MovieChat Forums > The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939) Discussion > Tyrone Power as Bell?

Tyrone Power as Bell?

posted 11 years ago by hobnob53
6 replies | jump to latest

When 20th Century Fox first announced this movie, Tyrone Power was to have been cast as Bell. Ultimately his marriage to actress Annabella disrupted his personal schedule and Power's pal, Don Ameche, was cast instead. (Fair enough: Power had ended up taking the leading role in Lloyd's of London from Ameche, and that part made Power a star.)

Of course, Bell became Ameche's signature role, one with which he was identified for decades, to the point where "ameche" was used as a slang term for "telephone" for a number of years after the film's release. Somehow I can't quite see "power" becoming slang for telephone.

Still, in many ways the role does seem to be something Power, a more dashing, romantic figure, might have been better suited for than Ameche -- at least by movie standards. Any thoughts?

[–] jstatser 8 years ago

If you see Alexnder Graham Bell as a dashing, romantic figure maybe. i always see him as sort of an old fuddy duddy myself. Except for that exciting scene in the lab.

"Watson! Come here! I need more power!"
"Aye! But she'll no take the strain!
"POWER, Watson! Power! POWER FOR THE POWER!"
"Ach, ye and year talkin' power! Ye'll be the death uv us all. Wakin' us from our peaceful slumbers with power calls from merchants all thru tha nicht!"
"POWER! AHHH! It's alive! IT"S ALIIIIIIIVE!"

"Pardon me while I have a strange interlude"- Marx

[–] hobnob53 8 years ago

Yep, Captain Bell and Engineer Watson of the Starship Enterprise.

I certainly didn't mean to state that AGB himself was dashing or romantic. Anything but. But this is a movie, after all. What's the truth compared to selling tickets?

Power played Ferdinand de Lesseps, who built the Suez Canal, in Suez in 1938. Afterward de Lesseps's heirs filed a libel suit in France against 20th Century Fox, arguing that the picture had defamed their ancestor by portraying him as a much younger and more handsome than he was in real life, among other historically disputatious characterizations. The judge threw the case out of court, not only because you can't libel the dead but because, as the judge put it, no one should complain about having their ancestor portrayed by one of the handsomest men in movies!

[–] jstatser 8 years ago

" defamed their ancestor by portraying him as a much younger and more handsome than he was" I'm glad i live in this world. Other planets can't be this entertaining.

I don't actually seek out old questions. If i stumble across one i can answer, I do. If i don't see an acknowledgement in while i'll check to see if the person is still active, and post on their most recent one.
I was watching a Three Stooges on YouTube, they named a bunch of inventors including our hero. Someone asked about it in comments. In the 50's as a kid, I'd heard old folks at least talk about, if not actually use Ameche. ( I used to hear the old folks, now i are one.) I wondered why Ameche made such an impression and went searching. i still don't know, the film was just one of many inventor bios of the time, good but not great. Ameche himself was not particularly a stand out among all the great actors of the time. Spencer Tracy was Edison, Pail Muni Pasteur, Greer Garson Marie Curie. Florescent Tracys. Muni-ized milk. Well ok Munized Muni-ized, too hard to spell.

Ameche=phone not even a publicity stunt, it gets mentioned in movies from other studios.

Well, enuff blather, I'm off to surf the web on my Cumberbatch, Benedict Cumberbatch played Alexander Turing.

"Pardon me while I have a strange interlude"- Marx

[–] hobnob53 8 years ago

Yeah, I never figured out why Don Ameche playing Bell had such an effect on so many people, not just in 1939 but for decades after. I tend to think that, unlike, say, Spencer Tracy playing Edison, Ameche just seemed a somewhat comical, or at least un-serious, choice for Bell.

Whatever the reason, the term "ameche" as slang for a telephone was used for several years (it's referenced in the 1941 film Ball of Fire), but the actor's fame for having portrayed Bell lasted through the 1960s at least. I remember that around 1967 or so Ameche did a commercial for Bell Telephone, and at the end, he looked into the camera and, speaking of the telephone, said with a grin, "After all, I invented it!" It was pretty funny and everybody got it.

And one other funny connection: in Irwin Allen's terrible 1957 movie The Story of Mankind, depicting real people from history, there's a brief vignette of Bell inventing the telephone. But in this movie, Bell was played by Jim Ameche, who was a successful radio and stage actor and bore a close resemblance to his more famous brother. I guess Irwin wanted to keep the telephone in the family.

[–] jstatser 8 years ago

Earliest mention I found,thanks to good ol'wiki is..1940, Go West, Groucho sez "... This is 1870, Don Ameche hasn't invented the telephone yet" maybe there was some inside talk goin on, nothin scandalous or anything, just people in the Biz talkin about the film pre-production. casting, costs, crew selection, actors PR men doin stuff, etc. They all knew about it,talked about it. It was an inside joke when used in a movie and some how caught on. I dunno, not really important. Not as important as goin to IMDB to read trivia or real important stuff like goofs that you gotta pause the film to see.

Ferdinand de Lesseps, no offense, French peoples, but what kind a name for a hero is that? No red blooded American inventor/engineer would have a name like that. American's have names like Philo T. Farnsworth. Even the British have a real he=man engineer name, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Ummmm well, maybe it's a OK name after all.

Let's turn on the Farnsworth and watch some old movies.

Uh oh a circular thing I just noticed, Groucho mebbe started it all...see my tag line?
Just now noticed, I'm ascared.

"Pardon me while I have a strange interlude"- Marx

[–] hobnob53 8 years ago

I think you're right -- Groucho started all this.

Yeah, I remember that line from Go West. A sign just how etched into the public's consciousness Ameche-as-Bell already was, just a year later.