A year before its release, news out of Hollywood touted the MGM project “Boom Town” by naming its all star cast of Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert and Hedy Lamarr, each of whom were box office draws. The project was set to begin production March 15, 1939 with Jack Conway directing and Sam Zimbalist producing. It was described as the story of a Texas oilfield penned by screenwriter John Lee Mahin who adapted a story by James Edward Grant.
Grant (1901 – 1961) began his career as a news reporter before branching out as an author. One of his early works was a short story called “Whipsaw” that caught the eye of executives in Hollywood. He was hired to adapt it into a screenplay for a film of the same name starring Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy, thus beginning his screen writing career. Another Grant short story, “A Lady Comes to Burkburnett” was published in Cosmopolitan magazine. This publication of Cosmopolitan was a monthly literary magazine that ran for at least twenty to thirty years beginning in 1905. This is not to be confused with the fashion magazine by the same name that began in the 1880s and still continues today. In Grant’s story, a sophisticated woman comes to Burkburnett, Texas during the early days of oil discovery in North Texas. At that time, the town is dominated by rowdy men trying to make their fortunes by discovering oil in the dry Texas prairie. She quickly becomes the center of attention.
John Lee Mahin (1902 – 1984) was about the same age as Grant. He had attended Harvard where he wrote movie reviews and became interested in theater and films. Mahin tried his luck at becoming an actor but had little success on stage. After moving to Hollywood, he gradually broke into screen writing in the early 1930s. Mahin slowly became known for his original writing and adaptations and was hired by MGM to write the screenplay based on Grant’s story. Mahin already had several credits and had been nominated for an Oscar for in 1937 for his work in “Captain’s Courageous.” After this, he continued to enjoy a long career as a screenwriter.
The themes of “Boom Town” include the dream of the ability for people to make and lose “gold rush” style fortunes in the midst of times during natural resource discoveries, a “boom and bust” formula that has been the basis for numerous films. Other themes include loyalty among friends, romance and its difficulties. None of it was filmed in Texas. The story opens in the early days of oil discovery in Burkburnett, Texas which had actually taken place around 1918, about twenty years prior to the filming. Gable and Tracy are portrayed as two cash poor oilfield operators trying to fund their own “wildcat” well projects. Their characters already know each other from some prior days. They decide to suppress any previous rivalry and work together. Gable brought some personal oilfield experience to the project, having worked at least a while in the Oklahoma fields with his father William, said to be a wildcatter. Gable was believed to have tried to base some of his character’s mannerisms after his father.
The film opens in Burkburnett. Tracy’s character (Sand) has an oil lease thirty miles away giving him the right to drill. His predicament is that he has no cash with which to do it. Gable’s character (McMasters) enters the story and after a little of their prior history is revealed, they decide to try to work together. They hijack some drilling equipment (a drilling rig run with a power take-off from an automobile axle), as opposed to the tall drilling rigs that we are accustomed to seeing in later petroleum exploration. They make some progress before they spot the authorities rapidly approaching their well site, causing them to flee. They escape after a wild chase scene. Later, after spending some time working for other operators, the pair decide to go to a bank and try to borrow money to try wildcatting again.
Colbert’s character (Betsy) enters the story at that point, coming to town to open a clothing store. Though Betsy has some history with Sand, she and McMasters strike up a romance. In the meantime, Sand and McMasters successfully discover oil, making them instantly wealthy. McMasters and Betsy. Betsy confesses a prior though undefined relationship with Sand reintroducing a subplot of both men being in love with the same woman. Their well catches fire, destroying everything. Sand wins the lease in a coin flip with McMasters and they part ways.
For much of the rest of the film, fortunes are made and lost in a see saw fashion. Sometimes one of them prospers while the other does not. The McMasters leave Texas for Ohio and Arkansas. Sand puts together a successful operation in the “tropics” in an unnamed and unstable country. McMasters, once again down on his luck, appears and declines a job when he finds out Sands is the owner. McMasters and Betsy go back to Oklahoma. Sands loses everything when the local political situation changes.
McMasters has success and Hedy Lamarr’s character (Karen) is introduced about halfway though the film. Karen and McMasters are attracted to one another. McMasters is introduced to “big oil” operators, including Compton, played by Lionel Atwill. The scene moves to New York. Tracy, once more financially depressed, rejoins the story again, first working with McMasters. Business alliances are formed and redrawn.
Much of the latter part of the film deals with federal legal issues of McMasters, an anti-trust trial and its resolution. Personal relationships are also challenged and resolved as the film unfolds to its final conclusions.
Considered to be one of the 10 best films of 1940, “Boom Town” was a financial success. “Boom Town” became the highest-grossing film of 1940 and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography and Best Sound Effects.
Supporting actors who appear in many scenes include Frank Morgan, Texan Chill Wills, Joe Yule (father of Mickey Rooney), Lionel Atwill and an uncredited Francis X. Bushman Jr. (son of the silent film headliner). Claudette Colbert had previously worked with Clark Gable in the 1934 film “It Happened One Night” which won four Academy Awards including Best Actor and Best Actress for them. “Boom Town” was the last of three films that Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy did together. Articles about the film also mention a technical advisor named Ford Alexander. In business, Alexander was an oilfield fire fighter somewhat like Red Adair.
Burkburnett is only one of the locations depicted in the film though early North Texas tie-ins include signs that say Burkburnett and mentions of Justin Boots. In reality the scenery seems quite typical of oilfield boom towns of that day. Dusty, muddy and unpaved streets, towns that would spring up around oil and gas production with their saloons, dance halls, bordellos, crimes, oilfield service businesses, derricks side by side, blowout wells, oilfield calamities, refineries, oil transportation via trucks, pipelines and railroad tankers are all images of the era.
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