In the summer of 1957, boys across the country were wearing their hair in styles that were indicative of the time.
Some had crew cuts, some flat tops, some Brylcreemed their side-parts, while other grew their hair a few extra inches so as to emulate Elvis.
Among those millions of adolescents and young adults that summer, one 20-year old was sporting a mohawk.
James MacArthur was that one in that sea of millions.
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| With Mom |
As Walt Disney watched the film The Young Stranger, he saw a lot of promise in the young actor playing the troubled youth, the kid carried a lot of presence for a newcomer in his first film. While 20th Century Fox overlooked the 18-year old’s abilities, Walt signed James MacArthur to an exclusive contract.
Maybe being the son of Helen Hayes helped prepare his negotiating skills a bit, but young James signed only with the stipulation that he got script approval of which projects he was asked to do.
A smart move when you think about it.
Otherwise, he could have wound up playing the lead in the Mongo, The Effeminate Jungle Boy series.
Okay, that didn’t actually ever exist, but it helps my point to be illustrated.
Get it? Disney… Illustrated.
* awkward silence *
For the role of a white settler raised by Delaware Indians in the adaptation of Light In The Forest, MacArthur shaved his head into a mohawk and, despite being the new kid, gave a performance that wowed his fellow actors. MacArthur conveyed so much inner conflict and turmoil with an intensity made even more admirable given that he is stoic, with little dialogue for a large part of the film.
Working with the likes of Jessica Tandy, Fess Parker and Wendell Corey; staging battles, emotional exchanges and, ultimately, getting the girl.
Well, that’s not a bad way to your summer vacation from Harvard, is it?
The following summer, James was off to Switzerland for location filming on Third Man On The Mountain. MacArthur starred as Rudi Matt, an ambitious kitchen worker who only wants to conquer the elusive Citadel, the mountain that looms over his village, the mountain no one had beaten–the mountain that took the life of his father years earlier.
The story itself is simplistic, but the film is a wonderful example of bringing to audiences an authenticity of the dangers and beauties of mountain climbing. Almost all of the actors did their own climbing and the actual Matterhorn was preferred to the falsity of a sound stage.
The first weekend of filming in the village of Zernatt, MacArthur saw the Matterhorn, thought, “Sure, what the hell?” and then took off with his guide in an attempt to scale the fabled mountain.
Did he ask permission of the director?
No way! They would have said no.
The young man born and raised in sunny Los Angeles actually conquered the Matterhorn with no one being the wiser. Well, until he had to explain that following Monday why he was so damn exhausted.
Sidenote: I know what you are thinking and it is no coincidence. Walt visited the Matterhorn during filming and was in utter awe. Not long after, Disneyland would install its own scale version of the Swiss icon.
MacArthur dropped out of Harvard his sophomore year in order to act full-time.
After Treasure Island, Disney had wanted to adapt another Stevenson book, Kidnapped. Naturally, MacArthur was chosen for the role of David Balfour.
Kidnapped details Balfour’s adventures in 18th century Scotland including betrayal, kidnapping (duh) and lots of swashbuckling. Beautifully shot and executed, Kidnapped, like MacArthur’s two previous films, was well-received but not a box-office smash.
That record, however, was to be broken with MacArthur’s fourth and final film with Disney: Swiss Family Robinson.
Whereas Kidnapped stayed faithful to its source material, Swiss Family Robinson took a bottle of Xanax and a shot of rum with its creative license with just about every aspect of the story.
One English and four American accents stood in for Swiss, a stranded love interest was added in the form of Janet Munro, even a climactic battle against pirates was added that involves makeshift coconut grenades.
While not a true adaptation (even barely a suggestion, really), Swiss Family Robinson is adventure at its best. The characters are not multi-dimensional (who among us is?), but they are charming and likable and worth re-visiting, again and again.
Swiss Family Robinson went on to become the highest grossing film of 1960 and is considered one of the definitive classics among the Disney live-action films.
And with it, MacArthur is forever Fritz, the eldest of the Robinson sons. He is the handsome guy that girls want to end up with and that all boys want to grow up to be like.
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| “Everyone, ix-nay on the Isney-D Egend-Lay.” |
Unlike his Swiss Family Robinson co-stars, MacArthur has yet to be inducted as a Disney Legend.
This is a shame, a massive oversight and disrespectful to everyone’s older brother.
James MacArthur died in 2010.
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