The Boss and I were watching the 1959 Disney film Third Man on the Mountain. It was a favorite of mine when I was a lad. It’s about a teenaged boy from Switzerland named Rudy Matt. Rudy’s dream is to become a mountain climbing guide as his father was. Because his father was killed in a fall while climbing, the adults in his life want him to have nothing to do with any mountain except the mountains of dishes at his hotel kitchen job. Without going too deeply into the plot let’s just say that Rudy goes through a series of challenges, setbacks, adversities, and redemptions to prevail and realize his dream. Disney Studio’s ability to give life to these tales is evident with beautiful cinematography and breathtaking shots of actual climbers attacking mountains along with some hair-raising FX. It’s the performance of James MacArthur as young Rudy that brings everything together. MacArthur was 21 at the time and was playing an18 year but he does an outstanding job of portraying Rudy’s joys, pain, frustrations, guilt, and courage to do what’s right and triumph in the end. It has been a long time since I saw the movie and it was wonderful to view it again and the Boss had never seen it and loved it.
James MacArthur was the adopted son of legendary actress Helen Hayes. He was part of that first generation of Disney juvenile stars when the studio started doing live action features. Some of the others were Tim Considine, Kevin Corcoran, Tommy Kirk, Haley Mills, and Annette Funicello. MacArthur was first in The Light in the Forrest, followed by Mountain, then the one everyone remembers, Swiss Family Robinson. His best known role was that of Danno in Hawaii 5-0. “Book ‘em, Danno” became part of the American TV lexicon.
Tommy Kirk was the human star of Old Yeller, and his heart wrenching performance as Arlis, Yeller’s young master is one of the great performances of the 1950s, ranking up there with Claude Jarman Jr.’s performance in The Yearling a decade earlier. Kirk was a marvelous actor who just happened to be a juvenile. Two years later he again played opposite a dog in The Shaggy Dog. As he grew older he found out what a number of other young actors have found — the movie-going public would not accept his growing up. His adult movie career included such gems as Mars Needs Women, 1967; It’s Alive, 1969; Blood of Ghastly Horror, 1972; and Billy Frankenstein, 1998. Sad for a guy that showed so much promise.
Charles Herbert, while not a Disney kid, was in a number of movie and TV productions, as a kid in the 50s and a teenager in the 60s. His best-known roles were as the son of the scientist who becomes the monstrous title character in The Fly, 1969. It’s Hebert’s character Phillipe who finds the “white headed” fly in the spider’s web at the end. HELPPPP MEEEE!! A year later, he was Buck Zorba, the kid who lived in the house with 3 Ghosts!, 1960. Herbert was one of the busier child actors. He started acting in 1953 and had 64 film and TV credits along with a number of commercials by the time he left the business in 1968.
Richard Eyer was yet another talented juvenile actor who started his career in 1952 at the age of seven. His first role of note was that of young Jess Birdwell in the movie Friendly Persuasion where he more than held his own with such actors as Gary Cooper, Anthony Perkins, and Dorothy McGuire. Two years later he portrayed the Genie in the George Pal production of The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, 1958.
Lastly is Patty McCormack. Patti started acting in 1951 at the age of six. She has acted on stage, screen, and TV throughout her now seven decade career. She is still a working professional actor even today in 2013. In the 1960s she had her own TV series called Peck’s Bad Girl. She played the role of Liz La Cerva in The Sopranos from 2000 to 2006. She was a regular on the TV series The Ropers from 1979-81. But for all us 50s kids, Patty will forever be the beautiful and perfect little girl who just happens to be a sociopath murderer in the movie The Bad Seed, 1956. Patty’s Rhoda Penmark was the very first kid to portray a monster and she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal.
Of course, there were many, many more kid actors. I didn’t even get to the TV kids like Jerry Mathers, Billy Mumy, and the Cartwright sisters Veronica and Angela. We will save them for another time. The young actors of that time were stars a half a century ago, but still stand out in my mind and are as much a part of my youth as hot dogs, ice cream, and bicycles.