40 Fun Facts About North to Alaska

North to Alaska is set in which gold-rush boomtown on Alaska's Bering Sea coast?

Nome boomed after gold was found nearby in 1898, and by the 1900 census it was the largest community in Alaska. The film opens with its three miners already rich.

To which city does Sam McCord sail in North to Alaska to fetch his partner's fiancée, Jenny?

Seattle is where Sam shops for mining machinery and where he learns Jenny will not be coming. He sails home with a different Frenchwoman instead.

In North to Alaska, what has George Pratt's fiancée Jenny done by the time Sam McCord finds her?

Jenny has married a butler, and she faints on hearing that the man she jilted is now a millionaire. Sam, dreading the news he must carry home, starts looking for a substitute.

What does Sam McCord finally shout in public to stop Angel leaving at the end of North to Alaska?

That he loves her is the one thing the marriage-hating Sam has refused to admit all film. Angel, on her way to the boat out, jumps into his arms.

Where does the famous all-out brawl that ends North to Alaska, and exposes Frankie Canon, take place?

In a muddy street, Sam ends the free-for-all by dousing Frankie in the mud. The fight also brings the con man's fake claim on the gold mine to light.

How does con man Frankie Canon come to own the Palace while Sam McCord is away in North to Alaska?

In a card game, and a crooked one, Frankie wins the hotel from its previous owner. He then propositions Angel, an old flame who wants nothing more to do with him.

In North to Alaska, where does George Pratt spend an evening with Angel to make Sam McCord jealous?

The honeymoon cabin was built by George for Jenny, the fiancée who never came. His act works too well: Sam charges in, slaps him and insults Angel.

How does Sam McCord sober up young Billy Pratt after a night of drinking in North to Alaska?

Sam throws him in the river after the 17-year-old drinks himself silly trying to impress Angel. Billy had passed out over the dinner he hoped would charm her.

Which teen idol, a pop singer from Philadelphia, plays young Billy Pratt in North to Alaska?

Fabian was cast because the studio hoped he would draw younger moviegoers to a John Wayne picture. He also gets a song of his own in the film.

Which country singer, fresh from a hit with Sink the Bismarck, recorded the title song of North to Alaska?

Johnny Horton took the song to the top of the country chart, and it crossed over to the pop top five. Its verses tell the miners' story before the film begins.

The director and star of North to Alaska reunited in 1969 for which Western that won John Wayne an Oscar?

True Grit brought Wayne his only competitive Academy Award, for playing the one-eyed marshal Rooster Cogburn. The same director had guided him through the Alaskan comedy nine years earlier.

Filming of North to Alaska was delayed while John Wayne finished directing which costly passion project?

The Alamo ended up costing Wayne millions of his own money, and it pushed the Alaskan comedy back to May 1960. Both films reached cinemas within weeks of each other that autumn.

Despite its title, North to Alaska was shot on locations at Point Mugu and Mammoth in which state?

California stood in for the far north: a missile base on the coast served as the gold-rush waterfront, and Mount Morrison looms in the background of many shots.

North to Alaska was announced in 1959, when Alaska itself was all over the news for what reason?

It became a state in January 1959, the 49th, and within weeks the studio announced a John Wayne picture then called The Alaskans. It took nearly two years to reach the screen.

Kathleen Freeman, Lena in North to Alaska, later played a nun nicknamed the Penguin in which comedy?

The Blues Brothers cast her as Sister Mary Stigmata, a part she repeated in the 1998 sequel. She was also Jerry Lewis's regular foil, in comedies such as The Nutty Professor.

The real Alaskan gold rush behind North to Alaska was unusual because much of the gold lay where?

In the beach sand, gold could be panned by anyone, because the shore could not be staked as a claim. A tent city of fortune hunters soon lined the coast for miles.

Which French star, a former Givenchy model found by agent Charles Feldman, plays Angel in North to Alaska?

Capucine took her stage name from the French word for the nasturtium flower. Feldman, her agent and partner, had set the comedy up at the studio with her in mind.

Which British star of Scaramouche plays George Pratt, John Wayne's gold-mining partner, in North to Alaska?

Stewart Granger was born James Stewart and changed his name to avoid being confused with the American film star. He was known mainly for heroic and romantic leads.

Which cigar-smoking television comedian plays the con man Frankie Canon in North to Alaska?

Ernie Kovacs was an inventive TV comic whose popular Nairobi Trio sketch had three derby-hatted apes miming to music. Frankie Canon let him play a smiling crook.

Which veteran director of The Sons of Katie Elder made North to Alaska, his comic northern with John Wayne?

Henry Hathaway found the script full of gold-rush cliches, so he played up the characters and the comedy. Wayne had wanted him as director from the start.

In North to Alaska, Sam McCord first meets Angel at which dance hall where she works as a hostess?

The Henhouse is where Sam goes to drown his sorrows after losing George's bride, and where he hits on a plan. He offers Angel the trousseau and half a gold mine to come home with him.

Before Sam McCord sails in North to Alaska, what does Frankie Canon offer him as security for a loan?

A diamond ring, supposedly priceless, is Frankie's bait until a stray whiskey bottle smashes the gem to bits. Sam sees he has been conned and slugs him.

To what event does Sam McCord's old boss Lars Nordquist invite him and Angel in North to Alaska?

A loggers' picnic is where Angel starts to fall for Sam, after he flattens a drunk who paws at her. He treats her all day like a respectable lady.

Which drunken worker at the Palace does Frankie Canon use to file a false claim in North to Alaska?

A porter named Peter Boggs is Frankie's pawn, chosen because he once lived on the land Sam and George now mine. Sam finally finds him locked in a room, still drunk.

In which city had Angel and Frankie Canon been lovers before the events of North to Alaska?

New Orleans is where Frankie jilted Angel after an intense affair. When he propositions her again at the Palace, she turns him down flat.

The actress who plays Angel in North to Alaska later played a jewel thief's lover in which Blake Edwards comedy?

The Pink Panther made her Inspector Clouseau's wife, secretly involved with the thief played by David Niven. She came back for two more films in the series in the 1980s.

Mickey Shaughnessy, who plays Peter Boggs in North to Alaska, had been Elvis Presley's mentor in which film?

Jailhouse Rock cast him as Hunk Houghton, the convict who takes Elvis's character under his wing. A burly six-footer, he made a career of tough, colourful types.

Which Hollywood studio made North to Alaska as the first of a three-picture deal with John Wayne?

20th Century Fox lost its production chief, Buddy Adler, who died during the shoot. He had promised Wayne he would personally whip the unfinished script into shape.

North to Alaska started shooting without a finished script, largely because of what Hollywood event?

A writers' strike hit Hollywood in 1960, and the two men who wrote the film had already left it for television. Wayne grumbled that his director was having to make up scenes.

The son of which famous crooner quit the part of Billy Pratt in North to Alaska, calling it too young?

Bing Crosby's son Gary, then 26, walked out in January 1960 rather than play a 17-year-old boy. A teen idol nine years his junior took the part instead.

The actor playing George Pratt in North to Alaska saw his marriage to which actress end during filming?

Jean Simmons had been his co-star in Young Bess and Footsteps in the Fog as well as his wife. Wed in 1950, the couple were granted a divorce in August 1960.

Which college humor magazine named North to Alaska's Billy Pratt actor its Least Promising Actor of 1960?

The Harvard Lampoon handed him its mock Uncrossed Heart award in its annual movie awards. The teen idol kept acting anyway, and turned up in The Longest Day two years later.

John Wayne had already visited North to Alaska's gold-rush setting in which 1942 film with Marlene Dietrich?

The Spoilers came from a best-selling 1906 novel about a real claim-jumping scandal in the same boomtown. The 1960 comedy's director said he had worked on two versions of the story himself.

John Lee Mahin and Martin Rackin, who scripted North to Alaska, had just made which cavalry film with John Wayne?

The Horse Soldiers, a Civil War story directed by John Ford, was written and produced by the pair in 1959. They left the Alaskan comedy before shooting began to work in television.

What happened to the singer of North to Alaska's title song in November 1960, the month the film opened?

He died in a crash on November 5, 1960, when his car met an oncoming truck on a Texas bridge. The song topped the country chart the following January.

Which song does the teen idol playing Billy Pratt sing in North to Alaska, earning a separate screen credit?

If You Knew has lyrics co-written by Bob Marcucci, the talent manager who discovered the singer as a schoolboy. The film's only other song is the title number over the credits.

North to Alaska was loosely adapted from which 1939 play by the Hungarian dramatist Ladislas Fodor?

Birthday Gift was never produced on stage, and it grew from an idea by John Kafka. Fodor also wrote for the screen, including the 1958 fantasy Tom Thumb.

Which veteran screenwriter of Scarface and Notorious was brought in as script doctor on North to Alaska?

Ben Hecht had often worked with the film's director, and he arrived to patch a screenplay that was still unfinished when shooting began. He took no screen credit.

North to Alaska's director thought its title promised an adventure and wanted which jokier name instead?

The Blonde Rush, he felt, would tell audiences to expect a comedy. The studio refused, because it had already commissioned a title song to use in its marketing.

The 1898 discovery behind North to Alaska's gold rush was made by a trio known as the Three Lucky what?

Swedes was a loose label: two were Swedish-born Americans, but the third, Jafet Lindeberg, was Norwegian. Their find on Anvil Creek set off the stampede.