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The first big Hollywood production about Alaska filmed after statehood almost featured a lively parade on Second Avenue in Fairbanks.

Unfortunately, that scene and most of the others filmed in Fairbanks ended up on the cutting-room floor when Warner Brothers released the movie “Ice Palace” in 1960.

This no doubt was a disappointment to the estimated 1,000 Fairbanksans who turned out for the movie parade on the morning of Aug. 20, 1959. The pretend parade was set in the fictional town of Baranof, Alaska. Six volunteers walked down the middle of Second Avenue carrying a banner that proclaimed, “Baranof Chamber of Commerce Welcomes the new 49th State.”

The parade participants included actor Robert Ryan, who played the strong pro-statehood campaigner Thor Storm, and actress Diane McBain, one of the leading ladies. The Fairbanks extras did not receive any pay, as the Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce had agreed to supply the crowd, while the studio made a donation to the business group.

This led one unhappy News-Miner reader to complain that since not everyone who showed up at the parade had explicitly agreed to those terms, the chamber was out of line.

Ryan rode in a red and white Fairlane convertible, while Boy Scouts carried 49-star flags and the Shriners’ Fife and Drum Corps and a military band played. The acting had been set to start at 9 a.m., but the News-Miner reported that the festivities were delayed 45 minutes until more people showed up.

The Nordale Hotel was temporarily renamed the “North Star Hotel” for a scene in which Eva McGown, the Hostess of Fairbanks, stood outside the door as McBain entered.

Edna Ferber, author of the pro-statehood 1958 novel of the same name, based her character Bridie Ballantyne on McGown. And “Czar” Kennedy, the character played by Richard Burton in the movie, was based to some degree on Austin E. “Cap” Lathrop, the man who owned much of Fairbanks before his death in 1950.

Even without the parade and the other major scenes filmed in Fairbanks, the movie ran for more than two hours. The film does include fleeting shots of the Northward Building, dubbed the “Ice Palace,” and the Wien Hangar at the airport, now the home of Everts Air, and perhaps some other local images.

The film is part of Alaska history. In some ways, the portrayal is not that far removed from some of the stuff that appeared during the recent campaign pleasantries. In any event, if you want to see how Hollywood portrayed Alaska in 1960, drop by the Noel Wien Library this evening at 7.

The Tanana-Yukon Historical Society is presenting “Ice Palace” in the auditorium. Elizabeth Cook says it may appeal to those who want to enjoy a “wonderfully corny take on Alaska of a half-century ago — full of improbable coincidence, grandiose behavior and make-believe Alaska.”

The program is free and open to the public.

The movie was released about a year and a half after Alaska became a state. Fairbanksans had hoped for a premiere in the Golden Heart City, but the studio didn’t agree.

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ONE MORE: Add one more name to the Men of the North — Andrew Slagle. I mentioned the group of Lathrop High School students raising money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation by growing mustaches this month.

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ON THE MEND: Former Fairbanksan Van Bowman, who presided at untold auctions, is recuperating from an aneurysm in Illinois. If you want to send him a card or best wishes, write to Van and Wanda Bowman, Box 271-A RR No. 3, Golconda, Ill., 62938.

If you have a column suggestion of a comment, contact me at cole@newsminer.com or 459-7530.