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Comedy, 75 min, b/w
Directed by: Leigh Jason
Cast: Joan Blondell, Robert Benchley, Binnie Barnes, Janet Blair
Faith and Hope Banner, sisters, are "convention hostesses" in a hotel. A body is discovered next door as the magician's convention is leaving and the mortician's convention is arriving, and the sisters, with help from manager Wilburforce Puddle, try to hide it. Complicating matters, Hope's boyfriend, Tommy, is a newspaper reporter in the hotel covering some labor negotiations.Binnie Barnes, Joan Blondell, and Janet Blair play three sisters. Their names are: Faith, Hope and Charity, in that order. Charity, of course, is the youngest and the brattiest. Robert Benchley plays an old friend of the family, sort of an avuncular type who's known the three girls all their lives. Throughout the movie, Charity (Janet Blair) plays a typical spoiled brat, even trying to vamp her older sister's fiance away from her. At the very end, after all the plot complications are sorted out, Hope (Joan Blondell) decides her little sis needs to be taught a lesson. So, she grabs Charity and puts her across her lap, right there in a crowded hotel lobby, and begins spanking her. Soon, the other sister, Faith (Binnie Barnes) comes along and decides she wants to spank Charity, too. So she sits down next to Hope, and together they flail away at poor little Charity's naughty bottom. Then, the Robert Benchley character shows up and says, "Mind if I join in?" Having known the girls for years, he realizes that Charity really needs this spanking... so he, too, starts smacking Charity's butt, intermingling his swats with those of Faith and Hope. The scene is very forthrightly presented, the camera stays right with it, and there are no cowardly cutaway shots to interfere with the action. We get to see every single swat.
Cast
Joan Blondell.... Hope Banner
Robert Benchley.... Wilburforce Puddle, hotel manager
Binnie Barnes.... Faith Banner
Janet Blair.... Charity Banner
John Howard.... Tommy Hopkins
Hugh O'Connell.... Chief of Police
Frank McGlynn Sr..... Josephus Wiegal, senior mortician
Eric Blore.... Charlemagne, looking for Charlie
Paul Harvey.... Fred Chambers, editor
Una O'Connor.... Maggie O'Callahan, scrubwoman
Almira Sessions.... Tessie Conarchy, scrubwoman
Dorothy Vaughan.... Mrs. McDougall, scrubwoman
Walter Soderling.... Charlie, the deceased
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alec Craig.... Samuel, potential casket customer
Joseph Crehan.... Labor leader
William B. Davidson.... Labor leader
Eddie Dunn.... Eddie, policeman kicked in shins
Harry Harvey.... Reporter
Robert Emmett Keane.... Mortician selling casket
Bert Roach.... Drunk advising mortician
Tim Ryan.... Singing drunk
Harry Anderson.... Head Porter (uncredited)
Eugene Anderson Jr..... Newsboy (uncredited)
Jessie Arnold.... Clubwoman (uncredited)
Arthur Aylesworth.... Poker Player (uncredited)
Bruce Bennett.... Reporter (uncredited)
Lloyd Bridges.... Reporter (uncredited)
Barbara Brown.... Clubwoman (uncredited)
Nora Cecil.... Casket customer (uncredited)
Ken Christy.... Union Man (uncredited)
Chester Clute.... Frank, a magician (uncredited)
Monte Collins.... Tipsy poker player (uncredited)
Hal K. Dawson.... Guest (uncredited)
Lester Dorr.... Reporter (uncredited)
Alan Edwards.... Guest (uncredited)
Sarah Edwards.... Clubwoman (uncredited)
Dick Elliott.... Magician boarding bus (uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum.... Conventioneer Extra (uncredited)
John Farrell.... Drunk (uncredited)
Patricia Farr.... Telephone Operator (uncredited)
Bess Flowers.... Mortician's wife (uncredited)
Dink Freeman.... Delivery Man (uncredited)
Frank Gaby.... Magician (uncredited)
Harrison Greene.... Poker Player (uncredited)
Charles Halton.... Doc, coroner (uncredited)
George Hickman.... Bellhop (uncredited)
Sheldon Jett.... Hotel Extra (uncredited)
Charles Lane.... Mortician (uncredited)
Eddie Laughton.... Magician (uncredited)
Vera Lewis.... Clubwoman (uncredited)
Arthur Loft.... Poker Player (uncredited)
William Newell.... Laundry Man (uncredited)
Larry Parks.... Reporter (uncredited)
Minna Phillips.... Martha (uncredited)
Cyril Ring.... Extra at Labor Meeting (uncredited)
Harry Seymour.... Banker (uncredited)
Grady Sutton.... Meeting Doorman (uncredited)
Ben Taggart.... Doorman (uncredited)
Ferris Taylor.... Magician (uncredited)
John Tyrrell.... Reporter (uncredited)
Ray Walker.... Reporter on telephon (uncredited)
Directed by
Leigh Jason
Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Richard Carroll
Produced by
Samuel Bischoff.... producer
Cinematography by
Franz Planer
Film Editing by
Charles Nelson
Art Direction by
Lionel Banks
Other crew
Morris Stoloff.... musical director
Production Companies
Columbia Pictures Corporation [us]
Distributors
Columbia Pictures [us]
Runtime: 75 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Black and White
Sound Mix: Mono
