You're Telling Me!
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Erle C. Kenton
W. C. Fields
Larry "buster" Crabbe
Joan Marsh
Adrienne Ames
Louise Carter
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Sam Bisbee is a drunk and an unsuccessful inventor in the small town of Crystal Springs. His daughter Pauline hopes to marry Bob, son of the well-to-do and haughty Murchisons. Mrs. Murchison obstructs the union until, upon meeting Mrs. Bisbee, she learns that she is descended from the prominent Warren family of Virginia. Sam, however, walks in on the meeting carrying his latest invention: a puncture-proof tire, which rolls about the house smashing things. His display of what Mrs. Murchison calls "naïve gaucherie" is enough for her to call off the wedding. Sam then attempts to sell his tire to the National Tire Company, but he illegally parks his car and a police car takes its place. When Sam demonstrates his tires by shooting at them, he damages the police car and is publicly humiliated. Taking the train back to Crystal Springs, Sam tries to commit suicide, but passes a cemetery and is unable to do it. Next, he wanders into the stateroom of Princess Marie Lescaboura, who, remembering a time she forfeited true love, is determined to help him. When the princess arrives in town and is met by the mayor and other prominent citizens, she insists on seeing her old friend Sam Bisbee, who, she says, saved her life in the war, and Sam, unaware that she is a princess, goes along with the gag. At her request, the Bisbees host her welcoming party instead of the Murchisons and Bob and Pauline announce their engagement with the princess' approval. Marie then gives Sam the honor of teeing off at the opening of the country club's new golf course the next day. At the golf course, Sam prepares to tee off while battling tissue paper, chocolate custard and his caddy, until he whacks the ball just as the men from the National Tire Company arrive and offer Sam $20,000 for his tire patent. The princess, however, manages to drive up Sam's price to a million dollars with royalties on every tire. As Pauline and Bob leave for their honeymoon, Sam tells Marie: "We certainly put that princess stuff over, didn't we?" She responds, "You're telling me!"
Director
Erle C. Kenton
Cast
W. C. Fields
Larry "buster" Crabbe
Joan Marsh
Adrienne Ames
Louise Carter
Kathleen Howard
Tammany Young
Del Henderson
James B. "pop" Kenton
Robert Mckenzie
Nora Cecil
George Irving
Alfred Delcambre
Fred Sullivan
Jerry Stewart
George Macquarrie
John M. Sullivan
William Robyns
Vernon Dent
Harold Berquist
Lee Phelps
Frank O'connor
Florence Enright
Isabelle Lamal
Edward Le Saint
James C. Morton
Elise Cavanna
Billy Engle
George Ovey
Albert Hart
Hal Craig
Dorothy Bay
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
It's a funny ol' world...Man's lucky if he gets out of it alive.- Sam Bisbee
Mrs. Bisbee, you're the luckiest woman in the world.- Princess Lescaboura
Is my husband dead?- Pauline Bisbee
Trivia
Notes
Julian Leonard Street's story was included in the collection Mr. Bisbee's Princess and Other Stories in 1925. W. C. Fields's golf sketch, first used in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1915 on Broadway, was made into a short film called The Golf Specialist in 1930 by RKO, directed by Monte Brice and starring Fields. A pre-production news item in Hollywood Reporter on February 5, 1932 states that Edward Morgan lost a lead part in this film to Gordon Douglas because he had the flu. Douglas, however, does not appear in the final print. Notably, W. C. Fields's pseudonym, "Charles Bogle," used for story credits in a number of his films, appears in this film as Robert McKenzie's character name. Actor James B. "Pop" Kenton was director Erle C. Kenton's father. A modern source lists Sierra Madre, CA as a location site for the film and credits Josephine Whittell in a bit part. This film was a remake of the 1926 Famous Players-Lasky film So's Your Old Man, which also starred Fields and was directed by Gregory La Cava (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.5263).
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States 1934
Released in United States March 1976
Remake of "So's Your Old Man" (1926) directed by Gregory LaCava.
Released in United States 1934
Released in United States March 1976 (Shown at FILMEX: Los Angeles International Film Exposition (Special Programs: Classic American Clowns) March 18-31, 1976.)
