So You Want to Be a V.P. (1955)

Joe McDoakes is employed as the seventh vice-president in a firm that only makes promotions from the employee ranks. The sixth vice-president tries to tutor Joe in how to get ahead with the... See full summary »

Director:

Richard L. Bare

Writers:

George O'Hanlon (story), Richard L. Bare

Stars:

George O'Hanlon, Ralph Brooks, Joi Lansing

Cast

Cast overview:
George O'Hanlon	...	Joe McDoakes

Storyline

Joe McDoakes is employed as the seventh vice-president in a firm that only makes promotions from the employee ranks. The sixth vice-president tries to tutor Joe in how to get ahead with the boss, but all his ideas backfire. Thrity years later, Joe is the only vice-president left to be promoted but, just as the prized promotion is about to be bestowed, the Boss, as usual, forgets Joe's name...and so does Joe.

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Plot Keywords:

vice president | promotion | boss | tutor | joe mcdoakes | 

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Genres:

Short | Comedy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 October 1955 (USA)

Also Known As:

So You Want to Be a Vice President

Company Credits

Production Co:

Richard L. Bare Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

10 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Follows So You Want to Be Popular (1949)

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Soundtracks

"Auld Lang Syne"
(uncredited)
Traditional
Played when Joe's boss wheels into the office

User Reviews

Some Nice Laughs from McDoakes

So You Want to Be a V.P. (1955)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Another nice entry in the Joe McDoakes series has our hero working at a company who promotes their own employees when one dies. Joe's Vice President passes away so Homer gives him some tips on what he can do to the boss to get noticed. Considering it's Joe McDoakes we're talking about it goes without saying that nothing goes as planned. SO YOU WANT TO BE A V.P. certainly isn't the highlight of the series but there are enough nice jokes to make it worth sitting through and especially if you're a fan. You could easily say the screenplay is rather weak as we get Joe and Homer sitting in the office where Homer will tell the dumb one something and then we get a quick flash to what happens. One example is Joe getting a hot secretary for his boss but of course his wife shows up. Another example has McDoakes pretending to work all night even though he actually went home. Towards the end there's a sequence clearly influenced by CITY LIGHTS as the boss, who hasn't paid any attention to Joe, finally gets drunk and the two become best friends but of course in the morning the boss doesn't remember anything that happened the night before. Once again George O'Hanlon is in fine form as McDoakes and he clearly makes the laughs work.