|
My Little Chickadee (1940)
In Edward Cline's western comedy, the only film pairing
both W.C. Fields and Mae West, with the backdrop of the 1880s American
West:
- the set-up: Chicago singer Flower
Belle Lee (Mae West) was on a journey westward to see her relatives
in the town of Little Bend: her Aunt Lou (Ruth Donnelly) and Uncle
John (Willard Robertson)
- her stagecoach (with a gold
shipment) was held up by a Zorro-like "Masked
Bandit," who ordered Flower Belle and a town gossip and prudish
busybody Mrs. Gideon (Margaret Hamilton) out of the coach; Flower
Belle was annoyed: "Don't mind being held up, but I don't like
the inconvenience"; as the Bandit rode off with the gold in
his saddlebags, he grabbed Flower Belle onto his horse for an abduction
- and she had a nocturnal rendezvous with her kidnapper
- and later, Flower Belle was expelled from Little
Bend by a judge (Addison Richards) for her indifference, sauciness
and her romance with the mysterious "Masked Bandit": ("On
account of her carryings-on in Little Bend, she was asked to leave
town and she will not be permitted to return until she is respectable
and married")
- on the train to Greasewood City, she met con-man
Cuthbert J. Twillie (W. C. Fields), who introduced himself by presenting
his card, with the subtitle "Novelties & Notions";
he complimented her name: "Flower Belle. What a euphonious appellation.
Easy on the ears and a banquet for the eyes"; she replied: "You're
kind of cute yourself"
- during an Indian attack on
the train - with arrows whizzing by Flower Belle, she fired back
with two six-shooters: "They
can't get away with this. They can't intimidate me...This is better
than a shooting gallery"
- after the Indian attack, Twillie held and kissed Flower
Belle's gloved hand, and exclaimed: "Ah, what symmetrical digits!
Soft as the fuzz of a baby's arm"; Twillie impulsively proposed: "Is
it possible for us to be lonesome together?"; moving over to
sit next to her, he promised: "I will be all things to you:
father, mother, husband, counselor, Jackanapes, bartender...My heart
is a bargain today. Will you take me?"
- believing that Twillie was rich
after eyeing his bag full of money (it only contained phony oil-well
coupons), she accepted Twillie's proposal of marriage - with a roll
of her eyes: "I'll take you, and how"
- they were married aboard the train - a phony
sham ceremony officiated by one of the passengers Amos Budge (Donald
Meek), a gambler who looked and acted like a minister
- in Greasewood City, Flower Belle insisted that they
have separate rooms when they checked into the hotel, although he
attempted to sweet talk her with cute names: "My little dove
pie....My little sugar-coated wedding cake"; he realized when
she shut her door on him: "Seems to me I'm getting the old heave-ho"
- Twillie spent much of his time in the hotel's downstairs
bar, playing cards and commiserating with other gamblers and drunks
over how he was rejected for trying to acquire his rightful conjugal
privileges
- after boasting about bravely facing the Indians attacking
the train, Twillie was made Sheriff by the corrupt town boss and
saloon owner Jeff Badger (Joseph Calleia), who knew that previous
Sheriffs had suffered a high mortality rate; Badger and the town's
crusading newspaper editor-reporter Wayne Carter (Dick Foran) both
were attracted to Flower Belle
Teaching School
|
Twillie in Bed With a Goat
|
Kissing the "Masked Bandit"
|
- when the town's schoolteacher fell ill, Flower Belle
assured everyone that she would be a good schoolmarm teaching arithmetic,
and told her rowdy class of male schoolboys: "I was always
pretty good at figures, myself"
- there were many humorous attempts of Twillie to
'consummate' his marriage to Flower Belle, who once found himself
making love to a goat in their bed ("Darling, have you changed
your perfume?")
- Twillie was accused of being the Masked Bandit
(a disguise he used to trick her and get into her boudoir) after
an unfamiliar kiss with Flower Belle gave his identity away; he
was strung up by a lynch mob and delivered his last wish ("I'd
like to see Paris before I die. Philadelphia will do")
- when Flower Belle went to Badger to help rescue
Twillie from death, she kissed him and realized he was the true
Masked Bandit ("That man's kiss is like a signature"); Twillie
was
saved from hanging by Flower Belle's intervention (she shot at the
noose-rope); it was revealed to
the townsfolk that Badger was the Masked Bandit, and
Twillie was released
- at the conclusion, Flower Belle told other possible
suitors: "Any time you got nothin' to do and lots of time to
do it, come up"
- both of the main stars exchanged
trademarked quips - Twillie delivered his last line to Flower Belle
as he left town to go East to attend to his "hair" oil
wells: "If you get up around the Grampian Hills, you must
come up and see me sometime" (Mae West's signature line);
she responded: "Aw, yeah, yeah, I'll do that, my little chickadee"
(W.C. Fields' catchphrase)
"...you must come up and see me sometime"
|
"...I'll do that, my little chickadee"
|
THE END
|
- in the camera's last image -- as Flower Belle sashayed
her bottom to ascend the stairs, the words "THE END" were
super-imposed on her rear end
|
Flower Belle Kidnapped by the Masked Bandit After Stagecoach
Holdup
Twillie to Flower Belle: "What a euphonious
appellation. Easy on the ears and a banquet for the eyes"
Indian Attack: Flower Belle Firing Back
On the Train: Twillie to Flower Belle: "What
symmetrical digits!"
Response to Twillie's Marriage Proposal: "I'll
take you, and how"
Twillie's Bag "Full of Money"
The Ceremony
At the Greasewood City Hotel: "Seems to me
I'm getting the old heave-ho"
Flower Belle Saving Twillie From a Hanging
|