Swing Your Lady is a 1938 American country musical comedy film directed by Ray Enright, starring Humphrey Bogart, Frank McHugh, and Louise Fazenda. Ronald Reagan is also in the cast in one of his early roles. Brunette singer Penny Singleton who was also cast was about to turn blonde and embark on a long, hugely successful career playing the iconic comic strip character Blondie in a series of 28 films and a popular radio show.
| Swing Your Lady | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Ray Enright |
| Screenplay by | Joseph Schrank Maurice Leo |
| Based on | Swing Your Lady 1936 play by Kenyon Nicholson Charles Robinson |
| Produced by | Samuel Bischoff |
| Starring | Humphrey Bogart Frank McHugh Louise Fazenda Nat Pendleton Penny Singleton Allen Jenkins Ronald Reagan |
| Cinematography | Arthur Edeson |
| Edited by | Jack Killifer |
| Music by | Adolph Deutsch |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 77 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Swing Your Lady features the first film performance by the Weaver Brothers and Elviry, a comedy troupe better known as The Arkansas Travelers[1] during their many years in vaudeville and on the Grand Ole Opry radio show.[2] Following this performance, the trio was picked up by Republic Pictures for Down in Arkansas, the first in what was to be a series of 11 comedy films for the studio.[3][2]
Plot
editPromoter Ed Hatch comes to the Ozarks with his slow-witted wrestler Joe Skopapoulos whom he pits against a hillbilly Amazon blacksmith, Sadie Horn. Joe falls in love with her and won't fight, at least not until Sadie's beau, Noah, shows up. Love triumphs, despite Ed's machinations, and after defeating Noah, Joe passes on a bout at Madison Square Garden to marry Sadie and take over the blacksmith's shop, while Noah rides away with Ed and his crew.
Cast
edit| Actor/Actress | Role |
|---|---|
| Humphrey Bogart | Ed Hatch |
| Frank McHugh | Popeye Bronson |
| Louise Fazenda | Sadie Horn |
| Nat Pendleton | Joe Skopapolous |
| Penny Singleton | Cookie Shannon |
| Allen Jenkins | Shiner Ward |
| Leon Weaver | Waldo Davis |
| Frank Weaver | Ollie Davis |
| June Weaver | Mrs. Davis (as Elviry Weaver) |
| Ronald Reagan | Jack Miller |
| Daniel Boone Savage | Noah Webster |
| Hugh O'Connell | Smith |
| Tommy Bupp | Rufe Horn |
| Sonny Bupp | Len Horn (as Sunny Bupp) |
| Joan Howard | Mattie Horn |
| Sue Moore | Mabel |
| Olin Howland | Hotel Proprietor |
| Sammy White | Specialty Dancer |
Production
editThe film featured Daniel Boone Savage, a professional wrestler, making his film debut and Nat Pendleton, a former Olympic and professional wrestler.[4]
Reception
editBogart was apparently becoming very disenchanted with the film roles that Warner Bros. was offering him at this stage of his career; the following year he appeared in his only horror/sci-fi film, The Return of Doctor X, and these were two roles he never liked talking about when he became a major film star several years later; he considered his performance in Swing Your Lady the worst of his career.[5][6]
Swing Your Lady is listed in the 1978 book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time.
References
edit- ^ Not to be confused with Bob Burns' Arkansas Traveler
- ^ a b "Down in "Arkansaw"". www.tcm.com. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
- ^ Austin, Wade (1981). "The Real Beverly Hillbillies". The South and Film. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 86–87. ISBN 0-87805-148-1. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
- ^ "Swing Your Lady". www.tcm.com. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
- ^ Shipman, David (1989). The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years (3rd ed.). London: Macdonald. p. 68.
- ^ Audio commentary by Eric Lax for Disc One of the 2006 three-disc DVD special edition of The Maltese Falcon.
External links
edit- Swing Your Lady at IMDb
- Swing Your Lady at the TCM Movie Database
- Swing Your Lady at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
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