(Raoul Walsh, US 1941, 97 min., 35mm nitrate print)
Director: Raoul Walsh
Writers: Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, based on the play One Sunday Afternoon by
James Hagan
Producer: Hal B. Wallis
Cinematographer: James Wong Howe
Art director: Robert Haas
Music: Heinz Roemheld
Cast: James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland, Rita Hayworth, Alan Hale, Jack Carson, George
Tobias, Una O’Connor, George Reeves, Lucile Fairbanks, Edward McNamara, Helen Lynd,
Herbert Heywood
Production company: Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Sound, b/w, 97 min.
English language
Print source: Jugoslovenska kinoteka, Belgrade, Serbia
Few “That’s the kind of a hairpin I am” is the oft-spoken line in The Strawberry Blonde, a
personal touch added by star James Cagney, who remembered his father using the expression.
The film was a sentimental undertaking for both Cagney and director Raoul Walsh, harking back
to their own New York City childhoods. Walsh said The Strawberry Blonde reminded him of his
late mother. Of his many sound films, it was his favorite.
The Strawberry Blonde was the second adaptation of James Hagan’s nostalgic 1933 Broadway
play One Sunday Afternoon. Paramount first filmed it under the original title in 1933, then sold
the rights to Warner Bros. as a starring vehicle for Cagney. (In 1948 Warners would remake it as
a musical, with Walsh again directing.) Julius and Philip Epstein collaborated on a new
script—the lifeless Paramount adaptation needed considerable pepping up—and changed the
setting from a small midwestern town to New York City, adding all the trappings of the Gay
Nineties: barbershop quartets, buggy rides, and beer gardens. Cagney’s brother William, the
associate producer, inspired by their mother’s strawberry blonde hair, suggested rebuilding the
film around the 1895 song “The Band Played On” (with its refrain “Casey would waltz with a
strawberry blonde […].”) and proposed changing the title.
Ann Sheridan was originally cast in the title role, but shortly before production began she
demanded a salary increase and was suspended. Rita Hayworth was borrowed from Columbia as
a last-minute replacement. Advancing her from starlet to star, it proved to be a turning point in
Hayworth’s career. Time magazine wrote, “Rita Hayworth […] takes the picture away from
[Cagney], and dark-eyed Olivia de Havilland, with her electric winks, […] takes it away from
both of them.” Indeed, de Havilland is at her best, handling both the comedy and the light drama
with a quiet tenderness. Walsh declared that her reunion with Cagney after his release from
prison was one of the most emotional scenes he ever directed.
This 1947 print is in very good condition with slight to fair emulsion and base scratches and a
shrinkage of 0.45% to 0.60%. Reel four has emulsion scratches that occasionally cross into the
soundtrack. All reels have moderate oil/dirt and a fair amount of warpage. The final reel ends
abruptly, as the concluding singalong of “The Band Played On” and end credits are missing.
Nancy Kauffman