LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Eddie Bracken: Preston Sturges
built 655 days ago
Interestingly enough, in an interview, Bracken said he didn't want to work with Betty Hutton again. They had already co-starred in several films including The Fleet's In, Star Spangled Rhythm, and Happy Go Lucky, and Bracken felt that Buddy De Sylva, the head of Paramount Pictures, was using him as a segue character to promote Hutton's big song-and-dance numbers as the studio was intent on turning her into major star material. Sturges himself promised Bracken that The Miracle of Morgan's Creek was to be a "serious comedy [and] that Hutton would have only one song that she would lip-sync to a male voice." Bracken took the role, and you'd never know there was any conflict or resentment between the two actors. (You can find a more detailed account of this actor's interview under Accomplices, "Eddie Bracken: Miracle Man.")
Source:
Bracken's career certainly didn't end with his Sturges work. It went on to include the creation of the radio and TV series Our Miss Brooks, much acting work in radio and television, many, many more stage appearances, and a second career in film that was jump-started by his appearance in National Lampoon's Vacation in 1983 and continues to this day. (Bracken can be seen in the Arthur Miller-scripted drama The Ryan Interview with Ashley Judd on PBS this fall.) But his collaboration with Sturges is the reason for Bracken's visit to Austin this week. He is the featured guest for the screening of The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, part of the Austin Film Society series "Unfaithfully Yours: The Satire of Preston Sturges." In honor of his appearance, the Chronicle visited with him about those films, his co-stars, comedy, life during wartime, thumbing it, and repaying a favor.
Source:
The film is regarded by many as showing Sturges at his satirical best, and Bracken always acknowledged the debt he felt he owed the director. In 1951, when a dinner-theatre business of Sturges was doing badly, Bracken agreed to star in a Sturges-directed revival of the play Room Service for no fee whatsoever. The venture paid off, with the show playing to capacity audiences for 18 weeks.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Preston Sturges