Tobacco Road (film) Tobacco Road (film) Tobacco Road is a 1941 film directed by John Ford and starring Charley Grapewin, Marjorie Rambeau, Gene Tierney, William Tracy Dana Andrews and Ward Bond. It was based on the novel of the same name by Erskine Caldwell, but the plot was rewritten for the film. Studios attempting to acquire the screen rights to the novel date back to 1933. RKO Pictures and Warner Bros. considered buying the rights, the first intending to assign Charles Laughton in the lead role, but were discouraged from doing so. In March 1940, Columbia Pictures showed interest, but was informed that
Tobacco Road (play) immoral. The May 4, 1941 episode of the "Texaco Star Theater" radio show started with comedian Fred Allen doing a sketch about the closing of "Tobacco Road" on Broadway. He asked various characters how they felt about the closing. In the song "Come Up To My Place" from the musical "On the Town", which takes place in 1944, Chip asks the cab driver Hildy to take him to several defunct New York attractions, including Tobacco Road. Tobacco Road (play) Tobacco Road is a play by Jack Kirkland first performed in 1933, based on the 1932 novel of the same name