Warner Comedy At Lower Gear

The Girl From Jones Beach (1949) A Late-40's Pin-Up

You'd think this was late 40's sludge from Warners, but I found it nifty for noise both tune-wise in background (many familiar songs WB owned) and clamor the reap of habit this company had at trying too hard. Bright enough writers could still put individual stamp on assigned work; here it is I.A.L. Diamond toiling at formula before lightning later struck via association with Billy Wilder and comedy greats they did. Diamond gets off humorous chat (his is sole screenplay credit from a story by Allen Boretz) and much reminded me of It's A Great Feeling, for which Diamond supplied the story. A trifle like The Girl From Jones Beach was only as good as its gags, and player aptitude for same, so it's a question of how funny we think Ronald Reagan and Virginia Mayo can be ... in any circumstance. Reagan is a glamour artist, as in girl calendars like Vargas, Earl Moran, others who were then very popular in weeklies. Primary sell was on M-M-M-Mayo, as often billed, she of dry run at how M-M-M-Marilyn would be pushed just a few years later. Crux of story is whether brainy, and school-teaching, Mayo can lure a man despite smarts her mother says will drive them off. Sounds like ideal stuff of a modern remake, no?

The Girl From Jones Beach was a part serious actresses would naturally turn down, Lauren Bacall among others said to have done so in a huff. It probably went through much of distaff talent pool before Mayo submitted. The Girl From Jones Beach wasn't actually a B, but doubtless stank of one to those who wanted no part of it, or realized they were trapped in it. Reagan was on contract, had gotten nothing helpful from Warners since coming back from the war, and had no reason to imagine he would. Momentum from King's Row and A's with Errol Flynn was spent thanks to absence from the screen. Ones who served did pay a price for doing so, three-four years away being time for a public to forget, unless you were Clark Gable, Robert Taylor, Tyrone Power. Cartoon-decorated titles tip off The Girl From Jones Beach as comedy, swimsuit lovelies leered upon by Tex Avery-inspired "wolves" of sort that would fade now that war was done. Eddie Bracken, also a gag less fresh since fighting stopped, is in support of Reagan, latter getting off a Fieldsian highlight where he pinch/slaps a bratty kid, something I'd not imagine any farceur daring today. Bracken bids for laffs by making suicide attempts. GF Dona Drake even poisons his drink to make him really go through with it, evidence that dumbest comedies of the era could surprise now and then. Ignore The Girl From Jones Beach to your loss! It's available on DVD from Warner Archive.