My Man Godfrey & Easy Living [Comedy Classics at the Paramount this Week]

The Paramount continues their Depression-era comedy theme for the month with 1936's My Man Godfrey and 1937's Easy Living showing Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Both of these comedies throw everyday folk (if you can call a "forgotten man" everyday folk) into strange circumstances involving wealthy families.

My Man Godfrey (Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday at 8:50pm) is the epitome of screwball. Gregory La Cava's film never slacks from its fast-paced madcap humor, and the audience just has to fly with it. Carole Lombard's flaky heiress Irene Bullock is determined to beat her sister in a scavenger hunt; to do that Irene has to find a "forgotten man" before Cordelia does.

Before Godfrey (the "forgotten man"), played by William Powell, realizes what he's done, he has been taken from his shack at the dump to a crowded scavenger hunt at a hotel and then into the Bullock household as their butler. Lombard's Irene and Powell's Godfrey play well off each other, but their romance is just one part of what makes this kooky comedy work so well. In all the films we've seen her in, Gail Patrick always plays a cold, hard character, and My Man Godfrey is no exception -- but even her scheming and snobby Cordelia warms to Godfrey. Alice Brady almost steals the film as the girls' mother; she, Lombard, Powell and Mischa Auer (who plays Mrs. Bullock's "protege") were all nominated for Oscars for their roles in this hilarious classic.

The Preston Sturges penned Easy Living (Tuesday at 9:05pm, Wednesday at 7pm) stars Jean Arthur as a working-class woman, Mary Smith, who becomes tangled up with a banker's family after a fur coat is thrown on her. Ray Milland, underrated leading man (and star of one of our favorites, The Major and The Minor), plays the banker's son who comes to be Ms. Smith's love interest. Edward Arnold, who plays the aforementioned banker, could pull off comedic roles as well as he was able to play "evil" roles (if you've seen Mr. Smith Goes to Washington or Meet John Doe, you've seen him in his element). Eventually Mary Smith comes to have her own impact on the stock market because of her relationship with the banker.

Note to Paramount newbies: Admission to the first film covers the admission of the next if you choose to stay for it. Double feature!