It's Not Easy Being Jean
Jean Arthur’s most memorable scene in Only Angels Have Wings involves a coin so I guess it’s no coincidence that her most memorable scene in 1937's Easy Living involves a coin as well. In this movie, she ponders breaking open her piggy bank to extract one last coin. And the expression that appears on her face while she’s doing this is almost worth the price of admission. So is her expression when she almost loses the coin, only to unexpectedly retrieve it.
The movie starts when Arthur’s character -- Mary Smith--accidentally receives a mink coat that has been thrown out the window by an irate businessman -- J.B. Ball -- who was attempting to punish his extravagant spouse. Ms. Smith is mistaken for Ball’s mistress and is eventually fired by her employer for setting a bad example. She eventually receives free lodgings in a nearby hotel whose owner hopes to parley Ms. Smith’s “reputation” as Ball’s mistress into free publicity for his otherwise failing enterprise. Poor Ms. Smith has no idea that she is the object of such controversy -- though it is fun to see how she adjusts to her new lifestyle. She spends her last dime -- the coin mentioned above -- in a local automat where she attracts the attention of an employee who just happens to be Ball’s son. And after that, things get really complicated.
It’s tempting to dismiss this movie as mere fluff but it’s still a lot better than what passes for mere fluff nowadays. Arthur does a great job of portraying someone who isn’t necessarily the smartest person in the room but not quite as dumb as the traditional blonde stereotype would have you believe. Her character has none of the child-woman qualities that one associates with the typical Marilyn Monroe character but she’s not as hard-boiled as your typical Barbara Stanwyck character either. Indeed, she occupies a happy medium between the two types that isn’t all that easy for an actress to pull off. I could see from this movie alone why she became such a popular actress because it certainly made me want to see more of her -- even more so than her appearance in Only Angels Have Wings.
Besides, the movie’s main points -- (1) that society often makes wrong assumptions about people and (2) society is more often prone to reward bad behavior than good -- are worth noting. While it’s tempting to see these points as being old-fashioned and out-of-date, one need only note how often the media trashes celebrities like Britney Spears for the most trivial of offenses -- and how often they reap attention upon people like Marla Maples who have little reason to deserve such attention -- to see that we haven’t come all that far from the era depicted in Easy Living. Given the weaknesses of human nature, we may never get all that far. But at least we can keep a sense of humor about it.
Jean Arthur’s most memorable scene in Only Angels Have Wings involves a coin so I guess it’s no coincidence that her most memorable scene in 1937's Easy Living involves a coin as well. In this movie, she ponders breaking open her piggy bank to extract one last coin. And the expression that appears on her face while she’s doing this is almost worth the price of admission. So is her expression when she almost loses the coin, only to unexpectedly retrieve it.
The movie starts when Arthur’s character -- Mary Smith--accidentally receives a mink coat that has been thrown out the window by an irate businessman -- J.B. Ball -- who was attempting to punish his extravagant spouse. Ms. Smith is mistaken for Ball’s mistress and is eventually fired by her employer for setting a bad example. She eventually receives free lodgings in a nearby hotel whose owner hopes to parley Ms. Smith’s “reputation” as Ball’s mistress into free publicity for his otherwise failing enterprise. Poor Ms. Smith has no idea that she is the object of such controversy -- though it is fun to see how she adjusts to her new lifestyle. She spends her last dime -- the coin mentioned above -- in a local automat where she attracts the attention of an employee who just happens to be Ball’s son. And after that, things get really complicated.
It’s tempting to dismiss this movie as mere fluff but it’s still a lot better than what passes for mere fluff nowadays. Arthur does a great job of portraying someone who isn’t necessarily the smartest person in the room but not quite as dumb as the traditional blonde stereotype would have you believe. Her character has none of the child-woman qualities that one associates with the typical Marilyn Monroe character but she’s not as hard-boiled as your typical Barbara Stanwyck character either. Indeed, she occupies a happy medium between the two types that isn’t all that easy for an actress to pull off. I could see from this movie alone why she became such a popular actress because it certainly made me want to see more of her -- even more so than her appearance in Only Angels Have Wings.
Besides, the movie’s main points -- (1) that society often makes wrong assumptions about people and (2) society is more often prone to reward bad behavior than good -- are worth noting. While it’s tempting to see these points as being old-fashioned and out-of-date, one need only note how often the media trashes celebrities like Britney Spears for the most trivial of offenses -- and how often they reap attention upon people like Marla Maples who have little reason to deserve such attention -- to see that we haven’t come all that far from the era depicted in Easy Living. Given the weaknesses of human nature, we may never get all that far. But at least we can keep a sense of humor about it.
Labels: Jean Arthur, Películas Clásicas II, Una Chica Afortunada
posted by Tonio Kruger at 12:22 PM
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