Spencer Tracy_ A Biography - James C. Curtis [549]
IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD
Producer-director: Stanley Kramer. Screenplay: William Rose, Tania Rose. Production design: Rudolph Sternad. Music: Ernest Gold. Songs: “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,” “Thirty-One Flavors,” “You Satisfy My Soul” (music and lyrics: Ernest Gold, Mack David). Photography: Ernest Laszlo (Ultra Panavision, Technicolor). Editors: Frederick Knudtson, Robert C. Jones, Gene Fowler, Jr. Production: Casey Productions, Inc. Distribution: United Artists. Release date: November 7, 1963 (roadshow), July 25, 1964 (general). Rereleased: 1970 (United Artists). Running Time: 190 minutes (roadshow), 161 minutes (general). Cast: Spencer Tracy (Captain C. G. Culpepper), Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Phil Silvers, Terry-Thomas, Jonathan Winters, Edie Adams, Dorothy Provine, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Jim Backus, Ben Blue, Joe E. Brown, Alan Carney, Chick Chandler, Barrie Chase, Lloyd Corrigan, William Demarest, Selma Diamond, Peter Falk, Andy Devine, Norman Fell, Paul Ford, Stan Freeberg, Louise Glenn, Leo Gorcey, Sterling Holloway, Marvin Kaplan, Edward Everett Horton, Buster Keaton, Don Knotts, Charles Lane, Mike Mazurki, Charles McGraw, Cliff Norton, Zasu Pitts, Carl Reiner, Madlyn Rhue, Roy Roberts, Arnold Stang, Nick Stewart, The Three Stooges, Sammee Tong, Jesse White, Jimmy Durante.
Note: While It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World was shot in Ultra Panavision, a 65mm anamorphic process, it was initially exhibited under the trade name Cinerama, a 35mm three-camera process. The film was not originally conceived as a Cinerama production but was rather embraced by Cinerama, which had been working to develop a single-lens, single-projector system for more than a year. A two-picture deal between Cinerama and United Artists (for Mad World and The Greatest Story Ever Told) was concluded in August 1962. In exchange for the promotional use of the Cinerama logo (and the cachet of opening the film in Cinerama venues with specially adjusted prints), UA paid Cinerama a licensing fee of $50,000.
THE RIPON COLLEGE STORY
Technical Advisers: Leonard W. Vaughn, Richard Kubik. Production: Rick Spalla Video Productions (16mm color). Distribution: Ripon College. Release date: 1965. Running time: 30 minutes. Cast: Jack Ankerson, Margaret Kuney. Narrators: Spencer Tracy, John Willis.
GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER
Producer-director: Stanley Kramer. Associate producer: George Glass. Screenplay: William Rose. Production design: Robert Clatworthy. Music: Frank De Vol. Song: “Glory of Love” (music and lyrics: Billy Hill). Photography: Sam Leavitt (Technicolor). Editor: Robert C. Jones. Production and distribution: Columbia. Release date: December 11, 1967. Rereleased: 1972 (Columbia). Running time: 108 minutes. Cast: Spencer Tracy (Matt Drayton), Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, Katharine Houghton, Cecil Kellaway, Beah Richards, Roy E. Glenn, Sr., Isabel Sanford, Virginia Christine, Alexandra Hay, Barbara Randolph, D’Urville Martin, Tom Heaton, Grace Gaynor, Skip Martin, John Hudkins.
Notes and Sources
Frequently cited archives, collections, and libraries have been identified by the following abbreviations:
AADA American Academy of Dramatic Arts, New York
AFI Louis B. Mayer Library, American Film Institute, Los Angeles
AMPAS Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles
BT Hall of History Collection, Boys Town, Nebraska
DOS Donald Ogden Stewart–Ella Winter Collection, Yale Collection of American