Lovin' the Ladies
About Lovin' the Ladies
Electrician Peter Darby is called to the house of rich Jimmy Farnsworth. Jimmy has bet George Van Horne $5,000 that any two people will fall in love if the setting is right, and George picks Peter and Betty Duncan. Jimmy pays Peter $2,500 to pose as a man of means and courts Betty with flowers, a violinist, perfume, and Shelley's poems. Peter mistakes Joan Bently, whom Jimmy wants to marry, for the woman in the bet, and falls for her instead. Betty prefers the butler, Brooks. When Joan hears about the wager she thinks Peter is a fraud; he makes Jimmy confess, walks out, and finds her waiting in the taxi.
Cast & crew
More about Lovin' the Ladies
William LeBaron produced the film from his own 1919 Broadway play I Love You, which G. M. Anderson had staged and in which a younger Richard Dix had acted. J. Walter Ruben wrote the screenplay. Melville W. Brown directed. The picture returned a profit of $65,000.
Themes
Background
An early RKO talkie comedy, opened in New York in the spring of 1930.
Making
Dix, already a screen lead by 1930, returned to a play he had done on stage in 1919, this time as the electrician rather than as a younger member of the company.
Reviews
Mordaunt Hall, in The New York Times, treated it as a pleasant farce, nicely acted, and short on spontaneity.
Audiences
On a cost of $207,000 it took $428,000 and cleared $65,000.
Look
Edward Cronjager shot the comedy in RKO's early-sound style, with the bet staged as a series of arranged romantic effects inside Jimmy's house.
Notes
- Lois Wilson plays Joan Bently, Allen Kearns plays Jimmy, Renée Macready plays Betty, and Anthony Bushell plays Brooks.
- Henry Armetta appears as Signore Sagatelli. Rita La Roy plays Louise Endicott.
- The New York opening was 21 March 1930, with general release on 6 April.
- Running-time listings range from 65 to 68 minutes.
- Edward Cronjager was the cinematographer.
Scenes
- Jimmy sets Betty a scene of flowers, violin, perfume, and Shelley, and she still prefers the butler.
- Peter forces Jimmy to admit the bet, then finds Joan sitting in the taxi.
Influenced by
- William LeBaron's play I Love You (1919)
