Plot
Cantankerous tycoon John P. Merrick goes undercover as a shoe clerk at "Neely's", one of his New York department stores, to identify agitators trying to form a union, after seeing a newspaper picture of his employees hanging him in effigy.
In the store he takes on a new persona, Thomas Higgins. After almost failing the minimum intelligence test he is sent to join the shoe department. There he befriends fellow clerk Mary Jones and her recently fired boyfriend Joe O'Brien, a labor union organizer. As time goes on, his experiences cause him to grow more sympathetic to his workers. He also starts to fall in love with sweet-natured clerk Elizabeth Ellis.
During a beach day at Coney Island with his coworkers, John begins to see a different side of Joe after he helps him avoid an arrest at a local police station by reciting the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. Afterwards John joins Joe, Elizabeth, and Mary on the beach, where he and Elizabeth nap until dark. Believing the two to be fully asleep, Joe and Mary discuss the union attempts and the future of their relationship. Unbeknownst to them, John listens in and after Joe leaves he pretends to awake, taking the opportunity to grab a list Joe dropped of employees willing to strike.
The remaining trio then travel home via subway, where John drops a card showing that his undercover persona was working for Merrick. This, along with other factors, causes Mary to come to the conclusion that John is a spy, and she tells Joe. Desperate to regain the list, Joe and Mary try unsuccessfully and they, along with John, end up in the store manager's office. Disgusted with the treatment of the employees, John berates the store manager, who is unaware of John's true identity. Emboldened by John, Mary declares that they have a list of 400 employees who will strike. The manager tricks the group into giving him the list. When they realize the manager's deceit, John and Mary take back the list and destroy it by eating it, after which Mary uses the intercom system to successfully encourage the entire store to strike.
In the following days, all of the employees picket Merrick's home. John decides to finally reveal his identity and has Mary, Elizabeth, and Joe meet him and his staff to discuss terms. They are initially unaware of his identity, but upon discovery, Joe faints, Mary screams, and Elizabeth stares up at John in disbelief as John asks her if she would be willing to go back on a statement she made about not wanting to marry a rich man. The film then cuts to a wedding party on a cruise liner, showing that there has been a joint wedding: John has married Elizabeth and Mary has married Joe. The party is made up of all of the store employees and it is shown that John has paid for all of them to take a Hawaiian vacation.
Production
Frank Ross and Norman Krasna decided to produce a movie together starring Jean Arthur (Ross's wife) based on a story by Krasna. The three formed a partnership and borrowed $600,000 from a bank to finance the film. [4] In May it was announced that Krasna, Arthur and Ross would work without salart in change for profits and the film would be distributed through RKO. [5] It was Arthur's first film at RKO since The Ex-Mrs. Bradford . [6] By July Charles Coburn was attached. [7]
The script was written in ten weeks. Krasna said "there was a tremendous social statement in" the film. "King Vidor in The Crowd [1928] would do it to the employee; I do it to the richest man in the world, so you'll smile at him. 'Are you chewing gum?' 'No, I’m not.' 'Open your mouth.' He swallows his gum." [8]
In August 1940 it was announced Sam Wood would direct. [9]
Filming
Filming started December 16, 1940. [10] It finished February 1941. [11] Krasna said " Sam Wood was a fabulous technician who knew nothing about the word, so that script stayed the same" throughout the shoot. [12]
Filming started without a leading man cast. In January it was announced Robert Cummings would be borrowed from Universal. [13] Filming had to stop for nine days so that Robert Cummings could shoot extra scenes at MGM in Free and Easy in late January. [14]
The film needed three days of retakes, which included adding a role for Montagu Love. [15]
Krasna claimed he heard Wood saw the film "and was horrified because he was an extreme rightist. I do it at such an angle—not to fool people—but because I believe it’s the best way to do something of social significance." [16]
Krasna described the experience of making the film as one of the best in his career. [17]
Reception
Critical
Variety wrote "At times, script tends to over dialog passages that tend to slow down the otherwise neatly-paced temp but this is minor shortcoming in the overall content of the picture." [20]
Filmink called it "an utterly brilliant social comedy... a rare pro-union movie from Hollywood." [21]
Krasna called it "the best picture I ever wrote, in my opinion. I worked in Macy’s when I was going to law school, and I know what working in a department store was like. The Los Angeles Times, which was an arch-conservative newspaper at that time, knew enough to write an editorial against the picture. But the guy who came from some labor magazine... got up at the press preview in the studio and said, “You copped out.” He should have turned toward the audience and said, “That’s what it’s like, exploiting the lower classes.” I looked at this amateur. He hadn’t the vaguest idea of how propaganda works and what social statement I wanted to make. The editorial writer for The Los Angeles Times knew this was a dangerous picture." [22]
Box office
According to RKO records, the film grossed $1,421,000 in the United States, making a profit of $117,000. However Jean Arthur's biographer wrote this was a disappointment to Ross, who was "absolutely devastated" by the result, according to Ross' son. [19]
Ross and Krasna later collaborated on Krasna's play The Man with Blond Hair . [23] They announced they would make another film, Googer Plays the Field but it appears to have not been made. [24]
On November 14, 1941, Philip Morris Playhouse presented a version of The Devil and Miss Jones on CBS radio. The adaptation starred Lana Turner. [25] The story was also adapted as a radio play on two broadcasts of Lux Radio Theatre , first on January 19, 1942, with Turner and Lionel Barrymore, then on March 12, 1945, with Linda Darnell and Frank Morgan. It was also adapted twice on The Screen Guild Theater , first on June 7, 1943, with Laraine Day, Charles Coburn and George Murphy, again on August 12, 1946, with Van Johnson and Donna Reed. It was also adapted on the October 23, 1946, broadcast of Academy Award Theater , starring Charles Coburn [26] and Virginia Mayo.
In 1950 Ross announced he wanted to make the film as a musical for his then wife Joan Caulfield. However, it was never made. [27]
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