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The Bachelor
and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)
In director Irving Weis' romantic comedy and farce,
noted for its Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay (Sidney Sheldon),
it told about three main characters: a bachelor-playboy artist, an
impressionable teenaged girl, and a female judge - with all its entangling
implications:
- in the opening municipal
court scene, Richard "Dickie" Nugent
(Cary Grant) - a womanizing, handsome, and well-dressed bachelor-playboy
- had been arrested after a brawl in The Vampire Club - an LA nightclub
(instigated by two women fighting over his attentions); although
it was his third such charge, he was released by presiding, serious-minded,
single Judge Margaret Turner (Myrna Loy), who disregarded the contrary
advice of her Asst. DA Tommy Chamberlain (Rudy Vallee), her part-time,
prissy and stuffy yet hopeful boyfriend
- afterwards, Nugent appeared as a guest art lecturer
to Sunset HS students in a school assembly, where 17
year-old teenager Susan Turner (a grown-up Shirley Temple in a
more adult role), who happened to be the ward and younger sister
of Judge Turner, was in the audience with her HS boyfriend Jerry
White (Johnny Sands)
- after the assembly, Susan interviewed Nugent for
her HS newspaper and immediately became love-smitten and infatuated
with him - she imagined him as her 'knight in shining armor' -
literally - as he walked away from her; and soon after, she confessed
to her older sister: "I'm in love with him - don't you realize
that?"
Susan with Boyfriend Jerry White at Nugent's School
Art Lecture
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The "Bachelor" and the Infatuated "Bobby-Soxer"
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Susan Imagining 'Dickie' Nugent as Her "Knight
in Shining Armor"
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- Susan also brazenly decided to sneak out of her
house and visit Nugent in his apartment to model a dress for him; Nugent
was confronted there and accused of being a trouble-making seductor
by both the Judge and ADA Tommy Chamberlain; Nugent retaliated
and slugged Chamberlain in the nose
- another similar
court case ensued, when Nugent was charged with assault and again
called before Judge Turner; after speaking with the court psychiatrist
Matt Beemish (Ray Collins), Susan's and the Judge's uncle, Nugent
was encouraged to accept an unusual compromised sentence
- to Nugent's utter surprise and against the Judge's "better
judgment," he was ordered to date Susan;
the Judge's objective was to 'cure' or end Susan's obsessive romantic
interest (as the Judge stated:
"Just until she gets over you" and her feelings wear out);
to complicate matters, both sisters had boyfriends who were jealous
of Nugent
- there were many instances
of the repeated and popular bobby-soxer word-play game or exchange
- a hip sing-song dialogue; it was first recited between Nugent
and Susan when he arrived to pick her up for the high school picnic:
- "Ready poot, let's scoot." - "Greet."
- "Greet." - "You remind me of a man." - "What
man?" - "A man with the power." - "What power?" - "The
power of hoo-do." - "Hoo-do?" - "You do." - "Do
what?" - "You remind me of a man." - "What man?" - "A
man with the power." - "What power?"
- there were a number of typical youth settings that
awkwardly paired Nugent with Susan at HS events, including
a basketball game, a malt shop,
and then a high school picnic; in the latter, Nugent competed
with other juveniles (including Jerry) in an obstacle course race
- and with the assistance of Susan bribing his
competitors to lose, Nugent won the race
- meanwhile, Judge Turner was beginning to fall in
love with Nugent; she invited him to dinner
and dancing at the Tick Tock Club, where the elegantly-dressed
couple were constantly interrupted on the dance floor and at their
table by various group renditions of "Happy Birthday" and "Happy
Anniversary," and a succession of individuals, including
Susan and her ex-boyfriend Jerry (who had just been drafted), the
Judge's aspiring boyfriend Tommy, and one of
Nugent's former girlfriends Agnes Prescott (Veda Ann Borg)
- the evening soon spun out of control into another
uncomfortable situation (when Susan began acting as a
wronged female and threatened to break up with Nugent); exasperated,
Judge Turner reprimanded Nugent: "I've
had enough of this and I've had enough of you. Everywhere you go,
you attract trouble!" and then stormed off before everybody
exited; left alone at the table,
the waiter came by and asked Nugent (who had been doused by an
overturned glass): "Would
there be anything else?" - and Nugent replied: "For instance?"; Susan
was soon convinced to return to her appropriately-aged boyfriend Jerry
- in the final scene at the airport, the reluctant
Judge Turner and Nugent were set up by her cupid-playing Uncle
Matt Beemish to board the same TWA airplane - and spend
vacation time together in Chicago; when they realized they would
be fellow passengers at the gate, Margaret turned to him and initiated
the familiar bobby-soxer word game beginning with: "You
remind me of a man"; she ended the recitation with the question: "Give
up?" - he quickly replied "Give up. Let's go," and
took her arm
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Judge Turner (Myrna Loy)
Richard "Dickie" Nugent (Cary Grant) Before Judge Turner
Judge Turner with Hopeful Boyfriend, ADA Tommy Chamberlain
(Rudy Vallee)
Nugent Awkwardly Dating Susan - At a Basketball Game
Nugent and Susan Reciting: "You remind me of a man" Word-Play
Exchange
Dickie Winning at Rigged Obstacle Course Race
Final Scene at Airport Boarding Gate
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