Having Wonderful Time (1938)

Teddy Shaw, a bored New York office girl, goes to a camp in the Catskill Mountains for rest and finds Chick Kirkland.

Director:

Alfred Santell

Writers:

Arthur Kober (stage play: New York), Arthur Kober (screen play)

Stars:

Ginger Rogers, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Peggy Conklin

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ginger Rogers	...	Teddy Shaw
Douglas Fairbanks Jr.	...	Chick Kirkland
Peggy Conklin	...	Fay Coleman
Lucille Ball	...	Miriam
Lee Bowman	...	Buzzy Armbruster
Eve Arden	...	Henrietta
Dorothea Kent	...	Maxine
Red Skelton	...	Itchy (as Richard 'Red' Skelton)
Donald Meek	...	P.U. Rogers
Jack Carson	...	Emil Beatty
Clarence Wilson	...	Mr. G (as Clarence H. Wilson)
Allan Lane	...	Maxwell Pingwell aka Mac
Grady Sutton	...	Gus
Shimen Ruskin	...	Shrimpo
Dorothy Tree	...	Frances

Storyline

Ginger Rogers, an overworked New York office girl, seeks 2 weeks of rest and relaxation at a camp in the Catskills. She is definitely not a happy camper because of the crowded and noisy conditions. She tries her best to fit in and, after an initial dislike, falls for college educated Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., a waiter at the camp. Ginger becomes suspicious of his motives, however, and he becomes alarmed when she spends an innocent night in the cabin of a rival suitor. All ends happily, however, as their love proves true enough and trust triumphs over suspicions.

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Plot Keywords:

screwball comedy | camp | waiter | mountain | typist | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

1 July 1938 (USA)

Also Known As:

Having a Wonderful Time

Filming Locations:

Big Bear Lake, Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$966,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

70 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the original Broadway play, all the principle characters were Jewish. (In the early and mid 20th century, Catskill Mountain resorts like the one depicted in the story were vacation hot spots for East Coast Jews.) Because of anti-Semitism in America at the time, all references to Jewish-American culture (including the last names of many of the characters) were either removed or altered. For instance, in the adaptation process, the play's lead characters, Teddy Stern and Chick Kessler, were among a half dozen or so characters who were given names that were more Christian-sounding -- Teddy Shaw and Chick Kirkland. As Leonard Maltin puts it in his yearly movie guide: "[T]he original's satiric depiction of Jewish New Yorkers is completely homogenized."

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Goofs

In the final dining room scene, Teddy refers to Emil multiple times as EE-mul, but Emil refers to himself as AY-mul. Both are accepted pronunciations of the name (though neither is consistent with its feminine counterpart, Emily), but a single pronunciation should have been agreed on for the film.

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Quotes

Mrs. Shaw: I'll go and make you some lettuce and tomato sandwiches.
Teddy Shaw: Oh, never mind, Mom, it's only a few hours away. Gosh, you'd think I was going to Europe or something.
Mrs. Shaw: You better take some heavy nighties, it gets pretty cold in the mountains.

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Connections

Referenced in The Mad Miss Manton (1938)

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Soundtracks

Heigh Ho
(1937) (uncredited)
Music by Frank Churchill
Lyrics by Larry Morey
Sung a cappella by the party guests with modified lyrics
Whistled by Lucille Ball

User Reviews

Fun and love in the Catskills

Ginger Rogers is Thelma, a secretary seeking rest and relaxation at a Catskill resort in "Having Wonderful Time," also starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Lee Bowman, Eve Arden, Jack Carson, Lucille Ball and Michael (Red) Skelton. Uptight Rogers arrives at the resort and gets off on the wrong foot with Chick, a law student working as a waiter (Fairbanks). Eventually they discover they really like each other, but when Thelma expects a proposal from Chick, she gets a proposition instead and blows her stack. On the rebound, she picks up with fast Buzzy (Bowman), who's been staked out by Miriam (Ball). Complications arise.

"Having Wonderful Time" is light entertainment that has nothing special about it except its talented young cast. Rogers is fine as the more serious, less flirtatious woman in a group of love-mad girls. Fairbanks is fantastic, using a completely different persona from other films – he sports an American accent and comes across as a brusque handsome hunk rather than a British gentleman. Eve Arden's New York accent is over the top but she's funny as a resort guest, and comedy and slapstick are provided by pretty Lucille Ball and Red Skelton, who gets to do a couple of comedy routines.

All in all good fun from RKO and recommended.