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In mid-October 1946, the first preview of #TheBestYearsofOurLives screened at United Artists Theatre in Long Beach, CA. Of the 314 cards returned, 200+ ranked the movie as "excellent," "very good," "wonderful" and"best ever" despite the long running time. #TCMParty 📷 Mahan Collection

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Oct. '47: #HaroldRussell writes "These Are My Hands" for U.S. papers. "If you saw the picture #TheBestYearsofOurLives, you probably felt sorry for the sailor who lost both of his hands. That fellow is me. But I don't feel sorry for myself." #TCMParty #Veterans #DisabilityRights

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

On the eve of #WorldMentalHealthDay2026, a still from Fred's nightmare in #TheBestYearsOfOurLives. The dramatic sequence required numerous takes partly because of the multiple set-ups ( #DanaAndrews and #TeresaWright in two-shots and separate close-ups, etc.). #TCMParty #PTSD

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The list of cast “suggestions” for Clare Boothe’s 1936 play #TheWomen from her archive at the Library of Congress. Film actresses being considered included #LillianGish & Patricia Collinge as Mary, Jesse Royce Landis as Sylvia, and Shirley Booth as Crystal. #TCMParty #nextbook

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

#HaroldRussell and wife Rita in the Cub Room of the Stork Club in NYC ca. 1946. #TCMParty #TheBestYearsofOurLives #Disability

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

#TCM Star of the Month #MyrnaLoy describing her performance method shortly after she made #TheBestYearsofOurLives: "I like to play drama under comedy." #TCMParty #BehindTheScenes

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

A glimpse of #DanaAndrews to start the week! Shown here taking a break on the set of #TheBestYearsofOurLives with #WilliamWyler and art director Perry Ferguson. #TCMParty #BehindTheScenes

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

#NormaShearer had casting approval for the part of late husband #IrvingThalberg in MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES, on #TCM tonight. She discovered women's wear exec #RobertEvans vacationing at the Beverly Hills Hotel, brought him to Universal, and launched his career. #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The advert that inspired the title for my Spring 2027 book about the making of #TheWomen from play to film through the eyes of #GeorgeCukor, #NormaShearer, and #JoanCrawford. "Out of the boudoir...on to the screen....See them with their hair down and their claws out!" #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

In the setup to the dramatic soda fountain scene in #TheBestYearsofOurLives, Fred ( #DanaAndrews) makes sundaes for a teen couple. The boy's bubblegum habit was an issue in later shots, with the script clerk writing one take was ruined because he was "chewing gum madly." #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE--the film that earned #FredricMarch an #Oscar & inspired the gripping transformation scene he performed without F/X while entertaining troops during #WWII. (And that sealskin top hat now lives in his niece's closet 🎩) On #TCM today! #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

A throng of girls swarms #DanaAndrews as he gets some training behind the soda fountain at the Owl Drug store (Hollywood and Vine) in preparation for his role as "drugstore cowboy" Fred Derry in #TheBestYearsofOurLives. 📸 Bettmann #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

From the Clare Boothe Luce archive: A 1955 cast photo for the NBC broadcast of the play that inspired the #MGM film #TheWomen. NBC ensemble included #ShelleyWinters as Crystal Allen, #PauletteGoddard switching it up as Sylvia Fowler, and #NancyOlson as Peggy. #TCMParty #nextbook

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The Wardrobe Plot Book for #TheBestYearsofOurLives was a thick stack of 3-hole scrapbook pages with b/w photos and lots of detail, like which actors wore their own jewelry (Wright) and who wore fingernail polish ( #MyrnaLoy). Here, #TeresaWright wearing one of my fave dresses. #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

In Basinger/Wasson's HOLLYWOOD, Adela Rogers St. Johns said L.B. Mayer acted out MRS. MINIVER to convince #GreerGarson to play the role of the mother of a grown son: "And when he finished...she was crying...[Garson] says, 'I'll play it.'" On #TCM today! #TCMParty #TeresaWright

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The November '46 premiere for #TheBestYearsofOurLives was a starry event. Even the #DukeandDuchessofWindsor were there (#10) as guests of #SamuelGoldwyn. I just finished Melanie Benjamin's THE WINDSOR AFFAIR & highly recommend to #RoyalUK fans. Juicy historical fiction! #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Writing to #FredricMarch before filming on #TheBestYearsOfOurLives, #WilliamWyler reminded him that Al needed to look like he’d been on combat duty in the Pacific. “...very important that your figure suggests a K-ration diet, rather than the '21 Club'." #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Because it's Friday....#MyrnaLoy ca. 1946 in the garden of her Colonial house in the Pacific Palisades, where she grew lavender to scent her lingerie drawers. Sadly, the house burned in the 2025 PP fires. 😞 #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

In June 1947, Anna Mitchell of Staten Island purchased the millionth ticket for #TheBestYearsofOurLives at the Astor Theatre in NYC. James Mulvey, president of #SamuelGoldwyn's company, presented the stunned 72-year-old widow with a silver vanity case. #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

In his memoir "Victory in My Hands," #HaroldRussell writes about taking piano lessons from co-star #HoagyCarmichael for #TheBestYearsofOurLives. Director #WilliamWyler put the kibosh on Carmichael's acting tips, though, wanting to preserve Russell's naturalness. #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Happy pub day to JUNGLE RED 💅 Not surprised #TheWomen's getting such well-deserved love! Stay tuned for HAIR DOWN, CLAWS OUT: GEORGE CUKOR & THE MAKING OF THE WOMEN in Spring '27--from play to screen via #GeorgeCukor, #NormaShearer & #JoanCrawford in H'wood's Greatest Year. #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

#AlfredEisenstaedt's LIFE cover photo of #TeresaWright promoting #TheBestYearsofOurLives in Dec. '46. Although the film was reviewed inside, there was no article about Wright. Instead, the magazine profiled #HaroldRussell in "Handless Veteran." #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Reporters on the '39 set of THE WOMEN were captivated by #RosalindRussell's "bizarre" Surrealistic "seeing eye" dress by Adrian. "Against a fuchsia background it was trimmed with huge glass eyes...fringed with metallic lashes," the pupils hand-tinted in violet. #TCMParty #nextbook

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

#SamuelGoldwyn hosted invitation-only previews at the studio for #TheBestYearsofOurLives in 1946. Afterward, guests were handed ecru reply cards not unlike the one below. It had 2 questions: "How did you like TBYOOL?" and "Which individual players did you enjoy most?" #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

The Guardian reviews #TheBestYearsofOurLives upon its London release, praising its "absolute command of the seeing eye" and comparing its realism to a Russian film. But #DanaAndrews fans, you may not want to see the last 'graph. And poor "Walter" Wyler. 🙄 #TCMParty #London

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

#VirginiaMayo liked to joke that she won William Wyler his Best Director Oscar for #TheBestYearsofOurLives because at the time, no one believed she could do a dramatic role. Shown here with husband Michael O'Shea, whom she married not long after making BEST YEARS. #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Overlooked by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for her work in #TheBestYearsofOurLives, #MyrnaLoy nonetheless received the award for top female performance at the inaugural World Festival of Films in Brussels in the summer of 1947. #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Prior to casting #InsideMoves, director Richard Donner watched #TheBestYearsofOurLives and reached out to #HaroldRussell (rt) for the part of Wings. Before he began filming, Russell re-watched BEST YEARS and said, "You know, it holds up very well." On #TCM tonight! #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

#OTD in 1946, as the PR campaign for #TheBestYearsofOurLives took shape, producer Sam Goldwyn told his top execs "not to star #HoagyCarmichael in any adds as would minimize others importance," a decision that would later enrage Carmichael and his handlers. #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

#MyrnaLoy once said that MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer told her, "I'll never let you scrub the floor," which was his way of saying, said Loy, "that I must always play ladies." #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

March 1947 letter from L. Otto of Fresno, CA to #SamuelGoldwyn re: #TheBestYearsofOurLives: "...the film has been so widely advertised. Was it advertised to give the liquor business a boost? Why was there so much drinking in the picture?" #TCMParty #MyrnaLoy #FredricMarch

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

#OTD in 1939 THE WOMEN was released. The night before in Los Angeles, MGM hosted an over-the-top premiere at Grauman's Chinese. LB Mayer, #PauletteGoddard, #GeorgeCukor, #JoanCrawford, and producer Hunt Stromberg posed for photographs. #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

One of the many "tie-ups" arranged to promote #TheBestYearsofOurLives in the late fall of 1946. #DanaAndrews, Goldwyn's top star at the time, also did promos for toothpaste, Kellogg's cereals, and MacGregor sportswear. #TCMParty #TeresaWright

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Currently reviewing the copyedits for HAIR DOWN, CLAWS OUT, my next book about the making of #TheWomen 💅 I love this note from the editor about Featherbrain, one of the monkey models in the #Technicolor fashion show sequence. This is what I got my PhD for, folks 😉 #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

In August '46, as principal photography on #TheBestYearsofOurLives wrapped, #WilliamWyler began work as a partner in Liberty Films. The indie venture would be short-lived, tanked partly by the high costs of Liberty's first project, #FrankCapra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

On the set of #TheBestYearsofOurLives with #FredricMarch and #DanaAndrews. Given the costumes, they may be celebrating the first day of production in April 1946 or #WilliamWyler’s birthday on July 1. #TCMParty #SUTS

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

It's #DanaAndrews day on #TCM 🥳Here's a fave scene in #TheBestYearsOfOurLives, w/William Wyler’s young daughter Cathy (now a producer) as an extra in the 1st drugstore scene where Andrews returns for a post-war visit. Can’t tell at all that Cathy was a super-fan 😂 #TCMParty #SUTS

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

#MyrnaLoy on her approach to acting ca. 1959: "I like to play drama under comedy." Here doing just that in #TheBestYearsofOurLives. #TCMParty #FredricMarch

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Homer shows Wilma how he removes his harness in #TheBestYearsofOurLives, the shot that took 18 takes to film. #HaroldRussell grew so weary during filming that the script supervisor noted after one discarded take, "He looked dead." #TCMParty #BehindTheScenes #DisabilityInclusion

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

During casting for #GoneWithTheWind in 1938, then-director #GeorgeCukor attended a performance of #TheWomen on Broadway. When the cast heard he was there, all of the actresses assumed Southern accents. GWTW spotlighting #HattieMcDaniel on #TCM tonight! #TCMParty #SUTS

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

#TCM is celebrating #RobertRedford all day! Check out #TheWayWeWere @ 5pm CT & watch for #TheBestYearsofOurLives billboard as Hubbell and Katie (#BarbraStreisand) drive onto the studio lot. Fun fact: I was asked to sign my book about BEST YEARS as a gift for Streisand 🤩 #SUTS

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

A fave find from #RosalindRussell's archive @ #UCLA. A $0.10 check to Columbia Pictures for a phone call Russell made from the studio in 1942. Not relevant to my #nextbook about #TheWomen but a great example of her irreverent sense of humor.😏 #TCMParty #SummerUndertheStars

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Goldwyn gimmick or real report? In January '47 during promo for #TheBestYearsofOurLives, #VirginiaMayo was off the grid for 4 days. Fiancé Michael O'Shea later said they'd quarreled, she was "blue" after the accidental death of dog Dinky, and she'd gone to Palm Desert. #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Before the play #TheWomen could be performed in London, in 1938—a year before the #MGM adaptation hit screens—playwright Clare Boothe Luce was asked to make the following changes per the Lord Chamberlain’s office. #TCMParty #nextbook

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Not everyone was a superfan of #TheBestYearsofOurLives when it came out in 1946. #LillianHellman, a confidante and collaborator of #WilliamWyler's since the 1930s, said of the film: "It's a slightly over-sentimental picture, but it's a wonderfully made picture...." #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

#BarbaraStanwyck and #HowardHawks on the set of #BallofFire and a still from a scene with #DanaAndrews (Joe Lilac)--on #TCM tonight! Andrews would later guest star on Stanwyck's short-lived TV drama series in 1961. #TCMParty #SUTS

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

#TeresaWright fun facts shared during #TheBestYearsofOurLives run in '47: "She has a checking account & can't get over the thrill of writing checks...She never uses cold cream...She has never had a facial or manicure. She does her own nails but doesn't use nail polish." #TCMParty

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

"We've been having lectures in atomic energy at school, and Mr. McGlaggen--he's our Physics teacher--he says that we've reached the point where the whole human race has either got to find a way to live together, or else...." #TCMParty #Nagasaki #TheBestYearsofOurLives

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

#MyrnaLoy on the real power of the Stephensons' reunion in #TheBestYearsofOurLives: "They just can't wait to get into the sack." #TCMParty #Veterans #FredricMarch

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Alison Macor @agmacor.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Clare Boothe Luce's handwritten edits ca. 1937 for the final scene of her play #TheWomen, which became the #MGM film two years later. CBL would update & tweak scenes throughout the play's 1st run & for revivals until her death in 1987. #TCMParty #nextbook #BehindTheScenes

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