The Palm Beach Story (1942)
- Starring:
- Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, (more)
- Director(s):
- Preston Sturges
- Category:
- Comedy
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As for the opening reels, the principal motivating factor is money. After a deliberately confusing pre-credit sequence (not explained until the film's punch line), Tom Jeffers (Joel McCrea) and Gerry Jeffers (Claudette Colbert) are married. "And so they lived happily ever after," exults a title card, "...or did they?" Well, they didn't. After five years of marriage, Tom hasn't raised a dime with his pie-in-the-sky inventions. Using the sort of logic common to Sturges heroines, Gerry decides that the only way to help her husband is to divorce him, marry a wealthy man, and use the second husband's money to finance Tom's schemes. Borrowing money from a generous self-made business mogul known only as the Wienie King (Robert Dudley), Gerry boards a train to Palm Beach, FL, where all the rich folk go. En route, she is "adopted" by the Ale & Quail Club, a group of perpetually drunken millionaires whose idea of a good time is to shoot their rifles at everything that moves (among the club members are such Sturges regulars as William Demarest, Robert Warwick, Jimmy Conlin, Robert Greig, Jack Norton, and Dewey Robinson). Taking refuge from this rowdy crew, Gerry makes the acquaintance of likeable stuffed shirt John D. Hackensacker III (Rudy Vallee), who happens to be one of the wealthiest men in the Western Hemisphere. While Gerry spoons with Hackensacker in Palm Beach, the confused Tom (remember him?) dallies with Hackensacker's man-crazy sister, Princess Centimillia (Mary Astor). How all this straightens itself out is better seen than described, which is pretty much the case whenever one discusses Sturges' singular work, and The Palm Beach Story is vintage Sturges with one side-splitting sequence after another. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Theatrical Feature Running Time:
- 88 mins
Complete Cast:
- Claudette Colbert - Gerry Jeffers
- Mary Astor - Princess Centimillia
- William Demarest - Members of Ale & Quail Club
- Robert Warwick - Mr. Hinch
- Franklin Pangborn - Manager
- Esther Howard - Wienie King Wife
- George Anderson - The Gent
- Monte Blue - Doorman
- Esther Michelson - Near-sighted woman
- Robert Greig - Third Member Ale and Quail Club
- Wilson Benge - Steward
- Frank Faylen - Taxi driver
- Sheldon Jett - Members of Ale and Quail Club
- Charles Moore - Porter
- Keith Richards - Shoe Salesman
- Harry Tyler - Gateman at Penn Station
- Julius Tannen - Proprietor of Store
- Victor Potel - Mr. McKeewie
- Howard Mitchell - Man in Apartment
- Arthur Hoyt - Pullman Conductor
- Byron Foulger - Jewelry salesman
- Joel McCrea - Tom Jeffers
- Rudy Vallee - John D. Hackensacker III
- Sig Arno - Toto
- Robert Dudley - Wienie King
- Jack Norton - Second Member Ale and Quail Club
- Jimmy Conlin - Mr. Asweld
- Harry Hayden - Prospect
- Dewey Robinson - Fifth Member Ale and Quail Club
- Torben Meyer - Dr. Kluck
- Roscoe Ates - Fourth Member Ale and Quail Club
- Al Bridge - Conductor
- Arthur Stuart Hull - Mr. Osmond
- Edward McNamara - Officer in Penn Station
- Mantan Moreland - Waiter in Diner
- Max Wagner - Rough-looking comic
- Fred "Snowflake" Toones - Bartender
- Harry Rosenthal - Orchestra Leader
- Frank Moran - Brakeman
- John Farrell MacDonald - O'Donnell
- John Holland - Best man
- Chester Conklin - Sixth Member Ale and Quail Club
- Director(s):
- Preston Sturges
- Writer(s):
- Preston Sturges
- Producer(s):
- Paul Jones
- Categories:
- Comedy
- Closed Captioning:
- Check All Versions
- Subtitles:
- Check All Versions
- 1942 - The Palm Beach Story - National Board of Review - Best Acting
