Wallace Beery
Wallace Beery - Starred in “The Champ”, released on Nov 9, 1931. At the 5th Academy Awards on Nov 18, 1932, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor.
His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stipulated in 1932 that he
would be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio,
making him the highest paid actor in the world.
The Travel Air 6000 was a high-wing braced monoplane with a fuselage constructed
of steel tube and covered in fabric. In keeping with its intended
luxury market, the fully-enclosed cabin was insulated and
soundproofed, and included wind-down windows. The basic model was
priced at $12,000, but numerous options were offered that could nearly
double that price; actor Wallace Beery’s aircraft cost him $20,000 and
was the most expensive Model 6000 built.
Wallace Beery -
Davis-Monthan Aviation Field Register
Travel Air
A-6000-A NC9015- Davis-Monthan Aviation Field Register
In 1928 he bought Travel Air NC9015, which he brought to Tucson. This second purchase was surrounded by press coverage: The New York Times of December 9, 1928 reported that his purchase was, “...a monoplane type, built to carry five passengers, two pilots and ‘breakfast-room equipment’”. The airplane was further described by the Newark Star-Eagle of 12/24/28 as, “A two-ton limousine of the air, luxuriously appointed....It has a small wash room and many other conveniences found in a railroad coach.”
Eskimo (1933)
imdb.com - Eskimo (1933)
Ray Mala was born Ray Wise in the small village of Candle, Alaska. Ray Mala was one of the first Native American movie stars. Mala was recently named a “Top Ten Alaskan” by TIME Magazine. He starred in MGM’s Academy Award-winning Eskimo, directed by Woody Van Dyke.
Wikipedia - Ray Mala (1906–1952)
imdb.com - Ray Mala
imdb.com - Edgar Dearing (1893–1974)
Filming Location: near Teller, Alaska
Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
Wikipedia - Only Angels Have Wings
The Pilgrim Model 100-B airliner was prominently featured against a backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, standing in for the Andes Mountains.
tcm.com - Only Angels Have Wings
avclub.com - Could Only Angels Have Wings be the greatest Hollywood movie of all time?
Cinephiles frequently cite 1939 as Hollywood’s greatest year, rattling off an impressive list of widely beloved classics: Gone With The Wind, The Wizard Of Oz, Wuthering Heights, Stagecoach, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, and so forth.
AMC filmsite.org - Only Angels Have Wings
According to Wikipedia - Travel Air 6000, A Travel Air 6000 was a "star" in the Howard Hawks 1939 film Only Angels Have Wings which was a fictional depiction of the early mail service in South America whose early days mirrored the aircraft and issues of US civilian mail service.
According to an AOPA article by Barry Schiff, Wien Alaska Airways received its second Metalplane H-45 (NC7791) in 1939 after the airplane had been used in the filming of Howard Hawks’ Only Angels Have Wings, starring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, and Rita Hayworth
PBS.org - Antiques Roadshow in August 2007 - Only Angels Have Wings