January 24, 1940 –
John Ford’s film version of John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, starring Henry Fonda, premiered in New York City on this date.
Prior to filming, producer Darryl F. Zanuck sent undercover investigators out to the migrant camps to see if John Steinbeck had been exaggerating about the squalor and unfair treatment meted out there. He was horrified to discover that, if anything, Steinbeck had actually downplayed what went on in the camps.
The Haus of Dcaligari 