The Affairs of Annabel (1938)

Wonder Pictures' seedy publicity man Lanny Morgan has put the studio's biggest star, Annabel Allison, in one crazy stunt after another. His latest scheme has Annabel pretending to be a maid... See full summary »

Directors:

Benjamin Stoloff (as Ben Stoloff), Lew Landers (uncredited)

Writers:

Bert Granet (screen play), Paul Yawitz (screen play)

Stars:

Jack Oakie, Lucille Ball, Ruth Donnelly

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jack Oakie	...	Lanny Morgan
Lucille Ball	...	Annabel Allison
Ruth Donnelly	...	Josephine (Jo)
Bradley Page	...	Howard Webb
Fritz Feld	...	Vladimir
Thurston Hall	...	Major
Elisabeth Risdon	...	Mrs. Fletcher
Granville Bates	...	Mr. Fletcher
James Burke	...	Muldoon
Lee Van Atta	...	Robert Fletcher
Anthony Warde	...	Bailey
Eddie Marr	...	Martin
Leona Roberts	...	Mrs. Hurley

Storyline

Wonder Pictures' seedy publicity man Lanny Morgan has put the studio's biggest star, Annabel Allison, in one crazy stunt after another. His latest scheme has Annabel pretending to be a maid in order to research her next screen role. Her disastrous attempts at cooking and cleaning, and her involvement with two fugitives hiding out at her employers' house provide her with more material than she really wanted.

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Plot Keywords:

screwball comedy | satire | character name in title | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 September 1938 (USA)

Also Known As:

Menial Star

Filming Locations:

Glendale Transportation Center - 400 Cerritos Avenue, Glendale, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

68 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the second of three films in which character actor Granville Bates appeared on screen alongside Lucille Ball. Each film in which they appeared together was released in 1938 and starred Ball as the female lead. The other films to include the two actors were Go Chase Yourself (1938) and Next Time I Marry (1938).

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Quotes

Annabel Allison: Over, my left eyebrow!

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Connections

Followed by Annabel Takes a Tour (1938)

User Reviews

Daffy comedy puts Lucy in some highly improbable situations...

Personally, I've always felt that the best comedies were the ones where you could actually believe in the situations--in other words, the events are things that could have happened. THE AFFAIRS OF ANNABEL is funny in spots, but hasn't got a single moment that is in touch with reality.

JACK OAKIE plays a scheming publicity man who dreams up the most outrageous ways of getting attention (newspaper headlines) for his fading star LUCILLE BALL, her film career supposedly on the wane. One plan involves getting her to spend three days in prison (which turns out to be 30 days) and to have the press on hand when she's released. The plan backfires, of course, and Lucy fires him.

She rehires him when he gets a little old lady (LEONA ROBERTS, Mrs. Meade from GWTW), to pretend to be his sick mother who needs money for an operation. Lucy relents and he comes up with another scheme--her next film is called "The Maid and the Man" so he gets her work as a maid in a wacky household. It turns out the house has become the nest for two infamous criminals and Lucy, of course, gets into the thick of things while Oakie tries to rescue her by hiring fake police officers to storm the house.

It had possibilities but emerges as a scatterbrained comedy without any real foothold on reality. THURSTON HALL is fun as a plate breaking scientist and RUTH DONNELLY has a few good one-liners as a studio receptionist, but other than that the gags are pretty hard to swallow at times.

Best that can be said is that LUCILLE BALL shows skill at this sort of comedy and looks pert and pretty throughout. OAKIE overplays the press agent with outlandish schemes but is fun to watch.

If you love Lucy, you'll find this acceptable fare but lacking in so many departments.