The Housekeeper's Daughter (1939) - Turner Classic Movies

Brief Synopsis

A gangster's moll runs home to mother, with reporters and amateur detectives hot on her tail.

Cast & Crew

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Hal Roach

Joan Bennett

Adolphe Menjou

John Hubbard

William Gargan

Editor O'Malley

George E. Stone

Photos & Videos

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Housekeeper's Daughter, The -- (Movie Clip) Opening Credits

Housekeeper's Daughter, The -- (Movie Clip) You Can't Win!

Housekeeper's Daughter, The -- (Movie Clip) Just Call Me Hilda

Film Details

Genre

Comedy

Crime

Release Date

Oct 26, 1939

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

Hal Roach Studios, Inc.

Distribution Company

United Artists Corp.

Country

United States

Screenplay Information

Based on the novel The Housekeeper's Daughter by Donald Henderson Clarke (New York, 1938).

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 11m

Sound

Mono

Color

Black and White

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Film Length

8 reels

Synopsis

Hilda decides to quit being a gun moll and go visit her mother, who is the housekeeper for the Randall family. The Randalls go on vacation, leaving son Robert behind to embark upon a career as a reporter. Soon after, Benny, a meek flower vendor, follows showgirl Gladys Fontaine when Floyd, a mob chieftan, forces her to join him on his houseboat. Fearing for Gladys' life, Benny puts poison in a cup of coffee intended for Floyd, but Gladys drinks it instead, and Benny watches in horror as Floyd tosses the dead girl's body into the river. The next morning, Robert reads about Gladys' death and decides to cover the story, attaching himself to ace criminal reporter Deakon Maxwell and photographer Ed O'Malley. At a police interrogation session, they witness Benny confess to Gladys' murder and Robert, taking pity on the little man, befriends him. After a night of drinking on the town with Deakon and Ed, Benny suggests to the drunken Robert that he call his editor and tell him that Gladys was thrown from a houseboat. Waking up the next morning with no memory of the evening's events, Robert finds that his story has scooped the other newspapers and that he is being hailed as a hero. Robert's story leads Floyd to believe that the reporter has the goods on him, and he orders him eliminated. As the gang converges on the Randall house, Deakon and Ed are shooting fireworks from the roof and, believing that the fireworks are the sound of gun shots, the gangsters open fire. As the mobsters begin dropping dead from Benny's poisoned coffee, the police come to the rescue and Robert announces his engagement to Hilda.

Director

Hal Roach

Cast

Joan Bennett

Adolphe Menjou

John Hubbard

William Gargan

Editor O'Malley

George E. Stone

Peggy Wood

Donald Meek

Marc Lawrence

Lilian Bond

Gladys [Fontaine]

Victor Mature

John Hyams

Professor Randall

Leila Mcintyre

Luis Alberni

Rosina Galli

Tom Dugan

Gene Morgan

Brooks Benedict

Irving Bacon

Ernie Alexander

Harry Brown

Billy Engle

J. Farrell Macdonald

Stanley Andrews

Jack Raymond

Wright Kramer

Gwen Seager

Ralph Brooks

Buddy Messinger

Jack Richardson

William Newell

Second reporter

Charles Mcavoy

Vic Potel

Paul Burns

James Kilgannon

Al K. Hall

John Harmon

Pat Flaherty

Davison Clark

Ben Taggart

Pat O'malley

Stan Blystone

Frank O'connor

Jack Green

James Morton

Peter Lynn

Gerald Mohr

Dick French

Peter De Rey

Tony Merlo

Polly Vann Bailey

Janet Eastman

Rex Moore

John Alban

William Randall

Sandra Morgan

Carlie Taylor

Eddie Arden

Joyce Bryant

Crew

Harry Black

Wadrobe Supervisor

Norbert Brodine

Director of Photography

Bernard Carr

Assistant Director

Gordon Douglas

Amedeo De Filippi

Lud Gluskin

Charles D. Hall

Irene

Rian James

Jack Jevne

Claude Martin

William Randall

Sound Recording

Hal Roach

Hal Roach

Roy Seawright

Photography Effects

W. L. Stevens

Interior Decorator

William Ziegler

Videos

Housekeeper's Daughter, The -- (Movie Clip) You Can't Win! Gang moll Hilda (Joan Bennett) gives a sucker an even break to the consternation of boss Floyd (Marc Lawrence) and her boyfriend Lefty (Victor Mature) in The Housekeeper's Daughter, (1939).

Housekeeper's Daughter, The -- (Movie Clip) Just Call Me Hilda Sultry gang-moll Hilda (Joan Bennett), visiting her housekeeper mother (Peggy Wood), introduces herself to off-balance host and aspiring-reporter Robert (John Hubbard), who was expecting a youngster, in The Housekeeper's Daughter, 1939.

Housekeeper's Daughter, The -- (Movie Clip) Opening Credits Opening credits for The Housekeeper's Daughter (1939) starring Joan Bennett and Adolphe Menjou.

Film Details

Genre

Comedy

Crime

Release Date

Oct 26, 1939

Premiere Information

not available

Production Company

Hal Roach Studios, Inc.

Distribution Company

United Artists Corp.

Country

United States

Screenplay Information

Based on the novel The Housekeeper's Daughter by Donald Henderson Clarke (New York, 1938).

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 11m

Sound

Mono

Color

Black and White

Theatrical Aspect Ratio

1.37 : 1

Film Length

8 reels

Articles

The Housekeeper's Daughter

April 13, 2007

The year before she made The Housekeeper's Daughter for producer-director Hal Roach at United Artists, Joan Bennett had switched her image from innocent blonde to sexy brunette, inspiring the writers of a New York revue to create the lyric "Let's talk of Lamarr, that Hedy so fair/Is it true that Joan Bennett wears all her old hair?"

In this boisterous comedy/mystery, Bennett (who resembles Hedy Lamarr here) plays Hilda, a gangster's moll who tires of being a decoy and flees the mob scene to live with her mother, Olga (Peggy Wood), the housekeeper for a wealthy family. The son of the rich folks is a young professor (John Hubbard) who stumbles onto clues about the murder of a showgirl (Lilian Bond) that could incriminate Hilda's ex-lover, and she helps crack the case. Also involved are a hard-drinking reporter (Adolphe Menjou), his photographer sidekick (William Gargan) and their excitable editor (Donald Meek). The zany finale involves dueling fireworks.

For the film's advertising, UA came up with some rhymes of its own, among them "She Couldn't Keep House! She Couldn't Cook! But What She Knew About Men Would Fill A Book!"; "She Couldn't Cook, She Couldn't Sew, But Oh How She Could So and So!"; and "Five Men Ran After The Housekeeper's Daughter...Who Treated Them Like She Hadn't Oughter!" Bennett, part of a distinguished acting family, was unamused. According to biographer Brian Kellow, she enlisted the aid of 2,600 women's clubs across the country in objecting to the crude slogans and threatening a boycott. But after the protests attracted wide publicity, they actually gave the movie a boost at the box office!

The Housekeeper's Daughter marked the film debut of Victor Mature in the small role of a gangster called Lefty. The following year Mature would create a sensation as the beefy caveman hero in One Million B.C. (1940), beginning a long career as a star.

Producer/Director: Hal Roach
Screenplay: Gordon Douglas, Rian James, from story by Donald Henderson Clarke
Cinematography: Norbert Brodine
Film Editing: William H. Ziegler
Original Music: Amedeo De Filippi, Lucien Moraweck (uncredited)
Art Direction: Charles D. Hall
Costume Design: Irene
Cast: Joan Bennett (Hilda), Adolphe Menjou (Deakon Maxwell), John Hubbard (Robert Randall), William Gargan (Ed O'Malley), George E. Stone (Benny), Peggy Wood (Olga), Donald Meek (Editor Wilson), Victor Mature (Lefty).
BW-71m.

by Roger Fristoe

The Housekeeper's Daughter

The Housekeeper's Daughter

The year before she made The Housekeeper's Daughter for producer-director Hal Roach at United Artists, Joan Bennett had switched her image from innocent blonde to sexy brunette, inspiring the writers of a New York revue to create the lyric "Let's talk of Lamarr, that Hedy so fair/Is it true that Joan Bennett wears all her old hair?" In this boisterous comedy/mystery, Bennett (who resembles Hedy Lamarr here) plays Hilda, a gangster's moll who tires of being a decoy and flees the mob scene to live with her mother, Olga (Peggy Wood), the housekeeper for a wealthy family. The son of the rich folks is a young professor (John Hubbard) who stumbles onto clues about the murder of a showgirl (Lilian Bond) that could incriminate Hilda's ex-lover, and she helps crack the case. Also involved are a hard-drinking reporter (Adolphe Menjou), his photographer sidekick (William Gargan) and their excitable editor (Donald Meek). The zany finale involves dueling fireworks. For the film's advertising, UA came up with some rhymes of its own, among them "She Couldn't Keep House! She Couldn't Cook! But What She Knew About Men Would Fill A Book!"; "She Couldn't Cook, She Couldn't Sew, But Oh How She Could So and So!"; and "Five Men Ran After The Housekeeper's Daughter...Who Treated Them Like She Hadn't Oughter!" Bennett, part of a distinguished acting family, was unamused. According to biographer Brian Kellow, she enlisted the aid of 2,600 women's clubs across the country in objecting to the crude slogans and threatening a boycott. But after the protests attracted wide publicity, they actually gave the movie a boost at the box office! The Housekeeper's Daughter marked the film debut of Victor Mature in the small role of a gangster called Lefty. The following year Mature would create a sensation as the beefy caveman hero in One Million B.C. (1940), beginning a long career as a star. Producer/Director: Hal Roach Screenplay: Gordon Douglas, Rian James, from story by Donald Henderson Clarke Cinematography: Norbert Brodine Film Editing: William H. Ziegler Original Music: Amedeo De Filippi, Lucien Moraweck (uncredited) Art Direction: Charles D. Hall Costume Design: Irene Cast: Joan Bennett (Hilda), Adolphe Menjou (Deakon Maxwell), John Hubbard (Robert Randall), William Gargan (Ed O'Malley), George E. Stone (Benny), Peggy Wood (Olga), Donald Meek (Editor Wilson), Victor Mature (Lefty). BW-71m. by Roger Fristoe

Marc Lawrence (1910-2005)

December 12, 2005

With his sharp glare, pockmarked cheeks, clipped speech pattern and menacing air, Marc Lawrence had certainly carved a reputation for himself as one of the screen's finest character actors for villainous roles. Lawrence, whose career was harmed by the Hollywood blacklist in the '50s, died of natural causes on November 27 at his home in Palm Springs. He was 95.

Born Max Goldsmith on February 17, 1910, in the Bronx, Lawrence had his heart set on a career in drama right out of high school. He enrolled at City College of New York to study theatre, and in 1930, he worked under famed stage actress Eva Le Gallienne. Anxious for a career in movies, Lawrence moved to Hollywood in 1932 and found work immediately as a contract player with Warner Bros. (an ideal studio for the actor since they specialized in crime dramas). He was cast as a heavy in his first film, If I Had a Million (1932). Although his first few parts were uncredited, Lawrence's roles grew more prominent: a sinister henchman in the Paul Muni vehicle in Dr. Socrates (1935); a conniving convict aiding Pat O'Brien in San Quentin (1937); a menacing thug stalking Dorothy Lamour in Johnny Apollo (1940); the shrewdly observant chauffeur in Alan Ladd's breakthrough hit This Gun For Hire (1942); and one of his most memorable roles as Ziggy, a fedora wearing mobster in the Bogart-Bacall noir classic Key Largo (1948).

Lawrence, when given the opportunity, could play against type: as the prosecuting attorney challenging Tyrone Power in Brigham Young (1940); a noble aristocrat in the Greer Garson-Walter Pidgeon period opus Blossoms in the Dust; and most impressively, as a deaf mute simpleton in the rustic drama The Shepherd of the Hills (both 1941). Better still was Lawrence's skill at comedy, where his deadpan toughness worked terrifically as a straight man against the likes of Joe E. Brown in Beware Spooks (1939); Abbott and Costello in Hit the Ice (1943); Penny Singleton in Life with Blondie (1945); and Bob Hope in My Favorite Spy (1951).

After that, Lawrence's career took a turn downward spin when he was labeled a communist sympathizer during the Hollywood witch hunts of the early '50s. He was exiled in Europe for a spell (1951-59), and when he came back, the film industry turned a blind eye to him, but television overcompensated for that. Here he played effective villains (what else?) in a series of crime caper programs: Peter Gunn, Johnny Staccato, The Untouchables, Richard Diamond, Private Detective; and eventually made a welcome return to the big screen as a returning exiled gangster in William Asher's underrated mob thriller Johnny Cool (1963).

It wasn't long before Lawrence found himself back in the fray playing in some big box-office hits over the next two decades: Diamonds Are Forever (1971), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Marathon Man (1976), Foul Play (1978); and The Big Easy (1987). Sure he was cast as a gangster, but nobody could play a rough and tumble mob boss with more style or conviction.

Interestingly, one of his finest performances in recent years was in television, as a severely ill old man unwilling to accept his fate in a fourth season episode of ER (1997-98). His last screen role was just two years ago, as a nimble minded VP in Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003).

In 1991, Lawrence published a memoir about his venerable career, Long Time No See: Confessions of a Hollywood Gangster that received much critical acclaim. He has also developed a cult following due to his appearances in such offbeat items as From Dusk to Dawn and Pigs aka Daddy's Deadly Darling, the 1972 horror film he directed and starred in with his daughter Toni. He is survived by his wife, Alicia; two children from a previous marriage, Toni and Michael; and a stepdaughter Marina.

by Michael T. Toole

Marc Lawrence (1910-2005)

With his sharp glare, pockmarked cheeks, clipped speech pattern and menacing air, Marc Lawrence had certainly carved a reputation for himself as one of the screen's finest character actors for villainous roles. Lawrence, whose career was harmed by the Hollywood blacklist in the '50s, died of natural causes on November 27 at his home in Palm Springs. He was 95. Born Max Goldsmith on February 17, 1910, in the Bronx, Lawrence had his heart set on a career in drama right out of high school. He enrolled at City College of New York to study theatre, and in 1930, he worked under famed stage actress Eva Le Gallienne. Anxious for a career in movies, Lawrence moved to Hollywood in 1932 and found work immediately as a contract player with Warner Bros. (an ideal studio for the actor since they specialized in crime dramas). He was cast as a heavy in his first film, If I Had a Million (1932). Although his first few parts were uncredited, Lawrence's roles grew more prominent: a sinister henchman in the Paul Muni vehicle in Dr. Socrates (1935); a conniving convict aiding Pat O'Brien in San Quentin (1937); a menacing thug stalking Dorothy Lamour in Johnny Apollo (1940); the shrewdly observant chauffeur in Alan Ladd's breakthrough hit This Gun For Hire (1942); and one of his most memorable roles as Ziggy, a fedora wearing mobster in the Bogart-Bacall noir classic Key Largo (1948). Lawrence, when given the opportunity, could play against type: as the prosecuting attorney challenging Tyrone Power in Brigham Young (1940); a noble aristocrat in the Greer Garson-Walter Pidgeon period opus Blossoms in the Dust; and most impressively, as a deaf mute simpleton in the rustic drama The Shepherd of the Hills (both 1941). Better still was Lawrence's skill at comedy, where his deadpan toughness worked terrifically as a straight man against the likes of Joe E. Brown in Beware Spooks (1939); Abbott and Costello in Hit the Ice (1943); Penny Singleton in Life with Blondie (1945); and Bob Hope in My Favorite Spy (1951). After that, Lawrence's career took a turn downward spin when he was labeled a communist sympathizer during the Hollywood witch hunts of the early '50s. He was exiled in Europe for a spell (1951-59), and when he came back, the film industry turned a blind eye to him, but television overcompensated for that. Here he played effective villains (what else?) in a series of crime caper programs: Peter Gunn, Johnny Staccato, The Untouchables, Richard Diamond, Private Detective; and eventually made a welcome return to the big screen as a returning exiled gangster in William Asher's underrated mob thriller Johnny Cool (1963). It wasn't long before Lawrence found himself back in the fray playing in some big box-office hits over the next two decades: Diamonds Are Forever (1971), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Marathon Man (1976), Foul Play (1978); and The Big Easy (1987). Sure he was cast as a gangster, but nobody could play a rough and tumble mob boss with more style or conviction. Interestingly, one of his finest performances in recent years was in television, as a severely ill old man unwilling to accept his fate in a fourth season episode of ER (1997-98). His last screen role was just two years ago, as a nimble minded VP in Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003). In 1991, Lawrence published a memoir about his venerable career, Long Time No See: Confessions of a Hollywood Gangster that received much critical acclaim. He has also developed a cult following due to his appearances in such offbeat items as From Dusk to Dawn and Pigs aka Daddy's Deadly Darling, the 1972 horror film he directed and starred in with his daughter Toni. He is survived by his wife, Alicia; two children from a previous marriage, Toni and Michael; and a stepdaughter Marina. by Michael T. Toole

Quotes

Trivia

Notes

According to a pre-production news item in Hollywood Reporter, Jack Jevne and Claude Martin were to work on the screenplay of this film, but their participation in the final film has not been confirmed. Another pre-production news item notes that A. Edward Sutherland was scheduled to direct this film until Hal Roach ended his employment at the studio by buying out the remainder of his one year contract. Roach then stepped in to direct. According to another item in Hollywood Reporter, Roach wanted to borrow Spring Byington from Twentieth Century-Fox for this picture. This picture marked Victor Mature's film debut.

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