She Wrote the Book

Last updated

She Wrote the Book
She Wrote the Book.jpg
Directed by Charles Lamont
Written by Oscar Brodney
Warren Wilson
Produced by Joseph Gershenson
Warren Wilson
Starring Joan Davis
Jack Oakie
Mischa Auer
Cinematography George Robinson
Edited by Fred R. Feitshans Jr.
Music byEdgar Fairchild
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • May 31, 1946 (1946-05-31)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

She Wrote the Book is a 1946 American comedy film directed by Charles Lamont and starring Joan Davis, Jack Oakie, and Mischa Auer. [1] It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures. The screenplay concerns a shy midwestern professor who travels to New York City to visit a publisher of her friend's book which turns out to be a racy bestseller.

Contents

Plot

Jane Featherstone (Joan Davis) is a buttoned-down and pedestrian professor at small town Croyden College in Great Falls, Indiana who is making plans to present a paper in New York City. While talking to her dean's wife, Phyllis Fowler, she discovers that Fowler is actually the author of the racy best selling novel Always Lulu, under the pen name Lulu Winters. Fowler asks Featherstone to assume her faux identity in order to pickup her royalty checks while in New York, and Featherstone reluctantly agrees to pickup the $80,000 which Fowler has promised to donate to the college which is struggling financially. While traveling on the train to New York, Featherstone meets Eddie Caldwell, a charming engineer, and the two agree to a date once they reach the big city.

Once they arrive Featherstone is greeted by publisher George Dixon and Jerry Marlowe, his advertising executive. Dixon and Marlowe attempt to escort her to an unexpected reception for Lulu. Featherstone tries to escape, but cracks her head in the process, and develops amnesia. Marlowe thinks she is Lulu, and Featherstone now believes she really is, which leads her to believe that the sultry novel is actually an autobiography of her life. When Featherstone, as Lulu, informs everyone at the press conference that she has no plans to write a sequel, Dixon and Marlowe hatch a scheme to spend the $80,000. Meanwhile Caldwell believes that Featherstone actually is the promiscuous Lulu, and ends the budding relationship. A bartender masquerading as a Count, an enamored shipping magnate, and photos that are seen back in Great Falls add twists and turns to the plot. Eventually Featherstone returns home broke, but does recover her memory.

Now the Fowlers and Featherstone must devise a plot to recover the money, or stand by and watch the college close due to lack of funds. Featherstone returns to New York and dons the guise of Lulu once more. She gets the money back, and reconciles with Caldwell, who then returns to Great Falls with her.

Cast

Related Research Articles

<i>The Big Sleep</i> 1939 novel by Raymond Chandler

The Big Sleep (1939) is a hardboiled crime novel by American-British writer Raymond Chandler, the first to feature the detective Philip Marlowe. It has been adapted for film twice, in 1946 and again in 1978. The story is set in Los Angeles.

<i>Kid Millions</i> 1934 film by Roy Del Ruth

Kid Millions is a 1934 American musical film directed by Roy Del Ruth, produced by Samuel Goldwyn Productions, and starring Eddie Cantor. Its elaborate "Ice Cream Fantasy Finale" production number was filmed in three-strip Technicolor, one of the earliest uses of that process in a feature-length film.

<i>Elmer Gantry</i> (film) 1960 US drama film by Richard Brooks

Elmer Gantry is a 1960 American drama film about a confidence man and a female evangelist selling religion to small-town America. Adapted by director Richard Brooks, the film is based on the 1927 novel of the same name by Sinclair Lewis, and stars Burt Lancaster, Jean Simmons, Arthur Kennedy, Shirley Jones and Patti Page.

<i>The Bigamist</i> (1953 film) 1953 film noir directed by Ida Lupino

The Bigamist is a 1953 American drama film noir directed by Ida Lupino starring Joan Fontaine, Ida Lupino, Edmund Gwenn and Edmond O'Brien. Producer/Screenwriter Collier Young was married to Fontaine at the time and had previously been married to Lupino. The Bigamist has been cited as the first American feature film made in the sound era in which the female star of a film directed herself.

<i>Blondie Johnson</i> 1933 film

Blondie Johnson is a 1933 American pre-Code gangster film directed by Ray Enright and starring Joan Blondell and Chester Morris. It was produced by Warner Bros.

<i>Twin Beds</i> (1942 film) 1942 film by Tim Whelan

Twin Beds is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Tim Whelan, and starring by George Brent and Joan Bennett. It was distributed by United Artists. The screenplay was written by Kenneth Earl, Curtis Kenyon and Eddie Moran, based on the play of the same name by Salisbury Field and Margaret Mayo.

<i>The Autograph Hound</i> 1939 Donald Duck cartoon

The Autograph Hound is a 1939 Donald Duck cartoon which features Donald Duck as an autograph hunter in Hollywood. Many celebrities from the 1930s are featured. This is the first cartoon where Donald Duck is featured in his blue sailor hat.

<i>The Scarlet Hour</i> 1956 film by Michael Curtiz

The Scarlet Hour is a 1956 American film noir crime film directed and produced by Michael Curtiz, previously director of such noted films as Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy and White Christmas.

<i>Too Much Harmony</i> 1933 film by A. Edward Sutherland

Too Much Harmony is a 1933 American black-and-white pre-Code musical film directed by A. Edward Sutherland and starring Bing Crosby, Jack Oakie, Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, Harry Green, and Judith Allen. It was released by Paramount Pictures.

<i>Uptown New York</i> 1932 film

Uptown New York is a 1932 American Pre-Code film directed by Victor Schertzinger and starring Jack Oakie, Shirley Grey, and Leon Ames. It is based on the story by Vina Delmar.

<i>Bewitched</i> (1945 film) 1945 film by Arch Oboler

Bewitched is a 1945 American film noir directed and written by Arch Oboler. The drama features Phyllis Thaxter and Edmund Gwenn.

Two Girls on Broadway is a 1940 musical film directed by S. Sylvan Simon and starring Lana Turner and Joan Blondell. The film is a remake of The Broadway Melody (1929).

<i>Ten Cents a Dance</i> (1931 film) 1931 film

Ten Cents a Dance is a 1931 American pre-Code romance-drama film directed by Lionel Barrymore and starring Barbara Stanwyck as a married taxi dancer who falls in love with one of her customers. The film was inspired by the popular song of the same name, which is sung over the title sequence. The film was also made in a Spanish language version, titled, Carne de Cabaret, directed by Christy Cabanne.

<i>Up in Mabels Room</i> (1944 film) 1944 film by Allan Dwan

Up in Mabel's Room is a 1944 American comedy film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Marjorie Reynolds, Dennis O'Keefe and Gail Patrick. It is based on the 1919 play by Wilson Collison and Otto A. Harbach. The film's composer, Edward Paul, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1945.

<i>That Girl from Paris</i> 1937 film by Leigh Jason

That Girl from Paris is a 1936 American musical comedy film directed by Leigh Jason and starring Lily Pons, Jack Oakie, and Gene Raymond. The film made a profit of $101,000. John O. Aalberg was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Sound Recording.

<i>The Devil Pays Off</i> 1941 film

The Devil Pays Off is a 1941 American spy film directed by John H. Auer. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound Recording.

<i>Handle with Care</i> (1958 film) US drama film from 1958

Handle with Care is a 1958 American drama film directed by David Friedkin and starring Dean Jones, Joan O'Brien and Thomas Mitchell. It was produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

<i>Around the World</i> (1943 film) 1943 American comedy film produced and directed by Allan Dwan

Around the World is a 1943 American comedy film produced and directed by Allan Dwan, from an original screenplay by Ralph Spence. RKO Radio Pictures premiered the film at the Globe Theater in New York on November 24, 1943. The film has a large cast, and stars Kay Kyser and his band, Mischa Auer, Joan Davis, Marcy McGuire, Wally Brown, and Alan Carney.

Leave it to Psmith, subtitled "A comedy of youth, love and misadventure", is a 1930 comedy play by Ian Hay and P. G. Wodehouse, based on the latter's 1923 novel of the same title. It premiered in London's West End at the Shaftesbury Theatre on 29 September 1930.

References

  1. Stephens p.261

Bibliography