He Hired the Boss
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Thomas Z. Loring
Stuart Erwin
Evelyn Venable
Thurston Hall
Vivian Blaine
William T. Orr
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Timid Hubert Wilkins has been working as a bookkeeper for over fifteen years at the importing firm of Bates & Co., yet still earns only forty dollars a week. Although he is in love with Bates's secretary, Emily Conway, Hubert does not wish to ask her to marry him until he makes a larger salary. Emily encourages Hubert to request a ten dollar raise from Bates, but Bates, who is having financial difficulties due to wartime restrictions on raw silk, turns him down and tells him to quit if he is unhappy. Bates is then visited by his son Don, who is home on leave from the Navy. Don loves Emily's sister Sally, but Bates disapproves of the match and tries to dissuade his son from marrying her. Meanwhile, Emily comforts Hubert and tries to assure him that a woman in love does not care about her husband's salary. As they are talking, an induction notice arrives for Hubert and he rushes down to the recruiting office for his preliminary examination. Later in the week, Bates hosts a send-off party for Hubert and promises that he will have a job waiting for him upon his return. The following Monday, however, Hubert is rejected by the Army due to his allergies, and when he tries to get his job back, Bates offers him a subordinate position at a much lower salary. Bates then threatens Emily with dismissal if she does not break up the romance between Don and her sister, but later that evening, she instead encourages them to elope. Emily chastises Hubert for his lack of assertiveness, and he spends the rest of the evening in a bar getting drunk with his friend Fuller. Filled with liquid courage, Hubert goes to Bates's home at 2:00 a.m. and demands a raise. Bates fires him, but when Emily finds out the next day, she is delighted with Hubert's brave action and quits while Bates is yelling at her about Don and Sally's marriage. Emily and Hubert then go to see four parcels of land that Hubert bought from Fuller, and although they are at first disappointed with the rock-covered lots, they learn from their banker friend, Perry Randall, that the land contains bauxite and is worth at least $100,000. Hubert's self-esteem gets another boost that evening when he helps to capture a gang of thieves who have been stealing Bates's raw silk and selling it on the black market. The next day, when Bates arrives at his office, he learns that Hubert has bought up his loans and now holds controlling interest in the company. After telling Bates that he can stay to run the business, Hubert secures his ten dollar raise and leaves with Emily to get married.
Director
Thomas Z. Loring
Cast
Stuart Erwin
Evelyn Venable
Thurston Hall
Vivian Blaine
William T. Orr
Bennie Bartlett
James Bush
Chick Chandler
Hugh Beaumont
Ken Christy
Robert Emmett Keane
Harold Goodwin
Eddie Acuff
Charles Coleman
Syd Saylor
Emmett Vogan
Ralph Dunn
William Forrest
Dave Willock
Walter Sande
Sam Ash
Arthur Loft
Ray Walker
Jack Green
Tiny Jones
Mantan Moreland
Harry Strang
Ralph Brooks
Tom Costello
Bob Thom
Harrison Greene
Harry Tyler
Crew
Joseph E. Aiken
Irving Cummings Jr.
Richard Day
William Goetz
Hal Herman
Herschel
Harry M. Leonard
Thomas Little
Louis Loeffler
Glen Macwilliams
Ben Markson
Cyril J. Mockridge
Maurice Ransford
Sam Schneider
Sol M. Wurtzel
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were Ten Dollar Raise and $10 Raise. Although Sol M. Wurtzel is credited onscreen as the film's executive producer, the SAB lists William Goetz, who was in charge of studio operations at the time, as the executive producer and Wurtzel as the producer. He Hired the Boss marked both the first film appearance of actress Evelyn Venable since the 1940 Twentieth Century-Fox production Lucky Cisco Kid, and her last screen appearance. Peter B. Kyne's story was first filmed in 1921 as The Ten Dollar Raise. Produced by J. L. Forthingham, the picture was directed by Edward Sloman and starred William B. Mong and Marguerite De La Motte. In 1935, Fox released $10 Raise, which was directed by George Marshall and starred Edward Everett Horton and Karen Morley (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.5560 and AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.4489). Bit actor Harrison Greene also appeared in the 1935 film.
