June 21 Jane Russell

Happy Birthday Judy Holliday, Bernie Kopell, Jane Russell, Maureen Stapleton and Wonderful Smith.

TCM celebrated Jane Russell’s birthday and I watched Double Dynamite. A 1951 comedy staring Jane Russell with Frank Sinatra and Groucho Marx. Jane plays a small town bank teller engaged to fellow bank teller Frank Sinatra. Frank decides they can’t marry because they don’t have enough money. They are having lunch where Groucho Marx is the waiter and their friend. Jane leaves to walk back to work alone. Frank leaves a short time later. When he is walking back to work he sees a man being beaten up by two men and helps the man. The man as a thank you takes him back to his shop, which is a shirt maker. They go to the back room where there is a horse gambling den. He gives Sinatra a $1000 bill. Sinatra tries to leave, but is forced to stay. The man states to consider the money a loan. He then takes the money back and bets it on a horse race and another and another. Sinatra ends up with $60,0000 after paying back the original $1000 loan. When he gets to bank several hours later, there is a discrepancy in the books and they are looking for an embezzler. Sinatra leaves and he and Groucho go back to the shirt shop. The gambling den is completely changed to women sewing shirts.

Jane as a plain, soft spoken, simply dressed woman wants to make Sinatra jealous by going out with the owners son. She wants to spend a lot of money and have a good time. She drinks a lot of Champaign. When the waiter brings a pheasant to the table she starts to cry. She feeds popcorn to pheasants in the park. After the meal he takes her home. Sinatra lives in the apartment next door and the walls are very thin. When they get to her place, she goes into the bedroom and he follows. When the man hears Sinatra’s voice he makes a hasty exit. Jane and Frank make up by singing (until the person upstairs complains). This is were Jane looks the most beautiful.

Groucho convinces Jane that Sinatra stole the money for him so they could marry. She goes to the owners son and tries to turn over some money and say that the money would be returned so there should not be any repercussions for the person who took the money. He starts to call the police when Jane states she will “do anything’ he hangs up the phone. When she states “even marry you” he goes to the phone and calls the police. Jane leaves in the mans car. She gets Sinatra and they run. In the police ABP he is described as “looks like Frank Sinatra” and she is described as “135 pounds extremely well distributed.” The police think she stole the money and arrest her. Sinatra is exonerated due to the bookie who gave him the money told the police the story when he was picked up.

The error was caused by the adding machine. When she is cleared they are having lunch. She is wearing a $3000 mink coat and $1500 ring. That is a happy ending.