Gossip Friday: First Shot in the Can

From January 1935:

Twentieth Century’s “Call of the Wild” went into production at the United Artists studios yesterday with Director William Wellman making something of a record by putting away his first shot at 9:45am. More than 300 but and extra players shared the scene with Clark Gable, Loretta Young, Jack Oakie and Katharine de Mille. The call was 9:00am on the set.

After two more days in the set, which reproduces Tex Rickard’s Skagway saloon during the Alaskan gold rush, the unit goes north January 3 in a Southern Pacific special of eleven cars, producer Darryl F. Zanuck stated.

Ed Ebele, production manager, has has a staff of fifty men on the location at Mount Baker, Washington, for the past 90 days working on set construction, a shooting stage and additional housing accommodations at the high location. Everything is in readiness for the beginning of shooting January 4. The schedule there is four weeks’ shooting.

Sixteen carloads of equipment and paraphernalia, the final consignment to the location, was shopped from Los Angeles today to Belligham from which point it will be trucked 65 miles to the location. Included in the shipment are 100 complete outfits of wearing apparel to clothe every member of the unit against the sub-zero weather.