Information about Listen, Darling

Listen, Darling
Listen, Darling
Directed by	Edwin L. Marin
Produced by	Jack Cummings
Written by	Katherine Brush, Elaine Ryan, Anne Morrison Chapin, Noel Langley
Starring	Judy Garland, Freddie Bartholomew, Mary Astor, Walter Pidgeon
Music by	William Axt
Cinematography	Charles Lawton Jr., Lester White
Editing by	Blache Sewell
Release date(s)	1938
Running time	75 min
Country	USA
Language	English
IMDb profile

Plot

To stop Pinkie's mother Dottie from marrying a man they know she does not love, Pinkie and her friend Buzz kidnap her in the family trailer to live a life on the open road without worries about how to make ends meet. They then get the idea to find a husband for her whom both she and Pinkie would like.^[1]

Cast

Cast

Actor	Role
Judy Garland	'Pinkie' Wingate
Freddie Bartholomew	Herbert Buzz Mitchell
Mary Astor	Mrs. Dorothy 'Dottie' Wingate
Walter Pidgeon	Richard Thurlow
Alan Hale	J.J. Slatetry
Scotty Beckett	Billie Wingate
Barnett Parker	Abercrombie
Gene Lockhart	Mr. Arthur Drubbs
Charley Grapewin	Uncle Joe Higgins

Notes

This was Judy's sixth feature film and the first in which she received top billing.

Mary Astor said of Judy, "...sheer joy: young, vital, warm, affectionate and exuberant. A real kid whose sense of humor was so genuine and strong that production would be suspended when she got the giggles. 'There goes Judy!' would be the cry! And we just had to wait until she got over it."

"Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart," recorded at several lengths and tempos, including a hot swing version, was cut to a gentle chorus and a half in the final print. According to legend, this was the song that Judy chose to perform for L.B. Mayer at her MGM audition. The song became a Judy Garland standard, nearly as closely associated with her as "Over the Rainbow." She recorded it numerous times over the span of her career, and it was a standard part of her concert repertoire.

By the time Listen, Darling was released, Judy was busy at work on The Wizard of Oz. Listen, Darling was a box office success, and Judy was given star status at MGM, along with her own dressing trailer.^[2]

Memorable Quotes

Buzz: "Who said anything about town? We're out on the open road now. Boy, we can meet anyone out here - up to the President of the United States!" Pinkie: "Oh, what good would that do? He's married."

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Thurlow: "Do beavers have stripes on their tails?" Billie: "Striped ones do!"

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Pinkie: "It doesn't cost much to live in a trailer, and we could travel for months and months and eat hamburgers."

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Pinkie: "You know, I thought she did, but then when she cried I didn't know. But if that is why, she must like him even more than I thought." Buzz: "What are you talking about?"

^[3]

Critical Responses

By Frank Nugent, The New York Times, November 24, 1938:^[4]

"An extremely pleasant - winsome would be a better word - picture about two youngsters who kidnap a matrimonially eligible widow, lock her in a trailer, and start touring the countryside in search of a suitable husband ... Freddie Bartholomew and Judy Garland - with little Scotty Beckett's unconscious assistance - conduct their matrimonial tour with charming unworldliness, despite the surface sophistication of their enterprise...

The comedy has been nicely turned out by Mary Astor, Walter Pidgeon, Alan Hale, Gene Lockhart and Charley Grapewin, among the adults, and by all three youngsters. Besides being a charming little miss, Judy Garland has a fresh young voice which she uses happily on "Zing Went the Strings of My Heart," "On a Bumpy Road to Love," and "Ten Pins in the Sky" ... It is really a natural, pleasant and sensible little film."

References