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Site created 12/15/97.
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How the West Was Won (Continued)
The thundering buffalo stampede, one of the big thrills of the film, could never have been staged had it not been for the late Theodore Roosevelt. An avid big-game hunter, the former President was one of the first conservationists, and as such became a crusader to preserve the buffalo which once swarmed across North America in huge herds but were rapidly become extinct. The last wild buffalo kill on record was in 1896 at Lost Park, Colorado, when two bulls, a cow and a calf were shot down. Roosevelt organized the Society for the Preservation of American Bison. The Society learned of a private herd in Alberta, Canada and obtained buffalo from there to form the nucleus of a new United States herd. Then another nucleus was formed in South Dakota State Park in the Black Hills. The herd varied from 1,200 to 1,600 animals. It was in this area that Marshall staged the big stampede scene. Several shots used in the film were from other movies, including Raintree Country, This is Cinerama and The Alamo. Because of the Cinerama lenses at angles from each other, it was common for actors who were looking at each other to seem like they were a bit off. The actors were informed to look a slight bit to one side, which created a hardship for the stars, who were not used to using this technique. On the set, Bob Morgan, one of the stuntmen, almost died when chains holding a bunch of logs snapped and the logs nearly crushed him. It took him years to get over the pain, and it was said he was never able to walk and move the same again after the accident. [Continued below...] |
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 Promotional displays in stores and museums lifted attendance. |
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Recording the stereo soundtrack of a film for Cinerama was much different than other processes. Much of the sound, in order to sync to the three camera method, had to be filmed on location. At the time, the studios were used to dubbing in special effects, but now MGM had to take on the process of recording on-set. Usually, there were up to 7 channels of sound being recorded at one time for the Cinerama equipped theaters (which would later be mixed down for the 35mm prints). The orchestra would record in studio, with the film playing on the
screen, but the players depended on the conductor as they were not able to view the screen themselves, but rather were reading their sheet music. As many microphones were used for the score recording as were used outside to make the music track as real as possible. Placement of the microphones on location and during score records was determined by where the sounds would be heard in the Cinerama theater. With the use of so many microphones, the presentation of sound for How the West Was Won became crystal clear, and one could hear the crispness of
every horn, the richness of the violins and the stab the drums in the auditorium.
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    Original Soundtrack album, RCA vocalists album and Rhino's MGM expanded Soundtrack. |
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When it came time to find a composer, the hefty job was given to Alfred Newman. Newman was the first born of ten children (in 1901) in Connecticut. He eventually worked in vaudeville and then began to do some work for orchestras of Broadway shows before working on music with the Samuel Goldwyn company. He was quite well known to Irving Berlin, who, when taking the trip West, brought along Newman because he had such faith in his talents. He later became friends with the Gershwins. His composition of film scores began in the 1930's with such titles as Moulin Rouge, The Prisoner of Zenda, Gunga Din and Alexander's Ragtime Band, first working for United Artists. Many of his earlier scorings went uncredited. He was a master of taking one form of music and transferring it to another, for instance taking folk songs and turning them into choral spectaculars (as heard in How the West Was Won). Newman became a favorite of studio executives. He was hired as the main musical director and composer for 20th Century Fox in 1940, but left in 1959 to pursue an independent career. He moved on to do work for other studios such as Universal, where he conducted scores like Flower Drum Song (which earned him an Oscar nomination). Musicals remained a field of great interest for him, probably due to his early years on Broadway, though How the West Was Won became his most extensive work, accomplished with his frequent collaborator, Ken Darby. Work on How the West Was Won would be a tedious job for the
composer, scoring over two and a half hours of film, much of which had music and underscore. Months were spent in his favorite room at home, putting together a score that became one of the most popular and beloved in film history. Newman would live just seven years after completing this historic score. He died in 1970, with his last full score being for Universal's Airport, which earned him the last of his 44 Oscar nominations. His previous work included scores for such films as How Green Was My Valley, The Robe, The Song of Bernadette,
Gentleman's Agreement, The Egyptian, Camelot and The Greatest Story Ever Told.
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   Composer Alfred Newman hard at work at what he enjoyed best. |
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Promotion for the film cost MGM more than any other release before it. Special 24-sheet posters were sent out for highway signs and to line large walls in major cities. Trained Cinerama experts were sent to theaters, some being MGM employees. They were sent weeks before the show opened to talk to audiences in the lobby and outside theaters to create excitement for the film. Soundtrack albums containing Newman's expert score were shipped by the tens of thousands all over the United States and then around the world. There was an original soundtrack album and a recording by the Hollywood Sound stage orchestra. She Wooley released an album titled Takes of How the West Was Won as well. Singles released included Les Baxter's Balladeers, Geo. Cates Orchestra recorded selections, Burgess Meredith released a single, and Debbie Reynolds released A Home in the Meadow and Raise a Ruckus. Even Jackie Gleason released
several of the songs on his Movie Themes for Lovers Only. Vocal and score selections were released for fans to play at home. Beyond the music, Life Magazine would feature the film's production process (as did many other publications). Bantam Books released the film's story, which became a number one seller following the film's release. Many books already in publication about the West were re-printed with new covers that included the film's title. A special comic book release was produced. Promotions were arranged with shopping centers and individual stores all over the country, where many of the cast would travel after the general release to promote the film. MGM printed up flyers that they would cut the admission price by a fourth if people paid with buffalo nickels. MGM also arranged with local railroads to give How the West Was Won free rides. In several large cities, these were arranged on special days and, to the surprise of the riders, MGM would have men on horseback riding alongside the train. MGM even worked with theme parks featuring Western-themed rides and displays to incorporate the film during its first run. Never before had there been such promotion for any Hollywood film. [Continued below...] |
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   (L to R) Warner sheet music, an original Cinerama roadshow ticket and the souvenir book. |
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The promotions paid off. In the days of special roadshows, when a film would play in only selected theaters at reserved seat prices, How the West Was Won became an instant success, topping box office records and out-grossing other films that played in many more theaters. Lines several blocks long could be found in major cities where the film played in Cinerama. People were ordering tickets from as many as 200 miles away to see this spectacle of Cinerama with Hollywood's most notable stars and a larger-than-life lesson
in U.S. history. Because MGM did not release the film initially to smaller movie houses, there was a big demand for tickets. The Cinerama run lasted many months before MGM finally would release the film in 70mm and 35mm versions to play in smaller theaters and smaller towns. Word-of-mouth added to the packed theaters, not only because of the grand scale of the film and its cast, but because the Cinerama process was so startling to so many viewers. Many people told their friends to see the film, and many returned for more than one viewing. On record is a couple from New York that went to see the film over 80 times. This doesn't match the record of a woman in Wales, who sat through The Sound of Music over 300 times, but 80 viewings of a single film was still considered a very rare occurrence indeed at the time.
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  (L to R) How the West Was Won train ride promotions and movie novel. |
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The film went on to win several times in the 1962 awards season. It won Oscars for Best Film Editing (Harold F. Kress), Best Sound (Franklin Milton) and Best Writing (story and screenplay) for James R. Webb. It was also nominated for other Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Music Score (Alfred Newman), Best Costume Design, Best Cinematography, and Best Art Direction. Losing the award for Cinematography is somewhat of a mystery, considering the scope of the Cinerama process and the film itself. The film also garnered a special award from the Laurels, and won the Western Heritage Award in 1964. It was the first Cinerama film to be shown in regular theaters. The first Cinerama productions, because of their lack of star power and storyline, were not deemed viable for regular nationwide runs in 35mm or 70mm houses. [Continued below...] |
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All these years later, it's wonderful to see that Warner Home Video has deemed fit to correct the picture, rid it of the separation lines and restore the brilliantly recorded soundtrack. While any size movie screen in a home could never reproduce the feeling that one got from a Cinerama theater, this new Blu-ray and DVD release is a welcome event for fans of the Western, classic films, all-star adventure spectaculars, gloriously recorded classic soundtracks and the special film processes of the 1950's and 1960's. How the West Was Won will always hold a special place in motion picture history. Before completing this writing, I was able to view the new Warner release on Blu-ray Disc and I was stunned at the quality. It's one of the finest HD transfers available of any classic film. After my initial viewing of both the Flat and Smilebox versions, I felt the need to investigate a bit into the process that restored the film to such a brilliant condition. I talked briefly with George Feltenstein, the Senior Vice President in charge of Warner Home Video's classic catalog. He described it thusly: "Work really began through exploration nearly a decade ago, and it was a slow process until the team was able to solve the problems. The soundtrack was the result of preservation of the original 7-track Cinerama magnetic masters, which was done a while back by Chace Productions. Their careful work led to the final mix done by Warner Bros. Sound. Truly, the credit for this great achievement belongs to a lot of folks, but primarily Bill Baggelaar, Ned Price and Dave Strohmaier." Bill Baggelaar is the Vice President of Engineering at WB Technical Operations, whose goals included removing the join lines from the 3-strip Cinerama process and correcting problems caused by Cinerama's distortion from the curved screen to a flat home theater screen. It seems that most of the Cinerama negatives were in very good shape, which helped greatly in the restoration process. The negatives were scanned at 2K resolution to create a 6K master. After this was completed, the results - taking over 80 tetrabites of space by the end of the project - were sent to Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging's partner, Prasad Studios in Bangalore, where the image was made flat and the join lines were removed through a special software process that the company created. The result was then sent back to MPI, where additional work was done, film archival versions were made and the 7-track soundtrack was reduced to 5.1. This whole process took a little under half a year. Colors then had to be corrected between the panels by Ray Grabowski, colorist for MPI (Motion Picture Imaging), because the use of three different cameras resulted in subtle color variations in the negatives. 35mm Vistavision was created for video mastering). FilmLight's Baselight Eight real-time 4K color correction system also helped in removing the Cinerama seams. Katie Largay (assistant colorist) and Ray Grabowski (who did much of the later work) are also responsible for the upcoming 6K restoration of A Star is Born and the Popeye Cartoons collections, being released through Warner Home Video. The master was then ready for Blu-ray and DVD pressing. Dave Strohmaier, who was a consultant on Paul Allen's Seattle Cinerama Theater restoration project and also worked with Pacific Theaters (current owners of Cinerama, Inc. and its assets ) was also involved in the entire process. Now we can understand all of the work involved in such a historic restoration, beautifully done and ready for loving viewing on our home screens. So at long last, MGM and Cinerama (along with Warner Home Video) present How the West Was Won! [Continued below...] |
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 Warner Bros.' Ned Price, Katie Largay and Ray Grabowski who worked on the restoration. |
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