Easy As Pie: A movie to propel a career

On Jan. 26, 1945 — 80 years ago Sunday — “National Velvet,” a children’s movie starring a 12-year-old Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp and Angela Lansbury opened in theaters nationwide.

The film would be nominated for five Academy Awards, win two and, in 2006, would be selected for preservation in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.”

The Story of A Girl and Her Horse

In 1935, “National Velvet” by British author Enid Bagnold was published, telling the story of a 14-year-old girl who trains and rides her horse to victory in the Grand National steeplechase. Bagnold’s own daughter, who was 14 at the time, illustrated the book for her mother.

In 1941, MGM made plans to film a movie version of Bagnold’s novel starring Shirley Temple and Spencer Tracy, but Temple’s mother didn’t feel like the script showcased her daughter properly and vetoed the project.

Eighteen-year-old Gene Tierney, who was appearing on Broadway at the time, was then offered the lead role. Production on “National Velvet” was delayed, however, so Tierney turned down the role and returned to Broadway and later signed a contract with 20th Century Fox.

Producer and director Clarence Brown met Taylor but wasn’t impressed with her. He pointed out that Velvet Brown was supposed to be a girl in her late teens but Taylor — only 12 at the time — was too “boyish” for the part.

This inspired Taylor to prove she could play the role. She increased her food intake to gain weight and worked out with a horse every day to increase her proficiency. It also helped that she grew three inches taller. Brown also wanted her to dye her hair, change the shape of her eyebrows and use the screen name “Virginia,” but her parents refused. Brown relented and gave her the role.

The film premiered at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on Dec. 14, 1944 but opened nationwide the following Jan. 16. “National Velvet” would go on to gross $5.9 million worldwide.

A Major Motion Picture Starring... A 12 Year-Old?

In the movie, Velvet’s horse is named “The Pie,” which is short for “Pirate.” But in the novel, “The Pie” is short for a piebald horse — “piebald” meaning having irregular markings of two colors. Playing The Pie was King Charles, a chestnut, rather than a piebald and the grandson of legendary racehorse Man o’ War and a first cousin of another famed racehorse, Seabiscuit.

Before production even began, Taylor fell in love with King Charles. MGM bought the horse for $800 to appear in this movie. King Charles turned out to be aggressive to all of his handlers, except for Taylor. After production had wrapped, producers gave King Charles to Taylor as a birthday gift. The horse died 11 years later, when Taylor was 24.

Taylor really did fall from King Charles during the filming of a racing scene. The injury caused her chronic back problems for many years. Later, it was found she had fractured her vertebrae. In 1956, Taylor underwent an operation in which some of her spinal discs were removed and replaced with donated bone. Her injury led to an addiction to prescription pain killers.

The terrier playing the Brown family dog was already a huge star before “National Velvet” began production. That is Daisy, who MGM obtained on loan from Columbia Pictures, where she had played a character with her own name in the first of several “Blondie” movies with Penny Singleton and Arthur Lake.

The filming schedule was arranged to shoot all Mickey Rooney’s scenes in the first month of production: Rooney had orders to report for basic training in June 1944 to serve in World War II. In 2019, British tabloid journalist Craig Bennett claimed that Rooney and Taylor had an affair during production. She was only 12. He was 24.

Although the story is set in England, the movie was filmed along the coast in central California. At one point in the film, Taylor can be seen riding her horse through Pebble Beach Golf Course. Despite the setting in England, very few of the cast made an attempt to use a British accent.

“National Velvet” was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Director, Best Art Direction and Best Color Cinematography. It won two: for Best Film Editing and Anne Revere — who played Velvet’s supporting mother, Araminty, won Best Supporting Actress. Also appearing in the film was 19-year-old Angela Lansbury as Velvet’s older sister, Edwina.

In 1960, “National Velvet” was adopted again as a TV series on NBC, starring Lori Martin and James McCallion. The show ran for 58 episodes over two seasons. A sequel, “International Velvet” was released in 1978, starring Tatum O’Neal, Christopher Plummer and Anthony Hopkins. Nanette Newman replaced Taylor in the role of an adult Velvet Brown.