Swing Your Lady

Swing Your Lady is a 1938 American country musical comedy film directed by Ray Enright, starring Humphrey Bogart, Frank McHugh, and Louise Fazenda. Ronald Reagan is also in the cast in one of his early roles. Daniel Boone Savage, a professional wrestler, made his film debut in this feature. Nat Pendleton was a former Olympic and professional wrestler.[1] In 1938, Brunette singer Penny Singleton was about to turn blonde and embark on a long, hugely successful career playing the iconic comic strip character Blondie in a series of 28 films and a popular radio show.

Swing Your Lady
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRay Enright
Screenplay byJoseph Schrank
Maurice Leo
Based onSwing Your Lady
1936 play
by Kenyon Nicholson
Charles Robinson
Produced bySamuel Bischoff
StarringHumphrey Bogart
Frank McHugh
Louise Fazenda
Nat Pendleton
Penny Singleton
Allen Jenkins
Ronald Reagan
CinematographyArthur Edeson
Edited byJack Killifer
Music byAdolph Deutsch
Production
company
Release date
  • January 8, 1938 (1938-01-08)
Running time
77 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Bogart was apparently becoming very disenchanted with the film roles that Warner Bros. was offering him at this stage of his career; the following year he appeared in his only horror/sci-fi film, The Return of Doctor X, and these were two roles he never liked talking about when he became a major film star several years later; he considered his performance in Swing Your Lady the worst of his career.[2]

Swing Your Lady features the first film performance by the Weaver Brothers and Elviry, a comedy troupe better known as The Arkansas Travelers[3] during their many years in vaudeville and on The Grand Old Opry radio show.[4] Following this performance, the trio was picked up by Republic Pictures for Down in Arkansas, the first in what was to be a series of 11 comedy films for the studio.[5][4]

Swing Your Lady is listed in the 1978 book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time.

Plot

Promoter Ed Hatch comes to the Ozarks with his slow-witted wrestler Joe Skopapoulos whom he pits against a hillbilly Amazon blacksmith, Sadie Horn. Joe falls in love with her and won't fight, at least not until Sadie's beau, Noah, shows up. Love triumphs, despite Ed's machinations, and after defeating Noah, Joe passes on a bout at Madison Square Garden to marry Sadie and take over the blacksmith's shop, while Noah rides away with Ed and his crew.

Cast
Actor/ActressRole
Humphrey BogartEd Hatch
Frank McHughPopeye Bronson
Louise FazendaSadie Horn
Nat PendletonJoe Skopapolous
Penny SingletonCookie Shannon
Allen JenkinsShiner Ward
Leon WeaverWaldo Davis
Frank WeaverOllie Davis
June WeaverMrs. Davis (as Elviry Weaver)
Ronald ReaganJack Miller
Daniel Boone SavageNoah Webster
Hugh O'ConnellSmith
Tommy BuppRufe Horn
Sonny BuppLen Horn (as Sunny Bupp)
Joan HowardMattie Horn
Sue MooreMabel
Olin HowlandHotel Proprietor
Sammy WhiteSpecialty Dancer

References
  1. "Swing Your Lady". www.tcm.com. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  2. Audio commentary by Eric Lax for Disc One of the 2006 three-disc DVD special edition of The Maltese Falcon.
  3. Not to be confused with Bob Burns' Arkansas Traveler
  4. "Down in "Arkansaw"". www.tcm.com. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  5. Austin, Wade (1981). "The Real Beverly Hillbillies". The South and Film. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 86–87. ISBN 0-87805-148-1. Retrieved 3 January 2021.


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