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Brash "Blessed"

By August 1, 2011No Comments

19765 - Blessed Event

Mrs. Kenny did­n’t raise no fool (rel­at­ively speak­ing); when friend Daniel Kasman sent out an e‑mail to vari­ous and sun­dry con­trib­ut­ors to the very fine MUBI Notebook he over­sees, ask­ing for con­tri­bu­tions to a guide to the Film Forum’s sum­mer Essential Pre-Code series, Mrs. Kenny’s son jumped right on the great news­ie com­edy Blessed Event, know­ing that EVERYBODY ELSE would be bid­ding to get in a para­graph on it: it’s just that kind of film. Hence, out of a kind of spite for dibs comes the first thing I’ve writ­ten for the Notebook in a while, but don’t get too excited, it’s pretty short. On the oth­er hand, do get excited, as oth­er con­trib­ut­ors to the guide include such sharpies as Gina Telaroli, Ben Sachs, Jaime Christley, Davids Cairns and Phelps, the always pleas­ant and easy-to-get-along-with Craig Keller, and oth­ers. Good read­ing, good view­ing. I’m curi­ous as to wheth­er the print Film Forum is show­ing restores a couple of Jewish-baiting jokes uttered by Lee Tracy’s gos­sip colum­nist char­ac­ter that were dis­ap­peared from the film in the bad old days of Turner tam­per­ing. Also, the movie’ ALWAYS worth see­ing again, and Warner Archive has­n’t yet put it on disc, so, if you’re in the tri-state area, you ought to go too. 

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No Comments

  • cheap nfl jerseys says:
    August 2, 2011 at 4:36 am

    Good read­ing, good view­ing. I’m curi­ous as to wheth­er the print Film Forum is show­ing restores a couple of Jewish-baiting jokes uttered by Lee Tracy’s gos­sip colum­nist char­ac­ter that were dis­ap­peared from the film in the bad old days of Turner tampering.

  • La Faustin says:
    August 2, 2011 at 8:23 am

    Ruth Donnelly’s deliv­ery of “Why, there must be dozens” earns her a place among the immortals.

  • David Ehrenstein says:
    August 2, 2011 at 8:30 am

    My favor­ite Lee Tracy per­form­ance is “The Half-Naked Truth” in which he plays a car­ni­val bark­er who psses off cooch dan­cer Lupe Velez as exot­ic roy­alty in the cred­u­lous big city.

  • La Faustin says:
    August 2, 2011 at 11:15 am

    And Eugene Pallette as a eunuch!

  • Gareth says:
    August 2, 2011 at 11:15 am

    I’m look­ing for­ward to see­ing this one, though I found Tracy rather irrit­at­ing in the same year’s Doctor X, where his com­ic relief bits really seemed to jar with the over­all “old dark house” tone of the film; it prob­ably was­n’t his fault, but the double-take prat­falls were extremely repetitive.
    The cap­sule reviews for the Pre-Code films have made ter­rif­ic read­ing, and I’ve been com­pil­ing “I need to see this” lists every week…

  • Shawn Stone says:
    August 2, 2011 at 11:38 am

    Excellent write-up. The scene in which Tracy talks Allen Jenkins into the elec­tric chair and thor­oughly scares him is one for the ages.

  • jbryant says:
    August 2, 2011 at 1:22 pm

    Another big HALF-NAKED TRUTH fan here. Most Gregory La Cava films are worth a look.

  • Lee says:
    August 3, 2011 at 9:10 pm

    Thanks for the recom­mend­a­tion, Glenn. I saw both of the Lee Tracy pre-code films today and had a grand time. What’s stuck with me: Tracy’s expert antics (verbal and manu­al) dur­ing each phone scene; Ann Dvorak’s soul­ful eyes; and the hil­ari­ous Shapiro Shoes ad. I’d like a few pairs.

  • Glenn Kenny says:
    August 3, 2011 at 9:19 pm

    So glad you enjoyed it, Lee! I and the Self Styled Siren were at the first show­ing of the double fea­ture, and we had a GRAND time. It was fas­cin­at­ing to see Lee go all sin­cere at the wrap of “Molly Louvain,” after nearly two and a half hours of being a delight­ful shitheel; he could sell THAT, too, it turns out. A one-of-a-kind pres­ence in two one-of-a-kind films. And don’t even get me star­ted on The Divine Miss Dvorak.

  • Fabian W. says:
    August 3, 2011 at 9:40 pm

    Just one ques­tion: Were the Jew-baiting jokes restored or absent? I find that fas­cin­at­ing, since I always think of Walter Winchell as the Jewish voice against tyranny in Roth’s “The Plot Against America”, includ­ing pres­id­en­tial candidacy.

  • Glenn Kenny says:
    August 3, 2011 at 9:43 pm

    They were in there. But they were also milder than I remembered. More teas­ing than bait­ing, and actu­ally rather know­ing about New York in that peri­od, and not unfunny.

  • jbryant says:
    August 4, 2011 at 1:05 am

    This com­ing Tuesday, August 9, you can get 24 hours of Ann Dvorak on Turner Classic Movies.

  • mike schlesinger says:
    August 4, 2011 at 2:39 am

    Is the scene with Mrs. Moscowitz (“You should­n’t tell that damned goy noth­in’!”) back in? It’s nev­er been in any 35 I’ve seen. It’s in my 16, and I’ve repeatedly offered it to Warners to copy, but so far no soap.

  • Glenn Kenny says:
    August 4, 2011 at 6:21 am

    Now that you men­tion it, Mike, no, it’s not, and I do have a vague recol­lec­tion of that bit being a real jaw-dropper—I believe I saw that 16 print, or some­thing like it, way back in 1987 or so. The print yes­ter­day has the lead-up, as it were, to that scene—the exchange between Alvin and Stevens end­ing with the “Say, how many Jews do you think there are in New York” joke—but not the fol­lowup you cite. Darn it all. We must keep up the fight; I’d be dis­ap­poin­ted to see “Blessed Event” come to DVD through Warner Archive in an expur­gated version…