I REMEMBER MAMA (1948)
The Movie
I Remember Mama, directed by two-time academy award winner George Stevens, was filmed between May and October, 1947 and released on March 17, 1948. Nostalgia is the keyword as it describes an immigrant Norwegian family living in pre-World War I San Francisco. It met with great success on its release to post-World War II audiences, many of them immigrants themselves. Originally a novel, Mama's Bank Account by Kathryn Forbes, it was subsequently adapted as a successful Broadway Play, I Remember Mama. Director Stevens' movie version completed the trilogy, in the process creating a wonderfully crafted family classic.
The Story
The setting is 1910 San Francisco. Marta Hanson (Irene Dunne) is Mama, the firm but loving matriarch of a family of six. Every week they sit down together in their modest home and she carefully divides their meager income between the household expenses. "Is good", she would then say ... "We do not have to go to the bank". A series of vignettes introduces the family members: Papa (Philip Dorn), daughter Katrin (Barbara Bel Geddes), her brother and two sisters, three aunts, and the fiercely bombastic Uncle Chris (Oscar Homolka) who frightens the children but whose bluff exterior masks a heart of gold.
The Locations
- First and Foremost View from the Fairmont Hotel, Nob Hill
- Uncle Chris Comes To Town Ferry Building, Financial District
- Mama's House 500 block of Liberty Street, Eureka Valley, The Castro
- Aunt Trina Gets Engaged Hyde Street at Chestnut, Russian Hill --- 521 - 529 Liberty Street, Eureka Valley, Castro
- Violets For Dagmar Green Street between Montgomery and Kearny, Telegraph Hill --- 525 - 537 Liberty Street, Eureka Valley, Castro --- Kearny Street near Union, Telegraph Hill --- 1300 Kearny Street at Green, Telegraph Hill --- Green Street between Montgomery and Kearny, Telegraph Hill --- Kearny Street near Vallejo, Telegraph Hill
- Mr. Hyde Skips Town Hyde Street at Lombard, Russian Hill --- 2500 and 2502 Leavenworth Street, Russian Hill --- Leavenworth Street at Francisco, Russian Hill
- Katrin's Graduation Gift 1200 block of Kearny Street, Telegraph Hill --- 500 block of Liberty Street, Eureka Valley, Castro
- Street Posters (Pantage) 941 Market Street, Mid market --- (Coliseum) Baker Street between Fell and Oak, Upper Haight --- ( Orpheum) 147 O'Farrell, Union Square --- (Idora Park) Shattuck Ave and 58th St, Oakland --- (New California Jockey Club) Hollis and 53rd, Emeryville
- "Uncle Chris Is Dying!" Brick Railroad Station, RKO Encino Ranch, San Fernando Valley --- Agoura Ranch, Agoura Hills
- Quid Pro Quo At The Fairmont RKO Studio set based on the Fairmont Hotel lobby, Nob Hill
- Katrin Sells A Story A San Francisco Street set at RKO Studios
Interactive Map
Click here for a photo map of the locations in this movie.