Spring CMBA Blogathon– “Make ‘Em Laugh,” The More the Merrier (1943)

I’m not a big fan of war movies, however, what I do love are movies set against the backdrop of war, where a different story unfolds, something that isn’t just one battle scene after another. While there are films set during pretty much every war (some major, some minor), perhaps no other war inspired as many war films as World War II (1939-1945). While there were many films that focused on the individual WWII military campaigns, battles, prominent figures, etc. there were just as many films focused on the homefront in the United States after December 8, 1941, the day that the United States officially entered the war–the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It is these homefront films that I find more compelling and interesting than the films that just depict the military.

World War II was an era of great patriotism in the United States, citizens were encouraged to do their part to support the war effort. Hollywood stars used their celebrity to sell war bonds which helped to finance the United States’ military efforts. Star Carole Lombard was one of the war’s first American casualities when she died in January 1942 in a Nevada plane crash on her way home to Los Angeles from selling war bonds in her home state of Indiana. Other stars like Bette Davis and John Garfield formed the Hollywood Canteen to provide food, drinks and entertainment to the troops.

Ordinary citizens were issued ration stamps for both food and fuel to manage shortages of essential goods and supplies. Victory gardens were grown by countless families across the country as a way to reduce the strain on public food supplies. Women drew lines on the backs of their legs to simulate the seams of their stockings, because all nylon production was devoted to manufacturing parachutes and other war-related objects. Another way that citizens were asked to help the war effort was by offering up extra rooms in their homes to help alleviate the housing shortage. After the United States’ entry into World War II following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the government halted all non-essential construction projects, citing that all building materials were needed for the military effort. The subsequent housing shortage is the subject covered in one of my favorite comedies, Director George Stevens’ The More the Merrier, from 1943.

In The More the Merrier, Jean Arthur plays Constance “Connie” Milligan who lives in a 2-bedroom apartment in Washington DC. To do her part for the war effort, she sublets out half of her apartment for $12/week ($229 in 2026) and puts out an ad. Retired millionaire Benjamin Dingle (Charles Coburn), who has arrived in DC two days early to discuss plans with a government bureaucrat to alleviate the housing shortage, answers Connie’s ad. Mr. Dingle lives by the mantra, “Damn the torpedos! Full speed ahead!” where he’s just going to go for “it” regardless of the potential consequences. It’s a great mantra, because frankly, sometimes you just have to take a risk (provided what you want to do isn’t illegal or harmful). Connie is reluctant to sublet half her apartment to a man, but relents after Mr. Dingle tells her a fictitious scenario where she rents her apartment to a dumpy looking roommate who is always dirty and insists on borrowing all her things. The next day, Mr. Dingle meets Sergeant Joe Carter (Joel McCrea) who needs somewhere to stay for a week while he waits to be shipped overseas. To help out Joe, Mr. Dingle sublets him half of his half for $6 ($114/week). Connie is not pleased.

MR. DINGLE: Well, any woman, no matter who, would insist upon borrowing that dress you got on right now. Because it’s so pretty.
CONNIE: I made it myself.
MR. DINGLE: And how would you like it if she spilled a cocktail all over it…at a party you couldn’t go with her to because she borrowed it to go to it in.
CONNIE: She might have something I could wear.
MR. DINGLE: Not her.
CONNIE: Why not?
MR. DINGLE: Because she’s so dumpy looking. Never has anything clean. That’s why she’s always borrowing your dresses.

Charles Coburn and Jean Arthur in The More the Merrier.

JOE: What do you do?
MR. DINGLE: I’m a well-to-do retired millionaire. How about you?
JOE: Same.

Joel McCrea and Charles Coburn in The More the Merrier.

MR. DINGLE: What’s your name?
JOE: Carter.
MR. DINGLE: Bill Carter?
JOE: Joe Carter.
MR. DINGLE: I used to know a party named Bill Carter.
JOE: Wasn’t me.
MR. DINGLE: Don’t you suppose I know that?
JOE: What’d you ask for then?
MR. DINGLE: Get you to know I know what Bill Carter looked like.
JOE: Not like me.
MR. DINGLE: Then you know Bill Carter?
JOE: No I don’t. But he sounds like a great guy.

Charles Coburn and Joel McCrea in The More the Merrier.

MR. DINGLE: Oh. Maybe you think it is none of my business.
JOE: Maybe I do.
MR. DINGLE: Probably your name isn’t even Bill Carter.
JOE: Probably not. It’s probably Joe Carter.

Charles Coburn and Joel McCrea in The More the Merrier.

The entire scene where Connie gives Mr. Dingle the lowdown on her schedule is hysterical and one of my favorite parts. First of all, Mr. Dingle is retired, why does he need to follow her schedule? Connie should just do her thing and leave him to do his. Second, Connie is an extremely efficient and organized woman. Here is the schedule that she gives to Mr. Dingle:

7:00am Connie’s alarm goes off, she and Mr. Dingle get up.
7:01am Connie goes into the bathroom. Mr. Dingle goes out to the hall to get the milk.
7:05am Mr. Dingle starts the coffee.
7:06am Connie leaves the bathroom.
7:07am Mr. Dingle enters the bathroom.
7:08am Connie starts to get dressed for the day.
7:11am Connie drinks her coffee.
7:12am Mr. Dingle leaves the bathroom.
7:13am Connie puts her eggs on the stove and finishes dressing while the eggs cook. Mr. Dingle puts on his shoes.
7:16am Connie takes her eggs off the stove.
7:17am Mr. Dingle starts shaving.
7:18am Connie eats her eggs.
7:21am Connie is in the bathroom fixing her hair.
7:24am Mr. Dingle is in the kitchen putting his eggs on the stove.
7:25am Mr. Dingle makes his bed.
7:26am Connie makes her bed.
7:27am Mr. Dingle eats his eggs, while Connie takes out the papers and cans.
7:29am Mr. Dingle washes the dishes.
7:30am Connie and Mr. Dingle are all finished, ready for the day.
7:32am Connie’s carpool comes to take her to work.

This woman does not leave herself much wiggle room in her schedule. 32 mins total from wake-up to carpool and in between she gets ready for work, has time to put on some sort of bed jacket while she eats her eggs, then puts on her actual work clothes, puts out her trash, and does the dishes! Mr. Dingle cannot keep up and has a hilarious scene where he accidentally brings the coffee into the shower with him.

Mr. Dingle quickly realizes that Connie and Joe are very compatible and should be together. The only person who stands in their way is Connie’s fiance of 22 months, Charles J. Pendergast (Richard Gaines), a 42-year old businessman who wears a terrible toupee and makes $8600/year ($164k in 2026), not too shabby. One of my favorite quotes in this movie comes in the scene where Joe and Mr. Dingle razz Connie about her relationship with Pendergast.

CONNIE: You look messy. Don’t you ever brush your hair?
JOE: I s’pose Mr. Pendergast combs his hair every hour, on the hour.
CONNIE: Mr. Pendergast has NO hair!

Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea in The More the Merrier.

Eventually, we know that the relationship between Connie and Mr. Pendergast is going to fizzle out. It has to! He is NO hunky Joel McCrea. We especially know that Connie and Joe will end up together after they share a very romantic scene on the front stoop of the apartment building. The scene between Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea on the stoop is one of the sexiest scenes in Classic Hollywood. Apparently, Arthur’s stage fright made her extremely nervous and anxious and she was having trouble with the scene. McCrea decided to ad-lib and distract her by nuzzling and touching her hands, shoulders and arms. Arthur’s nervousness is present, but it comes across as her character obviously becoming somewhat aroused by Joe’s actions, versus an actress nervous about shooting a scene.

CONNIE: What happened? Nothing. I’m not the kind of person anything happens to.

Jean Arthur in The More the Merrier.

There is also a scene with Morton (Stanley Clements) who may be the most annoying character ever committed to film. I hate this character. He’s too old to join the Scouts so who cares whether he’s the camp craft-type or not? I don’t want to talk about him any more because I hate him so much. However, his character does serve as the plot device that brings about the third act of the film–where Mr. Dingle is able to finish his scheme to bring Joe and Connie together.

Charles Coburn won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, which I think his deserved, because he’s hilarious in this movie. Except when I see he beat Claude Rains for Casablanca, it’s hard to accept whether Coburn deserved the award instead of Rains. If only there’d been a tie. Coburn gets to do a lot of physical comedy in this film, one of my favorite bits being his reoccuring schtick with his suspendered-pants repeatedly getting caught on something and flying out the window.

Jean Arthur and Joel McCrea make for a great pairing. They appeared together in two other films aside from The More the Merrier, The Silver Horde (1930), and Adventure in Manhattan (1936). They have amazing chemistry together and McCrea was one of the few actors that could relax the notoriously anxious Arthur and calm her nerves. Arthur also has fun chemistry (thankfully not romantic) with Coburn, having memorably appeared with him earlier in 1941’s The Devil and Miss Jones. It also helps that Arthur and McCrea are very attractive people and make for an even more attractive couple.

There is a very funny scene where Connie and Joe dance together at a nightclub. They were just introduced by Mr. Pendergast after he is introduced to Joe courtesy of Mr. Dingle. Mr. Pendergast just happens to be the bureaucrat with whom Mr Dingle was planning to meet to discuss the housing shortage. After their dance, a group of Connie’s acquaintances (including an uncredited Ann Savage!) show up and fawn over Joe, and Connie is only too happy to show that he’s with her. I guarantee that they don’t fawn over Mr. Pendergast.

I would highly recommend this film as it features everything that I want in a film. It’s hilarious, it’s romantic, and it captures a unique moment in United States history. Why doesn’t this movie have a Blu Ray?! The More the Merrier also has great dialogue with Joel McCrea getting in a lot of funny sarcastic lines. The only blights on this film are McCrea’s comment about “being a Jap” to scare Morton away, and every single scene involving Morton. I loathe him.

Damn the torpedos! Full speed ahead!