Now and Forever*
Now & Forever
Directed by Henry Hathaway. 81 mins. (1934)
Gary Cooper – Jerry Day
A charming drifter and con man attempts to reform his reckless ways when reunited with the young daughter he has long neglected, but the lure of crime threatens the fragile family he is only beginning to build.
Also starring Carole Lombard, Shirley Temple, Guy Standing, and Charlotte Granville.
One of Shirley Temple’s early dramatic roles, the film paired her with Gary Cooper, who famously asked the child star for her autograph. Temple memorized the entire script and often prompted Cooper during scenes.
MARIA’S NOTES
As Now and Forever was made in 1934 my father was still kind of “newlywed"(1933 marriage) and he didn’t want to accept more than one picture that year. My memories years later of his comments about that film revolved mainly around one very little, cute, adorable…and highly annoying little girl named Shirley Temple who played his daughter. She already had made a name for herself in the industry. He admired a lot her intelligence and talentbut was highly irritated with her annoying habit of knowing not only her own, but everybody else’s lines when shooting a scene. Little Shirley was not shy about speaking up and correcting you in front of the cast if you made a dialogue mistake and said “and” instead of “but”. Understandably, this is never done and it drove him crazy!!!But he overcame that frustration and they actually got along very well. and their relationship and scenes together are touching and memorable. By contrast, his co-star Carol Lombard and he have an explosive relationship in the film. The contact and dynamics work very well for the story. Off screen Carole was a family friend and there was many a weekend afternoon with the Coopers and she and Clark Gable who were madly in love with each other, just relaxing, playing tennis, swimming. I have been told she could hold her own with the guys when it came to swearing—quite a shock coming from this very feminine blond!The movie was a “sleeper” and a much better picture than popularly acknowledged by the critics at the time. But the public was very happy!
Maria Cooper Janis