Bald-Faced Theft: Pilfered Plots And Heisted Humor

[JFK]

Somebody Should've Sued






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Groucho "If I hold you any closer, I'll be in back of you"----------- Ginger "If she gets any closer to him, she'll be behind him."

[bobfells]

The plot of IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) was recycled several times in the 30s although not as effectively, of course. Even Harold Lloyd's PROFESSOR BEWARE (1938) seemed influenced by it.

[Richard Finegan]

Somebody Should've Sued

Curly Howard also does this bit in the 1935 Three Stooges short PARDON MY SCOTCH.

[JFK]

william s hart branding broadway clint eastwood coogan's bluff dennis weaver mccloud

[bobfells]

Cowboys in NYC reminds me of TARZAN'S NEW YORK ADVENTURE (1942) and its updated clone, CROCODILE DUNDEE (1986).

[FrankFay]

There is only a limited supply of plot situations before things get far fetched. Corey Ford once wrote (in one of his parody book reviews) that there was only one plot: "Boy meets Girl ......Tragedy!"

[Richard P. May]

I had heard it was Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

[FrankFay]

Sweet on the outside - tough on the inside, Goldie vandalizes a house and terrorizes the family when they return.

[drednm]

Lily Tomlin's entire act as the telephone operator on Laugh-In was lifted from a 30s film, but I can't remember the film's name or the actress who did those ringa dingies.

[entredeuxguerres]

Lily Tomlin's entire act as the telephone operator on Laugh-In was lifted from a 30s film, but I can't remember the film's name or the actress who did those ringa dingies.

I watched that picture (early '30s) recently, within the last 3 months, & STILL can't remember the title!

[precode]

william s hart branding broadway clint eastwood coogan's bluff dennis weaver mccloud

McCLOUD was a credited spin-off of COOGAN'S BLUFF (both owned by Universal), so it's not a rip-off.

Mike S.

[Richard Finegan]

Lily Tomlin's entire act as the telephone operator on Laugh-In was lifted from a 30s film, but I can't remember the film's name or the actress who did those ringa dingies.

Could it have been Isabel Jewel as the phone operator in COUNSELLOR AT LAW (1933) ?

[CoffeeDan]

Lily Tomlin's entire act as the telephone operator on Laugh-In was lifted from a 30s film, but I can't remember the film's name or the actress who did those ringa dingies.

I don't know about that, but Tomlin always acknowledged a heavy debt to monologist/impersonator Ruth Draper.

[JFK]

CLICK TO HEAR THEIR TELEPHONE OPERATORS
........

[entredeuxguerres]

Lily Tomlin's entire act as the telephone operator on Laugh-In was lifted from a 30s film, but I can't remember the film's name or the actress who did those ringa dingies.

Could it have been Isabel Jewel as the phone operator in COUNSELLOR AT LAW (1933) ?

Not Isabel, but someone seen much less often on film. That "someone," it was pretty obvious, was a doing a practiced bit--I mean, she was inserted into the picture specifically to do that schtick. (Counsellor, incidentally, is the BEST thing Barrymore ever did, I think.)

[entredeuxguerres]

Lily Tomlin's entire act as the telephone operator on Laugh-In was lifted from a 30s film, but I can't remember the film's name or the actress who did those ringa dingies.

I don't know about that, but Tomlin always acknowledged a heavy debt to monologist/impersonator Ruth Draper.

If so, then Draper herself was "doing" the character Ed & I both remember.

[drednm]

Ruth Draper isn't listed for any films so it must be someone else. I don't remember that this operator was a well-known actress. Polly Walters played operators a few times but I don't think it was her either.

[entredeuxguerres]

Ruth Draper isn't listed for any films so it must be someone else. I don't remember that this operator was a well-known actress. Polly Walters played operators a few times but I don't think it was her either.

NOT a well-known actress, & definitely not pretty Polly--a one of a kind, for sure.

[drednm]

Which of course doesn't mean that the operator in whatever this film is wasn't based on Draper of that it was Draper and IMDb is wrong. I'm thinking more of a Virginia Sale or Mary Field.

[entredeuxguerres]

Which of course doesn't mean that the operator in whatever this film is wasn't based on Draper of that it was Draper and IMDb is wrong. I'm thinking more of a Virginia Sale or Mary Field.

Didn't realize until being informed by Wiki that Draper's career commenced in teens--she would have been in her early 40s at the time this picture was made. Photos of her don't remind me of the unknown operator, but far be it from me to trust my decayed memory. One thing I'd bet on: the performance in question was one that had alredy been perfected before it was used in this film.

A short on-line list of Draper's monologues does NOT include "the operator."

[drednm]

Draper wasn't in films.

[Hal Erickson]

I thought the MY MAN GODFEY-MERRILY WE LIFE comparison was settled years ago. MERRILY WE LIVE was based on a play that was written long before GODFREY, and in fact previously filmed under a different title. Using a similar plot is not theft.

[JFK]

1. I thought the MY MAN GODFEY-MERRILY WE LIFE comparison was settled years ago.
MERRILY WE LIVE was based on a play that was written long before GODFREY,
and in fact previously filmed under a different title.
2. Using a similar plot is not theft.

1. Has anyone read the novel The Dark Chapter (1924)- or seen the film What A Man (1930)-
both of which were earlier versions of Merrily We Live (1938)?
Was the 1938 Hal Roach rendering of the tale tailored to resemble Godfrey ?
If so.... successful lawsuits have been based on much less... e.g. Superman vs. Captain Marvel


2. So far as theft, it depends how similar the plots, or sometimes, merely the characterizations, are.

[JFK]

The makers of Murder in The Big House (1942), the comedic newspaper drama
which served as Van Johnson's 1st starring feature, could not disguise their theft
of The Front Page's concluding gag by dragging it out and removing the wit of it.
(His Girl Friday (1940), the authorized 1st remake of The Front Page (1931),
also spins a twist on the same gag, but it does so effectively, with humor & heart).

[antoniod]

And do you know IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT'S German erzatz, GLUCKSKINDER, with the hit song "Ich Wollt Ich war ein Huhn" ("I wish I were a hen").

[Spiny Norman]

The Sign of the cross play appeared VERY shortly after Quo vadis was first published... Coincidence??

[Spiny Norman]

The first universal Mummy film seemed to really copy it's set up and function of its carachters from Dracula.

[precode]

Someone recently pointed out that La Cava essentially recycled MY MAN GODFREY into FIFTH AVENUE GIRL, mainly by switching the gender of the protagonist. Gotta admit the similarities are certainly there.

Mike S.

[s.w.a.c.]

Speaking of plot similarities, just watched Headline Shooter (1933) which bears a close resemblance to His Girl Friday (as opposed to its original version The Front Page), with Bill Allen as a fast-talking newsreel cameraman in love with rival newspaper reporter Frances Dee, who thinks she wants to leave the biz and settle down in a small town with a quiet, unassuming young man ... played by Ralph Bellamy. (Until of course the action heats up and she can't get the ink out of her veins...)

EDIT: Slight correction: William Gargan plays cameraman Bill Allen. (Thanks, JFK!)

[JFK]

CLICK TO HEAR A WONDERFUL ROUTINE - WITHOUT CREDIT - PERFORMED AND PRESENTED POORLY

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