Detail view of Movies Page

Movie Detail

Name Occurs Before Title

Offscreen Credit

Print Viewed By AFI

Yokel Boy

Director: Joseph Santley (Dir) Release Date: 13 Mar 1942 Production Date: 25 Dec 1941--late Jan 1942 Duration (in mins): 67-69 Duration (in feet): 6,188 Duration (in reels): 7			Print this page Display Movie Summary

Cast:	Albert Dekker	(Bugsie Malone)
	Joan Davis	(Molly Malone)
	Eddie Foy Jr.	(Joe Ruddy)
	Alan Mowbray	(R. B. Harris)
	Roscoe Karns	(Al Devers)
	Mikhail Rasumny	(Amatoff)
	Lynne Carver	(Vera Valaine)
	Marc Lawrence	(Trigger)
	Tom Dugan	(The professor)
	Pierre Watkin	(Johnson)
	James C. Morton	(Sign painter)
	Marilyn Hare	(Stenographer)
	Florence Wright	(Receptionist)
	John Holland	(Rod La Tour)
	Paul Scott	(Banner carrier)
	Charles Lane	(Cynic)
	Cy Ring	(Reporter)
	Hal Cooke	(Reporter)
	Betty Blythe	(Reporter)
	Leonard Carey	(Monroe, butler)
	Charles Coleman	(Butler)
	Roger Kirby	(First assistant director)
	Arthur O'Connell	(Second assistant director)
	Lois Collier	(Stewardess)
	Irene Shirley	(Woman in bank)
	Cecil Weston	(Woman in bank)
	Mel Ruick	(Orchestra leader)
	Fern Emmett	(Landlady)
	Dick Elliott	(Doctor)
	Robert Homans	(Policeman)
	James Farley	(Policeman)
	Ken Christy	(Policeman)
	Bud Jamison	(Policeman)
	William Pagan	(Policeman)
	Jack Cheatham	(Policeman)
	Charles Quigley	(Richards, actor policeman)
	Tim Ryan	(Waiter)
	Frank E. Farr	(Waiter)
	George O'Hanlon	(Teller)
	Jack Rice	(Teller)
	Ralph McCullough	(Clerk in bank)
	Harry Hayden	(Bank president)
	Fred Santley	(Taxi driver)
	Harry C. Bradley	(Minister)
	Mady Laurence	(Witness at wedding)
	Anne Jeffreys	(Witness at wedding)
	Emmett Vogan	(Doctor)
	Charles Hall	(Gaffer)

Summary:

In Hollywood at Mammoth Studios, executive producer R. B. Harris complains to publicist Al Devers that the studio is not receiving enough attention in the press and that the New York office is pressuring him to come up with a hit film. Soon after, Al finds a newspaper report about Joe Ruddy of Emoryville, Kansas, who has been nominated "Public Picture Fan #1" because he has seen hundreds of films and is also able to estimate attendance figures at his local theaters. Harris invites Joe to Hollywood to advise the studio on which films to produce and assigns his cousin, would-be actress Vera Valaine, to vamp Joe. At a press conference to welcome him, Joe is asked who he regards as a Hollywood glamor girl, and he names Vera the "Wow" girl and obliges Harris to cast her as the lead in a new gangster movie, King of Crime . However, Rod La Tour, the male lead, refuses to work with Vera and walks off the set. After Joe suggests to Harris that he hire a real gangster, Bugsie Malone, to play the lead, Harris sends him to Chicago to contact Malone. Joe goes to the nightclub where Bugsie's sister Molly entertains and talks her into helping him persuade Bugsie to do the picture. When Bugsie arrives, accompanied by sidekicks "The Professor" and Trigger, he reveals that Molly has been holding a million dollars for him but refuses to hand it over unless he reforms. Joe eventually makes his pitch and Bugsie's vanity about starring in his own life story causes him to accept. Joe, Bugsie, Molly and the others head for Hollywood, where Bugsie installs himself in Harris' mansion. At the studio, Bugsie takes over and refuses to accept the script because in it the police win, and declares that he wants Molly to play his sister. The film starts production and Bugsie, bored with the slow pace, rewrites scene after scene. On the eighth day of shooting, when Molly is to perform a death-bed scene, Vera shows up expecting to play the scene and is furious to discover that she has been replaced. Immediately after Molly "dies," Amatoff, the film's director, is stunned by the entrance of a ten-girl dance routine which Bugsie has inserted in the script. Molly then "revives" and launches into a comedy dance routine. Later, Joe discovers that Molly is in love with him and tries to stall when Bugsie insists that they get married. Further complications arise when Harris' boss Johnson flies in from New York to find out why the picture is delayed and overbudget. Meanwhile, at a dude ranch in Palm Springs, Bugsie and his pals are relaxing until Johnson and Harris show up. Bugsie threatens Johnson and chases him off, whereupon Johnson removes his backing for the production. Harris wants to continue, however, and Joe arranges for a bank robbery sequence to be photographed at a real bank, as Harris cannot afford to build a set. When The Professor and Trigger are cast as Bugsie's henchmen and decide to rob the bank for real, Joe overhears their plan, but they catch him and tie him up. Unknown to Bugsie, they escape with $50,000. Molly, meanwhile, has been hit by a mike boom and is in a coma. Bugsie offers Harris the million dollars Molly is holding to pay back the bank and finish the picture. However, Molly now has amnesia and has reverted to childhood, but they try to get her to tell where she has hidden the cash. When Molly receives another bump on the head, she recovers her memory and hands over the money. Later, after The Professor and Trigger have been caught and the production is completed, Bugsie and Molly leave for the East by train. As the train pulls out, Bugsie pulls Joe on board and surprises him with a minister and witnesses, and he and Molly are married.

Production Company:	Republic Pictures Corp.
Distribution Company:	Republic Pictures Corp.
Director:	Joseph Santley	(Dir)
	Harry Knight	(Asst dir)
Producer:	Robert North	(Prod)
Writer:	Isabel Dawn	(Scr)
	Russell Rouse	(Based on a story by)
	Max Lief	(Contr to trmt)
	Arthur V. Jones	(Contr to scr constr)
Photography:	Ernest Miller	(Photog)
Art Direction:	Russell Kimball	(Art dir)
Film Editor:	Murray Seldeen	(Supv ed)
	Edward Mann	(Film ed)
Costumes:	Adele Palmer	(Ward)
Music:	Cy Feuer	(Mus dir)
	Gene Rose	(Orch)
Dance:	Louis Da Pron	(Dance dir)
Country:	United States

Music:	"Comes Love" by Lew Brown, Charles Tobias and Sam H. Stept.
Songs:	"It's Me Again," music and lyrics by Lew Brown, Charles Tobias and Sam H. Stept, additional lyrics by Sol Meyer; "Jim," music by Caesar Petrillo and Milton Samuels, lyrics by Nelson Shawn.
Composer:	Lew Brown
	Sol Meyer
	Caesar Petrillo
	Milton Samuels
	Nelson Shawn
	Sam H. Stept
	Charles Tobias
Source Text:	Based on the musical Yokel Boy book by Lew Brown, music and lyrics by Lew Brown, Charles Tobias and Sam H. Stept. (New York, 6 Jul 1939).
Authors:	Sam H. Stept
	Charles Tobias
	Lew Brown

Copyright Claimant	Copyright Date	Copyright Number	Passed By NBR:
Republic Pictures Corp.	13/3/1942 dd/mm/yyyy	LP11319	Yes

PCA NO:	8059
Physical Properties:	b&w:
	Sd:	RCA Sound System


Genre:	Comedy
Sub-Genre:	with songs

Subjects (Major):	Brothers and sisters
	Gangsters
	Motion picture actors and actresses
	Motion picture producers
	Motion picture studios

Subjects (Minor):	Amnesia
	Bank presidents
	Bank robberies
	Bank tellers
	Cousins
	Criminals--Rehabilitation
	Dude ranches
	Hollywood (CA)
	Motion picture directors
	Motion picture fans
	Nightclubs
	Police
	Physicians
	Press agents
	Press conferences
	Sign painters and sign painting
	Singers
	Trains
	Weddings

Note:	The file for this film at the AMPAS Library contains a memo from a Republic executive attached to the SAB . The memo states that the studio bought the musical play Yokel Boy , which starred Judy Canova and Buddy Ebsen in New York, but used neither its plot nor its characters in the film. An unpublished story by Russell Rouse was the sole basis for the picture, and the film contains only two songs from the musical, "It's Me Again" and "Comes Love." An 18 Jan 1942 NYT article reported that the true inspiration for the picture was real-life movie fan Private Kenneth Wilkinson, who had seen 312 films in less than a year. According to HR news items, Robert Lively, Jack Townley and Hal Long were all assigned to work on the picture's screenplay. The extent of their contributions to the completed film, if any, has not been determined. According to a 27 May 1941 HR news item, when Republic purchased the screen rights to the play, original star Buddy Ebsen was being considered to reprise his role for the film. A 27 May 1941 LAEx news item reported that Lois January, one of Ebsen's Broadway co-stars, was also being considered for the film, and the Var review noted that the play had originally been purchased as a screen vehicle for Judy Canova. According to HR news items, Broadway actress Betty Keane was to make her motion picture debut in the role of "Molly Malone," but was replaced by Joan Davis after severely spraining her ankle. Production on the film was suspended from 8 Jan 1942 to 14 Jan 1942 while Davis prepared to take over Keane's part. Albert Dekker and Mikhail Rasumny were borrowed from Paramount for the picture.

Bibliographic Sources:	Date	Page
Box Office	28 Mar 1942.
Daily Variety	19 Mar 42	p. 3.
The Exhibitor	25 Mar 42	p. 975.
Film Daily	23 Mar 42	p. 8.
Harrison's Reports	28 Mar 42	p. 50.
Hollywood Reporter	27 May 41	p. 2.
Hollywood Reporter	28 May 41	p. 7.
Hollywood Reporter	7 Jul 41	p. 9.
Hollywood Reporter	11 Aug 41	p. 9.
Hollywood Reporter	26 Aug 41	p. 2.
Hollywood Reporter	5 Dec 41	p. 4.
Hollywood Reporter	16 Dec 41	p. 2.
Hollywood Reporter	23 Dec 41	p. 3.
Hollywood Reporter	26 Dec 41	p. 9, 11
Hollywood Reporter	6 Jan 42	p. 3.
Hollywood Reporter	9 Jan 42	p. 1.
Hollywood Reporter	14 Jan 42	p. 9.
Hollywood Reporter	23 Jan 42	p. 10.
Hollywood Reporter	19 Mar 42	p. 4.
Los Angeles Examiner	27 May 1941.
Motion Picture Herald Product Digest	28 Mar 42	pp. 573-4.
Variety	25 Mar 42	p. 8.

	Display Movie Summary
The American Film Institute is grateful to Sir Paul Getty KBE and the Sir Paul Getty KBE Estate for their dedication to the art of the moving image and their support for the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and without whose support AFI would not have been able to achieve this historical landmark in this epic scholarly endeavor.



Advanced Search