Magic Town
| Magic Town | |
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1947 theatrical poster
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| Directed by | William A. Wellman |
| Produced by | Robert Riskin William A. Wellman |
| Written by |
Robert Riskin Joseph Krumgold (story) |
| Starring |
James Stewart Jane Wyman Kent Smith |
| Music by | Roy Webb |
| Cinematography | Joseph F. Biroc |
| Edited by | Sherman Todd Richard G. Wray |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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103 mins |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2 million (US rentals) |
Magic Town is a 1947 comedy film directed by William A. Wellman and starring James Stewart and Jane Wyman. The picture is one of the first films about the then-new science of public opinion polling. The film was inspired by the Middletown studies. It is also known as The Magic City.
Lawrence "Rip" Smith (James Stewart) is a former basketball player and ex-military who now runs a company that perform polls and consumer surveys. Lately he has started obsessing about being able to find a perfect mathematical "miracle" formula to perform the perfect survey, and compete for real with his rival companies. Because he lacks funds, he is far behind his number one rival George Stringer.
One day Rip discovers that a survey made by a friend and ex Army colleague of his, Hoopendecker (Kent Smith), in the small town of Grandview, exactly matches one that Stringer has made on a national level. Rip concludes that the small town demographic is a perfect match for the country as a whole, and believes he has finally found his miracle formula.
Eager to test his theory, Rip sells a survey on progressive education to a client, with a promise the result will stand for the whole country. Furthermore he promises to deliver the result the same day as Stringer's company, even though the rival has been working on the project for quite some time.
Rip and his team of professionals then travel to Grandview to perform the survey. They are pretending to be insurance salesmen. But trouble starts already when Rip overhears a conversation between a woman named Mary Peterman (Jane Wyman) trying to convince the mayor (Harry Holman) to expand the town and build a number of new buildings: a civic center. Rip wants this town to stay exactly as it is, so he can make his perfect surveys, mirroring the demographic of the country. Rip holds an electrifying speech to preserve the town, and the conservative members of the town council listens to him rather than Mary, whose proposition is laid to the side.
Mary writes a bold and angry editorial against Rip in the local newspaper, which is run by her family. Rip starts a charm offensive towards Mary to soften her up, but she holds her ground. The two combatants can't help being attracted to each other though. They spend a lot of time together while Rip secretly gathers information for his survey. One of Rip's colleagues warns him that he is becoming too involved in the subject he is supposed to be studying, but Rip is blinded by his own attraction to Mary. Rip starts coaching the school basketball team, and attends a school dance where he meets Mary's family. When Rip later slips away to talk to his client over the phone, Mary follows him, eavesdrops on the conversation, and finds out the truth about Rip being in town.
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