Life with Henry
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Jay Theodore Reed
Jackie Cooper
Leila Ernst
Eddie Bracken
Fred Niblo
Hedda Hopper
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Inspired by an advertisement to join an educational summer trip to Alaska, Centerville teenager Henry Aldrich writes to Sylvanus Q. Sattherwaite. Before Henry is accepted, Sattherwaite, who lives in Chicago, stipulates that Henry must earn $100 for the trip and must get three recommendations from adults. Henry's father Samuel thinks that his son is being duped by mail fraud and insists that Henry drop the idea. Henry nevertheless sends the addresses of civil engineer Bill Van Dusen, laundry woman Cleopatra Johnson, and neighbor Joseph Anderson for Sattherwaite to gather the recommendations. After Henry is publicly disgraced at a movie theater because the manager accuses him of cheating on bank night, his friend Bill inspires him to earn money by making and selling soap bars, which Henry and his friend, Dizzy Stevens, make in a big tub in the Aldrich family basement. Success comes when Henry's friend, Kathleen Anderson, encourages him to have local kids sell the soap on commission to their families. One evening, Henry's parents host a dinner party at their home for representatives of the International Canning Company, which is considering building a mushroom-canning factory in Centerville that will use locally grown mushrooms. Henry leaves a saucepan filled with soap in the kitchen and the Swedish cook, Anna, mistakes it for her mushrooms. The dish is inedible and the nauseated guests are further surprised when Henry's soap factory explodes. The canning representatives leave the next day and the entire town, whose clothes have disintegrated because of Henry's homemade soap, blame Henry for the disaster. When Sattherwaite writes to Anderson asking for a recommendation, Anderson describes Henry as a "scatterbrained, witless, destructive, asinine and reprehensible boy." Sattherwaite's interest in Henry is piqued by this description because he believes that most troublesome boys are just boys with too much undirected energy. Henry's father demands that Sattherwaite refund Henry's earnings and accuses him of fraud. Unknown to Samuel, however, Sattherwaite is the head of the International Canning Company, and when he returns the money he mentions that "canning toadstools is also a federal offense." Bill encourages Henry not to give up, and so Henry hitchhikes to Chicago. Sattherwaite's secretary will not let him in, however, and he only gets in when he is mistaken for the fan mechanic. Henry "fixes" the fan by plugging it in, but the wind blows Sattherwaite's papers out the window and Henry leaves in disgrace. Sattherwaite is impressed by Henry's perseverance after he learns of his true identity and goes to Centerville. Sattherwaite receives a cold reception in town, and matters get worse when Bill knocks him out because he thinks that Sattherwaite hurt Henry in Chicago. Sattherwaite is thoroughly disgusted and prepares to leave when Henry visits him at his hotel. At first, Sattherwaite is put off because nosy reporters try to push him around for a story, but he finally sits quietly with Henry who explains that despite his best intentions, he always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. While they eat dinner, Sattherwaite encourages Henry and is delighted when he tastes the local mushrooms and finds them to be delicious. Henry accompanies Sattherwaite out of the hotel, and astonished town leaders learn that Henry is responsible for Sattherwaite's reconsideration of their town for his factory. Sattherwaite promises to take Henry to Alaska.
Director
Jay Theodore Reed
Cast
Jackie Cooper
Leila Ernst
Eddie Bracken
Fred Niblo
Hedda Hopper
Kay Stewart
Moroni Olsen
Rod Cameron
Pierre Watkin
Lucien Littlefield
Frank M. Thomas
Etta Mcdaniel
Hanley Stafford
Edith Evanson
Rand Brooks
Doris Lloyd
Frances Carson
Charlotte Treadway
Josephine Whittel
Thurston Hall
Winifred Harris
Theodore Von Eltz
Mary Currier
Wanda Mckay
Charles Trowbridge
Paul Everton
Edward Earle
Helen Mackellar
Fay Helm
Gordon Hart
John H. Dilson
George Anderson
Harry C. Bradley
Adrian Morris
Frances Morris
Jack Clifford
George Meader
Armand "curley" Wright
Ivan Miller
J. Anthony Hughes
George Barton
Harry Lash
Syd Saylor
Earle Dewey
Douglas Fahy
William Hall
Jean Phillips
Sam Ash
Gus Reed
Cyril Ring
Harry Depp
Tina Marshall
Frances Raymond
Lillian West
Nell Craig
Helen Dickson
Fern Emmett
Danny Mummert
Robert Winkler
Ruth Rogers
Betty Mclaughlin
Arthur Stuart Hull
Stanley Mack
George Melford
James Dundee
John Sylvester
Ronnie Rondell
Ned Norton
Clarence Badger Jr.
Betty Farrington
Rita Owin
Besse Wade
Jan Buckingham
Mary Akin
John Laird
Prince, A Dog
Crew
Hans Dreier
A. E. Freudeman
Clifford Goldsmith
Don Hartman
Edith Head
Earl Hedrick
George Hippard
Frederick Hollander
William Lebaron
Gene Merritt
Walter Oberst
Jay Theodore Reed
William Shea
Leo Tover
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to press information, the character "Sylvanus Q. Sattherwaite" was based on Detroit coal magnate George E. Buchanan, who reportedly created a program for adolescents to take educational trips to Alaska. This film was the second in a series of films featuring the "Aldrich Family." The first in the series was Paramount's 1939 film What a Life!, directed by Jay Theodore Reed and starring Jackie Cooper (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40; F3.5029). Cooper was later replaced by actor Jimmy Lydon in the role of "Henry Aldrich," and Charles Smith took over the role of "Dizzy Stevens" for Henry Aldrich for President.
A CBS radio series, also inspired by Clifford Goldsmith's 1938 play What a Life!, was first broadcast on July 2, 1939 as a summer replacement for "The Jack Benny Show." The Aldrich Family was became so popular that the network brought the series onto its regular schedule on October 17, 1939. The series initally starred Ezra Stone as "Henry Aldrich" and House Jameson as "Sam Aldrich." Although the cast changed several times before the series went off the air in 1953, Stone reprised his role in the late 1940s, as did Jameson. The show opened each week with the character of Mrs. Aldrich calling our "Henry! Henry Aldrich!" to which Henry would answer "Coming, Mother." The lines became familiar parts of American popular culture and were frequently parodied in radio and in film. A television series called The Aldrich Family ran on CBS from October 2, 1949 through May 29, 1953. Jamesan and others in the radio series recreated their roles for television.
