One in a Million
Cast & Crew
Sidney Lanfield
Sonja Henie
Adolphe Menjou
Jean Hersholt
Ned Sparks
Don Ameche
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
American showman Thadeus Spencer is stuck without money in the Swiss Alps with his wife, a girls' band, a comedy trio and a recent harmonica-playing discovery when the group learns that the Grand Palace Hotel in Ardetz, where they were to perform, has burned down. Upon seeing Greta Muller, an innkeeper's daughter, ice-skate, Spencer has a vision of her performing with a skating ballet that will make him millions. Spencer arranges for her to skate in a tryout performance at a St. Moritz casino for which he will get paid 950 francs. American reporter Bob Harris from the Paris Herald arrives at the inn to investigate the hotel fire which, rumor has it, was an attempt to kill a European premier. Bob has his photographer, Danny Simpson, trail Ratoffsky, a suspicious-looking bearded guest, and tries to romance Greta, who is sullen after a band member has Bob massage her neck. When Bob learns that Greta's father Heinrich, a 1908 Olympic figure skating champion who lost his medal because he accepted money as a gift for teaching, has trained Greta for twelve years for the upcoming Olympics, he follows the troupe to St. Moritz and stops Greta after her first number, warning that she is risking her Olympic eligibility. Unaware that her exhibition involved money, Greta is grateful to Bob as they ride back on a sleigh. At the Olympics, Greta wins first place in figure skating, but when she refuses to turn professional and skate for Spencer in New York, he threatens to expose her St. Moritz performance to the ruling committee. Heinrich returns Greta's medals himself when he learns of the St. Moritz exhibition, but Bob takes Spencer to explain the situation to the secretary of the committee, Sir Frederick Brooks, who earlier was vacationing in the Alps incognito as Ratoffsky. As Greta received no payment and Spencer used all the money he received for expenses, Brooks declares Greta's eligibility proven, and the whole troupe, with Greta now as the star, performs in Madison Square Garden.
Director
Sidney Lanfield
Cast
Sonja Henie
Adolphe Menjou
Jean Hersholt
Ned Sparks
Don Ameche
Ritz Brothers
Arline Judge
Borrah Minevitch
Dixie Dunbar
Leah Ray
Shirley Deane
Montagu Love
Albert Conti
Julius Tannen
June Gale
Lillian Porter
Helen Ericson
Diane Cook
Bonnie Bannon
June Wilkins
Clarice Sherry
Pauline Craig
Margot Webster
Frederick Giermann
Egon Brecher
Paul Mcvey
Bess Flowers
Bert Sprotte
Albert Morin
Palmer Morrison
Mary Bracken
Emily Fitzpatrick
Gus Hyland
Bob Layton
Bob Heasley
Art Manuel
H. E. Schaller
Bob Parrish
Nat Harty
Hal Welling
Aileen Riggin
Earl Robson
Fran Sawyer
James Sisk
Martha Manning
Lindsay Chambers
Vivian Cox
Margaret Fitzpatrick
Dorothy Hope
Betty Kiss
Alma Johnson
John Mcdonald
Grant Peasley
Aaron Phillips
Don Maxwell
Matt Farrell
Frank Chase
Lloyd Carlos
Marianne Brudie
Valerie Traxler
Kathleen Turner
Frank Abel
Gordon Merrick
Annabelle Brudie
Ann Taylor
Hope Taylor
Bright Stanley
Marie Stewart
Alice Stombs
Virginia Ray
Jeanne Robinson
Louise Seidel
Lucille Stafford
Dickie Moore
Jerre Murphy
Adele Pearce
Patsy Perrin
Patricia Monroe
Dagmar Moody
Patsy Lee
Mary Jane Hodge
Adelaide Kaye
Crystal Keate
Lynne Kelly
Joyce Hinds
Alyce Gaering
Joan Gray
Josephine Hall
Edith Haskins
Clarette Ellis
Julie Cabanne
Peggy Carroll
Marian Duval
Kathryn Barnes
Sue Barstead
Harriet Bertrand
Louise Allen
Rudy Shaves
Russ Silver
Marvin Sleeper
Robert Spencer
Léon Vallée
Bob Weldon
Kenny Williams
Sam Rice Jr.
Al Siegel
Jimmy Natarro
Emmett O'brien
Bob Milton
Jack Morton
Don Ackerman
Ward Arnold
John Benson
Carlyle Blackwell Jr.
Jack Boyle
Ted Bradford
Bill Brande
Les Clark
Jackie Coogan
Jimmy Gonzalez
Ron Dexter
Jerry James
Allen Mathews
Crew
Sid Bowen
John Brady
Gene Bryant
Eddie Cherkose
Edward Cronjager
Glenn Delfino
Ed Ebele
Walter Faxon
William Forsyth
Raymond Griffith
Henry Guttman
Jack Haskell
Roger Heman
Bobs Hoagland
Ray Jones
Mark Kelly
P. Kelly
Arthur Von Kirbach
Mark-lee Kirk
Lester Lee
Lester Lee
Thomas Little
Bill Mayberry
Sidney D. Mitchell
R. R. Morris
Ben Nye
Emmet O'brien
Samuel Pokrass
Lew Pollack
Roy Potts
Leonard Praskins
Harold Rome
Harold Rome
Marguerite Royce
Royer
Ray Sebastian
Louis Silvers
Ben Silvey
Robert Simpson
Eddie Souders
William Thomas
J. Van Wormer
Jack Wells
Walter Wermich
Walter Whaley
James Witherspoon
Darryl F. Zanuck
Film Details
Technical Specs
Award Nominations
Best Dance Direction
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
This was the first film of Sonja Henie, who won the gold medal for figure skating at the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Olympics, and according to a news item, won more championships than any other single athlete in history. According to information in the Twentieth Century-Fox Records of the Legal Department at the UCLA Theater Arts Library, the studio paid Henie $60,000 to be in this picture. According to a June 1937 New York Times article, when Henie first quoted $75,000 as her price to be in a film, no studio accepted the offer. She then hired an ice rink and put on a few evening shows, in which she made $28,000, $8,000 of which she donated to charity. With proof of her drawing power, she approached Darryl Zanuck, and he agreed to the figure she desired. After making this film, Henie attempted to arrange a tour of the skating rinks of the country, but promoters balked at her demanded guarantee of $10,000 a night. Again, to prove her drawing power, she rented a rink in Hershey, PA and made $28,000 in three nights. Promoters then agreed to her terms. When she returned to Hollywood, she asked Zanuck for $100,000 a film plus additional money if shooting ran over schedule, and because of the success of One in a Million, Zanuck agreed. New York Times noted that studios which earlier ignored her, offered Fox double her salary for one film after the success of One in a Million.
In story conference notes found in the Twentieth Century-Fox Produced Scripts Collection, also at UCLA, Zanuck advised the writers, "You should give the story a smart, fresh development, and treat it like Thanks a Million [see below] rather than Sing, Baby, Sing [see below]. In other words, don't make it too hokey or too broad." According to the legal records, Diane Cook, Bonnie Bannon, June Wilkins, Clarice Sherry and Pauline Craig were borrowed from M-G-M. Georgia Spence was originally cast as one of the members of the girls' band, but she was not in the final film. In one of their musical numbers, the Ritz Brothers appear as Boris Karloff, Charles Laughton and Peter Lorre, the "horror boys from Hollywood." According to a Hollywood Reporter news item, Samuel Pokrass and Edward Cherkose contributed special material for the Ritz Brothers. Borrah Minevitch, a newcomer to films according to Motion Picture Herald, performed with his "Gang of Harmonica Rascals." According to information in the Produced Scripts Collection, Larry Adler was originally scheduled to play "Adolphe," the role that Minevitch took. According to Henie's biography, ice skating became very popular in the United States after the release of this film.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States 1936
Released in United States on Video February 16, 1994
Feature film debut for three-time Olympic gold medalist Sonja Henie.
Released in United States 1936
Released in United States on Video February 16, 1994
