The Romantic Comedy Blogathon: Easy Living (1937)

The following essay is Thrilling Days of Yesteryear’s contribution to The Romantic Comedy Blogathon, currently underway from May 1-4 and sponsored by Vincent at Carole & Co. and Lara at Backlots.  For a complete list of the participating blogs and topics discussed (naturally, most of them has to do with “Topic A”), click here, here, here and here.

Because the stock market wizard known as “The Bull of Broad Street” didn’t get where he is today by being a sweet-tempered guy, financier J.B. Ball (Edward Arnold) starts a typical morning barking at his household help (who have difficulty keeping a straight face when the old geezer takes a comic tumble down a staircase), notably his loyal retainer Graves (Robert Grieg).  Ball also has a few choice words for his capricious son John, Jr. (Ray Milland), whom he fears will never amount to anything—the younger Ball, however, resents his father’s opinion, and announces he’s going out on his own to seek his fortune without J.B.’s assistance.

J.B.’s real stack-blowing is reserved for his wife Jenny (Mary Nash), who’s procured a $58,000 sable coat (Ball has not seen the mink—only the bill for same)—and in his anger he grabs the expensive purchase and flings it off the top of the roof of their townhouse…where it wafts its way down and lands on bus passenger Mary Smith (Jean Arthur), breaking the feather on her hat.  Poor but honest, Mary hops off the bus and tries to locate the owner of the coat; she runs into J.B. (who’s on his way to work), who tells her to keep it as a gift.  (“Merry Christmas!”)  Mary’s a little taken aback at the generosity of the man she nicknames “Santa Claus,” who also offers her a lift (she’s a clerk at a magazine called The Boys’ Constant Companion) after she’s spent her last bus fare…and throws in a new hat in the bargain.

Mary shows up late for work decked out in her new hat and fur…and is promptly given the sack when her employer suspects she obtained the items through less-than-honorable means.  Meanwhile, Van Buren (Franklin Pangborn) of the millinery shop spreads the gossip about Bull’s hat purchase to a hotelier, Louis Louis (Luis Alberni), whose business is in hock to Ball (Louis’ on his third mortgage)…so Louis invites Mary to stay in the hotel’s “Imperial Soots” for the same rent she’s currently paying on her small apartment ($7 a week…plus a breakfast egg)—reasoning that J.B. won’t dispossess him if his “mistress” is living there.  As such, Mary takes the time to show off her new digs to a man whom she inadvertently got fired from his job at an automat—none other than John, Jr.  In fact, both Ball père et fils wind up at the Hotel Louis—J.B. rents a room there after wife Jenny packs her bags for Florida.

With the help of a newspaper columnist (William Demarest), the word gets out about the “Bull” and “his mistress”…and as a result of the tongue-wagging, the Hotel Louis starts doing turn-away business.  The innocent Mary even finds herself on the receiving end of lavish gifts (clothes, jewelry, etc.) thanks to her newly acquired “reputation.”  But all that notoriety jeopardizes the Ball empire when insider stock information made in jest threatens to bring about a crash not unlike that in 1929; it’s up to plucky Mary to come to the rescue of the family…which wins her the love of John, Jr. in the process.

One of the funniest feature films from the screwball comedy genre, Easy Living’s plot—in which an ordinary working gal finds her fortunes turned around literally overnight through a series of zany misunderstandings and mistaken identity—bears the thumbprint of the incomparable Preston Sturges, who conceived the film shortly after signing a new writing contract with Paramount Pictures in 1936.  Living was based on a story by Vera Caspary (Laura, A Letter to Three Wives), and the only aspect of what Sturges called a “little story of deceit and illusion” that appealed to him was the fur coat…so he kept that and revamped the material into a comedy instead.

Paramount producer Maurice Revnes told the future director of The Lady Eve and The Palm Beach Story that his comedic treatment wouldn’t fly…prompting the notoriously independent Sturges to go over Revnes’ head and take Living to director Mitchell Leisen, who gave it the greenlight.  (Sturges later observed: “I didn't realize it then, but going to a director over the head of my producer was not a sagacious move; I would come to realize it much further down the road.”)  Leisen, who rose up through the ranks to become a respected director after a career as an MGM costume designer and art director, leapt at the opportunity to tackle the slapstick romp, believing it would be a change from the “polite drawing room comedies” on which he had made his reputation.  Leisen and Sturges would collaborate again three years later on the seasonal comedy-drama, Remember the Night.

Sturges had also previously written a film showcasing the stars of Easy Living, Jean Arthur and Edward Arnold; a 1935 feature that also cast Arnold as a corpulent financier (Jim Brady)—Diamond Jim.  Character roles like Brady and J.B. Ball were the actor’s stock-in-trade: the blustery, fat cat capitalist who could either be comical (Anthony P. Kirby in You Can’t Take it With You) or villainous (“Boss” Jim Taylor in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington).  It’s only mere coincidence that Jean Arthur also appears in both of those Frank Capra films, I’m sure.  I make no secret of the fact that Arthur is one of my favorite actresses of the classic movie era, and Easy Living boasts one of the most beloved performances from the female thespian with the chirpy tones.  Arthur and Arnold receive top billing in the opening credits (even though Milland plays the love interest)…and share a number of lovely scenes together—my favorite is the one where he attempts to explain to her how compound interest works, getting more and more frustrated by the minute at her inability to grasp the concept.  (Arthur’s response to him is classic: “You know—you don’t have to get mad just because you’re so stupid.”)

Milland was on the cusp of leading man stardom at Paramount when he made Easy Living; I like more Milland films than I’m probably willing to admit but he’s really first-rate in this breakneck romp.  Ray and Jean make a magnificent couple, with an unforgettable scene in which the two of them lay on a divan in opposite directions with only their heads meeting in the middle…and the only physical contact between the couple a kiss.  (Well, there was a Production Code, you know—but I find the way it was staged quite sexy.)  The “meet cute” between the two is also memorable; Jean’s character uses her last nickels to dine at a local automat where Milland is working—he arranges it so she can grab some gratis grub, which he’ll take responsibility for.  The free feast soon attracts everyone in the neighborhood, and a slapstick free-for-all erupts while Jean continues to dine serenely in the midst of all the chaos.  (Ray does some hilarious physical comedy in this picture…including some unintentional pratfalls in the bathtub in Arthur’s swanky apartment.)

You’ll spot several members of Preston Sturges’ “stock company” among the supporting players in Easy Living; there’s William Demarest, of course (Bill had also been in Diamond Jim), and Franklin Pangborn (previously in Imitation of Life, which Preston had a hand in writing, and the solo Sturges-credited Hotel Haywire) in his element as the fussy hat store owner (with a classic Sturgian line: “Well—wherever there’s smoke, there must be…somebody smoking”).  Luis Alberni, Robert Greig and Arthur Hoyt would also appear regularly in the director’s later feature films.  Andrew Tombes, Esther Dale and many other first-rate character thesps dot the landscape of Living—my favorites are Three Stooges nemesis Vernon Dent, who has more lines in a feature film that I can remember of late…and the girl on the receiving end of another thrown fur coat by Arnold’s Ball as Living marches to its conclusion (none other than Marsha Hunt!).

Though nominated only once for a Best Actress Oscar (for 1943’s The More the Merrier), Jean Arthur is positively luminous as a modern-day Cinderella…and Ray Milland (who would win an Oscar for his performance in 1945’s The Lost Weekend) excels as her would-be Prince Charming.  It’s screwball comedy at its very finest—sadly, it doesn’t make the rounds at The Greatest Cable Channel Known to Mankind™ too often, but has been released to DVD.  Ivan-Bob says check it out.

DVR-TiVo-Or whatever recording device strikes your fancy-alert!

The Charley Chase page on Facebook has a heads-up on a couple of two-reel comedies that will be shown on TCM this week (I regret not having looked at it earlier—the channel showed 1932’s In Walked Charley on April 21, one I’ve not seen):

The Count Takes the Count (1936) will run tomorrow (May 4) right after Queen Christina (1933) at 9:40am EDT…and on May 7, Fate’s Fathead (1934) will unspool after One Sunday Afternoon (1933) at 8:56am.  The channel is also going to show a Hal Roach “All-Star” (meaning no stars) outing, Mixed Nuts (1934) at 7:39am May 6 (right after The Scarlet Letter).  The voice of the male singer at the end of that musical comedy short is believed to be none other than Mr. Chase hizzownself.  I have Mixed on one of the Image Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy collections (I believe it’s Volume 7) but I don’t own nor I have seen the two Chase shorts, so it will be a treat for me.

Government Agents vs. Phantom Legion – Chapter 2: The Stolen Corpse

Here’s what I love about the Republic serials…they don’t require me to transcribe the lengthy (and often patently false) recaps dictated by the Universal chapter plays.  The above Hal infographic is all we need to know about what went down last week.

The Hal is, of course, Hal Duncan (Walter Reed)—a mild mannered trucking company owner who’s been elevated to the post of Special Government Agent simply because he knows a few people.  (Meritocracy…feh!)  The screen cap does leave out the part that he was chasing Regan (Dick Curtis) and Cady (Fred Coby) via railroad handcars and that his mode of transportation just happened to be carrying some heavy-duty explodiating hand grenades that had been set on fire thanks to a leaky gasoline can and Regan’s Zippo.  But worry ye not—Hal jumped off the sidecar just in the nick of time to avoid being explodiated.

A little Neosporin and he’ll be right as rain.  Hal scampers back up a ladder and emerges from the trap door to join his sidekick, Sam Bradley (John Packard), who’s examining the body of some poor Coveralls Henchman that was shot and killed in the last chapter.

HAL: You okay?

SAM: Sure…what happened to you?

HAL: Plenty…I’ll tell you later…there’s a tunnel under here that looks like it might lead to the waterfront…I’m going to report to the police and then we’ll check on that tunnel…look around and see what else you can find…

“’Please’ would be nice.”  There’s a fade to black, and then the next scene establishes that we’re scheduled to attend a meeting of the Interstate Truck Owners Association in the historic Interstate Block building.  Present and accounted for are these four men…

…Armstrong (Pierce Lyden), Crandall (Arthur Space), Thompson (Mauritz Hugo) and Willard (George Meeker).  Taking down the notes for this meeting is the underappreciated girl Friday known as Kay Roberts (Mary Ellen Kay), whose dreams of finding a nice man while vacationing in Cancun have been dashed because she’s stuck playing stenographer to these jamokes.

HAL: …so I followed the tunnel to a small warehouse on the waterfront…but the two men had disappeared…

“Then I got a working-over from Johnny Friendly and some of his goons…”

ARMSTONG: Then the thieves must have shipping their loot out by water…probably to some enemy country…

THOMPSON: And it was all critical defense material…

Do hand grenades really constitute ‘critical defense material’?  I would think they would be cheap and plentiful…particularly if you shopped in Georgia, for example.

THOMPSON: …we must do something to break this up…did you find any clues as to the identity of the criminals?

HAL: No, the owner of the warehouse rented it out to the man that was killed…I couldn’t connect him with anyone else…however, I did find these papers…duplicates of our shipping schedules…

WILLARD: Well…that certainly proves that some of our employees are selling us out…

HAL: Yes, and I suggest in the future you keep your schedules as secret as possible…

“No one—not even the drivers—is to know the schedule…”

HAL: …and if you’ll notify me when you have an important shipment, I’ll try to protect it for you…

And thus endeth the meeting.  While the four suspects head out to go across the street to the local watering hole for a libation, Hal and Kay engage in some expository office banter.

KAY: Hal…how are you going to protect those shipments?

“With my brute strength, Kay…you see. I have a secret—I am not of your world…”

HAL: I’m going to set up checkpoints along the highways and schedules for every driver…if a truck fails to pass a checkpoint on time, it’ll be reported and we can go looking for it right away…

“Violators will be persecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

KAY: Well, that sounds practical…do you want to handle the reports through this office?

HAL: Yes…I’ll put in a two-way radio here…

Look, dude…just because you resemble Ralph Byrd doesn’t make you freaking Dick Tracy…

HAL: The checkpoints will report to you, and you can pass the information along to me…Sam and I will be cruising around in a patrol car so we can in action in a hurry…oh, better still—we’ll use an old jalopy so that they can’t spot us so easily…

KAY: That’s a better idea…

“And it’ll be so much easier to match the stock footage.”  I’m sure Kay is excited to take on all that extra work for which she will receive precious little recompense…but in the meantime, leave us journey to the Metz Building…

…where in an undisclosed office (that’s behind in its rent, by the way), the mysterious figure we call “The Voice” is issuing instructions to his lackeys, Regan and Cady.

VOICE: …Duncan is attempting to keep the shipment schedule secret…but of course I will always be able to obtain the necessary information…

“I’m that damn good.”

REGAN: What’s the next job?

VOICE: Some radar equipment…which I need to fill a foreign order…it will be coming in on Highway 17…and should be crossing the mountains between 10 and 12 tonight…

REGAN: Do you think they’ll be any extra guards?

VOICE: As far as I know, Duncan has made no arrangements for any…

Because Hal is undoubtedly thinking: “Heckfire, I can get the job done with just two guys.”  There’s a dissolve to a highway, where we find Hal and Sam tooling around in a woody emblazoned with “State Engineering Dept.” on the side.  (So much for not being spotted so easily.)

KAY (on radio): Calling Association Patrol…calling Association Patrol…

“Broderick Crawford starring in…Association Patrol!  Whenever the laws of any state are broken, a duly-authorized organization swings into action…it may be called the State Police…State Troopers…Militia…the Rangers…or the Association Patrol…these are the stories of the men whose training, skill and courage have enforced and preserved our state laws…”

HAL: Come in, Kay…

KAY: Armstrong’s number five is thirty minutes overdue at Stewart’s Corner checkpoint…

HAL: Right, Kay…we’ll look for it!

“To the Engineeringmobile, Sam!”

HAL: Number five was coming in on 17…if it was stolen, they’ll probably bring it through over Morgan Hill Road, Sam…head for there!

SAM: We’re on our way…that is, if this chariot you insist on using holds together…

And so our heroes make my job easier by filling up the chapter’s running time with stock footage of their wagon running along various highways—with Hal commenting “Something happened to that truck, all right, or we would have met it by now.”  Sam takes a turnoff on the right side of the road and Hal fortuitously spots the truck up ahead.

SAM: It ain’t gonna be easy to flag down that string of freight cars on this road…

HAL: Pull alongside that ladder…I’ll climb aboard!

“Or rather my stuntman will!”

Behind the wheel of the truck, Cady notices that Hal is hanging on the back of the rig, and mentions it to his pal Regan…who decides to send his extra outside for a look-see.

Hal and Regan have a display of fisticuffs on top of the rig, while Cady has fun with Sam, trying to run him off the road.

Cady eventually succeeds in his game of “chicken,” but in the process of running Sam into a ditch, he knocks both Hal and Regan off the top of the truck.  They land safely in the weeds—although there might be a skinned knee or two involved.  Sam leaps out of the wagon and runs over to check on his boss.

SAM: Well…we collected one of them, anyway…

HAL: Is the car wrecked?

SAM: No…we can push it back onto the road…what are we going to do with him?

HAL: Well, we’ll park him in the Mercer jail tonight…then I’ll take him in to the Association meeting tomorrow morning and see if any of them recognize him… (To Regan) Come on, on your feet…get going…

Knowing, of course, that if any of the ITOA did recognize him they would essentially be admitting they’re the head bad guy.  (Hal’s a decent sort…but dumber than a bag of hammers.)  There’s a fade, and we’re in another meeting again (how do those guys ever get anything done?).  But something is amiss…

KAY: I’m sorry to keep you waiting…but Mr. Duncan said he’d be here with the prisoner by ten o’clock…

See…I told there was a miss.  (Hey…if you think you can do better, come right up on stage.)  Thompson asks Kay where Hal kept the prisoner last night and she replies that Regan did his boardin’ with the warden at the Mercer jail.  There is then a dissolve to a car parked outside the rear entrance of a building marked “Mercer Hospital.”  Hal contacts Kay via that nifty two-way radio that he just had to have.

HAL: Our prisoner’s dead…he had some sort of pill hidden on him and he swallowed it as we were taking him out of jail…we rushed him to the hospital…but he passed out before they could do anything for him…

KAY: Are you coming back here, Hal?  The meeting’s waiting…

“What are you, my mother?”

HAL: Well, tell them I can’t possibly make it…I’m just leaving the hospital here in Mercer to go to the county seat and get the coroner…it’ll be the middle of the afternoon before I can get away…

KAY: All right, Hal…

Hey—this means the bar is open early for a change!  “Well, there’s nothing more we can do here,” observes Armstrong as another riveting ITOA meeting adjourns.  Meanwhile…back at the Metz Building…a nervous Cady paces in front of the mirror that oh-so-cleverly conceals…The Voice!

VOICE: I’ve located Regan…

CADY: Where is he?

VOICE: He’s in the hospital in Mercer…he took one of the M6 pills…they think he’s dead…

CADY: Well, we can get him out of there, all right…

VOICE: Yes, but you’ll have to move fast…phone Miller and tell him to meet you down at…

The Voice trails off because there’s a dissolve to a hospital assistant (Jay Merrick) helping two men roll a gurney towards their vehicle.  Those two men, disguised as paramedics, are Cady and Miller (Joe Phillips)!  They pull back the sheet to make sure they have Regan, and then load him into the back of the van.  (I imagine the Mercer Hospital board of directors will be calling a meeting soon to discuss the lax security procedures.)

No sooner have Cady and Miller made off with “the stolen corpse” when Hal pulls up in his jalopy with the coroner (George Lloyd) in tow.

ATTENDANT: Why, I didn’t expect you, sir…the men from the morgue said that you told them to bring the body to you…and they just left with it!

CORONER: What?!! I did no such thing!

HAL: I’d better stop that morgue wagon!  Which way did it go?

ATTENDANT (pointing): East—along the highway!

If you had told me many years back that I’d eventually watch a movie with the line of dialogue “I’d better stop that morgue wagon!”—I probably wouldn’t have believed you.  Hal gets in his car and he’s off in pursuit of the bad guys.  Down the road a ways, Cady is soaking some cotton with a substance (probably ammonia) that revives his pal Regan.

REGAN: Where are we?

CADY: On a mountain road outside of Mercer…we got away okay…

Au contraire, mon frere!  The doggedly determined Hal Duncan—Special Government Agent—is hot on your tail, and is catching up to you as you speak!

I think the above screen cap is a riot.  You can almost hear Regan say: “Cady my man…that M6 pill gave me the best sleep I’ve had in years…but this morning I feel like I spent all night at a fraternity kegger.”

Naturally, the two men notice that they are being followed by Hal…and they open the back doors of the vehicle to fire shots at him, which he returns in kind.  There’s a little more stunt driving…both men run out of ammo…so Regan and Cady toss the stretcher out the back doors and it rolls into Hal’s path…

…causing him to swerve and wind up in a cliffhanger right out of the 1947 serial The Black Widow (Chapter 2—also titled “The Stolen Corpse”)!