The Silver Screen Oasis

Don't forget to watch THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR on TCM at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 26!

Susan Kathleen Applegate has a major choo-choo challenge as she escapes from New York and her Revigora employers!

See Ginger Rogers annoy passengers with nothing more than a balloon!
See a tadpole in a crystal bowl!
See Ray Milland winking at a pencil!
See a ballroom full of Veronica Lake impersonators!
See stylish socks snipped from a defenseless turtleneck!
See Robert Benchley fighting sobriety!
See thousands of men chase one poor girl trapped in a defense plant!
And it all culminates on a front porch in Stevenson,Iowa, during wild strawberries' season!
(No, this film was not directed by Ingmar Bergman, but the legendary Billy Wilder!

Christy, do you know that Benchley himself admitted that the 'dry martini' line was actually said by his good friend the deadpan character actor Charles Butterworth? In fact, Benchley admitted that many of his quips were actually Butterworth's. Butterworth, a former journalist, as was Benchley, was known for his bon mots and his ability to cleverly improvise in his movies. Script writers often left blanks in the scripts, expecting Butterworth to come up with his own lines (he didn't appreciate that much). So sad that both men died in their prime.

It was so sad about Benchley. Interesting info about Butterworth.

I am a Dorothy Parker fan, and I also have read some about Robert Benchley. Benchley always needed a cohort in crime and I feel that his associations were all fairly witty. Just to be privy to those conversations--what fun they conjured!

But it was indeed sad for the way he and Parker went...

I feel lucky because I still have some wonderful pals who always make me chuckle, and vice versa.

I knew I was in good company over here at the SSO.... I am a big Dorothy Parker/Robert Benchley fan too.

My favorite quip of hers about Benchley is -

"He and I had an office so tiny that an inch smaller and it would have been adultery."

Hey Christy - This is a film I've only seen once and that was some time ago. On behalf of your screen-name and avatar, I shall be setting my recorder and giving THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR a serious revisitation.
Nice to see you!
Dewey

I have a book of Dorothy Parker stories but nothing by Robert Benchley, he might be worth checking out.

I love The Major and The Minor.

I love Benchley's essays. "the Benchley Roundup" collects some of his best work. There is one essay of mock-opera summaries that always breaks me up. (An impoverished gypsy woman walks through the streets singing "My son is too young to vote." No one seems able to help her.) He also wrote some essays spoofing early American history that are very good. (The Federalists failed because John Adams and his son were so snooty that no one could stand to talk to them.)

Mike BSG, I've read some of those essays many moons ago. They are a hoot!

I'm a little late to this party, but I just watched this film again today. I thought it was a little creepy the first time I saw it, but now my opinion has completely changed. Leave it to Billy Wilder to pick something edgy and bring it to you as if it were the most natural thing in the world. I adore Ginger Rogers. She could have rested on her laurels as a "screen personality," but what a craftsman she was! Her amazing range is so wonderfully showcased.

One of my favorite moments is when Susan "levels with" the actual 12 year old girl, and how the girl responds to her confidence by smartly proffering a cigarette from that little trick box. So many scenes could have been overdone, or made campy, but it's all so perfectly modulated. Thanks for the homage, Sue Sue!

I'm glad you found a new fondness for TM&TM, intothenitrate! I have many other movie favorites, but I feel that this film inspired my love of classics even though it might not be considered one of the "greats of all time," and I'm pleased that you found the charms in this little sleeper of a Billy Wilder hit.

"How utterly beguiling!"

Hi Christy!
After seeing this thread and having only remembered the Ginger's scene as the "scalp masseuse" with Robert Benchley, I watched this movie again and found myself laughing out loud several times, especially at Ginger Rogers' antics at the train station and with the train conductors. It bogged down a little at the military school, but, next to Roxie Hart, this may be one of my favorite Ginger Rogers' comedies. She had a great script and good directors both times too. A lucky girl and a talented, hard working one.

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Hi there:

Here it is 2:38 a.m. on Sunday, Easter morning, April 4, 2010 and I just watched TM & TM the day before yesterday. Although I've seen it before, I noticed a few things thanks to this thread, like Ginger's nails. But believe me, I noticed that gown with no trouble the very first time I saw it, something about it just struck me between the eyes. There is a photo of it on one of the other threads here so I know it is a lime green, and it is just gorgeous. Anyway, my actual reason for posting is that Feaito said something about having seen the re-make.

. . . . . Feaito, . . . . . what was the name of the re-make? I don't recall ever seeing anything similar and my curiosity has the best of me now.
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mrsl wrote:.
Hi there:
Here it is 2:38 a.m. on Sunday, Easter morning, April 4, 2010 and I just watched TM & TM the day before yesterday. Although I've seen it before, I noticed a few things thanks to this thread, like Ginger's nails. But believe me, I noticed that gown with no trouble the very first time I saw it, something about it just struck me between the eyes. There is a photo of it on one of the other threads here so I know it is a lime green, and it is just gorgeous. Anyway, my actual reason for posting is that Feaito said something about having seen the re-make.

. . . . . Feaito, . . . . . what was the name of the re-make? I don't recall ever seeing anything similar and my curiosity has the best of me now..

Hello Anne, the remake is titled "You're Never Too Young" (1955) and it stars Jerry Lewis (in the role originally played by Ginger) and Dean Martin. Diana Lynn -who appeared in the original version- also stars as Martin's love interest. I saw this one when I was a kid and I enjoyed it very much. I had to wait many years to be able to see the original movie (last year I watched it for the first time, and the wait was worth it!)

Lewis and Martin starred in many remakes of older films like "Scared Stiff" (1953) (remake of "The Ghost Breakers" with Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard) and "Living it Up" (1954) (remake of Lombard's "Nothing Sacred" (1937))

mrsl,
You dont like Jerry !!! Watch it you will be banned in France !!!