Practically Yours
Cast & Crew
Mitchell Leisen
Claudette Colbert
Fred Macmurray
Gil Lamb
Cecil Kellaway
Robert Benchley
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
During World War II, naval pilot Lt. S.G. Daniel Bellamy prepares to sink a Japanese carrier by crashing his fighter plane into the ship. While gaining altitude before the dive, Dan radios his buddies on a nearby bomber, whose bomb supply is depleted, and wistfully talks of walking in New York's Central Park with "Piggy," and kissing her on the nose. Dan's escorts film his heroic deed, and the footage is sent back to the United States, where the U.S. Senate declares Dan a national hero for sacrificing his life. A recording of Dan's final statement is played over national radio, and Dan's former co-workers at the Prudential Typewriter Company, mishearing the name "Piggy," assume that Dan was in love with accountant Peggy Martin. Peggy is stunned by Dan's unexpected proclamation, and her boss, Marvin P. Meglin, convinces her to make a radio broadcast, during which she is announced as Dan's fiancée. After Peggy makes an impassioned speech to rouse women to support the war effort, newsreel editors notice that Dan's plane did not explode on the carrier as they had thought, but was diverted into the ocean after his bombs exploded an exposed ammunition magazine. When Peggy then hears that Dan is alive and being rescued, she faints. Later, besieged by reporters, Dan returns to New York, and tells his uncle that he had been speaking about his dog, Piggy. To save Peggy from embarrassment, Dan does not admit the truth until after he is invited to Meglin's mansion with Peggy. There Dan attempts to rename his confused dog "Porky," but Piggy does not respond to her new name, and Dan tells Peggy the truth. Feeling pressured by the Meglins' earnest attempts to arrange an elaborate wedding, as well as the expectations of the public, Dan and Peggy agree to appear as a couple until Dan returns to active duty in two weeks. Dan then insists on speaking to Peggy's suitor, accountant Albert Beagell, and arranges for Albert to be included in all their plans, much to Peggy's horror, as she has always tried to put conventional Albert off. After Dan discovers that all his former girl friends have married, he meets Peggy at a movie theater. Dan is embarrassed by the newsreels that declare him a hero and is punched by a theater patron who, not recognizing him, is offended when he verbally insults himself. Before returning to the Meglins', Dan is approached by Ellen Macy, whose pilot husband was stationed with Dan on an aircraft carrier. Ellen is eager for news from her husband, and Dan kindly pretends to remember him, but urges her not to be overly optimistic about his safe return. Peggy sharply criticizes Dan for not being more encouraging until he reveals that the carrier was sunk a month earlier. After Dan helps to ensure that Albert proposes to Peggy, he puts off the Meglins by telling them that Peggy is not yet ready to marry. Dan makes a public appearance for a Red Cross fundraiser, after which he, Peggy, Albert and Piggy, who is hidden in the deflated life raft on which Dan was saved, board the subway. The raft accidentally inflates on the crowded train, however, and Peggy and Dan are forced off. When Dan learns that the Navy is finally going to release information about the sunken carrier, he disappears on a supposed date. Peggy goes to see Ellen and discovers that Dan had preceded her so that he could break the news gently. Peggy realizes that she has genuinely fallen in love with Dan, and in an effort to win his affection, she arranges for press photographer La Crosse, who is shooting war bond posters, to take a photo of them in a long kiss. Dan then becomes jealous when Peggy plans to marry Albert immediately after he leaves. Eager to marry Peggy, Albert rents an apartment without consulting her, and both Peggy and Dan are appalled when Albert confesses that it was paid for by friends at their office, who believe that Peggy and Dan will live there. Dan loses his patience when he learns that, after the raft inflated, Albert left Piggy on the subway train to be picked up by a dog catcher. Dan knocks Albert out and proposes to Peggy that they marry after the war. Peggy insists on marrying immediately, but Dan stubbornly refuses. When Dan and Peggy attend a ship's christening, Peggy publicly announces her readiness for marriage, and has the Meglins' house guest, Judge Oscar Stimson on hand to officiate. Albert tries to stop them, but Peggy accidentally knocks him on the head with the bottle of champagne as she pulls her arm back to christen the ship, and he passes out. Stimson then performs the wedding ceremony and Dan and Peggy are married.
Director
Mitchell Leisen
Cast
Claudette Colbert
Fred Macmurray
Gil Lamb
Cecil Kellaway
Robert Benchley
Tom Powers
Jane Frazee
Rosemary De Camp
Isabel Randolph
Mikhail Rasumny
Arthur Loft
Edgar Norton
Donald Macbride
Donald Kerr
Clara Reid
Don Barclay
Rommie, A Dog
Charles Irwin
Will Wright
Isabel Withers
George Carleton
Frederic Nay
Stan Johnson
John Whitney
James Millican
Byron [s.] Barr
Allen Fox
George Turner
Reginald Simpson
Ralph Linn
Jerry James
William Meader
Sam Ash
John Wald
Charles A. Hughes
Hugh Beaumont
Warren Ashe
Roy Brent
Gary Bruce
John James
Mike Lally
Jack Rice
George Melford
Ottola Nesmith
Len Hendry
Nell Craig
Charles Hamilton
Yvonne Decarlo
Julie Gibson
Allen Pinson
Edward Earle
Mimi Doyle
Helen Dickson
Jack Clifford
Gladys Blake
Earle Hodgins
Edwin Maxwell
Thomas Quinn
Stanley Andrews
Kitty Kelly
Marjean Neville
Tom Kennedy
Jan Buckingham
Michael Miller
Hugh Binyon
Sonny Boy Williams
Louise La Planche
Maxine Fife
Eddie Hall
Stephen Wayne
Ronnie Rondell
Tex Taylor
Anthony Marsh
Larry Thompson
Louise Currie
Peggy Leon
Bobby Barber
Dorothy Granger
Crew
Guy Bennett
Ivyl Burks
Rena Clark
John Coonan
Sam Coslow
B. G. Desylva
Mary K. Dodson
Hans Dreier
Farciot Edouart
Howard Greer
Loyal Griggs
Doane Harrison
Dev Jennings
Gordon Jennings
Don Johnson
James Knott
Norman Krasna
Charles Lang Jr.
Paul Lerpae
Donald Mckay
Helen Gladys Percey
Stephen Seymour
Harry Tugend
Robert Usher
Jimmy Vincent
Wally Westmore
Philip Wisdom
Victor Young
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
This film marks Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert's final film as contract players with Paramount studios. The film's initial length was listed as 99 minutes, however, it was probably cut after previews. Hollywood Reporter news items reveal that Paulette Goddard was initially slated for the female lead, and that some scenes were shot on location at the Western Gear Company war plant in Los Angeles, CA. Claudette Colbert reprised her role in a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast on August 27, 1945, co-starring Ray Milland.
