Boy Meets Girl (1938)

Director:

Lloyd Bacon

Writers:

Bella Spewack (play) and
Sam Spewack (play) ...

Release Date:

27 August 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Two lazy screenwriters need a story for the studio's cowboy star. A studio waitress turns out to be pregnant...

Plot Keywords:

Baby | Native American | Screwball | Film In Film | Farce

Cast

James Cagney	...	Robert Law
Pat O'Brien	...	J. Carlyle 'J.C.' Benson
Marie Wilson	...	Mrs. Susan 'Susie' Seabrook
Ralph Bellamy	...	C. Elliott 'C.F.' Friday
Frank McHugh	...	Rossetti
Dick Foran	...	Larry Toms
Bruce Lester	...	Rodney Bowman
Ronald Reagan	...	Radio announcer at premiere
Paul Clark	...	Happy Seabrook, the baby
Penny Singleton	...	Peggy, manicurist
Dennie Moore	...	Miss Crews, Friday's secretary
Harry Seymour	...	Green, songwriter
Bert Hanlon	...	Otto Slater, songwriter
James Stephenson	...	Major Thompson

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #4156)

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The original award-winning play opened on Broadway in New York City, New York, USA on 27 November 1935 and had 669 performances. The opening cast included Jerome Cowan and Allyn Joslyn as Benson and Law, and 'Everett Sloane' as Rosetti. There were 2 revivals, in 1943 and 1976.

Quotes:

Mrs. Susan 'Susie' Seabrook: But don't you think he'd be good for Happy? He's an outdoor man.
Robert Law: So's the guy who collects my garbage.

Movie Connections:

References The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)

Soundtrack:

Pretty Lady

Is This How Pictures Were Made?

James Cagney and Pat O'Brien made their second of two films adapted from Broadway plays, the first being Ceiling Zero. Boy Meets Girl, written by the husband and wife team of Samuel and Bella Spewack ran for 664 performances and was directed on Broadway by the great George Abbott.

It would have been nice had Warner Brothers secured the services of Mr. Abbott to direct this film version. But even without his touch Boy Meets Girl nicely adapts from the stage to the screen. The parts of Benson and Law, based loosely on the writing team of Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht, fit Cagney and O'Brien very well indeed.

I've always been of the opinion though it is the strong performances of the supporting cast that make this film. Dick Foran showed what a really good sport he was in satirizing himself essentially. At the time Boy Meets Girl was made, Foran was Warner Brothers B picture singing cowboy star. A whole lot of other players would never have done what Foran did. Too bad they didn't give him a song to sing in this though.

But the performance I really like is that of Ralph Bellamy, the harassed studio executive who is being driven to his wit's end by the antics of Cagney and O'Brien. Forget The Awful Truth, His Girl Friday, or even Sunrise at Campobello, this to me is Ralph Bellamy's career role. What makes it work is that Bellamy does play it so seriously against Cagney and O'Brien.

Frank McHugh, Marie Wilson, and Bruce Lester are involved in this also. And very prominently featured is the 40th President of the United States in one of the first roles that brought him some attention as a radio announcer. Since that's what Ronald Reagan was before coming to Hollywood, no strain here on any acting ability. Still he has some good moments as Cagney hatches a plot that does disrupt his broadcast.

Do you ever think Ralph Bellamy finally did cure all the problems that 'Young England' was facing?