A quick drop-in post for the first time in two years! Turner Classic Movies is showing this picture as part of their tribute to Lucille Ball, who is in the film but not the lead. My immediate take-aways: I need to watch more Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. movies, Ginger Rogers was incredibly lovely and funny and why do I never remember that, and boy this movie has star power. It’s Red Skelton’s film debut, it has the aforementioned Lucille Ball (and Eve Arden!), and there are the obvious headlining stars (Rogers gets top billing as the lead).
I came in after it started but as romantic comedies of the 1930s go, this is an interesting and very well-cast entry, but it has a bit of a fraught history. The original stage play was written by Alfred Kober, and he also wrote the screenplay for the film. The play was originally set in the Catskills, and the characters were Jewish; all of that was changed for the Hollywood adaption, at the request of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (the arbiters of the Hays Code). (source: TCM)
I’ll be looking for a chance to watch the entire film.
“Having Wonderful Time” is available on DVD, but there are no streaming options that I was able to find.
catching up on the classics 