I came across this 1933 comedy by accident on TCM about a bestselling author whose entire life is kept in check by his secretary. Then a former girlfriend, who is now married, shows up in the midst of his book signing tour.
Kenneth Bixby (played Warren William) writes novels about women tragically in love and full of all the melodrama that would make him a bestseller. He’s come to Ohio with practical and funny Anne (Joan Blondell) as a promotion for his latest title Miriam. They don’t say much about the book other than it’s about a woman who cannot have children and his flame from nearly a decade believes the cynical tale is about her. This ex-girlfriend, Julie (Genevieve Tobin) convinces Bixby to spend the evening with her instead of attending his lecture, radio appearance, and book signing. Meanwhile, Julie’s husband Harvey (Hugh Herbert), Julie’s sister Elizabeth (Helen Chandler from the Tod Browning Dracula), and Elizabeth’s friend (Wallace Ford) are all attempting to track down both Bixby and Julie in hopes of avoiding scandal. This also comes about at the end of the film when Anne tells Julie that the character of Miriam was based upon a different ex-flame. Julie dramatically exits declaring, “You’ve killed the other me!”
First, about this movie in general. Blondell is has good comedic timing as the “straight man” Anne. My generation would probably recognize her better as waitress Viv in Grease, but she was once a darling of romantic comedies and later played the aunts or best friends in movies like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Desk Set. The character of Anne is both love lorn, but delightfully manipulative. There is a good exchange between her and a bellhop about attempting to find rye in prohibition Cleveland. Warren William is also amusing as the charming rouge Bixby. Bixby gives an air of dignity, intelligence, and poise as a public image when in truth his is a philandering mess. His persona is all a fabrication of Anne’s hard work.
This brings me to the main point of this blog. This is the comedy of errors that is the result of a public image versus reality. Bixby’s fans think of his him as this sophisticated man who understands women and the human condition. In truth he’s a large child who puts all of his emotion into his books. His imagination and people watching skills keep a popular author and everyone assumes he is like the characters in his books. People want the creators of their heroes to reflect the heroes. At one point he makes the joke, “Julie has to marry me to save my honor. Ha.” The reader suffers a broken heart over the truth of a flawed person, even when the reader is also an author. And then there comes the debate, can one separate the author from the work?
