Screenings

My father Heywood (Beau) Solberg Mansergh died Thursday afternoon under hospice care at my house in Sebastopol. He was over 104-years-old. Here is a grouping of films celebrating his long life.
The Emigrants (1971) Heywood’s grandfather Anton Solberg emigrated from Norway to escape religious repression and established the First Norwegian Church of Duluth (Minnesota) in his living room. Although the characters played by Max Von Sydow and Liv Ullman in Jan Troell’s realistic film are Swedish, their adventures parallel many of those experienced by the Solbergs.
Our Town (1938) Beau’s family moved to the small lumber and mining town of Virginia, Minnesota when he was three. Like the young boy in the movie, he sold newspapers with his pet dog by his side. Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize winning play was faithfully transformed into this excellent movie about small town Americana.
The Circus (1928) After the influenza epidemic devastated Virginia, Minnesota, the Manserghs moved to Southern California where Beau’s father opened a realty office on Wilshire Boulevard in Hollywood. Lured by a free hot dog lunch and $3 each for a morning’s work at Chaplin Studios, the whole family was filmed sitting on bleachers, looking up, and watching a rubber ball on the end of a fishing pole while the cameraman filmed their reactions to an “invisible” tightrope walker.
Words and Music (1929) Beau’s sophomore year was at the brand new Glendale High School, where one fellow student named Marion Morrison preferred to be called “Duke.” Starting as a movie “extra,” Duke Morrison’s first on screen credit was in this musical review. FYI, for his other movies, Duke changed his name to John Wayne.
Good News (1947) Beau’s father became sales manager for Stanley Tool and Die Company, so the whole family relocated to Connecticut. Beau majored in pre-med at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, where he met and married “the sweetest little girl in the world,” Miss Virginia Pettingill. Mirroring my parents’ experience, this movie musical takes place at a small New England college in the “flapper” era. FYI my mother was a talented singer attending Tufts on a music scholarship and performed in a dozen on-campus musicals.
Cedar Rapids (2011) Beau’s first job as a married man was selling life insurance door-to-door in Oakland, CA. Like the Ed Helms character in this film, my dad was a truly nice guy.
Fat Man and Little Boy (1989) Dad was a Civil Defense block warden in Millbrae, California throughout WW2, and ostensibly worked for a San Francisco company building radio tubes for the army. But his top secret job was acquiring specialized equipment and materials that were so essential to the Manhattan Project, that he would “bump” all the passengers off airplanes leaving Mills Field (now known as SFO), strap his “RUSH” cargo into the empty seats, and hand the pilot coordinates to New Mexico. This movie focuses on the human tensions at ground zero during the creation of the first atomic bomb.
Vertigo (1959) Mid–century San Francisco had a distinctive style. My brother, sister and I “dressed up,” my father wore his hat and topcoat and my mother her gloves and fur stole when we went to “the City”—even if we were going to the Academy of Sciences or seeing a Cinerama movie like Around the World in 80 Days or Ben Hur at one of SF’s fabulous movie palaces. Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film co-stars that San Francisco of the late ‘50s.
The above films only cover the first half of my dad’s life (after all, 104 years is a long time). Since I am running out of space, I will end with an iconic location shot.
The Right Stuff (1983) The Mansergh family celebrated many milestones (birthdays, graduations, Valentine’s Days, etc.) in the famous Mermaid Room restaurant in Millbrae’s El Rancho Hotel (see photo). This included Dad’s 100th birthday party with over 70 guests. What makes the location so unique is the huge window behind the bar with an underwater view of the motel swimming pool. The Right Stuff was filmed in and around San Francisco, and the Mermaid Room stars in one memorable scene.
I close with a Viking prayer:
“May there be feasting in Valhalla for a full week.”
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