It Ain't Hay
Cast & Crew
Erle C. Kenton
Bud Abbott
Lou Costello
Grace Mcdonald
Cecil Kellaway
Eugene Pallette
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Private Joe Collins tells his friends, taxi driver Wilbur Hoolihan and unemployed Grover Mockridge, that, having falsely bragged to his colleagues at Camp Saratoga that he "knows all the big stars on Broadway," he has been sent to New York City to arrange entertainment for an army camp show. Later, Wilbur gets into trouble himself, when he becomes trapped inside a cafeteria because he is unable to pay his bill. After Wilbur manages to sneak out of the cafeteria with the help of Grover, Joe and Peggy "Princess" O'Hara, Kitty McGloin, Joe's girl friend, and Gregory Warner, an efficiency expert, are fired. Wilbur then learns that Finnegan, the horse owned by carriage driver King O'Hara, Princess's father, has fallen ill after eating some peppermint candy he gave it, and the cab driver rushes to the stables to nurse his friend's horse back to health. The next day, however, Finnegan dies and the neighborhood accuses Wilbur of killing the elderly horse. In an attempt to raise money to buy the O'Haras a new horse, Wilbur and Grover go to the Sportsmans Club, where they borrow $100 from loan shark Big-Hearted Charlie. They initially lose their money to Slicker, a crooked bookmaker, in a series of phony horse races, but when Grover discovers Slicker's scam, they end up doubling their money. Wilbur soon loses their winnings, however, when he buys a policeman's horse from a Broadway confidence man. Later, Wilbur and Grover are told by gamblers Umbrella Sam, Harry the Horse and Chauncey the Eye that there is a horse named Boimel at the Empire City Racetrack whose owner is "willing to give it away." That night, however, Wilbur and Grover mistakenly take Boimel's stablemate, world-famous racing champion Tea Biscuit. The next day, Tea Biscuit's kidnapping is front-page news, and learning that King has taken a drunken fare to Saratoga, Wilbur and company rush there to tell the carriage driver about their mistake. They hide the horse in the exclusive Oaks Hotel, where Warner has just been hired as manager. Wilbur and Grover manage to escape the hotel with Tea Biscuit, though Warner tells their friends that he will buy the horse for $500, knowing that there is a $10,000 reward for Tea Biscuit's safe return. Separated from Grover and Princess, Wilbur rides Tea Biscuit onto the Saratoga racetrack, unaware that the missing horse has been sentimentally entered in the Saratoga Handicap by its owner, Colonel Brainard. Wilbur is thrown from the horse onto Rhubarb, another horse, which he then rides in the featured race. Thinking that Wilbur is riding the racing champion, Grover places a $100 bet on Tea Biscuit, but Wilbur loses the race when he stops before the finish line to see if he can make the odds go up. Warner then buys Wilbur's horse for $500, and the taxi driver gives the money to Joe so that he can hire entertainment for the army camp show. Meanwhile, it is discovered that Tea Biscuit was the actual winner of the race, earning Grover $10,000, but he tears up the ticket and throws it away. Wilbur and Grover find the ticket, however, and they buy King a new horse and carriage. Joe's army show at the Oaks Hotel is a great success, despite the intrusion of Wilbur and Grover, who have been chased onstage by the irate Warner.
Director
Erle C. Kenton
Cast
Bud Abbott
Lou Costello
Grace Mcdonald
Cecil Kellaway
Eugene Pallette
Patsy O'connor
Leighton Noble
Shemp Howard
Samuel S. Hinds
Eddie Quillan
Richard Lane
David Hacker
Andrew Tombes
Wade Boteler
Selmer Jackson
The Vagabonds
The Four Step Brothers
Three Hollywood Blondes
Harold De Garro
Pierre Watkin
William Forrest
Ralph Peters
Jack Arnold
Bobby Watson
Charles Coleman
James Flavin
Robert Homans
Harry Strang
Jack Norton
Will Stanton
George Humbert
Tom Hanlon
Lorin Raker
Matt Willis
Mike Mazurki
Sammy Stein
Harry Harvey
John Sheehan
Herbert Vigran
Ed Foster
Alex Callam
Herbert Heyes
Eddie Coke
Gene O'donnell
Fred Cordova
Barry Macollum
Eddie Bruce
Paul Dubov
Charles Bennett
Rod Rogers
Janet Ann Gallow
Kate Lawson
Hans Herbert
Frank Penny
Charles Sherlock
Ray Miller
Kit Guard
Walter Dennis
James Clemons
George Bruggeman
Spec O'donnell
Stephen Gottlieb
Hal Craig
Crew
Allen Boretz
Bernard B. Brown
Howard Christie
Edward Cline
Danny Dare
R. A. Gausman
A. J. Gilmore
John Goodman
Alex Gottlieb
Alex Gottlieb
John Grant
Frank Gross
Harold H. Macarthur
Jesse Moulin
Charles Previn
Harry Revel
Frank Skinner
Charles Van Enger
Paul Francis Webster
Vera West
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Go answer the door. It might be Warner.- Grover Mockridge
It won't do no good. We're all signed up with Universal.- Wilbur Hoolihan
Trivia
The working title for this film was "Hold Your Horses."
Notes
The working titles of this film were Princess O'Hara and Hold Your Horses. According to Hollywood Reporter, Edward Cline directed second-unit footage, which included background footage shot at a racetrack in Pleasanton, CA in late September 1942. The second unit was forced, due to road conditions, to use stage horses to transport equipment from the Pleasanton train station to the racetrack. Hollywood Reporter also reported that the first unit went on location for three days in mid-October 1942 to film at the Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, CA. In early October 1942, Hollywood Reporter announced Louis Da Pron as the dance director of the film, though Danny Dare is listed in that position by onscreen credits and contemporary reviews. Actress Patsy O'Connor, who played "Peggy, Princess O'Hara" in this film, was the niece of Universal star Donald O'Connor. Damon Runyon's story was previously filmed by Universal in 1935 as Princess O'Hara, starring Jean Parker and Chester Morris and directed by David Burton (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.3531).
