The above image is taken from the 1967 Disney musical The Happiest Millionaire, starring Fred MacMurray as the titular millionaire. The Happiest Millionaire is a rather bizarre movie which wasn't originally supposed to be a musical- it's based on the 1956 non-musical play by the same name. After the gigantic success of 1964's Mary Poppins, however, Disney decided that turning it into a musical was the way to go, and even got the Sherman brothers to write the songs for the production. Unfortunately it was a bit of a flop, for a variety of reasons, one being that it's too long; it premiered at 164 minutes though in later releases it was pared down to 118 minutes (apparently there's also a director's cut which is 172 minutes long, which is a scary thought). The movie is also very uneven- some of the plot points and characters work, and some don't. The same is true of the songs: some work, some don't... although most of the songs are pretty good... hey, they were written by the Shermans. Also, most of the actors just seem to be trying too hard: Tommy Steele, for instance, has his fresh-off-the-boat Irishman schtick dialed up to eleven. Despite its flaws- and they're numerous- I have a sneaking liking for The Happiest Millionaire, mostly because I'm fascinated by the character MacMurray portrays: the millionaire Anthony J. Drexel Biddle. Biddle was a real person; the movie- and play- are based on a book written by his daughter Cordelia (in the film played by Leslie Ann Warren) called My Philadelphia Father. This is the only biography I've seen about Biddle, though I can't understand why: the man was larger than life and there should be volumes wriiten about him. To be fair to Disney, some of the most eccentric bits of the film are the true parts, such as keeping pet alligators in his house, having boxing matches/dinner parties, and giving a chocolate cake diet a try. Biddle was a millionaire who wasn't content to just enjoy his wealth; he authored books, wrote a sports column for a newspaper, and was an avid boxer, sparring with world heavyweight champions like Jack Johnson and Gene Tunney. During World War I, Biddle joined the Marines despite being in his forties. He opened a military training facility just outside Philidelphia to train soldiers in hand-to-hand combat. He later served in the National Guard and wrote a combat handbook entitled Do or Die: A Supplementary Manuel On Individual Combat. After Pearl Harbour was attacked, 67 year old Biddle was recalled by the Marines as a combat instructor. Biddle also founded the Athletic Christianity movement, which combined religious teaching with a vigorous exercise program and at its height had over 300,000 followers. Which brings us back to the picture in question; in the movie, this movement is portrayed as the Biddle Boxing and Bible School, which is located in his stables.
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