The Old Fashioned Way (1934)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

William Beaudine

Writers:

Jack Cunningham (writer)
W.C. Fields (story)

Release Date:

13 July 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

The Great McGonigle and his troupe of third-rate vaudevillians manage to stay one step ahead of the bill collectors and the sheriff.

Plot Keywords:

Sheriff | Vaudevillian | Boarding House | Railway Porter | Pullman Berth

Cast

W.C. Fields	...	The Great McGonigle / Squire Cribbs in 'The Drunkard'
Joe Morrison	...	Wally Livingston / William Dowton in 'The Drunkard'
Baby LeRoy	...	Albert Pepperday
Judith Allen	...	Betty McGonigle / Agnes Dowton the 'The Drunkard'
Jan Duggan	...	Cleopatra Pepperday
Tammany Young	...	Marmaduke Gump
Nora Cecil	...	Mrs. Wendelschaffer
Jack Mulhall	...	Dick Bronson
Samuel Ethridge	...	Bartley Neuville / Edward Middleton (The Drunkard) in 'The Drunkard'
Ruth Marion	...	Agatha Sprague / Mary Wilson (Play)
Richard Carle	...	Barnesville Sheriff
Larry Grenier	...	Drover Stevens (Play)
William Blatchford	...	Landlord (Play)
Jeffrey Williams	...	Arden Renclelaw (Play)
Donald Brown	...	The Minister in 'The Drunkard'

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate number not listed)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Ranch - 2813 Cornell Road, Agoura, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Quotes:

The Great McGonigle: [after Baby Albert has splashed soup over him] I don't know whether to eat from the coat or the plate!
Cleopatra Pepperday: [after Baby Albert throws McGonigles watch into a bowl of molasses] Oh, Albert! Look what you've done to Mr. McGonigle's watch! Oh...
[the watch is shown sinking]
Cleopatra Pepperday: Oh, I'm so sorry... Oh, Mr. McGonigle!
The Great McGonigle: It's all right.
Cleopatra Pepperday: He has such an impulsive nature.
The Great McGonigle: Yeah, just like my own. Don't apo;ogize. It's all right. It's just a little child... it's just a little child.
Cleopatra Pepperday: Oh, he does the cutest things!
The Great McGonigle: That he does!
Cleopatra Pepperday: You should see him when no one's around.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Six of a Kind (1934)

Soundtrack:

A Little Bit of Heaven, Known as Mother

Jan Duggan as Cleopatra Pepperday

I agree that Jan Duggan was superb in this movie. It was actually the scene that made me become a W.C. Fields fan. I would love to have an original copy of the movie. I did record it but quality is bad but not so bad that I cannot see "Cleopatra" sing and dance to "The Sea Shell Song." I think I laugh harder every time and that dress & wig could not have been any better for here character. I would even wake my children up when they were small singing this song. Of course they hated it but now that they have gotten older, they will actually ask me to sing it but I just cannot master it like Jan Duggan. I wonder if she was in anymore of his movies as I have not seen her in anything else but what a lady!