Grand Canyon, Pride of Creation

Grand Canyon, Pride of Creation, filmed in the summer of 1943 and released that November, came about halfway through producer James A. FitzPatrick's long-running series of Traveltalks short subjects, which had launched in 1930. With knockout Technicolor views of the Grand Canyon from the rim as well as from deep inside the canyon itself, this was one of several Traveltalks to look at American national parks. FitzPatrick made many of these travelogues in the United States, but his moniker was "The Voice of the Globe" because of his extensive worldwide travels and looks at exotic foreign places. There were few countries on the planet that he did not visit or film. From the beginning of the series, MGM gave him tremendous freedom and creative leeway, for FitzPatrick had already established himself as a skilled documentary and narrative filmmaker. In the 1910s, he'd turned out dozens of short films, including sixteen with all-children casts that prefigured "Our Gang," and in the 1920s he made many biographical one-reelers of famous statesmen, authors and composers. He also produced shorts on American holidays and even made a twelve-part series on the signs of the zodiac. In 1923, he formed his own company, FitzPatrick Pictures, which established him as an independent operator. As a result, by 1930 he was not only well positioned to launch Traveltalks, but MGM was confident he would deliver quality finished material on time. Hal Elias, MGM Shorts Department production head, later recalled, "Fitz was a jovial sort of Irishman. He was a very likable, affable guy, and he would talk about his travels if questioned. But personally, the kind of a fellow that would fit into any group.... He wasn't of the intelligentsia, but it didn't matter. His conversation was always interesting, and he was on the dramatic side." Speaking for himself, in a 1940 interview, Fitzpatrick said: "I would like to debunk the idea that a world traveler must know several languages to get along - I speak just pidgin stuff in foreign countries. It's surprising what you can do with pantomime. In Canton, I get in a rickshaw and push the man in the back with my feet twice to go ahead." He added, "Don't forget the old smile. It's the smile that counts whether you're in Siberia or on the Lower East Side of New York City." By Jeremy Arnold SOURCES: Douglas Bell, Oral History with Hal Elias (AMPAS Oral History Program) Douglas Bell, Oral History with Richard Goldstone (AMPAS Oral History Program) Thomas Meehan, "Those Old Movie Travelogues, Or, 'As the Sun Sinks Slowly In the West, We Bid Farewell...'" The New York Times, Nov. 28, 1971 Variety obituary for James A. Fitzpatrick, June 18, 1980