Actors Chosen for Ayn Rand Roles

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“Night of January 16th” as a movie and We the Living adapted for Broadway
With “Night of January 16th” an established hit Broadway play, a movie of it was a good commercial prospect, more so than when MGM had that opportunity while the title was “Penthouse Legend.” The sale of the rights didn’t occur as quickly as usually the case, because Al Woods didn’t put them on the market early on; he sought to form his own movie company to produce movie adaptations of this play and subsequent plays. Two years later, he made a conventional sale. image: Los Angeles Times, March 16, 1936, pg. 13 Note: Clarification as to whether the title of the play is properly “The Night of January 16” or “Night of January 16th” is discussed in an appendix to this site.
	RKO bought the rights, seeking the very popular Claudette Colbert to star in it. image: The New York Times, June 22, 1938, pg. 27 Colbert could play gutsy and self-protective, wise and feminine, unwilling to be made fool of.
[Explaining what occurs at a change of scene within the video, the following comment is made in the narration:] Colbert accompanies the reporter as he itemizes historic artifacts inside an old ship. Those familiar with the play “Night of January 16th” and who remember what occurred between Karen Andre and her employer the night they met, might be fascinated by how Colbert plays this scene. film source: Claudette Colbert in I Cover the Waterfront (1933), with Ben Lyon


	RKO was planning to begin filming with Claudette Colbert in August 1938. Colbert’s salary was then the highest of any actress. Colbert was the highest-paid woman in American several years in a row. image: Hartford Courant, July 24, 1938, pg. A6
	RKO didn’t go into production that year, but on the last day of 1938 this report appeared that a producer was assigned, writers about to be named, and Colbert still to star. image: The New York Times, December 31, 1938, pg. A7
	Two days later, a headline announced the same plan about Colbert. image: Los Angeles Times, January 2, 1939, pg. A10
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One year and seven days after Ayn Rand put her signature on a contract to sell movie rights to “Night of January 16th” to RKO, another contract became binding by which RKO sold those same rights to Paramount. As of July 20, 1939, Paramount has owned the movie rights. image: contract dated July 13, 1938 signed by Ayn Rand by which she sold movie rights to RKO for Penthouse Legend. The gray line separates content which appeared on separate pages in the full two-page agreement. Admittedly, the image quality is poor. The image here was copied from a PDF made from a microfilm shot from originals of which the contract seems to have been represented by a fuzzy photocopy. I reason this because the adjacent images on the microfilm are much sharper, suggesting that they were microfilmed from originals while the contract was not. One more thing … Even on a legal contract, someone didn’t spell Ayn Rand’s name right. The block quote has the play registered for copyright under the name “Ann Rand” yet the Copyright Office log book of registrations shows her name typed in with her name spelled correctly.
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		Paramount made arrangements with 20th Century-Fox for Don Ameche to star in “Night of January 16th”. This could have resulted in a combination of Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche topping the cast, a combination that worked well in Paramount’s superb 1939 champagne comedy Midnight.
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Ayn Rand was in New York, where she had adapted her 1936 novel We the Living into a play about to be produced titled “The Unconquered.” image: The New York Times, December 1, 1939, pg. 26
		Dean Jagger was cast as Andre opposite the play’s star, Eugenie Leontovich. Onslow Stevens was cast as the lead Russian aristocrat, Leo. image: Christian Science Monitor, December 14, 1939, pg. 18
	Other members of “The Unconquered” cast were named in a December 21, 1939, story; the story correctly notes that the last on the list, Frank O’Connor, is Ayn Rand’s husband. image: The New York Times, December 21, 1939, pg. 28
	Two days later, an ad appeared in the Baltimore Sun, as Baltimore is the city where the played tried out before heading to Broadway. image: Baltimore Sun, December 23, 1939, pg. 11
This December 24 Baltimore Sun ad names the three lead actors: Leontovich, Jagger, Stevens. image: Baltimore Sun, December 24, 1939, pg. MS10
	The Baltimore Sun ran a story about the play on December 24 with this photo of Eugenie Leontovich and Onslow Stevens in the roles of Kira and Leo. image: Baltimore Sun, December 24, 1939, pg. MS10
In a film the year before Onslow Stevens played Leo, we see how Stevens played a role of proud bearing and unique ambitions. film source: Onslow Stevens in Life Returns (1938)
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Dean Jagger demonstrates in a 1936 film how he could play a character in a leadership position, one who cultivates a ruthless disposition, and suffers his lover’s scorn. film source: Dean Jagger in Revolt of the Zombies (1936)

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On January 18, 1940, the Baltimore engagement having long closed, The New York Times carried this report that Eugenie Leontovich had been replaced by Helen Craig.

image: The New York Times, January 18, 1940, pg. 27

Helen Craig didn’t start making movies until the end of the decade. This photograph is from one of her few films before she left the film medium long-term; she waited to turn again to movies and television over two decades later.

image: Helen Craig in The Snake Pit (1948)

Variety also did a story saying that while Kira was being played by Eugenie Leontovich, the lead had been miscast.

images: (left) Variety, January 10, 1940, pg. 34;
(right) cast information published the day of the Broadway premiere in The New York Times, February 13, 1940, pg. 30

“The Unconquered” opened mid-February on Broadway to a very short run and bad reviews. Dean Jagger was the only cast member among the top three roles to be retained from the Baltimore production.

images: (left) The New York Times, February 14, 1940, pg. 28;
(right) The New York Times, February 17, 1940, pg. 9

[The following remarks are spoken as narration during the video:]

John Emery graced the stage of “The Unconquered” as Leo during the Broadway run of February 13 to 17, 1940. We’re seeing him two years later.

The actress in this scene is Ann Harding, one of those thought of by Al Woods when casting Karen Andre for the Broadway production of “The Night of January 16.”

film source: John Emery in Eyes in the Night (1942), with Ann Harding

Note: A heavily-detailed account of bringing “The Unconquered” to stage—going into such matters as contracts, Rand’s interactions with the director, and sets—covers a dozen pages in Jeff Britting’s essay “Adapting We the Living,” in Essays on Ayn Rand’s “We the Living”, edited by Robert Mayhew (Lexington Books, 2004/2012), chapter 8 (first edition), chapter 9 (second edition).

Web Bonus Content The facts of Leo having been played by Onslow Stevens in Baltimore and by John Emery on Broadway, doesn’t exhaust the casting announcements as to the actors chosen to play Leo. Onslow Stevens was not replaced for inadequacy at the role, but rather for his seeking to avoid unemployment while the play was rewritten between the two runs. A December 11, 1939 story in the New York Herald Tribune (pg. 13) states, “Onslow Stevens will have the leading role opposite Eugenie Leontovich in ‘The Unconquered,’ new George Abbott production of a play by Ayn Rand which is now in rehearsal. Mr. Stevens was last seen on Broadway in ‘Dame Nature.’ ‘The Unconquered’ is due to open here on Jan. 3.” Ayn Rand’s play would not open anytime in January. A December 17 story in the Herald Tribune (pg. E2) still had January 3 as the expected date for a New York opening, with Stevens named in “a leading role opposite Eugenie Leontovich.” A January 25, 1940, story in the Herald Tribune (pg. 16) names Robert Shayne as replacement for Stevens. The Herald Tribune on January 28 (pg. E3) elaborated on the substitution: “Robert Shayne, who last appeared on Broadway in support of Ethel Barrymore in ‘Whiteoaks,’ has been engaged by George Abbott for the role of Leo, one of the two leading male parts in ‘The Unconquered,’ the Ayn Rand play which will open at the Biltmore Theater on Tuesday evening, Feb. 13. Dean Jagger and Helen Craig have the other two leading parts. Shayne replaces Onslow Stevens, who signed for another play while ‘The Unconquered’ was being rewritten after its tryout in Baltimore. This will be his second appearance in an Ayn Rand opus. He played the defense attorney in her courtroom drama, ‘The Night of January 16th.’”			(Point of clarification: “will open at the Biltmore Theater” refers to the Broadway venue for The Unconquered. One may be excused for confusing Biltmore for Baltimore, thereby assuming the theater in New York is a referent to the Maryland city of the first public performances.) The Herald Tribune correctly identifies Shayne’s earlier Ayn Rand role. See the first page of this web site for additional information and a film clip of Shayne. Shayne, who had been a replacement, would be replaced himself before the curtain rose on the first Broadway performance. Jeff Britting in his essay “Adapting We the Living” in the Robert Mayhew-edited book Essays on Ayn Rand’s “We the Living,” cites an item in News dated December 1, 1939, which Britting quotes as reporting, “With John Emery as her leading man, Eugenie Leontovich is en route East for ‘The Unconquered,’ new title of Ayn Rand’s play George Abbott is doing.” (This passage is identified by footnote 27 in both editions of the collection. In the first edition (Lexington Books, 2004), the quote is on page 158, the footnote on page 179; in the second edition (Lexington Books, 2012), the quote and footnote are on pages 184 and 205, respectively.) Combining the information from News with that of later sources, it may be surmised that Emery was hired first, was replaced by Stevens prior to Maryland, after which Stevens was replaced by Shayne in January, before Emery came to play in February the role he had been announced for in December.
In a newspaper interview in 1973 to coincide with a revival of Night of January 16th in New York (for the first time presented under her preferred title, Penthouse Legend), Ayn Rand recalled to reporter Rex Reed about the set of The Unconquered and her assessment of the director. image: “Controversial eye in a new hurricane of excitement,” by Rex Reed, Chicago Tribune, February 25, 1973, pg. D7; the article was also published as “‘Penthouse Legend’: Objective Look at a Play by Ayn Rand,” Washington Post, March 4, 1973, pg. L5, and as “Ayn Rand: a Woman Under Siege,” in Southland Sunday (Long Beach, Calif.), April 1, 1973

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Back in Hollywood, reports emerged February 12th that Barbara Stanwyck would play opposite Don Ameche for Paramount in the movie of “Night of January 16.”

image: The New York Times, February 12, 1940, pg. 19

This is the same Barbara Stanwyck whom Al Woods had thought of for the Broadway production five years earlier.

film source: Barbara Stanwyck in Meet John Doe (1941)

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Another story the same day likewise reported that Stanwyck was in where Colbert was out, but added that a top director was assigned (Mitchell Leisen), and that seven years earlier RKO could have bought the rights cheap when Ayn Rand was working in the studio’s wardrobe department, but that instead RKO paid big money before selling to Paramount. image: Los Angeles Times, February 12, 1940, pg. 11
Two months later, the Hollywood Reporter disclosed that Don Ameche refused to play Guts Regan and was being sued. Later stories reported that Ameche was always concerned to convey an upright image and did not want to play a brutal character. image: Hollywood Reporter, April 10, 1940 Documentation about Ameche’s concerns appear below.
A month and a half later, on May 23rd and 24th, two stories told readers that there were now two cast changes in the top two roles—again, two big stars: Paulette Goddard and Ray Milland. The title was changed again: it was to be “Secrets of a Secretary.” image: The New York Times, May 23, 1940, pg. 31
		In the May 24th story, syndicated columnist Louella Parsons asked why change the title when the play was a hit. She said it was “a darn good play.” The Don Ameche lawsuit was ongoing, she reported. image: Washington Post, May 24, 1940, pg. 12

Paramount had nine years earlier made a movie called Secrets of a Secretary, and had Claudette Colbert starred in the adaptation of “Night of January 16th” under the planned new title for the movie, it would have meant she would have starred in two movies titled Secrets of a Secretary that otherwise would be different.
images: color ad for Secrets of a Secretary in the Motion Picture Herald, May 2, 1931; black-and-white ad for Secrets of a Secretary in the Motion Picture Herald, 1931.
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Back when Ayn Rand had contracted with MGM to adapt “Night of January 16th” for Myrna Loy—back when the only title for it was “Penthouse Legend”—Myrna Loy would have potentially made two movies back-to-back, with the same or similar titles. Myrna Loy, at the very time of M-G-M’s contracting Ayn Rand, was filming a movie called “Penthouse”—not “Penthouse Legend,” but just plain Penthouse. Film Daily reported in its August 11th issue that just-plain Penthouse had recently finished filming. The Hollywood Reporter carried a review of the completed, edited Penthouse movie in its August 22 issue, and the movie was in theaters September 8. image: Weekly Variety, July 25, 1933, pg. 7
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With so much occurring from July 25 to September 8, it couldn’t have happened that Ayn Rand’s story “Penthouse Legend” could have provided the basis for the movie MGM released as Penthouse six weeks later —despite what a respected film-information resource says.			This respected film-information resource provides citations to trade papers indicating that “Penthouse Legend” was Ayn Rand’s original idea whereas just-plain Penthouse is from a story by one Arthur Somers Roche—more reason to recognize that the two project were unrelated except for similar titles and the same leading lady.
images: (left) Hollywood Reporter, August 4, 1933, pg. 4; (right) Film Daily, August 11, 1933, pg. 2
image: review of the completed film Penthouse in Hollywood Reporter, August 22, 1933, pg. 6. Note the date in the upper right, which is not even a month later than the announcement that Ayn Rand had been engaged to write.

	Had Colbert made both a Secrets of a Secretary in 1931 and another “Secrets of a Secretary” in 1940, with different stories, it would have been no different than John Wayne making both The New Frontier in 1935 and New Frontier in 1939—with different stories. But that happened.
Had Myrna Loy followed Penthouse from Roche’s story with “Penthouse Legend” from Ayn Rand’s story, it would have been comparable to Alfred Hitchcock filming W. Somerset Maugham’s story “Ashenden” in 1936 as Secret Agent and then later that same year filming Joseph Conrad’s story “The Secret Agent” as Sabotage.
	Don Ameche settled with Paramount; he would play a role originally intended for Ray Milland whereas Ray Milland would play the role Ameche refused. image: The New York Times, September 17, 1940, pg. 33

[The following remarks are spoken as narration during the video:] Ray Milland had been playing lead roles in murder mysteries and light comedies. You’re about to see him avow the value of his life. We’re see him three years earlier. (In 1940, he was still five years from surprising Hollywood with his Academy Award-winning role as an alcoholic in The Lost Weekend.) film source: Ray Milland in Bulldog Drummond Escapes (1937), with Porter Hall (with gun) and Heather Angel
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Paulette Goddard could exude joy and pleasantness, but also get feisty when she fought for her values. film source: Paulette Goddard in Pot O’Gold (1941)
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		At the end of December 1940, Brian Donlevy was being named for the male lead of “Night of January 16th.” Though not bearing a name remembered as a star, Brian Donlevy was a very good actor. image: The New York Times, December 30, 1940, pg. 20
	film source: Brian Donlevy in Impact (1949) I approve Donlevy.
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	That same day at the end of December 1940, Brian Donlevy’s intended co-star was named as Patricia Morison. At other times, the story reports, Guts Regan was planned for Fred MacMurray, Melvyn Douglas, Don Ameche and Ray Milland. [The three new names will discussed in turn.] image: The New York Times, December 30, 1940, pg. 20
Patricia Morison could be wily and vicious, albeit in a subdued kind of way; a woman who could take charge. film source: Patricia Morison in Dressed to Kill (1946), with Edmond Breon (collector), Harry Cording (murderer), and Frederic Worlock (sharing car seat)
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Fred MacMurray could play tough repressed characters. MacMurray also played wise gentlemen in comedies and dramas, and played many love scenes. film source: Fred MacMurray in Borderline (1950), with Raymond Burr and Claire Trevor
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Also considered was Melvyn Douglas for the role of “Guts” Regan. Douglas was then well-established as a leading man, and the year prior to this 1940 news story, had starred opposite Greta Garbo in Ninotchka. We’re seeing him in the year following this report. film source: Melvyn Douglas in That Uncertain Feeling (1941), with Merle Oberon (wife) and Burgess Meredith
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		In this last of three looks at a story from December 30, 1940, we’re given Ameche’s reason for refusing the role of Guts Regan. image: The New York Times, December 30, 1940, pg. 20
Stanwyck lost the role of Karen Andre for the second time, counting the Broadway production—she may have known a sharp insult to deliver to the decision-makers at Paramount. film source: Barbara Stanwyck in Meet John Doe (1941)

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The movie The Night of January 16th was released in 1941. Ayn Rand wrote in 1968 that only one line of her dialogue made it into the movie, and that that was “The court will now adjourn until ten o’clock tomorrow morning.” She stated also that a few character names were otherwise all of what was hers which made it into the movie.

[The names of the principal characters in the movie appear in this illustration in its left-side column. A comparison with a list of the character names of the original play—which can be seen on the London Times review of the play, above, and on the programs of revival productions, shown below—demonstrates how few of the playwright’s names were retained.]

image: cast and credits for the movie The Night of January 16th published at the top of the New York Times review of the film, December 19, 1941, pg. 35

The leading lady was Ellen Drew, and we see her here playing—not Karen Andre—but Kit Lane. The character name was changed.

images: (right and below) still photographs shot and distributed to publicize The Night of January 16th movie

In looking at her expression, in a situation calling for seriousness, you might think that it has that off-kilter quality of supporting players in Three Stooges comedies. Well, that’s because this movie is played as though the roles were supporting parts in Three Stooges comedies. Viewers of the movie don’t get a sense that the events are important, and they don’t even get the expertly-timed slapstick of a movie actually featuring the Stooges.

This scene with a drunk has no counterpart in the play. The drunk merely turns up and leads the principal characters on a plot detour that has no bearing on later story developments. The actor playing the drunk does inject life into his scenes, for he was Cecil Kellaway, a wonderful personality whose talent would be matched nicely to an Ayn Rand role in Love Letters, where he played the caretaker.

The leading man role was a character not in the play; he is a nephew of someone in the play, although Ayn Rand’s play never mentioned a nephew. He was played by Robert Preston, years before he wowed audiences as “The Music Man” on Broadway and in the movie. He is seen here in a 1940 film, where his co-star on the right is Doris Nolan, the original Karen Andre of “Night of January 16” on Broadway.

images: Robert Preston (left) in Moon Over Burma (1940), with Doris Nolan (right)

Web Bonus Content Various of the combinations of announced leading ladies with announced leading men were cast in other films. An appendix to this site lists the actor combinations and the films in which these pairings allow viewers to see the screen chemistry which resulted.

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While this outrage was assembled in Hollywood, Ayn Rand was in New York seeking interest in a new play of hers called “Think Twice.” There will be no news clippings or film clips on this one, because “Think Twice” was never produced; no producer ever even agreed to do it. One of Ayn Rand’s characters is an independent-minded actress whose talents were misused as the leads in such passe plays as “Peter Pan” and “Little Women,” an invented tragedy called “Daughter of the Slums,” and—would you believe it?—“The Yellow Ticket.” “The Yellow Ticket,” which Fox made a strong film of in 1931, depicting a woman’s plight after the Russian government stigmatizes her, had first been a play first performed on Broadway in 1914—and Ayn Rand would have good cause to know about this: it had been produced by the very Al H. Woods who produced “Night of January 16th” twenty-one years later.

images: (right top) Copyright registry log entry for Think Twice, on file at the United States Copyright Office; bottom line reads “of U. S.”;
(right bottom) newspaper advertisement for Fox’s The Yellow Ticket published Chicago Daily Tribune, November 10, 1931, pg. 18

images: (left) The New York Times, February 3, 1914, pg. 20;
(right) Boston Globe, January 25, 1914, pg. 52

Web Bonus Content The leading man of the 1914 Broadway production was John Barrymore (seen in this web project in excerpts from the 1928 anti-Soviet movie Tempest), brother of Lionel Barrymore, who was the top-billed actor of the 1931 Fox film. Despite the comparable billing, Lionel did not play the part enacted by his brother John on stage seventeen years earlier. Instead, Laurence Olivier (here a newcomer to films, years before acclaimed roles in Wuthering Heights and the Shakespeare films which he also directed) played the part on film which had been John Barrymore’s on stage.

Those looking into other film versions of The Yellow Ticket might come across one from 1928 starring Anna Sten—mentioned previously on this web site in connection with Tala Birell—and assume that it is another film version of the 1914 play. In fact, that film is not based on Michael Morton’s play, and the story lines differ markedly. The common aspects apart from title is the eponymous “yellow ticket” and its holder being forced into prostitution by government officials. Seemingly, authors working apart were separately inspired by the same physical object—perhaps from information gleaned in news stories or from rumors—but crafted different stories around that.

Actors Chosen for Ayn Rand Roles

“Night of January 16th” as a movie and We the Living adapted for Broadway

“Night of January 16th” as a movie and
We the Living adapted for Broadway