EASY TO WED

July 11, 1946

• Directed by Edward N. Buzzell 
• Produced by Jack Cummings for Metro-Goldwyn Mayer
• Written by Dorothy Kingsley, based on the screenplay Libeled Lady by George Oppenheimer, Maurine Dallas Watkins (as Maurice Watkins), and Howard Emmett Rogers.  Uncredited contributions by Buster Keaton. 

Synopsis ~ When a newspaper runs a scandalous story about debutante Connie Allenbury, her powerful broker father threatens the newspaper’s editor, Warren Haggerty, with a massive lawsuit. Faced with a libel suit from the socialite Allenbury, Haggerty cooks up a plan to beat her at her own game. To do this, he must rely upon the romantic chicanery of ex-employee Bill Stevens Chandler, with Haggerty’s fiancée Gladys Benton (Lucille Ball) caught in the middle. Warren believes that, if he can prove Connie truly is a home-wrecker, as the article claims, he can file a countersuit against her. Warren then enlists his own fiancée, Gladys and reporter Bill Chandler to take part in a complex plan to turn the tables on the Allenburys.

PRINCIPAL CAST

Lucille Ball (Gladys Benton) is appearing in her 63rd film since coming to Hollywood in 1933.  Lucy plays the role originated by her friend Jean Harlowe in the 1936 version Libeled Lady. 

Van Johnson (Bill Stevens Chandler) co-starred in Too Many Girls (1940), the film that introduced Lucille Ball to Desi Arnaz. He was also seen with Lucy in the film Yours, Mine and Ours (1968).  He played himself on one of the most popular episodes of “I Love Lucy,” “The Dancing Star” (ILL S4;E27) and

1968′s “Guess Who Owes Lucy $23.50?” (HL S1;E11).

He died in 2008 at age 92. 

Esther Williams (Connie Allenbury) also appeared with Lucille Ball in Ziegfeld Follies (1945).  

Keenan Wynn (Warren Haggerty) also appeared with Lucy and Williams in Ziegfeld Follies (1945) and with Ball in Without Love (1945) and The Long, Long Trailer (1953). 

Ben Blue (Spike Dolan) previously appeared with Lucille Ball in Thousands Cheer (1943). Like Lucy, he had a cameo role in the 1967 film A Guide for the Married Man.  They also acted together in “Jack Benny’s Carnival Nights” on March 20, 1968.

Cecil Kellaway (J.B. Allenbury) had previously appeared with Ball in Annabel Takes A Tour (1938). 

Ethel Smith (Herself) was an organist playing herself.

Carlos Ramirez (Himself) was a Columbian-born singer appearing as himself. 

June Lockhart (Babs Norvell) became one of TV’s most famous moms on “Lassie” and “Lost in Space”.  

Paul Harvey (Farwood) did six other films with Lucille Ball: The Affairs of Cellini (1934), Kid Millions (1934), Broadway Bill (1934), The Whole Town’s Talking (1935), I’ll Love You Always (1935), and The Marines Fly High (1940).  Fans probably remember him best as the art critic who visits the Ricardo apartment to assess Lucy’s talent in “Lucy the Sculptress” (ILL S2;E15).

James Flavin (Joe) previously appeared with Lucille in The Affairs of Cellini (1934), Without Love (1945), as the Pizzeria Owner in “The Visitor from Italy” (ILL S6;E5), and in 1963 Critic’s Choice and two episodes of “The Lucy Show.”

Celia Travers (Farwood’s Secretary) had also appeared with Lucille Ball in Meet the People (1944). 

Grant Mitchell (Homer Henshaw) makes his only screen appearance with Lucille Ball.

Sybil Merritt (Receptionist) makes her only appearance with Lucille Ball. 

Sondra Rodgers (Attendant) makes her only appearance with Lucille Ball. 

UNCREDITED CAST

• Guy Bates Post (Allenbury’s Butler)
• John Valentine, Charles Knight (Butlers)
• Jean Porter (Frances)
• Nina Bara (Rumba Dancer)
• Josephine Whittell (Mrs. Burns Norvell)
• Dick Winslow (Orchestra Leader)
• Walter Soderling (Mr. H.O. Dibson, Justice of the Peace)
• Joel Friedkin (Second Justice of the Peace)
• Sarah Edwards (Mrs. Dibson)
• Charles Sullivan (Bouncer in Newspaper Office)
• Mitzie Uehlein, Patricia Denise,

  Kanza Omar, Phyllis Graffeo (Girls at Pool)

• Fidel Castro (Boy at Pool) 
• Jack Shea (Lifeguard)
• Tom Dugan, Alex Pollard, Fred Fisher (Waiters)
• George Calliga (Headwaiter)
• Karin Booth (Clerk)
• Milt Kibbee (Private Detective)
• Robert E. O’Connor (Taxi Driver)
• Frank S. Hagney (Truck Driver)
• Jonathan Hale (Hector Boswell)
• Virginia Rees (Lucille Ball’s Singing Voice)

‘EASY’ TRIVIA

A remake of one of the great comedies of the 1930s, Libeled Lady,  with Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Spencer Tracy.

Van Johnson worked with Lucille Ball again several more times. He guest-starred as himself on “I Love Lucy” and he co-starred with her in the 1968 film Yours, Mine and Ours.

Van Johnson’s biography, MGM’s Golden Boy, states that Lucille Ball’s performance as Gladys “reveals the embryo of her Lucy Ricardo role in the later ‘I Love Lucy’ television series.”

Chandler’s overdue hotel bill of $763.40 would equate to nearly $10,380 in 2021. The film was a big hit at the box office, earning MGM a profit of $1,779,000 according to studio records.

The duck hunting sequence with Johnson was written and directed by Buster Keaton and Edward Sedgwick, both of who proved close personal friends with Lucille Ball. 

Radio’s “Screen Guild Theater” broadcast a 30-minute adaptation of the movie in February 1948 with Van Johnson and Esther Williams reprising their film roles. Two years later, “Lux Radio Theater” broadcast a 60-minute radio adaptation of the movie with Van Johnson reprising his film role.

Lucille Ball borrows one of Samuel Goldwyn’s malapropisms when she says, “Include me out!” Keenan Wynn tries to convince her of having a sham wedding with Van Johnson.

This film was first telecast in Los Angeles on September 26, 1957; in Philadelphia on October 25, 1957’ in New York City January 23, 1958; and in San Francisco on Saturday January 25, 1958. At this time, color broadcasting was in its infancy, limited to only a small number of high rated programs, primarily on NBC and NBC affiliated stations, so these film showings were all still in B&W. Viewers were not offered the opportunity to see these films in their original Technicolor until several years later.

Early in this film, on the lower left of the screen, Fidel Castro (without the beard) is seen as a poolside spectator with a drink in front of him. Young Fidel did extra work for MGM, while a student at UCLA, before becoming fully active in politics. It’s interesting that Castro and Lucille should be in the same film, seeing that her husband was born in Cuba and driven out by revolutionaries.