Let's Live a Little
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Richard Wallace
Hedy Lamarr
Robert Cummings
Anna Sten
Robert Shayne
Mary Treen
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Duke Crawford, an agent for Montgomery Advertising in New York City, is currently handling the account of difficult cosmetics manufacturer Michele Bennett, to whom he was formerly engaged. Michele continually exasperates Duke by refusing to sign a contract until he reciprocates her affection. Tired of dealing with women clients, Duke threatens to quit the Michele Bennett account, prompting his boss, James Montgomery, to give him the job of book promotion for a nerve psychologist named J. O. Loring. On his way to Loring's office, Duke gives himself an electric shave in a taxicab--a promotional idea he invented--and arrives with half a mustache, giving the impression he is a mentally disturbed patient. Duke is surprised to learn that J. O. Loring is an attractive woman named Jo, and immediately determines to prove that he is anesthetized from women by kissing the doctor. Jo prescribes her novel on stress relief, called Let's Live a Little , but that night, all of Duke's attempts to fall asleep fail. The next day, Duke makes an appointment with Jo as her patient, and she advises him that if he wants Michele to sign the contract, he must meet her womanly needs for "champagne, a waltz and a caress." Duke makes arrangements for a perfect night out with Michele, and Jo arrives at the nightclub with her stuffy surgeon boyfriend, Dr. Richard Fields, to observe her patient. Michele quickly realizes that Jo and Duke are falling in love, and when she is served a cake with an advertising contract inside instead of a marriage license, she throws his drink at him and walks out, sending Duke into a malaise in which he keeps repeating ad slogans. Accompanied by Field, Jo takes Duke to a lakeside lodge for a rest cure, and during a moonlit canoe ride, Duke kisses her, proving that he is cured of his hatred of women. Back in New York, Duke is rejuvenated by his love for Jo, and launches a successful radio campaign for her book. During an interview on the air, Jo explains how a recent patient of hers got over a nervous breakdown caused by a romantic breakup by falling in love with his nurse, who did not love him back, but merely aided him in a transference of his affections. Furious to find himself depicted as a guinea pig in a love experiment, Duke resolves to forget Jo and assert himself with Michele. Soon, Jo reads about Duke's engagement to Michele in the newspaper and begins to have a mental breakdown of her own in which she can think of nothing but Duke. A few days before Michele and Duke's wedding, Field takes Jo to the lodge to cure her of her obsession with Duke. There he proposes to her, but she can see only Duke's face, and rejects him. In the middle of Michele's tasteless redecorating of Duke's apartment, he gets a telephone call from Field, who chastises him for exploiting Jo in his ad campaign and defiantly announces that Jo is now in his care. Duke reacts by walking out on Michele and coming to Jo's rescue at the lodge. Michele follows, and as Field practices his punch, Duke embraces Jo and convinces her that his kisses are real.
Director
Richard Wallace
Cast
Hedy Lamarr
Robert Cummings
Anna Sten
Robert Shayne
Mary Treen
Harry Antrim
Norma Varden
Hal K. Dawson
Billy Bevan
Curt Bois
John Newland
Jimmie Dodd
Frank Sully
Oliver Blake
Sandra Spence
Kathleen O'malley
Linda Lombard
Irmgard Dawson
John Dehner
Frank Wilcox
Eve Whitney
Raymond Largay
James Conaty
Robert Bice
Vic Cutler
Abe Dinovitch
Frank Marlowe
Murray Alper
Eddie Parks
Leo Mostovoy
Alex Davidoff
Lillian Randolph
Gregory Marshall
Bobby Scott
Virginia Farmer
Paul Maxey
Lucien Littlefield
Regina Wallace
Byron Foulger
Gary Owen
Jay Eaton
Mira Mckinney
Julie Carter
Helga Storme
Felice Ingersoll
Crew
Leon S. Becker
Albert J. Cohen
Albert J. Cohen
Robert Cummings
Frances Dawson
Howard J. Fogetti
Robert P. Fox
Eugene Frenke
Irving Friedman
Joe Gottesman
Edmund Hartmann
Jack Harvey
Jack Harvey
Werner Heymann
Arthur Hilton
Edward L. Ilou
Elois Jenssen
Howard W. Koch
Ernest Laszlo
Armor Marlowe
Jack R. Rabin
Edward Regan
Joan St. Oegger
Joe Stinton
George J. Teague
Helen Turpin
James T. Vaughn
Ern Westmore
Howard Irving Young
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
This film was the first picture made by Robert Cummings' and Eugene Frenke's company, United California Productions. According to an article in Parade, the film cost $1,100,000 to produce. A radio version was broadcast on Screen Directors' Playhouse on January 16, 1949 and starred Robert Cummings and Betty Lou Gerson.
