O. Henry FULL HOUSE [1952 / 2022] [Dual Format] [Blu-ray + DVD] [UK Release] 12 Top Stars – 4 Top Directors Brings You the Best of William Sydney Porter O. Henry Stories!
A dozen top stars, including Charles Laughton, Marilyn Monroe and Anne Baxter, and five famed director’s including Howard Hawks and Henry Koster join forces to present filmed versions of the best stories of William Sydney Porter O. Henry, and each section is narrated by John Steinbeck.
Soapy [Charles Laughton] believes that getting arrested and thrown into a warm jail cell is the best solution to being homeless in cold weather. Fugitives Sam [Fred Allen] and Bill kidnap a child to raise $2,000 for a new scam, and Della and Jim seek to buy each other Christmas gifts on a tight budget.
FILM FACT: When the film was first premiered in September 1952 in Los Angeles, it consisted of five parts, including Howard Hawks ‘The Ransom of Red Chief.’ The Howard Hawks short was so poorly received that the studio removed it before the film opened in New York that October, leading some outlets to describe the film as ‘O. Henry's Four of a Kind.’ Eventually, ‘The Ransom of Red Chief’ was reinstated, and is included on the DVD release. A prologue presented by narrator John Steinbeck introduces biographic background on William Sydney Porter O. Henry and mentions several of his other stories not included, notably the story of reformed safecracker Jimmy Valentine in ‘A Retrieved Reformation.’
Cast List:
The Cop and the Anthem: Charles Laughton, Marilyn Monroe and David Wayne
The Clarion Call: Dale Robertson, Richard Widmark, Richard Rober and House Peters
The Last Leaf: Anne Baxter, Jean Peters, Gregory Ratoff and Richard Garrick
The Ransom of Red Chief: Fred Allen, Oscar Levant and Lee Aaker
The Gift of the Magi: Jeanne Crain, Farley Granger and Fred Kelsey
Directors List:
Henry Koster segment ‘The Cop and the Anthem’
Henry Hathaway segment ‘The Clarion Call’
Jean Negulesco segment ‘The Last Leaf’
Howard Hawks segment ‘The Ransom of Red Chief’
Henry King segment ‘The Gift of the Magi’
Producer: André Hakim
Screenplay List:
O. Henry (story) (uncredited)
Lamar Trotti segment ‘The Cop and the Anthem’
Richard L. Breen segment ‘The Clarion Call’
Ben Roberts and Ivan Goff segment ‘The Last Leaf’
Ben Hecht, Charles Lederer and Nunnally Johnson segment ‘The Ransom of Red Chief’ (uncredited)
Philip Dunne and Walter Bullock segment ‘The Gift of the Magi’ (uncredited)
Composer: Alfred Newman
Costume Design: Edward Stevenson (uncredited)
Cinematography List:
‘The Cop and the Anthem’ Lloyd Ahern Sr. (Director of Photography) (uncredited)
‘The Clarion Call’ Lucien Ballard (Director of Photography) (uncredited)
‘The Last Leaf’ Joseph MacDonald (Director of Photography)
‘The Ransom of Red Chief’ Milton R. Krasner (Director of Photography) (uncredited)
‘The Gift of the Magi’ Joseph MacDonald (Director of Photography) (uncredited)
Image Resolution: Blu-ray 1080p + DVD 480i (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: Blu-ray 1.37:1 + DVD 1.78:1 (Stretched)
Audio: English: 2.0 LPCM Digital Audio
Subtitles: English SDH
Running Time: 117 minutes + 112 minutes
Region: Blu-ray Region B/2 + DVD PAL
Number of discs: 2
Studio: 20th Century Fox / Signal One Entertainment
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘O. Henry’s FULL HOUSE’ [1952] is divided into five different stories where John Steinbeck introduces the William Sydney Porter O. Henry’s stories from his New York period (1902 – 1910), all of them laced with humour and a twist in the tail and they are as follows:
‘The Cop and the Anthem’ and is set in the early 1900’s and directed by Henry Koster, and the opening is mostly a comic story of a somewhat wily old vagrant named Soapy [Charles Laughton] in a nice suit who decides a few months in jail is better than sleeping on the cold streets. Unfortunately for him, he can’t get arrested to save his life. Getting tossed from an expensive restaurant after a hearty meal, falling hard while trying to kick a cop in the butt, tossing a stone through a window that has people chasing the wrong man his friend Horace, and a chance meeting with a lady Streetwalker of the evening in broad daylight played by Marilyn Monroe, in a cameo that’s way too brief, but still can’t land him in the pokey. Then there is David Wayne as Horace his sidekick who tried to help him get arrested. As it’s an William Sydney Porter O. Henry story, the old man Soapy gets a big epiphany and his ultimate wish in the end by finally getting a bigger dose of irony by finally getting locked up for 90 days.
‘The Clarion Call’ is up next, and in this Henry Hathaway directed segment, and we find a detective with really serious financial problems and that is Barney Woods [Dale Robertson] has to deal with a stone cold murderer Johnny Kernan [Richard Widmark] who got him out of a gambling debt years earlier. The criminal Johnny Kernan taunts him endlessly when they meet, holding the debt over him because he knows the detective can never pay in full. Dale Robertson is somewhat and likely intentionally bland here – the show is all about Richard Widmark’s, he’s more or less challenging like his performance in the film ‘Kiss of Death.’ Almost every time Richard Widmark’s on the screen, there’s that fantastic laugh and a sense something bad and evil is going to happen, but other than some rough and tumble with Dale Robertson, and Richard Widmark’s only other meanness comes from him eating way too many oyster crackers in his chowder and a scene that always cracks me up. The ending is very nifty; although some may guess or figure it out even though the film disguises it a bit before springing the surprise ending to you, and of course the criminal Johnny Kernan gets his final comeuppance.
‘The Last Leaf’ follows next and is directed by Jean Negulesco, and the story is about a pair of sisters Joanna Goodwin [Anne Baxter] and Susan Goodwin [Jean Peters] living downstairs from an often drunken old painter Behrman [Gregory Ratoff] who can’t sell his rather abstract paintings except to the sympathetic dealer who refuses to pay more and buys them at a mere $3 a pop. When Jean Peters character falls ill from pneumonia and the film also hints at depression due to becoming pregnant from a guy who dumps her for another woman at the start of this chapter, but the bedridden sister links her fate to some ivy she can see from her window that the wintry winds are stripping away. Anne Baxter and Jean Peters look so alike here save for their hairstyles that they could be real sisters, although Jean Peters looks too pretty and flawless even as an ailing would-be tragic character. That imperfect painter stumbles and stutters about here, annoying Anne Baxer’s character as her sister fades away. But he manages to save the day in a unique manner, but at a cost. This one’s pretty melodramatic at points, but both ladies keep your eyes open, and Gregory Ratoff’s humour stabilizes things from getting too maudlin until the finale, which is properly so.
‘The Ransom of Red Chief’ is up to bat next, and it swings for the fences right from the start for a few home runs. Directed by Howard Hawks, this segment is the funniest one in the film, but let’s play a quick game so you can guess at least one reason why it was initially cut from the finished film for years. Now let’s see, and here is the plot: two city-bred criminals Samuel Brown [Fred Allen] and William Smith [Oscar Levant] get more then they bargain for when they drive into a sleepy, local yokel country town and kidnap a child who turns out to be quite the handful. It works for me because Fred Allen and Oscar Levant play their roles so well as does everyone else – the pair sound polite and educated, but are dumb as schmuck jerks [a stupid, foolish, or unlikeable person] when it comes to dealing with the child and the territory. The people in that town welcomed the kidnapping because it gives them a break from the child for a spell, and sure, a chance to shake a lot of money out of a tree with a pair of nuts in it. It’s a story that is hilarious and yes, predictable. But it just gets funnier as it goes along. Next to Richard Widmark’s performance, this one is my all-around favourite segment. Still, I’m always surprised they didn’t get that fancy car as well. But then again, I’d bet that town is dead quiet until those city folk show up in their constantly steam-spewing, loud as heck ride.
The Gift of the Magi: is a wonderful Christmas story, starring Jeanne Crain as Della Young and Farley Granger as Jim Young who are a poor young couple who can’t afford to buy either other Christmas presents and it brings it all home with its sentimental holiday tale of a poor couple who decides to get each other a gift, but they unknowingly make sacrifices that render their gifts useless to each other. It’s a solid, heart-warming job from director Henry King, and both Jeanne Crain and Farley Granger do lovely work as the couple. If this segment has any flaws, its familiarity, as this O. Henry short story practically telegraphs everything for the viewer and you’ll guess what happens at the end early on. But it’s sweet and comfortable viewing, so it’s all okay. I also recall seeing a few variants on this story over the years, so it’s a case of people adapting a famous story and adding elements while keeping what works.
William Sydney Porter O. Henry Post Script: William Sydney Porter (11th September, 1862 – 5th June, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American short story writer. William Sydney Porter O. Henry was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. William Sydney Porter moved to Texas in 1882, where he met his wife, Athol Estes, with whom he had two children. In 1902, after the death of his wife, William Sydney Porter moved to New York, where he soon remarried. It was while William Sydney Porter O. Henry was in New York that William Sydney Porter O. Henry's most intensive writing period occurred, with William Sydney Porter O. Henry writing 381 short stories. William Sydney Porter O. Henry’s works include “The Gift of the Magi,” “The Duplicity of Hargraves,” and “The Ransom of Red Chief.” William Sydney Porter O. Henry stories are known for their surprise endings and witty narration. William Sydney Porter O. Henry also wrote poetry and non-fiction. William Sydney Porter O. Henry legacy includes the O. Henry Award, an annual prize awarded to outstanding short stories.
O. Henry’s FULL HOUSE MUSIC TRACK LIST
BRINGING IN THE SHEAVES (1880) (uncredited) (Music by George A. Minor) (Lyrics by Knowles Shaw) [Played and sung by The Bowery Mission Band]
Kaiserwalzer, Op. 437 (Emperor Waltz) (1889) (uncredited) (Music by Johann Strauss) [Played when Soapy is looking at the menu]
The Glow-Worm (1902) (uncredited) From “Glühwürmchen” (Music by Paul Lincke) [Played when Soapy is eating]
Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald, Op. 325 (Tales from the Vienna Woods) (1868) (uncredited) (Music by Johann Strauss) [Played after Soapy is tossed out of the restaurant]
Liebestraum nach dem Balle, Intermezzo Op.356 (uncredited) (Written by Alphons Czibulka)
AFTER THE BALL (1892) (uncredited) (Written by Charles Harris) [Played when Soapy approaches the lady in the street]
GWINE TO RUNE ALL NIGHT (De Camptown Races) (1850) (uncredited) (Written by Stephen Foster) [Played and sung often during the Clarion Call segment] [Sung by Richard Widmark, Dale Robertson and Abe Dinovitch]
SOFTLY AND TENDERLY JESUS IS CALLING (1880) (uncredited) (Written by Will L. Thompson) [Played and Sung in Church]
FRANKIE AND JOHNNY (1912) (uncredited) (Music by Bert Leighton and Frank Leighton) [Played on the radio]
ADESTE FIDELIS (O Come All Ye Faithful) (ca 1743) (uncredited) (Music attributed to John Reading) [Played on Christmas Eve]
SILENT NIGHT, HOLY NIGHT (1818) (uncredited) (Music by Franz Xaver Gruber) [Played on the radio]
O, LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHAM (1868) (uncredited) (Music by Lewis H. Redner) [Played in the background and sung by Farley Granger]
JOY TO THE WORLD (uncredited) Music by Lowell Mason) (1836) (Lyrics by Isaac Watts) (1719) [Sung by Caroller’s on Christmas Eve]
HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SING (pub. 1856) (uncredited) (Music by Felix Mendelssohn) (1840) (Hymn by Charles Wesley) (1730) [Sung by Caroller’s on Christmas Eve]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – 20th Century Fox and Signal One Entertainment presents us the film ‘O. Henry’s FULL HOUSE’ with a wonderful Black-and-White 1080p Blu-ray image with a 1.37:1 aspect ratio, and gives you something that is now incredibly and enormously impressive, especially with the massive upgraded quality visual splendour with this Blu-ray release. With the DVD disc you get a reasonable 480i image but for some unknown reason they wanted to show the film in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio, but for some unknown strange reason the image has been stretched which really looks horrible and just cannot understand why this did this to such a lovely film. But of course with the Blu-ray disc there are huge improvements, especially with a lot of detail, clarity, contrast stability, black-and-white gradation. This new high-definition digital transfer was created in 2K resolution. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, and flicker were manually removed, was used for small dirt, grain, and noise reduction. So all in all, Signal One Entertainment has done a really superb job all round for this 70 year old film and looks fantastic with the Blu-ray disc. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – 20th Century Fox and Signal One Entertainment brings us the film ‘O. Henry’s FULL HOUSE’ The audio is nicely rounded and also gives us a good dynamic range and is also very clear, well-modulated sound with no distortion or age-related surface noise, pops, or crackles. But with the improvement in technology the dialogue is so much crisper, clearer, and better all round. It is totally free of any strong background hiss, and obviously they have stabilised the strong background hiss and there are no high-frequencies distortions, and is very well stabilised, especially when hearing the wonderful and haunting Alfred Newman composed music film score, that is an added bonus for this film. So all in all, Signal One Entertainment has done a really superb job improving the audio quality.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Audio Commentary by Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD: Here we are introduced to Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD, and informs us that she is speaking from Austin, Texas and does not explain why, anyway but because of her very heavy Texan accent and speaking very low, you sometimes cannot understand what she is saying. Anyway, Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD starts talking about the history of William Sydney Porter O. Henry which you can read about in the next special feature. Because William Sydney Porter O. Henry lived in Texas, a lot of his stories were sources in and around Texas and mainly the real Texan characters and William Sydney Porter O. Henry brought American Literature to the whole world. Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD talks about certain stories that William Sydney Porter O. Henry started to write in his early years, that eventually started to be published in magazines and some of them had a circulation of 500,000 and wrote 113 stories for different magazines and for each story William Sydney Porter O. Henry received $500. As we start to see the start of the different stories, and each section is narrated by John Steinbeck who talks to the camera and gives a brief description of what you are about to view and then when the first short episode starts Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD starts to talk about what we are viewing and of course the first story we get to watch is ‘The Cop and the Anthem’ and the opening is mostly a comic story of a somewhat wily old vagrant named Soapy [Charles Laughton] in a nice suit who decides a few months in jail is better than sleeping on the cold streets. Unfortunately for him, he just cannot get arrested to save his life. So Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD starts to talk about the actor Charles Laughton and informs us that the actor was born on the 1st July, 1899, and was an English-American actor, and was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and first appeared professionally on the stage in 1926. In 1927, he was cast in a play with his future wife Elsa Lanchester, with whom he lived and worked until his death. Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD also informs us that Charles Laughton has played a wide range of classical and modern parts, making an impact in Shakespeare at the Old Vic. His film career took him to Broadway and then Hollywood, but he also collaborated with Alexander Korda on notable British films of the era, including the brilliant ‘The Private Life of Henry VIII,’ for which he won the Academy Award® for Best Actor for his portrayal of the title character. Also appeared in ‘The Barretts of Wimpole Street,’ ‘Mutiny on the Bounty,’ Ruggles of Red Gap,’ ‘Jamaica Inn,’ ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame,’ ‘The Big Clock,’ and ‘Witness for the Prosecution.’ Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD also mentions that Charles Laughton directed only one film and that was the totally brilliant ‘The Night Of The Hunter,’ which after an initially disappointing reception is acclaimed today as a total film classic, which I agree 100%. Now Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD carries on describing what we are viewing with the ‘The Cop and the Anthem’ and after many attempts for Soapy to get arrested, finally gets his wish, as the policeman arrests him for vagrancy, and ends up in front of the judge, and again is charged officially vagrancy, and gets 90 days in the jail, and Charles Laughton looks at the camera and just cannot believe he has finally got his wish. The next story we get to view is ‘The Clarion Call’ and once again Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD starts to describe what we are about to view and informs us that the story is about detective with really serious financial problems and that is Barney Woods and has to deal with a stone cold murderer Johnny Kernan, who got him out of a gambling debt years earlier, and the criminal Johnny Kernan taunts him endlessly when they meet, holding the debt over him because he knows the detective can never pay in full. But of course the nasty criminal Johnny Kernan gets his comeuppance for the murder he committed that he thought he could get away with, when Barney Woods gets his payoff from a newspaper article and the heading says, “Clarion Offers $1000 Reward for Information Leading to the arrest of Norcross Killer,” and at the at point the story ‘The Clarion Call’ ends. Now Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD starts talking about the next William Sydney Porter O. Henry story, which of course is the ‘The Last Leaf’ and they, say it is one of the most famous William Sydney Porter O. Henry story and Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD says the title of the story comes from a poem of the same name by Oliver Wendell Holmes and it is anthology and some people say it is very maudlin and the scene we get to view is when a women is walking out of a certain man’s life that she was emotional involved with and you see her walking through the streets in the height of winter and it is snowing and that part was not in the original William Sydney Porter O. Henry story of “The Last Leaf” and again Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD talks about the scenes in the film version we are viewing. Also Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD loved the dialect in ‘The Last Leaf’ and says that William Sydney Porter O. Henry was a master of dialect and could do a Jewish dialect, a Spanish dialect, an Irish dialect and also a German dialect, which the actor who was a painter spoke in a German dialect, and William Sydney Porter O. Henry learnt the German dialect when he worked in the Land Office in Austin with the other German draughtsmen and could imitate a German dialect perfectly. Of course one of the actresses in ‘The Last Leaf’ who is seriously ill is Anne Baxter and when she was six years old after seeing a play, informed her mother that she wanted to be an actor on the stage and Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD goes into the history of Anne Baxter and of course her ultimate performance was opposite Bette Davis in the iconic film ‘All About Eve.’ Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD says that there is a very surprise ending in ‘The Last Leaf’ film, and there is one leaf left on the wall opposite and we assume Anne Baxter is going to die, and of course we have to watch ‘The Last Leaf’ film to the very end to find out what happens to Anne Baxter and again the very surprising ending to ‘The Last Leaf,’ and so ends the emotional William Sydney Porter O. Henry story. Next up is ‘The Ransom of Red Chief’ and the William Sydney Porter O. Henry story and of course once again Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD tells us that there is some deviation from the original “The Ransom of Red Chief” story. Here we get to see two wanted hapless male crooks and Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD goes into the history of these two famous actors’ careers. But of course the funny thing about what we view in ‘The Ransom of Red Chief’ is what the young boy gets up to with these two crooks who think they are about to make a fortune with their so called cunning plan of trying to get a ransom out of the young boy’s parents, and the two crooks get their final comeuppance and there ends the moral of the William Sydney Porter O. Henry story, where crime does not pay and of course you will have to see what happened to the two incompetent crooks. At that point we now come to the final William Sydney Porter O. Henry story entitled ‘The Gift of the Magi’ and for the last time Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD sets the scene of the film and what we get to view, about this very sentimental touching story of the love between a husband and his wife, and it is the time of Christmas Eve and Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD thinks this is the most famous of all of William Sydney Porter O. Henry stories, and Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD also goes into the history of the actress and films she has appeared in, and also talks about the husband who is Farley Granger and also informs us of his acting career and the films he has appeared in. Now Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD gets to describe the main concept of the story and what the wife will sacrifice to be able to buy her husband a Christmas present, and William Sydney Porter O. Henry use to love Charles Dickens books and the best one he loved was “A Christmas Carol” and ‘The Gift of the Magi’ story is supposed to be based on that Charles Dickens book, but despite the wife suddenly being shocked for the first time seeing her image in the mirror of all her hair cut off and worrying whether her husband will be upset and angry of his wife getting her lovely long hair cut off, well of course at first he is slightly shocked, but still loves his wife and the wife is of course relieved about the outcome and is so happy when he receives his Christmas present and in return the husband gives her his Christmas present and both laugh with joy, but with stories of this calibre, it all has a happy ending and of course it is finally the end of the Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD audio commentary, which was quite interesting, but at the same time for me was sheer torture because Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD has this very heavy Texan accent and sometimes you have a job hearing what she says and of course it is entirely up to you whether you want to endure the long drawn out Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD audio commentary.
Special Feature: The Life and Writing of O. Henry [2006] [480i] [1.37:1] [18:43] Here we get to meet Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD, who is a writer and a O. Henry Scholar and is here to talk about the life and writing of William Sydney Porter O. Henry. First up Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD talks about “The Greensboro Years” and on the 11th September, 1862, William Sydney Porter O. Henry was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA during the American Civil War and the son of his parents were Algernon Sidney Porter (1825 – 1888) a physician and Mary Jane Virginia Swaim Porter (1833 – 1865). Mary Jane Virginia Swaim’s father was the editor of the “Greensboro Patriots” and eventually William Sydney Porter O. Henry became a newspaper man and his mother was a college graduate, but sadly died of tuberculosis at a very young age when her son was three years old, so father and son moved into the home of his paternal grandmother Ruth Worth Porter and took care of both of them. William Sydney Porter O. Henry graduated from Ruth Worth Porter’s elementary school in 1876. Then he enrolled at the Lindsey Street High School. On top of all that, Ruth Worth Porter continued to tutor him until he was 15 years of age. William Sydney Porter O. Henry started working in his uncle's drugstore in Greensboro, and on the 30th August, 1881 at the age of 19, William Sydney Porter O. Henry was licensed as a pharmacist. At the drugstore, he also showed his natural artistic talents by sketching the townsfolk. Eventually William Sydney Porter O. Henry and they gave him their blessing for him to travel with James K. Hall to Texas in March 1882, hoping that a change of air would help alleviate a persistent cough he had developed. Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD now talks about William Sydney Porter O. Henry about his time “On The Ranch,” where he finally took up residence on the 400,000 acre sheep ranch of Richard Hall in La Salle County and really loved the life on the ranch and loved helping out as a shepherd, ranch hand, cook, baby-sitter and loved riding horses and became a real good shooter with a gun and although he was only a guest, while on the ranch, he learned bits of Spanish, German and French from the mix of indigenous and immigrant ranch hands. He also loved to devour all of the books and spent time reading all of the classic works of literature. While at his time at the ranch, William Sydney Porter O. Henry wrote to over 400 authors all because he taught himself to read and especially because he never attended any college and loved devouring the dictionary and became a master of words and had the largest vocal dexterity of anyone, other than Shakespeare and loved to have fun with words and was a master at malapropism in his works and another aspect of his writings and was greatly appreciated. William Sydney Porter O. Henry absorbed law and the passion for the whole region in the two years on the ranch and gave the public 40 stories set in Texas. He also wrote 80 westerns and was a pioneer in western literature and picked up how cowboys talk and what the ranch of Richard Hall in La Salle County was like. At that point we get to hear a rare recording of William Sydney Porter O. Henry himself and his experiences throughout his life and also his travels, as well as the characters he met. Next Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD talks about “The Austin Years” where we find out that in the spring of 1884 William Sydney Porter O. Henry decides to move to Austin, Texas, USA and briefly for the Morley Brothers Drug Company as a pharmacist. William Sydney Porter O. Henry then moved on to work for the Harrell Cigar Store located in the Driskill Hotel. William Sydney Porter O. Henry also began writing as a side-line and wrote many of his early stories in the Harrell house. William Sydney Porter O. Henry was known for his wit, story-telling and musical talents and played both the guitar and mandolin and also sang in the choir at St. David's Episcopal Church and became a member of the “Hill City Quartette” and a group of young men who sang at gatherings and serenaded young women of the town. William Sydney Porter O. Henry also worked as a book keeper for another company and finally found employment for something he really loved, working for the Old Texas Land Office and produced very detailed maps of Texas and embellished them with cowboys, rattle snakes and windmills, and while at the Old Texas Land Office and met a nice young lady and courted 17 years old Athol Estes, and was from a wealthy family and originally met Athol Estes at the laying of the cornerstone of the Texas State Capitol on the 2nd March, 1885. Being both the same young age and not much money, and Athol Estes mother objected to the match because Athol Estes was ill, suffering from tuberculosis. On the 1st July, 1887, William Sydney Porter O. Henry eloped with Athol Estes and they were married in the parlour of the home of the Reverend R. K. Smoot, pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church, where the Estes family attended church. The couple continued to participate in musical and theatre groups, and Athol encouraged her husband to pursue his writing. And Athol Estes gave birth to a son in 1888, and sadly died hours after giving birth, and then daughter Margaret Worth Porter died in September 1889. William Sydney Porter O. Henry’s friend Richard Hall became Texas Land Commissioner and offered William Sydney Porter O. Henry a job and started as a draftsman at the Texas General Land Office Building on the 12th January, 1887, at a salary of $100 a month, drawing maps from surveys and field notes. The salary was enough to support his family, but he continued his contributions to magazines and newspapers. In the General Land Office Building, where he began developing characters and plots for such stories as “Georgia's Ruling” [1900], and “Buried Treasure” [1908]. The castle-like building he worked in was even woven into some of his tales such as “Bexar Scrip No. 2692” [1894]. William Sydney Porter O. Henry’s job at the General Land Office Building was a political appointment by Richard Hall and ran for governor in the election of 1890 but lost. William Sydney Porter O. Henry resigned on the 21st January, 1891, the day after the new governor, Jim Hogg, was sworn in. The same year, William Sydney Porter O. Henry began working at the First National Bank of Austin as a teller and bookkeeper at the same salary he had made at the General Land Office Building. The First National Bank of Austin was operated informally, and William Sydney Porter O. Henry was apparently careless in keeping his books and allegedly was accused that he may have embezzled funds. In 1894, he was accused by the bank of embezzlement and lost his job but was not indicted at the time. William Sydney Porter O. Henry and his family moved to Houston in 1895, where he started writing for the Post publication and his salary was only $25 a month, but it increased steadily as his popularity increased. William Sydney Porter O. Henry gathered ideas for his column by loitering in hotel lobbies and observing and talking to people there. This was a technique he used throughout his writing career. While William Sydney Porter O. Henry was in Houston, federal auditors audited the First National Bank of Austin and found the embezzlement shortages that led to his firing. A federal indictment followed, and was arrested on the charges of embezzlement. William Sydney Porter O. Henry had little to say in his own defence at his trial and was found guilty on the 17th February, 1898, of embezzling $854.08 and was sentenced to five years in prison and imprisoned on the 25th March, 1898, at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio. At this point Next Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD talks about “The Prison Years” and the people running the prison found out that William Sydney Porter O. Henry was a licensed pharmacist and was able to work in the prison hospital as the night druggist and was given his own room in the hospital wing, and there is no record that he actually spent time in the cell block of the prison. William Sydney Porter O. Henry was assigned as a night clerk and they found him very useful to the doctors in the prison as he was good with medicines and even saved the Warden’s life and later on became a clerk to the Steward and they would allow him to go outside for a beer now and again. William Sydney Porter O. Henry wrote loads of stories and a lot of them were great favourites to them all, and had 14 stories published under various pseudonyms while he was in prison but was becoming best known as “O. Henry,” a pseudonym that first appeared over the story “Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking” in the December 1899 issue of McClure's Magazine. One story in particular he wrote was about the famous safe cracker called Jimmy Valentine and sold the story to a man who wanted to turn the story into a play and William Sydney Porter O. Henry received $500 and the man made $100,000 out of the story. A friend of his in New Orleans would forward his stories to publishers and they had no idea that the story writer William Sydney Porter O. Henry was imprisoned and eventually William Sydney Porter O. Henry was released on the 24th July, 1901 for good behaviour after serving three years. William Sydney Porter O. Henry was reunited with his daughter Margaret, who was now 11 years of age Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Athol's parents had moved after William Sydney Porter O. Henry's conviction. William Sydney Porter O. Henry’s wit, characterization, and plot twists were adored by his readers but often panned by the critics. In 1891 William Sydney Porter O. Henry gets released from prison for good conduct and was only in prison for three years and three months and eventually makes it to Pittsburgh with his daughter and becomes a manager to a hotel and of course this time his daughter is so good to be with him after all the years apart because his daughter was not allowed to visit him in prison, but kept in touch with his daughter regularly with wonderful letters. Eventually William Sydney Porter O. Henry hated Pittsburgh so William Sydney Porter O. Henry most prolific writing period started in 1902, when he moved to New York City to be near his publishers. While there, William Sydney Porter O. Henry wrote 381 short stories and also wrote a story a week for over a year for the New York World Sunday Magazine and eventually met the editor Robert Dudley and there began what William Sydney Porter O. Henry enjoyed the most wonderful friendship with other wonderful editors. Next Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD talks about William Sydney Porter O. Henry’s “Ticket To Freedom” and in 1904 was persuaded to take all of his stories and turn them into novels and eventually wrote 113 stories, then in 1908 wrote another 28 stories and this really put William Sydney Porter O. Henry on the map and gave him his ticket to freedom and to get away from his negative past and was now a new person and fresh start in his life, and this time started to write detective stories. So after William Sydney Porter O. Henry career really took off and became really famous, but unfortunately William Sydney Porter O. Henry was a very heavy alcohol drinker, and by 1908, his markedly deteriorating health affected his writing and started writing stories all night long and was not very domesticated and sadly William Sydney Porter O. Henry died on the 5th June, 1910, of cirrhosis of the liver, complications of diabetes, and an enlarged heart and was only 47 years of age and was compared to Shakespeare. After funeral services in New York City, William Sydney Porter O. Henry was buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Asheville, North Carolina and on his gravestone was written “William Sydney Porter O. Henry 1863 – 1910” and nothing else. His daughter Margaret Worth Porter had a short writing career from 1913 to 1916 and married a cartoonist Oscar Cesare of New York in 1916; they were divorced four years later. Sadly Margaret Worth Porter died of tuberculosis in 1927 and was buried next to her father William Sydney Porter O. Henry and insisted to be buried at his feet. Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD again mentions that William Sydney Porter O. Henry used a number of pen names including “O. Henry” or “Olivier Henry” in the early part of his writing career. Other names included S.H. Peters, James L. Bliss, T.B. Dowd, and Howard Clark. Nevertheless, the name “O. Henry” seemed to garner the most attention from editors and the public for his writing by about 1902. William Sydney Porter O. Henry gave various explanations for the origin of his pen name. In 1909, William Sydney Porter O. Henry gave an interview to The New York Times, in which he gave an account of it. Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD also informs us that William Sydney Porter O. Henry’s stories have been translated in every language around the world. Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD says that all the tragedies William Sydney Porter O. Henry endure throughout his life and eventually came out of it and let the world know that there was something there, that could not die and at that point, the Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD special feature on William Sydney Porter O. Henry finishes and it is a totally fascinating story about this amazing enigma writer and is well worth viewing and definitely gets a five star rating from me.
Special Feature: The O. Henry Museum [2006] [1080i] [1.37:1] [5:23] Here we get the grand tour of The O. Henry Museum that was originally William Sydney Porter O. Henry’s home and the tour guide is Valerie Welch Bennett, who is the curator of The O. Henry Museum in Austin, Texas, USA. The O. Henry Museum is the former residence of William Sydney Porter O. Henry, otherwise known as O. Henry, the short story writer who authored such classics as “The Gift of the Magi,” “The Ransom of Red Chief,” and “The Last Leaf.” The mission of The O. Henry Museum is to collect, preserve, and interpret artefacts and archival materials of William Sydney Porter O. Henry for literary, educational, and historical purposes. Through exhibits, programs, and tours, the museum focuses on William Sydney Porter O. Henry’s Austin in Texas years, during which he wrote his earliest stories. The museum is now included in the National Register of Historic Places. Valerie Welch Bennett also informs us about William Sydney Porter O. Henry and what he like to get up to where he lived in his early years and also liked getting to know the other folks that lived not far from the William Sydney Porter O. Henry family. William Sydney Porter O. Henry really enjoyed looking at the other building architectures in his area. We hear about the William Sydney Porter O. Henry family life and what they enjoyed doing in the house. Valerie Welch Bennett also says that William Sydney Porter O. Henry and his wife were very compatible and loved music a lot, and were both members of The Gilbert & Sullivan Society and performed at one of the Texas Opera House’s and the Driskill Hotel in Austin in Texas. The piano we get to see in the O. Henry house and the family use to have regular sing-a-longs and that William Sydney Porter O. Henry had a beautiful soprano voice and would practice at the piano regularly and it is one of the prize possessions in The O. Henry Museum. The beautiful wooden desk we see in the parlour is the desk that William Sydney Porter O. Henry use to use to write his many stories and the wooden desk was originally only borrowed at the time to do his writings as it did not really belong to him personally. Valerie Welch Bennett talks in-depth about the history of William Sydney Porter O. Henry that you can read in the previous special feature by Dr. Jenny Lind Porter, PhD. Valerie Welch Bennett talks about the wonderful intricate detailed maps on the walls in The O. Henry Museum that were designed and hand drawn by William Sydney Porter O. Henry you get some glimpses of them. We get to view up close two famous dark wooden wicker chairs that were owned by the O. Henry family and are pride of place in The O. Henry Museum and they were very important in the life and times of the O. Henry family. Another aspect of The O. Henry Museum that Valerie Welch Bennett talks about is the O. Henry family bedroom, especially the large double bed with the wonderful colourful handmade bed cover, and also points out the wonderful wooden baby’s cot. We also get to view the wonderful wooden cabinet with all the wonderful colourful plates and tea set, on top of all that, we view the lovely doll furniture in the dining room, with of course the children’s dolls, and although William Sydney Porter O. Henry did work for The First National Bank, he did some work for that bank in the O. Henry’s house and William Sydney Porter O. Henry worked on “The Rolling Stone” newspaper in the O. Henry house and it was an eight page weekly newspaper and is so valuable now and in pristine condition and one complete set collection is at the University of Texas, and there is just one copy of “The Rolling Stone” newspaper in The O. Henry Museum, the newspaper was a one man William Sydney Porter O. Henry effort, but unfortunately after one year “The Rolling Stone” newspaper only lasted one year. They also have in The O. Henry Museum personal items of William Sydney Porter O. Henry related to his time in New York, especially William Sydney Porter O. Henry old leather brown hat. In 2000 The O. Henry Museum received a wonderful collection of Very personal photographs, documents and original cartoons of William Sydney Porter O. Henry as well as the family and on top of all that, The O. Henry Museum has the original William Sydney Porter O. Henry short stories, and they also purchased five original O. Henry short stories. The O. Henry House became The O. Henry Museum in 1934 and the actual house was initially built by John Kush, a German settler in 1855. The house, built in adobe brick, was originally located at 904 South Presa Street, San Antoni, Texas. The house's long rental history ended in 1929, when it became the property of Herman Becker, who had been an acquaintance and admirer of William Sydney Porter O. Henry. In 1930 Samuel Edward Gideon, a professor of architecture at the University of Texas, reported to a committee of the Rotary Club headed by Clark Mueller that the house should be saved. Becker donated the house to the Rotary Club, which on January 23, 1934, donated it to the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, and the Daughters of 1812. The women in turn gave the house to the city of Austin on January 25, 1934, after the city council and Mayor Tom Miller agreed to accept the structure and turn it into a museum. Although originally located at 308 East Fourth Street, the house was temporarily moved to 510 East Fourth and then in March 1934 to its present location at Brush Square between Fourth and Fifth streets and San Jacinto and Trinity streets. The park was chosen as a permanent site for the museum because it was nearest the section of town where the author had lived. Labour and materials for the restoration were donated by the Herman Becker family as a memorial for their father, who had died. Special effort was made to furnish the home with pieces from the time of the William Sydney Porter O. Henry family's occupancy. The O. Henry Museum has now been designated a National Literature landmark, and the tour guide Valerie Welch Bennett feels this is a truly wonderful tribute to William Sydney Porter O. Henry’s legacy, and the house was opened to the public on June 2, 1934 and tour guide Valerie Welch Bennett says people can come and actually see where William Sydney Porter O. Henry wrote his famous short stories, and can also see where the actual O. Henry family lived and see how William Sydney Porter O. Henry was a wonderful husband and father, and William Sydney Porter O. Henry lived a very long time in Texas and tour guide Valerie Welch Bennett feels very proud to claim that her was a true Texan. Since 1972 The O. Henry Museum has been the site of various writing workshops, poetry readings, and an annual fund-raiser, the “O. Henry Pun Off.” The O. Henry Museum is maintained by a division of the Austin Parks and Recreation Department and has an on-site curator. Despite this special feature on The O. Henry Museum is quite short, it certainly packs a lot of information on the life and times of William Sydney Porter O. Henry and tour guide Valerie Welch Bennett was really excellent and well worth viewing if you have never heard of William Sydney Porter O. Henry then tour guide Valerie Welch Bennett does the Texan man proud.
Special Feature: Still Gallery: Here get to view a massive amount of amazing black-and-white images related to the ‘O. Henry’s FULL HOUSE’ film and the majority of the images are of some of the main actors, some behind-the-scene images and at least one of William Sydney Porter O. Henry himself. To advance the next image you have to keep pressing the right hand play button. So folk’s happy viewing, as some of the images you get to view are totally brilliant.
Finally, ‘O. Henry’s FULL HOUSE’ is a terrific 1952 film highlighting the famous writer William Sydney Porter O. Henry's work. It certainly must have been a pleasure to be a contract player for 20th Century Fox at that time so that you could have a part in such a great film. The most poignant of the 5 vignettes shown was where Anne Baxter, a rejected woman, is succumbing to pneumonia and equates her situation to falling leaves. With her sister, Jean Peters at her side, she continues to fail as the leaves fall off. Gregory Ratoff is marvellous as the upstairs neighbour, Mr. Berman, whose paintings aren't appreciated as he paints out of the ordinary sequences. His final effort, a life-saver for Anne Baxter, is memorable and so touching. 2 segments provided comic relief. Charles Laughton is sensational as the hobo trying to get arrested so as to avoid the cold wintry weather on the streets. While in church he promises to mend his ways and look for work only to finally be arrested for vagrancy and sentenced to 90 days. Charles Laughton, as versatile as ever, is aided by David Wayne. The second comedy is where Fred Allen and Oscar Levant kidnap a young boy only to get more than they bargained for in ‘Ransom of Red Chief.’ Both men are hilarious as they fall victim to the young menacing brat. The always excellent Richard Widmark almost reprises his role in 1947's ‘Kiss of Death.’ Richard Widmark again displays that sinister laugh and in a segment with Dale Robertson, both men matching wits as friends. Dale Robertson grew up as a cop and you can guess what Richard Widmark has become. The film ends with the final segment of the meaning of the Christmas holiday with Jean Crain and Farley Granger. The film is so good because each story essentially deals with sacrifice in its own way. This is truly a classic film to be enjoyed and remembered through the ages. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
