Theodora Goes Wild (1936)

Director:

Richard Boleslawski

Writers:

Mary McCarthy (story)
Sidney Buchman (screenplay)

Release Date:

12 November 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Meet The Gayest Lady Who Ever Went To Town!

Plot:

The small-town prudes of Lynnfield are up in arms over 'The Sinner,' a sexy best-seller. They little...

Plot Keywords:

Divorce | Beautiful Woman | Whistling | Prudery | Governor

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Irene Dunne	...	Theodora Lynn
Melvyn Douglas	...	Michael Grant
Thomas Mitchell	...	Jed Waterbury
Thurston Hall	...	Arthur Stevenson
Rosalind Keith	...	Adelaide Perry
Elisabeth Risdon	...	Aunt Mary Linn
Margaret McWade	...	Aunt Elsie Linn
Spring Byington	...	Rebecca Perry
Nana Bryant	...	Ethel Stevenson
Henry Kolker	...	Jonathan Grant
Leona Maricle	...	Agnes Grant
Robert Greig	...	Uncle John Lynn
Frederick Burton	...	Governor Stephen Wyatt
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Stella Adams	...	Townswoman (uncredited)
Paul Barrett	...	Roger Taylor - Adelaide's Husband (uncredited)
Noel Bates	...	Townswoman (uncredited)
William 'Billy' Benedict	...	Henry (uncredited)
Sven Hugo Borg	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Carolyn Lee Bourland	...	Adelaide's Baby (uncredited)
Maurice Brierre	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Don Brodie	...	Photographer at Governor's Reception (uncredited)
Georgie Cooper	...	Townswoman (uncredited)
Nick Copeland	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Beatrice Curtis	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Sarah Edwards	...	Mrs. Moffat (uncredited)
Betty Farrington	...	Townswoman (uncredited)
Eddie Fetherston	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Bess Flowers	...	Guest at Governor's Reception (uncredited)
Mary Forbes	...	Mrs. Wyatt (uncredited)
Harold Goodwin	...	Photographer at Governor's Reception (uncredited)
Sherry Hall	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Wilfred Hari	...	Toki - Michael's Butler (uncredited)
Eddie Hart	...	Photographer at Governor's Reception (uncredited)
Harry Harvey	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Jack Hatfield	...	Photographer (uncredited)
Grace Hayle	...	Mrs. Cobb (uncredited)
Ben Hendricks Jr.	...	Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Jane Keckley	...	Townswoman (uncredited)
Isabel La Mal	...	Townswoman (uncredited)
James T. Mack	...	Minister (uncredited)
Mary MacLaren	...	Mrs. Wilson (uncredited)
Ralph Malone	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Margaret Mann	...	Grandma - Townswoman at Train Station (uncredited)
Rex Moore	...	Newsboy (uncredited)
Corbet Morris	...	Artist (uncredited)
Wedgwood Nowell	...	Dance Floor Extra (uncredited)
Georgia O'Dell	...	Townswoman (uncredited)
Dennis O'Keefe	...	Man (uncredited)
George Ovey	...	Clarinetist in Welcoming Band (uncredited)
Jessie Perry	...	Townswoman (uncredited)
Lee Phelps	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Russ Powell	...	Majordomo at Governor's Reception (uncredited)
Frank Sully	...	Clarence (uncredited)
Leora Thatcher	...	Miss Baldwin - Stevenson's Secretary (uncredited)
Laura Treadwell	...	Mrs. Grant (uncredited)
Dorothy Vernon	...	Townswoman (uncredited)
Billy Wayne	...	Photographer at Governor's Reception (uncredited)

Directed by
Richard Boleslawski

Writing credits
Mary McCarthy		(story)
Sidney Buchman		(screenplay)

Produced by
Everett Riskin	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Arthur Morton		(uncredited)
William Grant Still		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Joseph Walker		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
Otto Meyer

Art Direction by
Stephen Goosson
Jerome Pycha Jr.		(uncredited)

Costume Design by
Bernard Newman		(gowns)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
William E. Muel	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
George Cooper	....	sound engineer (uncredited)

Music Department
Morris Stoloff	....	musical director
R.H. Bassett	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Howard Jackson	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Harry Cohn	....	president: Columbia Pictures Corp

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation (as Columbia Pictures Corp. of Cal. Ltd.)

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1936) (USA) (theatrical) (as Columbia Pictures Corp. of Cal. Ltd.)
• Columbia Pictures (195?) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar (video)
• Sony Pictures Television (????) (USA) (TV)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #2535) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Finland:K-16

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Marian Marsh was in a Hollywood Reporter cast list for this movie, but she did not appear.

Quotes:

Theodora Lynn: [as Caroline Adams] I have this to say to the modern young girls, gentlemen - Be free, express yourselves! Take your life in your own hands and mold it. The world will try to rob you of your freedom, but fight for it! It's all you have to live for! That's all for the modern girl.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Lady in Question Is Charles Busch (2005)

Soundtrack:

The Farmer in the Dell

Lynnfield's Terrible Secret

I'm not sure how Theodora Goes Wild would be viewed today because of changing demographics. Some of those small New England towns like Lynnfield are not bastions of conservatism any longer. Today the home of a well known author like Irene Dunne would be a tourist attraction.

But back in the Thirties, this still was the New England of Calvin Coolidge and descendants of the town founder just don't go writing romance novels. But that's what Irene Dunne is doing only its under a pseudonym, lest the good people of Lynnfield make life uncomfortable for herself and her two maiden aunts.

Irene's cover will be blown though when she meets her illustrator at her publisher. Melvyn Douglas is quite smitten with her and he follows her back to Lynnfield from New York and persuades her that she ought to live life a little and not just vicariously through her novels.

Dunne takes his advice with a vengeance after he's thoroughly embarrassed her. But when Theodora Lynn does go wild she takes no prisoners. Coming out in public under her pseudonym of Caroline Adams, Dunne gets fame and notoriety confused. Today she would be big time tabloid fodder and pays Douglas back in a way he can only blame on himself.

It's charming pair of leads with a delightful supporting cast that play their roles to perfection. A particular favorite of mine is publisher Thurston Hall who gets to do a drunk scene with Dunne, something the very proper Mr. Hall didn't often do.

Irene Dunne got one of her five Oscar nominations for playing Theodora Lynn aka Caroline Adams, but lost in the big sweepstakes to Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld.

I'm not sure how you could do Theodora Goes Wild today though. I can see the town billboard on the Massachusetts Turnpike: Welcome to Lynnfield, Home of Caroline Adams.