The Meanest Gal in Town

Pert Kelton bowled me over with her very sexy portrayal which allowed her to manipulate the male characters. The very wry Zazu Pitt and the apparently naive but winning El Brendel along with the wise cracking James Gleasen and the traveling salesman character all were very funny and cleverly written. The script had many very pointed comments on the indomitable spirt and frailty of the human character. I have watched the movie many times and always see some different bit that I hadn't noticed before. Obviously, this was a low budget programmer in its day, but a far better movie than most megabudget movies of today.

This little film has a lot going for it. There's James Gleason, funny and sympathetic as a sort of "tough guy" barber who wants to win the girl. There's Pert Kelton playing the cute and sexy actress turned manicurist. There's El Brendel (I had never seen him before), playing the naive Scandinavian barber named Chris Peterson. He is a lot more canny than he appears. Finally there is ZaSu Pitts, wonderful as the long-suffering owner of a dress shop. She is actually much more naive about business than Peterson is. My only complaint is that I wish Pitts had gotten a better role. She is playing a weak character who is more pathetic than funny. But, she did what she could with the part.

I was surprised to see in the full cast list that John Carradine is in this film. I didn't notice him, and must have walked out of the room during his scene.

Overall, this is a good movie that is worth seeing for the pre-Hays Code innuendos and some sparkling comic performances.

Zasu Pitts owns a dry goods store. She's engaged to El Brendel, who owns a barber shop that on a good day, there's as much money in the till when he closes as when he opened. Then stranded actress Pert Kelton sets up as manicurist in his shop and business booms. Miss Pitts is jealous, and takes in as partner a big firm fronted by Skeets Gallagher, which Brendel advises against. Gallagher's firm freezes her out.

While I usually enjoy Miss Pitts, as well as James Gleason, who plays a fifth wheel to this plot, Brendel and Miss Kelton annoy me. Add in the general thrust of the film, which is clearly intended for small-town audiences, and this movie does not appeal to me at all. Perhaps it did poorly at the box office; at any rate, it was writer-director Russell Mack's last time wielding the megaphone. He had begun in vaudeville, then went on the legitimate stage as an actor and director. His first movie credit was Rio Rita, and he was on his way for a while. After this movie, he returned to the East Coast, where he managed a theater in Newark, NJ. He died in 1972 at the age of 79.

This 1934 film had to be one of the very last films to slip by before the production code went into effect! Although set in a small town with mostly middle-aged performers (well, middle-aged for the 1930's, everyone's at least in their mid 30's) this has some of the raciest lines and situations you will hear. The title is a bit of a misnomer, it could only be referring to Pert Kelton's scheming little floozy, but she's not mean, just using men for suckers. She's among a group of performers touring in a play who are left stranded when their manager runs off with the funds and leaves them stranded and locked out of the hotel unable to get their items. The movie could care less what happens to the other members of the play, never to be seen again with the exception of one in a brief appearance. The broke group sits in woe about their situation but Pert is nonplussed, saying she's going on the town. "Whatcha gonna do walk the streets all night?" someone asks. Well, that's one possibility but she's not quite going that far, just out for a stroll to vamp the local hicks. Skinflint James Gleason pursues her and even buys her a meal, a stack of pancakes that costs $2.36 to his chagrin. He pays to the penny (no tip of course) and when she leaves a little, he decides to eat the rest himself since he paid for them. She tells him she's not allowed to return to her hotel, so he lifts her up to climb in a back window and hops in himself with the promise he can join her in her room for a game of "cards". Once inside and at her room door, she tells him alas she has no cards, so he hurries down to the hotel lobby to buy some (two packs for a dollar, seems high for the era when magazines were often just ten cents). He returns to her door and knocks but she tells him she's already in bed, but she guesses he can come in - which of course delights him only to open the door and find she is indeed in bed - with her mother (actually the seamstress with the traveling company) which of course leads to his fast retreat. It's a funny bit and happens so fast audiences probably had no time to ponder how did this older woman get into the hotel since the whole company was locked out and certainly there was no time for her to get in and dressed for bed in the brief moments Gleason went down to the lobby to buy some cards.

El Brendel runs a local barber shop that is barely making any money and won't marry his ten-year girlfriend ZaSu Pitts until his business prospers. ZaSu owns a small clothing store that's been in her family for years and makes more money but has sold a share of it to an unscrupulous business who put a clause in the contract where they could take over it which she didn't realize.

Pert tells her sob story to El Brendel who hires her as a manicurist for his shop and her flirty ways cause business to boom but jealous ZaSu now won't have anything to do with him. James Gleason buys the shop from El Brendel to keep tabs on Pert but soon finds he has major competition with seedy traveling salesman Skeets Gallagher.

This movie is not only loaded with discreet blue humor (extended butt shots not only Pert as she walks the street but ZaSu as well as she cranks a car) loaded lines (like my review header, a comment from ZaSu about the history of her family shop) and even some bad taste comedy gags such as Gallagher commenting on his nicked shave and El Brendel receiving unsolicited donations that are rare even in pre-codes and are more like something out brash comedy from recent decades.

This little movie barely runs an hour and boy does it run; a fast-moving sassy work played to the hilt by all. While tilted toward Pert Kelton who is terrific, she gets a real run for the money from Skeets Gallagher as a BS artist every bit her match. It's surprising this film does not have a bigger reputation among the fans who love saucy pre-codes, perhaps because there's no glamorous movie queen in it (Pert Kelton vamps the local boys but she's really a character actress rather than a glamour girl). The Meanest Girl in Town will probably be the raciest movie of the day on Turner Movie Classics every time it airs.

Chris Peterson (El Brendel) is an unsuccessful barber in a small town. His fiancée of ten years is Tillie Prescott (Zasu Pitts), a hardworking woman who just can't wait to get married. Chris wants to prove he is successful by obtaining a second chair in his barber shop before tying the knot, but Tillie is impatient. She is constantly taken advantage of by Chris and she feels she is the real brain behind the couple. This proves to be false when she falls prey to a business scam. Meanwhile Chris's business starts booming when an actress (Pert Kelton) takes up shop as a manicurist to make some extra money. Her wiggling hips make the shop a hot spot for the local men.

A fun movie with a cast of unknowns, The Meanest Gal in Town is not likely to show up outside of film conventions and collector's homes, but it is an enjoyable film. Brendel makes use of his simpleton Swedish character and provides much of the comedy. Some people hate him; I love him. He is sweet and rather funny, illustrated by scenes like the opener where he strums a ukulele and sings with the accompaniment of a howling dog. Pitts is more likable here than in some of her other movies. In spite of Brendel's sweetness, it is difficult not to root for Pitts too, especially when Chris treats Tillie badly.