Thanks for the Memory (1938)

Thanks for the Memory (1938)

Clearly a filmed play, and another odd, early Bob Hope role in which he plays a would-be published writer, except for (mainly) his busy social married life, but also having to support his former-model-but-no-longer-working wife (Shirley Ross, va-va-voom!) and thereby being able to write only on Sundays.

A lot of time is spent on a long night of partying; so much so, that one begins to wonder when exactly the plot-defining conflict is to surface. Sure, they don’t have money to pay their bills, but they seem happy enough and don’t seem to much mind their social life intruding on his writing time.

It takes a while to get there, but a former boyfriend, and an attractive Southern neighbor begin to cause a bit of friction, but still not nearly enough for the plot.

It’s only when he quits his job and begins to resent having turned into ‘a kept man’ that trouble boils over. They have a big fight and separate for a few months during which he spends his time finishing his novel, and she heartbroken and frustrated because she never got to tell him she was pregnant.

Even this manufactured problem should have a simpler solution than divorce, but that is soon under discussion.

A couple of songs which do not quite turn this feature into a musical, but which do an excellent job of emotionally grounding the story so that despite a lighter than air plot it manages to resonate by its conclusion.

It’s been fun exploring these early Bob Hope movies which seem very much at odds with his later persona. One can easily see lots of other leading men in the role. Hope doesn’t quite seem to fit the roles, but that is more due to my own expectations, (based on later movies, but not necessarily on his late career.)

Though introduced in the 1938 film The Big Broadcast this is the movie that gave Hope his signature song.

A pretty great supporting cast of excellent character actors, Charles Butterworth, Otto Kruger, Hedda Hopper, Laura Hope Crews, Emma Dunn, Roscoe Karns, and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson.