Rawhide (1938)
Famed New York Yankees baseball star Lou Gehrig retires and buys a ranch in Montana, Rawhide. He is hoping for the quiet life but soon discovers that a protection racket is being run by a local gang and they expect him to pay up. Luckily Gehrig has an ally in lawyer Larry Kimball.
SMITH BALLEW slinging lead! LOU GEHRIG swinging fists!
First Reporter: I'll bet you a new suit of clothes you'll be in Florida for spring practice.
Second Reporter: Aw, just wait till the old season starts. You'll miss the crowds and the cheering and the excitement.
Lou Gehrig: That's just what I want to get away from. I've had all of that. I'm going to wallow in peace and quiet for the rest of my life. I'm going to hang up my spikes for a swell old pair of carpet slippers.
Agoura, California, USA
(ranch sequences)
The music for 2 of this film's songs was written by Albert von Tilzer. He is better known for being the composer of baseball's most famous song, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".
This was filmed in January, 1938. A team of doctors viewed this film in 2006 to see if there is any visible evidence of the onset of Gehrig's ALS. They concluded that they could see no effect. Gehrig put up good, though diminished, numbers in the 1938 season that followed, and had visible muscle loss by the beginning of training in 1939. He died 3 1/2 years after his performance here.
This film's earliest documented telecasts took place in New York City Wednesday 15 September 1948 on WATV (Channel 13), in Detroit Friday 6 May 1949 on WJBK (Channel 2), in Cincinnati Saturday 12 November 1949 on WCPO (Channel 7), in Atlanta Thursday 15 December 1949 on WSB (Channel 8), in Philadelphia Saturday 17 December 1949 on WCAU (Channel 10), in Salt Lake City Monday 9 January 1950 on KDYL (Channel 4), and in Los Angeles Wednesday 27 December 1950 on KTSL (Channel 2).
In the movie, Lou Gehrig buys a ranch with his "sister." In real life, Lou Gehrig had no siblings that survived infancy.
Lou Gehrig's singing voice (while driving the hay wagon) was dubbed by Ray Whitley.
Continuity
The final scene begins with a close-up of Lou Gehrig in slippers putting his feet up on the porch. In the next shot (and the rest of the scene), he is wearing boots.