chased over a period of days by White Mountain Canary, until he's finally caught and must defend himself. When Dink comes out on top, he figures he can take on Tough for the head boy. He learns otherwise, though he vows revenge. He also learns that the older passenger from that first buggy ride is Mr. Hopkins (Carroll), the school's Latin teacher.The next thing you know the semester is over and Dink returns home having failed to make any friends. His family, which summers at the beach, seems to have heard about his rough time, and treats him with kid gloves throughout the season. During his vacation break, Dink teaches the local gang of ruffians some new tricks he'd learned while at school. While spoiling all the little girls' enjoyment during the summer with one particular ruse, Dink finally meets his match in Dolly Travers (Claudia Barrett), who also happens to be enamored with Tough McCarty.When Dink returns to school, he finds himself reassigned to Kennedy house, whose house master is Mr. Hopkins, dubbed 'The Old Roman'. He also meets the 'Great Big Man' (Donn Gift), who's anything but, in fact he's technically underage but smart enough to be one of the school's best students. He's staying at Kennedy house because his father is friends with 'The Old Roman', who's also the football coach. Because of his tenacity, and despite his size, the coach allows Dink to play on the scrubs (second, practice team), which gives him an opportunity to regularly tangle with the team's captain, Tough. Struggling with his Latin, Dink makes a deal with the 'Great Big Man' - he'll help the little guy live up to his name if the little genius will help Dink pass an oral Latin test to keep from flunking out of playing on the football team. The 'Great Big Man' uses two different unique physical talents to do both - an ability to wiggle his ears to help Dink answer some binary questions accurately, and his enormous appetite to earn a replacement nickname 'Hungry Smeed', and free pancakes for everyone on campus. Irving Bacon appears, uncredited, as the pancake establishment's owner, who'd "bet" that no one could eat more than twenty-six.Eventually, of course, even Tough and Dink become friends, when an injured player during a football game enables Dink to play side-by- side his rival. Additionally, Dink learns that 'The Old Roman' is not the ogre he thinks he is. There's also a cute little wrap up when the school year ends and Stover returns "home" to the beach.
sultana-1
Dean Stockwell was never better, and the supporting cast is uniformly excellent in this classic comedy. Leo G. Carroll is impeccable as the crusty, but caring, turn-of-the-century headmaster. Darryl Hickman is marvelous as Tuff McCarty, Stockwell's nemesis. This is definitely a family movie that can be enjoyed, appreciated, and laughed at, by all ages.
