Sun Valley Serenade

[fomofo]

Have never made it to Sun Valley to ski (yet), but I understand this movie plays on a loop in one of the lodges there. It's an entertaining time capsule, with four bits in particular that make it extra special.

First off although there are studio shots with backgrounds intermixed, there's ample footage shot on site there at Sun Valley by Otto Lang in the early 1940's. The main ski segment starts at 37:53.



Lang goes into some detail concerning his part of the production of the movie in his autobiography A Bird of Passage. (Which is a great read!)

Then there are a couple of classic Glenn Miller hits mixed in - the staging is fantastic, as is, of course, the music!




The latter part of this segment features an incredible dance routine featuring Dorothy Dandridge and the incomparable Nicholas Brothers!




The film ends with an elaborate and mesmerizing skating segment featuring Sonja Henie.




Nice presentation by John Lundin with background on those early years at Sun Valley.



Early Sun Valley: Union Pacific, Averell Harriman and Alf Engen

[byates1]

Rad. I love ski history. Cool.

[Hacksaw]

HM standing where my grandparents were in 1936.

[fomofo]

That ^^^ is so very cool!

So many interesting connections...

http://www.dickdorworth.com/2013/01/...-valley-musing

[byates1]

1st gen fritchis right there. Rad.

I need to spend more time in the wood river valley

[fomofo]

Rad. I love ski history. Cool.

https://skiinghistory.org/search/node/Sun%20valley

[Hacksaw]

1st gen fritchis right there. Rad.

Two or three years after I'd switched from Ramer "R" models.

[Squirreljam]

Man, looking at that skiing you gotta appreciate how much gear has changed, turning those planks took skill! Another tidbit I just learned looking it up (I thought no way was Sonja Henie doing that skiing), the skiing stand in was Gretchen Fraser who would go on in a few years to win the first ever American Olympic gold in skiing (slalom in st moritz, ‘48)

[fomofo]

Man, looking at that skiing you gotta appreciate how much gear has changed, turning those planks took skill! Another tidbit I just learned looking it up (I thought no way was Sonja Henie doing that skiing), the skiing stand in was Gretchen Fraser who would go on in a few years to win the first ever American Olympic gold in skiing (slalom in st moritz, ‘48)

Curious, did you learn that from the Sun Valley Serenade Wikipedia page, or some other source? Reason I ask is that I've been curious about who was the skiing stand in for John Payne? I thought it could have been this guy, but he's too short.

[byates1]

There is a neat little museum in sv w the local history. Cool place.

[Squirreljam]

Curious, did you learn that from the Sun Valley Serenade Wikipedia page, or some other source …

Yes, the Wikipedia page; I’m no ski historian. Just thought it was pretty cool and you could tell some of that skiing was expert level, especially in a few drop off turns, coming over a knoll. I agree it’s interesting that the male ski stand-in isn’t identified in the wiki.

[fomofo]

Hmm, maybe it was Nelson Bennett? Go to 4:23 in this video, which Otto Lang produced.



Cool Lang skiing demo starts at 13:36.

[Squirreljam]

Hmm could be and would make sense, the wiki page said there wasn’t much location filming so they’d need locals.

In that last video, the race footage of Freidl Pfeifer and Dick Durrance is pretty cool (starting ~11:00).

[fomofo]

In the field of cinema, Lang’s big break came when he was invited to film the skiing expertise of both Hans Hauser, who doubled for John Pain and Gretchen Fraser, who doubled for Sonja Henie, in “Sun Valley Serenade.”

https://idahooutdoor.net/skihistory4

That web site has an interesting, multi-page history of Sun Valley, including many cool (albeit small) pictures. It starts here...

https://idahooutdoor.net/skihistory

I have also been told that Hauser is identified as the ski double in the book Gretchen's Gold.

[dunfree]

“Sun Valley: A Biography” Oppenheimer/Poore, 1976 has a bit talking about Gretchen Fraser as the Henje ski stand in (and even a picture of Henje kissing her on the cheek), but nothing about the other talent. Also quotes Lang saying his break from ski talent to something more than ski talent (lang claims he scouted camera angles/locations and setup cameras) was this movie
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ecFcbuEXQLU
Note that’s directed by JJHill II - grandson of JJHill, son of Louis who built the lodges of Glacier. Jerome was an early investor at sugar bowl and financier of the West Coasts first ski gondola at sugar bowl; his sister Maud married Hanes Schroll

[fomofo]

Terrific article by Luanne Pfeifer, precursor to Gretchen's Gold...

https://books.google.com/books?id=il...sec=frontcover

Article starts on Page 4 - linked on the cover page. On Page 10 we find this...

Lang's major scene was the long sequence in which instructor Hans Hauser as John Payne chases after Gretchen as Sonja Henie.