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	Record Group Number:	900000
	Series/Collection Number:	M89- 29
	Creator:
	Title, Dates:	Pre-production and location photographs of MGM's The Yearling, 1939-1940.
	Amount:	1.5 cubic ft.
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	Biographical/Historical:	The Yearling was a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, published in 1938, about a young boy and his pet deer in Florida's Big Scrub. That same year, Rawlings sold the film rights to the book to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $30,000. In 1939, the studio sent art directors to north-central Florida to scout locations with Rawlings and gather visual research of "Cracker Florida." They eventually leased a farm, planted crops, and began remodeling the farm for use as an exterior set for the Baxter family farm. Filming was set to begin in 1940 in North Central Florida under director Victor Fleming (Gone with the Wind, Wizard of Oz) with Spencer Tracy in the role of Penny Baxter, the father of the boy Jody, played by Gene Eckman. The film also starred Anne Revere and Tully Marshall. Several conflicts -- environmental, personal, and the rapid aging of Eckman -- led to film's cancellation by the studio after two months. After World War II, the studio finally completed the film in 1947 with Gregory Peck (Penny), Claude Jarman (Jody), and Jane Wyman. The film won Oscars for art direction and cinematography and was a nominee for five others. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer formed in 1924 when the theater circuit Loew's Inc., owner of Metro Pictures Corporation, acquired Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures and subsequently merged the three companies. In 1970 by Kirk Kerkorian purchased the studio, then sold off most of its assets and shut down its distribution arm in 1973. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., continues to function as a film production company out of its Santa Monica, California headquarters.
	Summary:	This collection consists of approximately 500 black-and-white photographs of MGM's art department documenting the scouting and set construction for the unfinished 1941 version of the film The Yearling. Images depict set construction, the Ocala National Forest, and native flora in Alachua and Marion Counties. Of special interest are the multitude of images of local homes and farms, offering a detailed documentation of "Cracker Florida" that novelist Marjorie Rawlings wrote about. Many of the images are still in the original MGM art department scrapbooks.
	Finding Aids:	Folder listing available. 0
	Additional Physical Form:	Select images have been digitized and are available on the Florida Memory web site: https://www.floridamemory.com/discover/photographs/
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	General Note:	Florida Photographic Collection Number: P1989-029
	Electronic Records Access:	https://www.floridamemory.com/discover/photographs/
	Subject Access Fields:	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Architecture Florida Motion picture industry Florida. Motion pictures Art direction Florida. Motion pictures Production and direction Florida. Motion pictures Setting and scenery Florida. Photographs. aat Alachua County (Fla.) Marion County (Fla.) Silver Springs (Fla.)
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