By Violet LeVoit
Maisie Gets Her Man
Brief Synopsis
A Brooklyn showgirl launches a stage act with a hick comic.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Roy Del Ruth
Director
Ann Sothern
Maisie Ravier
Red Skelton
"Hap" Hixby
Leo Gorcey
Cecil
Allen Jenkins
"Pappy" Goodring
Donald Meek
Mr. Stickwell
Film Details
Also Known As
Get Rich Quick Maisie, Oh, Maisie
Genre
Comedy
Release Date
Jun
1942
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Distribution Company
Loew's Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on characters created by Wilson Collison.
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 25m
Sound
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
7,686ft
(8 reels)
Synopsis
In Chicago, showgirl Maisie Ravier loses her job when her knife-throwing partner, Professor Orco, becomes disconsolate over his latest romantic failure and almost kills Maisie onstage. Later, in the office of down-on-his luck theatrical agent Perry Podd, Maisie encounters cornball comic "Hap" Hixby and is not impressed. Leaving the office, she runs into "Pappy" Goodring, a very kind man for whom she once did a favor. Pappy offers her a job as assistant manager of his building, and she eagerly accepts. She soon discovers, however, that Pappy is too softhearted to throw out the many tenants who are behind on their rent. When Marshall J. Denningham comes to rent a suite of offices for his bottled Sapphire Water business, Pappy is delighted to see Maisie take charge. At lunch, Pappy introduces her to building coffee shop-owner Jasper, who finds it equally difficult to get his customers to pay. While at Jasper's, Maisie discovers that the building is bankrupt and the receiver, Stickwell, chastises Pappy for hiring Maisie. Hap, who also is in the coffee shop, then asks Maisie to join his act, revealing that he sold his drugstore back home to make good in show business and has enough money to pay her a salary while they rehearse. Maisie then resigns so that Stickwell will not be angry with Pappy, and she and Hap rent an office to prepare their act. A few weeks later, Hap and Maisie have started to like each other and are set for their first job. He gives her a horseshoe pin for luck, and becomes depressed after his hometown fiancée, Elsie McIntyre, sends him a letter. That night, when Hap goes onstage, he completely freezes and can only nervously clear his throat. The audience laughs at first, thinking it is part of the act, but soon start to boo and Maisie's intervention is no help at all. After an embarrassed Hap runs out of the theater, Denningham, who was given free tickets to the show, expresses great sympathy for the personable Hap and says that he would love to have him in his business. Hours later, Hap is waiting at their boardinghouse and apologizes for his disgrace, admitting that he does not belong in show business. He thinks about going home, but because he likes the big city, Maisie encourages him to stay in Chicago and work for Denningham, unaware that Denningham is a swindler and his product is merely bottled tap water. A few weeks later, Maisie and Hap are both working with Denningham, who is selling lots of stock in the company, including $2,500 worth to Hap. At lunch one day, Maisie and Hap run into Pappy, who is depressed because Stickwell has fired him. Jasper and the other tenants are outraged at Pappy's dismissal, and Maisie decides to give Stickwell a talking to. To help convince him to rehire Pappy, Hap spikes Stickwell's bottle of water with gin and to encourage him to drink more, Hap and an unsuspecting Maisie all get drunk. Stickwell agrees to rehire Pappy, and while drunk, Hap tells Maisie he loves her and wants to telephone Elsie to call off their engagement. Maisie insists that he wait until he is sober, but the next morning, just as he is about to call Elsie, she and her mother arrive, hoping to hold the wedding that very day. Hap is too weak to tell them the truth, and Maisie leaves disconsolately. A moment later, two detectives come to arrest Denningham and Hap, but only Hap is there. Some time later, Maisie is appearing at a benefit in Atlanta as part of the Frawley's Frolics troupe and sees Denningham. When she secretly calls Pappy in Illinois, he reveals that Denningham is a swindler, but escaped the law, leaving Hap, who is now out on bail, to face charges. She tells Pappy to call the police and she will detain Denningham. Telling Denningham that she is also a con artist, Maisie is able to hold him long enough for the local police to arrive and arrest him. Some time later, Maisie and her troupe are appearing at an Army post, and Hap is one of the soldiers in the audience. After her number, Hap rushes onstage with one of his silly card tricks. She is delighted and when he asks, promises to wait for him until he wins the war.
Director
Roy Del Ruth
Director
Cast
Ann Sothern
Maisie Ravier
Red Skelton
"Hap" Hixby
Leo Gorcey
Cecil
Allen Jenkins
"Pappy" Goodring
Donald Meek
Mr. Stickwell
Lloyd Corrigan
Mr. Marshall J. Denningham
Walter Catlett Jasper
Fritz Feld
Professor Orco
Ben Weldon
Perry Podd
"rags" Ragland
"Ears" Cofflin
Frank Jenks
Art Giffman
Pamela Blake
Elsie [McIntyre]
Florence Shirley
Mrs. Taylor
Harold Minjir
Mr. Hillspeth
Robert E. O'connor
Stage manager
Philip Van Zandt
Stagehand
Duke York
Stagehand
Harry Tyler
Pitchman
Lou Lubin
Horseplayer
Ralph Peters
Indian, Eddie
Jack Raymond
Indian
Gene Delmont
Indian
Dick Cramer
Indian
Frank Mills
Man in office
Monty Collins
Man in office
Jack Kenney
Man in office
Pat Gleason
Man in office
Tommy Mack
Biff Snyder
Harry G. Clark
Kid Percentage
Frank Faylen
Theater manager
Henry Roquemore
Pop
Harrison Greene
Mr. Dillon
Leila Mcintyre
Mrs. Dillon
William Haade
Bonecrusher
Esther Dale
Mrs. McIntyre
Phillip Morris
Detective
Jody Gilbert
Fat woman
Barbara Bedford
Mrs. Roseman
Willie Best
Bellboy
Dick Rush
House detective
William Roberts
Soldier
William Tannen
Manager at Army post
Philip Sleeman
Heel
Bryant Washburn
Dancing partner in Atlanta
Kay Medford
Woman in audience
Kay Deslys
Elinor Van Der Veer
Crew
Hugh Boswell
Assistant Director
Danny Dare
Dance Director
Roger Edens
Composer
William Ferrari
Associate (Art Direction)
Cedric Gibbons
Art Director
Lennie Hayton
Music Score
Ethel Hill
Original Story
Kalloch
Gowns
Mary C. Mccall Jr.
Screenwriter
Betty Reinhardt
Screenwriter
Betty Reinhardt
Original Story
J. Walter Ruben
Producer
Douglas Shearer
Recording Director
Frederick Y. Smith
Film Editor
Harry Stradling
Director of Photography
Marvin Stuart
Assistant Director
Edwin B. Willis
Set Decoration
Film Details
Also Known As
Get Rich Quick Maisie, Oh, Maisie
Genre
Comedy
Release Date
Jun
1942
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
Distribution Company
Loew's Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on characters created by Wilson Collison.
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 25m
Sound
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
7,686ft
(8 reels)
Articles
Maisie Gets Her Man
In all honesty, any of the ten Maisie movies Ann Sothern did for MGM could be titled "Maisie Gets Her Man" -- but in this sixth installment, the man in question gets special attention, maybe because he's the incomparable Red Skelton. This time Maisie's in Chicago, having narrowly escaped being skewered onstage by a knife-throwing act gone wrong, when she meets hyuk-hyuk funnyman Hap Hixby (Skelton). Even though he initially gets under her skin, the duo team up to create a boffo new act and expose a bottled water scam. Sothern weathered another four Maisie movies, but Skelton's upswing in movies (including other features like I Dood It (1943) and the first of the "Whistling" series of comedies Whistling in Dixie (1942)) was curtailed by a divorce and, consequently, his loss of deferment for the military draft. His career only regained momentum after his return from a rough stint in the Army (he suffered a nervous breakdown), returning to the screen with Ziegfeld Follies (1945).
By Violet LeVoit
By Violet LeVoit
Maisie Gets Her Man
In all honesty, any of the ten Maisie movies Ann Sothern did for MGM could be titled "Maisie Gets Her Man" -- but in this sixth installment, the man in question gets special attention, maybe because he's the incomparable Red Skelton. This time Maisie's in Chicago, having narrowly escaped being skewered onstage by a knife-throwing act gone wrong, when she meets hyuk-hyuk funnyman Hap Hixby (Skelton). Even though he initially gets under her skin, the duo team up to create a boffo new act and expose a bottled water scam. Sothern weathered another four Maisie movies, but Skelton's upswing in movies (including other features like I Dood It (1943) and the first of the "Whistling" series of comedies Whistling in Dixie (1942)) was curtailed by a divorce and, consequently, his loss of deferment for the military draft. His career only regained momentum after his return from a rough stint in the Army (he suffered a nervous breakdown), returning to the screen with Ziegfeld Follies (1945).
By Violet LeVoit
TCM Remembers - Ann Sothern
TCM Remembers - Ann Sothern
Actress Ann Sothern passed away on March 15th at the age of 89. Her film career spanned sixty years and included a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for The Whales of August (1987) and several Emmy nominations for her roles in the TV shows Private Secretary (1953) and The Ann Sothern Show (1958). Sothern was born as Harriette Lake in North Dakota. She made her first film appearance in 1927 in small roles (so small, in fact, that some sources omit any films before 1929) before deciding to work on Broadway instead. Shortly afterwards she signed with Columbia Pictures where studio head Harry Cohn insisted she change her name because there were already too many actors with the last name of Lake. So "Ann" came from her mother's name Annette and "Sothern" from Shakespearean actor E.H. Sothern. For most of the 1930s she appeared in light comedies working with Eddie Cantor, Maurice Chevalier, Mickey Rooney and Fredric March. However, it wasn't until she switched to MGM (after a brief period with RKO) and made the film Maisie (1939) that Sothern hit pay dirt. It proved enormously popular and led to a series of nine more films through 1947 when she moved into dramas and musicals. During the 50s, Sothern made a mark with her TV series but returned to mostly second tier movies in the 1960s and 1970s. Finally she earned an Oscar nomination for her work in 1987's The Whales of August (in which, incidentally, her daughter Tisha Sterling played her at an earlier age). Turner Classic Movies plans to host a retrospective film tribute to her in July. Check back for details in June.
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film's working titles were Manhattan Maisie and Get Rich Quick Maisie and Oh, Maisie. A pre-production news item in Hollywood Reporter lists Karl Freund as the film's cameraman, but only Harry Stradling is listed on the film's credits and in production charts. A Hollywood Reporter news item includes Tito Renaldo, Cy Kendall and Emory Parnell in the cast, but they were not in the completed film. Another news item includes Joe Yule in the cast, but his appearance in the released film has not been confirmed. Although an M-G-M studio synopsis of the film credits Dorothy Morris with the role of "Elsie," a cast list on the same page properly lists Pamela Blake in the role. For additional information on the "Maisie" series, please consult the Series Index and see the entry for Maisie in AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.2662.
