Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941)

With his high school graduation behind him, Andy Hardy decides that as an adult, it's time to start living his life. Judge Hardy had hoped that his son would go to college and study law, ... See full summary »

Director:

George B. Seitz

Writers:

Agnes Christine Johnston, Aurania Rouverol (characters)

Stars:

Lewis Stone, Mickey Rooney, Fay Holden

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Lewis Stone	...	Judge James K. 'Jim' Hardy
Mickey Rooney	...	Andrew 'Andy' Hardy
Fay Holden	...	Mrs. Emily Hardy
Ann Rutherford	...	Polly Benedict
Sara Haden	...	Aunt Milly Forrest
Patricia Dane	...	Jennitt Hicks
Ray McDonald	...	Jimmy Frobisher
Judy Garland	...	Miss Betsy Booth
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ralph Byrd	...	Father Gallagher (scenes deleted)
George M. Carleton	...	Florist (scenes deleted)
Frank Ferguson	...	Stationer (scenes deleted)
William Forrest	...	Commandant (scenes deleted)
William J. Holmes	...	Dr. Griffin (scenes deleted)
Gladden James	...	(scenes deleted)
Manart Kippen	...	Rabbi Strauss (scenes deleted)

Storyline

With his high school graduation behind him, Andy Hardy decides that as an adult, it's time to start living his life. Judge Hardy had hoped that his son would go to college and study law, but Andy isn't sure that's what he wants to do so he heads off to New York City to find a job. Too proud to accept any help from Betsy Booth, Andy finds that living on his own isn't so easy. With perseverance he eventually finds a job and even gets to date the pretty receptionist in his office. He also has to face several of life's lessons leading him to conclude that he may still have a bit of growing up to do.

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Plot Keywords:

new york city | graduation | manhood | rooney and garland | singing telegram | 

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Taglines:

Mickey woos! Judy sings! Best Hardy hit yet!

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 August 1941 (USA)

Also Known As:

Andy Hardy Cava a Vida

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$401,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Loew's, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The eleventh of sixteen Andy Hardy films starring Mickey Rooney, the third pairing of Mickey with Judy Garland.

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Quotes

Betsy Booth: Me, a child! Listen here, Andrew Hardy, my mother just bought me an evening dress that simply has no visible means of support!

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Connections

Follows You're Only Young Once (1937)

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Soundtracks

"The Hardy Series Theme Music"
Written by David Snell
Played at the start and end of the movie

User Reviews

Sabotaged by the Censors

There's some bite in this eleventh installment of the Hardy series. Unfortunately, there's also a forced retreat from any kind of controversial follow-through. In the end, the tried and true verities of small town America are once again affirmed, but then that is exactly what audiences expected from this pre-war version of Ozzie and Harriet.

What makes this entry more interesting is a dark side not usually seen in Andy's world of proms and parental wisdom. Vaguely bored with the prospect of a settled life, Andy leaves Carver to prove himself amid the challenges of the big city, New York. There he finds a more impersonal and risky life-style, but also glamor and excitement. However, his small town openness and honesty are quickly exploited by a gold-digging glamor girl, Patricia Dane in an excellent performance. At the same time, his in-bred good-neighborliness prompts him to risk eviction by sneaking a penniless youth, Frobisher (Mc Donald), into his hotel room.

Unfortunately Frobisher turns up dead in Andy's bathroom, a startling development for such a sunny series. At first, the death looks like a suicide, the boy being penniless with no prospects. It also looks like a hard dose of reality for Andy. More importantly, suicide presents a never-thought-of possibility for Andy too, since he's been struggling in a tight job market. Suicide would have added real weight to the story. However, the script is forced to revert to comfortable series form when it's discovered the boy died of natural causes.

Thus a potentially exceptional entry is turned into another series programmer. Apparently it was the Catholic legion of Decency that forced this emasculating change on the studio. What an excellent example of how the dead hand of censorship sanitized reality in the name of protecting the audience from that same reality. And, if memory serves, it wasn't until 1956 (Elia Kazan's Baby Doll) that a studio product was willing to defy the self-appointed censors and treat adults like adults.

Of course, in this movie, there's the usual lively, engaging turns from Rooney and Garland, along with MGM's customarily slick production values. Dad Hardy (Stone) works in his usual words of wisdom, this time on the virtues of unmarried abstinence of the unfortunate myopic type that ten years later would help fuel the Playboy, Hugh Hefner revolt. All in all, the series may have idealized a small town America that never was. But it also presented a picture of life as many wanted it to be and still do.