Those Were the Days!
Cast & Crew
Jay Theodore Reed
William Holden
Bonita Granville
Ezra Stone
Judith Barrett
Vaughan Glazer
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
On the thirty-fifth wedding anniversary of P. J. "Petey" Simmons and Martha Scroggs, her father, a judge, tells the story of how the couple fell in love: At Siwash College in 1904, fraternities compete for freshmen initiates. Among them is the enterprising Petey, who is in high demand because his father is rich. At Alpha Rho Epsilon, Petey is being doted on by the brothers when a realty agent walks in and, reminding the boys that they are six months behind in their rent, accuses them of wanting Petey for his money. The boys of Beta Phi then fill the Alpha Rho Epsilon house with smoke and abduct Petey, who is then arrested with them. Judge Squire Jennings lets the boys go, and Petey is later initiated as a Beta Omega Pi. When the boys pick dates for the Freshman Dance out of a hat, Petey picks the unpopular Martha, and his roommate, Alexander "Allie" Bangs, who is shy with the ladies, picks beautiful Mirabel Allstairs. While en route to the dance, Petey is chased by a mob of angry sophomores because he stole one of their hats, but manages to elude them and is cheered by the freshmen. Petey's ego swells and the most beautiful girls willingly dance with him, while he ignores Martha. As the term progresses, Petey's cocky attitude alienates him from his fraternity brothers. The night before a calculus exam, Allie upbraids Petey for his self-centeredness. Petey, determined to win back the affection of his brothers, schemes to prevent the math professor from arriving on time the next morning so that Allie will have more time to study. After sneaking into the professor's house and changing all the clocks, Petey tries to disrupt the bells in the bell tower. When they will not stop ringing, he steals a cable car, which slams into a building, and is arrested. Judge Malachi Scroggs, known for his strict sentences, accuses Petey of creating a "reign of terror" and is about to sentence him to six months in jail when Petey demands a continuance and is given one week to plead his case. When he realizes the judge is Martha's father, he courts her for a week, initially hoping she will appeal to her father on his behalf, but finally falling in love with her. The day before his trial, Petey gives Martha his fraternity pin and sends her a wagon full of flowers. When the judge discovers Martha's beau is Petey, he is outraged and convinces Martha that Petey was only using her. In court, the judge agrees to forgo a sentence of six months hard labor if Petey agrees never to see or speak to Martha again. After several attempts to speak to Martha fail, Petey ties her to a chair in her father's parlor and muzzles her with a bookstrap, then swears his love. The judge walks in on them and has Petey arrested. Mirabel then spreads a story around campus that the judge has put Petey in jail simply because he is in love. By throwing a rock through the courthouse window, Martha gets herself arrested and is placed in a cell adjoining Petey's. As a mob forms outside demanding the release of the lovers, Petey and Martha hold hands through the bars. Back in the present, the judge finishes the story, explaining that after the students set off an old cannon, opened fire hydrants, let dogs out of the pound, and stole the fire horses and painted them to look like zebras, he finally released Petey and Martha. Petey then gets a telegram stating that Petey, Jr., who is away at school, was arrested for stealing an airplane so that he could get to the prom on time. When Petey asks what he should do, Judge Scroggs suggests that maybe the judge in Junior's case has a daughter.
Director
Jay Theodore Reed
Cast
William Holden
Bonita Granville
Ezra Stone
Judith Barrett
Vaughan Glazer
Lucien L. Littlefield
Richard Denning
Phillip Terry
Tom Rutherford
Aldrich Bowker
James Seay
Douglas Kennedy
John Laird
John Hartley
Robert Scott
Gaylord Pendleton
Alan Ladd
James Dodd
Wilda Bennett
Cyril Ring
Kitty Kelly
John Marston
Dora Clemant
Kent Rogers
Frank Coghlan Jr.
Harold F. Landon
Janet Waldo
Kay Stewart
Harry C. Bradley
James C. Morton
Dick Winslow
Michael Gale
Dave Dunbar
James Flavin
Edgar Dearing
Stanley Blystone
Lux Macbride
Stanley Mack
Jack Clifford
Steve Putnam
Billy O'brien
Hal Brazeale
Richard Clayton
Bradley Clark
Sam Ash
Richard Carle
Joseph King
Nora Cecil
Murdock Macquarrie
John Beck
Renie Riano
Paul Newlan
Frank Mills
Emory Parnell
Dorothy Weber
Ted Osborn
Philip Trent
Robert Quirk
Joyce Mathews
Ruth Rogers
William Frawley
Jean Phillips
Kathleen Mccormack
Wanda Mckay
Betty Mclaughlin
Paula De Cardo
Audrey Maynard
Lane Allan
William Orr
Crew
Hans Dreier
A. E. Freudeman
Don Hartman
George Hippard
William Lebaron
Harry Lindgren
Frank Loesser
Victor Milner
Richard Olson
Jay Theodore Reed
William Shea
Robert Usher
Victor Young
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
This film's working title, At Good Old Siwash, was changed to Those Were the Days! after shooting was completed. The invitation to the press preview screening on May 14, 1940 lists the title as Those Were the Days (At Good Old Siwash), and the film was reviewed in Daily Variety, Film Daily and Motion Picture Herald under that title. According to the Variety review, the film was shot on location at Knox College in Galesburg, IL. The film had its premiere in Galesburg and in several other Midwestern college towns. The onscreen credits state that Frank Loesser wrote original lyrics for songs performed in the film, probably a reference to a medley of period songs, including "Daisy Bell" and "In the Good Old Summer Time," that plays during a montage of Petey and Martha's summertime outings. Although William Frawley is mentioned in the Film Daily review as one of the film's principals and his name appears sixth in the press invitation cast list and Hollywood Reporter review, and appears third in the cast list in the Variety review, his name does not appear in the onscreen credits or in CBCS records. Frawley was identified in the viewed print, however. The Variety review switched the character names of actors Phillip Terry and Tom Rutherford. The Motion Picture Herald review credits John Arledge with Tom Rutherford's role, although Arledge is not listed in the onscreen credits, in other reviews or in the CBCS. This picture marked the screen debut of stage actor Ezra Stone.
